28 inches for the price of a 24 in addition to a fast panel (3 ms) and numerous video inputs (HDMI, YUV, etc.).  Such is the miracle recipe used once again and a move that is usually fatal to the smaller screen size.  We already encountered the same situation on a number of occasions and the strategy always works: the 15 inch made way for the 17, which yielded to the 19, then to the 20 and very quickly to the 22, which is being menaced by the 24 inch.  The last transition is still happening when a new challenger makes an appearance, the 28 inch.  But when will this all stop?

Tests : reactivity, colors, etc.

Reactivity : the ViewSonic VX2835wm  has a TN 3 ms panel and we recognize the same characteristic from the excellent Iiyama B2403WS. Is the VX2835wm as good for games? Yes...and no.  If you look too quickly at the image in the Product Face-offs,  you could be mistaken.  The screen is very reactive, as much as the Iiyama, but also subject to a defect called reverse ghosting. It’s a relatively recent and rare problem which involves a dark afterglow negative behind the main object.  The result is that objects in movement are followed by a sort of shadow.  It can sometimes be eliminated by reducing or deactivating an option called the overdrive, but unfortunately we don’t have the choice here.  However, in our opinion, the inconvenience is minimal and most people will not be affected.  From our experience, we know from the forum that some users will be affected but in our office it isn’t a problem, especially with this screen.

Colors : ViewSonic got one of its pre-settings wrong.  This is rather rare and even unprecedented.  In almost all of their preset modes (Standard, Cinema and game) all suffer from very excessive brightness of plus 500 cd/m² in white! This is at least of the double of what is considered "comfortable".  Unsurprisingly, in these conditions black is totally washed out at 0.60 cd/m² and up to 1 cd/m² in games, movies, and other modes.  Unfortunately, playing with Brightness and Contrast do not change a thing. We can reduce the glare of white but without improving black levels.  For this reason, we measured an extremely poor contrast ratio.

So you have two choices: either get used to this extreme brightness, in which case the washed out black isn’t too bothersome compared to the intense white ; or you can move into Text mode. Here there is a complete change! White drops to 121 cd/m² while black goes down to 0.16 cd/m² representing a nice contrast ratio of around 760:1.  In the beginning, the darker screen may be a bit odd but we quickly became used to and even enjoyed it.  There is nevertheless the remaining problem of inaccurate colors in addition to a poorly set gamma (up to 3 in darker tones!) which reinforces the washed out aspect of images.

To quickly finish up, we liked the multiple video inputs ; however, there is no vertically adjustable base, card reader, USB hub or rotation of the screen.  It’s a TN panel which means the lower viewing angle is small and darkens quickly.  As usual, it’s also a panel subject to shimmering in movies.  This is a problem typical of computer monitors that are not as good as televisions in this domain.  Step back a little and it’s no longer a factor.  Finally, this is a screen which consumes an enormous amount of power using roughly 110 watts or the triple of a good 24 inch.