What would YOU think if your monitor spun 90 degrees? Maybe you watched your DVD of The Exorcist one too many times? No - it's just your Viewsonic VPD150 showing you its cleverest feature!

The VPD150 is a 15" diagonal LCD monitor from Viewsonic that supports up to 1024x768 in landscape mode and spins for 768x1024 in portrait mode. But that's not the reason I bought one. I was just plain out of space.

When I added my 1Ghz Athlon Compaq 7998 the only space left on my desk was where the typewriter would have set just a few eons ago. Barely enough room for a keyboard, let alone a CRT monitor. The VPD150 takes up ...just a sec, let me get out the ruler... about 8 1/2 inches from front to back and has a couple of inches overhang in the front where people's business cards and old bills tend to collect.

What I Like

Did I mention that it rotates to portrait mode? It's great for viewing PDF files and other online docs that were created originally for print publication. It's also good for composing your own print documents - brochures, newsletters, etc.

It comes with a color management profile that smart display drivers can use to render colors more accurately.

There's no overscan area on this monitor so it's a full 15" diagonal viewable display, not 14.2" like a CRT.

What I Don't Like

To say that the built-in 3mm speakers are "multimedia capable" is like saying that a Yugo is a sports car. After giving them a try I drove over to Radio Shack and got a little amplifier and a pair of their shielded speakers. Ahhhh, that's much better.

Resolutions other than 1024x768 are mostly useless. That's a disappointment to me because I chose the analog version of this monitor instead of digital assuming that the other resolutions would display well.

The viewing angle in portrait mode is noticeably less than in landscape mode. It's still good, just noticeable. (The specs say it's 120 vs 140 degrees.)

The user controls are the least intuitive of all my monitors (Sony, DRT, Nec, and ALT) but they get the job done. Sometimes I would accidentally exit a parameter before I was done. Sometimes I have hit a couple of different buttons as I try to figure out how to exit a configuration.

Overall

My monitor was refurbished and sold through TigerDirect at a substantial discount from the new price. At this writing they still have some digital refurbs available.

It's eye catching, easy to install and configure, great for document work, and the monitor I prefer to work on. It's a reasonable value at it's street price of $950-1200, but it's a real steal if you can get your hands on a refurbished unit.

Exorciso te, immundissime spiritus...



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 600-700