ViewSonicVX2255wmb 22-inch Wide LCD with Integrated Webcam

List Price: $467.45 Discount Price: $269.99

Features:

• Panel Type - 22" Wide Color TFT Active Matrix LCD
• Display Area - 18.7" horizontal x 11.7" vertical; 22" diagonal
• Optimum Resolution - 1680x1050
• Contrast Ratio - 700:1 (typ)
• Viewing Angel - 170?horizontal, 160?vertical @ contrast ratio > 10:1

Accessories:

3-Year Extended Service Plan - Covers Electronic Items $201-$500 - Repair

Customer Reviews:

fabulous picture, garbage sound quality [Posted on 2007-12-27]
Love the picture quality, but the speakers are so incredibly awful I am thinking of returning it! The sound quality is annoying, and forget listening to iTunes! So, now the dilemma, keep the monitor and buy external speakers or return it.

Very uneven backlighting [Posted on 2008-01-13]
When I first bought this monitor I was pleased at first. After awhile I began to realize how much darker the screen is in the top 1/3 of the screen as compared to the bottom. The screen gets progressively darker as you go from the bottom to the top of the screen and can be quite noticable on webpages and games, especially if they use colors such as dark blue or yellow.

I tend to be a picky person about monitors so maybe this wouldn't be noticeable to most people. Unfortunately by the time I noticed this the return period had expired, otherwise I might have tried to take it back. I guess it is better than my last 2 LCDs, one of which had dead pixels out of the box, and the other developing a green square in the corner after a few weeks.

Good value, good monitor. [Posted on 2008-02-14]
For under $350, you get a 22" LCD with bright, crisp resolution. Huge difference over my old 19" viewsonic CRT. Haven't used the webcam yet, but it's a nice bonus to have. I have seen reviews on CNET that rate this monitor lower due to not having all the bells and whistles for various connections, but I personally don't have any need for that. The base is a bit flimsy and it is not easy to make small adjustments, but that is a minor complaint.

Mac users beware [Posted on 2008-06-07]
My family has purchased four ViewSonic monitors, and have been impressed with the quality. However, I am disappointed with this purchase. I will probably return it. 1) The webcam works, but the microphone is not compatible with my Macintosh computer. I am very annoyed that this is not disclosed on the ViewSonic USA web site, but it _is_ disclosed on the ViewSonic UK/Europe site (found this out after I took delivery and was setting it up). 2) If I put my computer to sleep, the monitor does not sleep simultaneously. It sends signals back that wake the computer back up. This is a big pain, as I put my computer to sleep all the time. 3) I have tried calibrating the monitor four times now. The picture seems to have very strong Blues. All the whites are bluish. Like I said, I'm disappointed. Mac users especially, beware the VX2255wmb and it's incompatibilities.

Buy it for the monitor, mute the sound, blow off the webcam [Posted on 2008-08-17]
I bought this at Costco for the same price. Comparing a number of monitors, this had the best picture quality. The picture resolution and colors are excellant. So I thought great and I also have the mic and webcam. At first i couldn't get the mic to work at all. Checked all the windows controls I could find, my other mic worked and called tech support twice who advise me to return unit at Costco. Loaded the webcam software played with the webcam told it to captur audio. Mutes were off but no sound. The speakers are a total joke but squeaked with other media.

The webcam software places a video in your my pictures file each time the webcam is operated. There was some bug in the software and there were numerous error messages and then when I opened any video, it crashed windows explorer. Did a system restore, still the same problem but I was able to get other files out and then trashed the "My Pictures. and made new file. Then downloaded new program for webcam. Still no audio. Note each video of a couple minutes duration is many, many megabits even with compression. If you aren't careful your whole HD could be consumed with meaningless videos.

So back to Costco. I recompared other 22" monitor and this one still stood out for the price.

Finally got online chat person who knew what they were doing and found a control buried in windows had muted the mic.Got it working but it was either too loud or no loud enough. I closed the webcam software and it is no longer in my start or programs menu....I don't care....bottom line get the monitor, mute the sound blow off the webcam.....and it is still worth the price.

I decided to side to side compare this monitor with the Dell with a 3 yr warentee Dell SP2208WFP 22" Wide HDMI/DVI 2ms 2000:1 300 cd/m² 1680x1050 WSXGA+ Item# 180397. While the Dell was $35 more ($299), the difference was night and day. No problem with the software. The webcam software works flawlessly and records when asked and stores videos in it's own folder. While the viewsonics has excellent picture quality, the Dell is even better esp excelling in vibrance. For the extra $$, the Dell is well worth it.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11201225&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&lang=en-US. I see it is available from Amazon $10 less. http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraSharp-Widescreen-resolution-adjustable/dp/B001FB4UM2/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1221513569&sr=1-7

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