Viewsonic VG2230WM 22" widescreen

Final Thoughts...

This Viewsonic monitor is clearly pretty decent. Anyone ending up with it on their desk will, no doubt, have a pleasant viewing experience.

Why? Well, it does the job and does it, in most cases, well. We have a few niggles with the colour performance, but most people won't notice that in every day use, and the stylish casing makes it more pleasant to look at than many monitors with better actual performance.

The lack of inputs may be a cause of concern for those looking for something a little future proof. There's no HDCP, which means no digital next-gen content, and nothing for your PS3 or Wii (Xbox 360 can happily go in over VGA). However, if you're just looking for a standard monitor and aren't bothered about connectivity, then this will be, again, fine.

We then come down to price, and competitors in the sector. This monitor is retailing online for just over £270 including VAT. What can we pick up for that kind of money?

Well, in this kind of viewing range, we're still big fans of the the Samsung 215TW. At 21", it's slightly smaller, but the colour performance is in a different league. You can pick it up for around £375 now, but that is a full £100 more expensive than this Viewsonic, putting it in rather a different price bracket, even if it's in the same size bracket. It does, however, come with Component, Composite, S-video, VGA connections and an HDCP compatible DVI port too. That's in addition to adjustable height, tilt, swivel and pivot functionality too - you could say, you get what you pay for.

We reviewed the Iiyama ProLite 22" a while back, and came to the conclusion that it was a great widescreen monitor for those on a budget. This monitor is roughly £20 cheaper, but we'd pay extra for the better design, features and image quality that the Viewsonic has.

You can pick up Viewsonic's own VX2025 for around the same price as this 22", but it's only 20". The image quality is far better, being one of the best 20" widescreen gaming monitors around. It's got a smaller dot pitch and, if you like that, you'll prefer it. However, if you're all about the number of inches, you'll stick to looking at 22s.

All in all, the VG2230WM is a reasonable monitor at a reasonable price. If you want better quality, you'll spend the same amount of money for a smaller panel or more for the same size panel. If you want to save money, you can hack off a few quid and get the Iiyama. But overall, this is a good all-round buy.