My selection criteria for an LCD includes playing first person shooters, DVD's, web-browsing, and photo editing AND the monitor has to perform well in all of those areas. Due to the bright crisp text, high native resolution, and low claimed response rate of the monitor (16 ms is good for gaming!), I narrowed my choice down to this unit, and purchased it at CompUSA.

In the box:
Aside from the monitor, the box contained a VGA and a DVI
cable, two power plugs - one for US and one for overseas power connections - and driver disk. The power and video cables disconnect from the main display, which makes them easy to replace if needed.

Set up:
The installation includes a Viewsonic Wizard CD, which pretty much does the bulk of the installation automatically. The software supports Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, XP, and Mac OS version 8.6 - 9.2 (on a G3 or G4 processor).

I have personally set up the monitor on a DVI connection from my graphics card (ATI Radeon 9600XT). Once everything was connected and powered-up, the installation software CD did it's thing and everything was set up automatically and worked fine.

How does it look?
By adjusting the resolution that my graphics card uses, it was apparent why this monitor was money well spent.

At 1280 x 1024, the picture is amazing - text looks incredibly crisp, photo colors reproduce very well, games look incredible, and movies play quite well. The games I played did not have any ghosting at all. I used Battlefield 1942 and Halo.

On that subject, it does take a pretty powerful graphics card to use this monitor for "playable" gaming. One thing to keep in mind is that frame rates on all graphics cards drop at higher resolutions and maximum graphics settings. This is really a function of the graphics card on the system, not a limitation of the monitor itself though. If a good graphics card is something you have, or plan to purchase, then this monitor will definitely be worth the money. I'd recommend an ATI Radeon 9600 XT or higher, or the equivalent Nvidia card for games.

Here are some specs I have summarized from Viewsonic's website:

Type 17" color TFT active matrix SXGA LCD
Display Area 13.3" (horizontal) X 10.6" (vertical); 17.0" diagonal
Optimum Resolution 1280x1024
Brightness 260 nits cd/m2 (typ)
Contrast Ratio 500:1 (typ)
Viewing Angle 140° horizontal, 140° vertical
Response Time 16ms (typ)
Panel Surface Anti-glare

DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) Physical
15.4" x 17.5" x 9.4" (w/ stand)
14.6" x 12.2" x 2.2" (w/o stand)

WEIGHT Net 14.3 lbs (6.5 kg) (w/ stand);
9.24 lbs (4.2 kg) (w/o stand)
Gross 18.7 lbs (8.5kg) (w/ stand);
12.6 lbs (5.7 kg) (w/o stand)

I think it is worth mentioning that the brightness of the monitor, at 260 nits, seemed startling compared to my old CRT. Also, the 16 ms response time, claimed by Viewsonic, seems about right for games. I have read that response rates above 25 ms are noticeable during fast games, etc. However, I was not able to reproduce any ghosting on the computer during games. I had two friends come over and check out the LCD, and they did not see ghosting either.

The reported viewing angle of 140 degrees seems about right for horizontal, and maybe a little less than 140 degrees in the vertical direction. In particular, it seems that the monitor is less readable when standing "over" the monitor, and looking down at about a 45 degree angle. Maximum brightness is seen about 15-20 degrees in any direction from dead-center. However, the brightness doesn't drop off much, and most folks don't use their monitor at extreme angles. For all practical purposes, if you are sharing information within someone, it is not a problem for the second person to read the screen.

Adjustments and Use:
The adjustments, which include rotate (to landscape and portrait mode), tilt to adjust viewing angle, pivot to swing the view side-to-side, and height adjustment, are very easy to do. The height adjustment is spring loaded too, so it moves up especially easy. It is easy to find a comfortable viewing position.

Note that the monitor only rotates 90 degrees in the clockwise direction (and back) in order to switch from landscape to portrait mode. It does not rotate back the other way. A Viewsonic CD, PerfectPortrait, is included in the box, and it allows switching from landscape to portrait mode for anyone who does not have a graphics card that does this.

One thing that was noticeable, when you do try to move this screen, is that the LCD does not have a handle. It weighs about 16 lbs and it is obviously an expensive thing to drop! Most people will probably set this in place, but if you must move it, use caution. Actually, for a LAN party it might be easier (and safer) to use the box to carry the LCD.

All things considered though, this is still hands down the most impressive LCD I have seen and used. It is a real pleasure to look at, and it more than meets all of my needs - be it gaming, web browsing, photo editing, or anything else I can think of.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 549.99
Operating System: Windows