ViewSonic VX2260wm

Rather than the usual resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels, found on the majority of 22'' monitors, the VX2260wm from ViewSonic comes with a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

This is the same resolution supported by many modern TVs, as well as the Iiyama Prolite E2208HDS, which we also recently tested. This ViewSonic, though, has a number of other attractive features.  As well as 2 ms TN panel and the magic trio of VGA, DVI and HDMI, there's also room for a pair of 1.5 W and a headphone jack. The bezl remains very similar to the one found on the VX2262wm, and as with the majority of other 22'' monitors, the stand only allows you to tilt it through a few degrees.

But what about this higher resolution?  Well, it allows the VX2260wm to show around 17% more information than a 'regular' 22'' monitor.  It's great for the latest generation of games consoles and HD movies.  There's more room on your desktop, with more horizontal space in particular.  The downside is natural enough: with 17% more pixels, you need 17% more work from your graphics card.  Games, in particular, are susceptible to looking less fluid than on traditional 22'' screens. The increase in resolution without changing the size of the screen won't just affect avid gamers, though: everything will also look smaller, including text.

Gaming

With the VX2260xm, ViewSonic has managed to create another speedy monitor that isn't held back by an input lag.  If you've got a modern, powerful graphics card, or if you want to hook it up to a Play Station 3 or Xbox 360, you'll have a great gaming experience.
 
To get the very best out of it, you'll need to use the OSD to crank the Response Time up to 'Ultra Fast' mode.


Movies

Because there's no image correction chip, any weaknesses in the source signal will be painfully evident on the screen.  If you've got a good quality Blu-ray player (or a PlayStation 3), you shouldn't have any problems, but watching DVDs or DivX files on your PC leads to a lot of blurriness.

If you are watching movies on your on the VX2260wm, it's best to sit around a meter and a half away so that these distortions are less noticeable.