Viewsonic’s VX2460h-LED Monitor offers one of the thinnest profiles of any 24” LED Monitor we have ever seen or used. It backs up the latter with a respectable spec sheet which sees FULL HD (1920 x 1280), a 2ms response time and twin HDMI ports at the back for £159 rrp.
Design & Features
However while the overall design and 6.8mm thinness is certainly impressive, when viewed from the front the 24" screen does feature a large boarder surrounding it. This wouldn’t be as bad but its glossy black finish does catch reflections more.
Additionally the stand is connected to the monitor quite easily using a butterfly screw attached to the underside of the stand (so no screw driver required). Unfortunately the stand feels pretty flimsy in operation and the monitor does tend to wobble a little more than we would have liked.
The overall build quality feels a little flimsy as well, so the style and ultra-thinness has certainly come at a cost.
Mind you when the monitor was finally on our desk we have to admit it did not overpower us as much as most 24” screens we have used in the past.
As a result we could happily sit at work 8+ hours a day and not get overwhelmed by the size. Our eyes did not get strained or tired either which is one of things we liked about the monitor.
Ports
At the back of the monitor you have two HDMI ports which allows you to plug in two source devices at once - i.e. your computer or laptop - without the hassle of having to unplug any leads first. You can then use the source button at the front of the monitor to switch between them.
In the box we did find one HDMI lead but we also found an old fashioned VGA cable as well. A strange decision by Viewsonic is that they have included a standard VGA port (supports 1920 x 1080 though) at the back.
Why a DVI was not used is anyone’s guess. So for those who are not blessed with HDMI you will have to find either an adaptor to convert the VGA to DVI (or the HDMI to DVI) before you can start using the screen. We suppose most new graphics cards have HDMI now anyway so Viewsonic are mainly concentrating on this technology.
Also at the back you get a 3.5mm audio-out port which sounds great on paper but the audio source is taken from HDMI and when we plugged into our PS3 we got nothing but static. Thus we think you probably need a powered set of speakers to get the output to work properly.
Monitor Settings
The screen supports standard brightness and contrast controls, along with pre-set profiles such as "Cool" to quickly change the colours on-screen. We didn’t realise that during office use the screen was set at 100% brightness and 70% contrast (from a previous reviewer know doubt) and the reason this was not adjusted was that we found the display comfortable at this setting. Though in films the brightness had to be turned down due to overexposure and at 100% brightness this is not ideal as it counterbalances the whole point of having an energy saving monitor in the first place.
Films
Speaking of films, when watching "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1" - which is a dark film - on Blu-ray we had to close the blinds as natural light made it extremely difficult to view the darker areas of the film. The Dynamic contrast setting seemed to make matters worse. The image was also a touch grainy in places.
Switching to the more colourful "Rio" film was a major transformation as the colours were vibrant and the screen a pleasure to view. So film wise there is a tale of two halves.
Games & Streaming
Thankfully Games is another matter! We played some fast past FPS such as "COD MW2" and the new "LEGO Batman 2" and the 2ms provided smooth gameplay (with no visible ghosting). The YouTube Videos we streamed in FULL HD also ran smoothly.
Summarise
We think the screen does have its plus points, but the thinness has come at a sacrifice in terms of build quality. Darker films did prove more problematic, but for general office use or gaming it is respectable screen with a fast response time to boot.
SPECS:
- Display Type: 24" (23.6" viewable) Wide Color TFT Active Matrix LCD
- Display Area: 20.5" horizontal x 11.5" vertical; 23.6" diagonal
- Optimum Resolution: 1920x1080
- Contrast Ratio: 1000:1 (typ); 40,000,000:1 (dynamic)
- Viewing Angles: 170º horizontal, 160º vertical @ contrast ratio > 10:1
- Response Time: 2ms (GTG)
- Light Source: Long life, 40,000 hrs. (min)
- Brightness: 250 cd/m2 (typ)
- Panel Surface: Anti-glare, hard-coating (3H)
- VIDEO INPUT: Analog RGB analog (75 ohms, 0.7/1.0 Vp-p), Digital HDMI (TMDS, 100 ohms)
- Frequency Fh: 24~83kHz, Fv: 50~76Hz
- COMPATIBILITY: PC VGA up to 1920x1080 non-interlaced, Mac Power Mac G3/G4/G5 up to 1920x1080
- CONNECTOR: Analog 15-pin mini D-sub (VGA), Digital HDMI 1 (V1.3 with HDCP) HDMI 2 (V1.3 with HDCP)
- Power: External power adapter
- Audio Out: 3.5 mm jack (Audio interface for audio output only, from HDMI source. No internal speakers.)
- POWER: Voltage AC 100–240V (universal), 50 / 60Hz
- Consumption: 23W (typ.) / 28W (max.)
- CONTROLS: Basic Power, 1, down, up, 2, OSD Auto Image Adjust, Contrast/Brightness, Input Select (D-SUB, HDMI 1, HDMI 2), Audio Adjust (Volume, Mute - for audio output), Color Adjust (sRGB, Bluish, Cool, Native, Warm, User Color [R,G,B]), Information, Manual Image Adjust (H/V Position, Horizontal Size, Fine Tune, Sharpness, Dynamic Contrast, Response Time, Aspect Ratio, Overscan, ECOmode), Setup Menu (Language, Resolution Notice, OSD Position, OSD Timeout, OSD Background, Auto Power Off, Sleep, Power Indicator), Memory Recall
- DIMENSIONS (WxHxD): Physical 22.87 x 17.60 x 7.64 in. / 581 x 447 x 194 mm
- WEIGHT: Net 7.72 lb. / 3.5 kg. Gross 11.69 lb. / 5.3 kg
- PACKAGE CONTENTS: VX2460h-LED display, power cable, AC / DC adapter, VGA cable, HDMI cable, Quick Start Guide, ViewSonic Wizard CD (available in some countries only)
- WARRANTY: Three-year limited warranty on parts, labor and backlight.
