The 24-inch ViewSonic VG2427wm monitor wins points for a good assortment of ergonomic features, including screen height adjustment, 180° swivel and 25° tilt. It also includes three USB ports and offers great movie and game performance. It's available for around £210.
Wobbly panel
The 24-inch VG2427wm has a matte screen and a plain, matte black chassis. The bezel measures a smallish 19mm on all sides and the screen height is adjustable by 133mm. When the screen is at its lowest point, it sits 102mm from the desktop. The panel swivels left and right 180° and tilts back 25°, but there's no pivot option for portrait mode.
The circular footstand measures 248mm in diameter. When the panel is extended to its highest point, the display wobbles considerably when knocked from the sides. It wobbles significantly less when at its lowest point.
Connection options include DVI and VGA, but the VG2427wm doesn't support HDMI. Next to the video ports are two USB downstream ports and one upstream port. All the ports are fairly easily accessible, located to the right of the display's neck. On the back of the display's stand are two vertically aligned hooks that hold the power and video cords, keeping them tidy. The stand is removable so you can mount the display to a wall, VESA-style. You'll have to supply your own mount, however.
The on-screen-display button array consists of two numbered buttons, and up and down arrow controls. Navigating the OSD is painless, thanks to the simple interface. You press the '1' control for initial access, use the arrow controls to navigate, and press the '2' control to select an option. You also use the arrow button to adjust attributes. There are no presets included, but the OSD has controls for contrast, brightness and colour. The colour options give you the capability to choose colour temperature, sRGB mode, or to customise the red, green and blue settings manually.
The OSD also includes a 'dynamic contrast' setting that, once switched on, makes the screen automatically darken, depending on its current luminosity. In 'eco' mode, you can choose from the following settings: 'standard', 'optimise' and 'conserve'. Each setting adjusts the picture's brightness automatically.
Along the top back of the panel are the built-in speakers. The volume is adjustable via the OSD, but the sound is muffled even at its highest setting and it lacks bass. Also, when the volume is cranked up, the sound becomes tinny.
The VG2427wm's 16:9 aspect ratio supports a 1080p native resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels. More and more monitor vendors are moving towards 16:9 from 16:10, because high-definition content -- in particular, 1080p movies -- can fit onto a 1,920x1,080-pixel screen without distorting the image.
Good all-rounder
We tested the VG2427wm with its DVI connection. The display posted a composite score of 90 in our DisplayMate-based performance tests, coming a few points behind the Dell G2410, which scored 97. The VG2427wm performed well generally in the tests, but didn't excel at anything in particular. Its biggest problem was with distinguishing between very dark grey and black.
The VG2427wm achieved a brightness score of 266cd/m2, shy of ViewSonic's claimed 300 maximum. The G2410 achieved a lower brightness score of 234, but proved closer to Dell's claimed 250. In our dark-screen test, the VG2427wm exhibited some backlight bleeding on the top and bottom edges of the screen. We saw some ghosting with our Kill Bill: Vol 1 DVD, and the G2410 offers much more balanced and accurate colours. The VG2427wm's colours look slightly washed out in comparison.
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