Performance and Conclusions
LCD Screen Tests

Our LCD screen testing is run through Everest that is some software that uses some specific screen images and our own eyes to help find any short comings of the display.

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Calibration scope – used for testing analog cable LCDs for geometries

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Convergence test – checking for staggering of more than 1px from color to color

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Image sharpness – comparing the sharpness in the corners versus interior of the screen

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Gradient fill – checking for smooth color transition

This is just a few of the tests that we use to check the monitor for issues, but listing them all out here would take quite a few more pages.  In all of the tests, I didn’t see any kind of concerns that stood out to me with maybe the minor exception of the solid color fill screens where there was an ever-so-faint wash out in the corners.  That means that the brightness of the color diminished a bit at the corners of the screen — the issue on the VA2226w was very, very faint and I’d be hard pressed to see it even on a static image such as the Vista background. 

Subjective Test


While the Everest software is great for testing the static image quality of the LCD display, in some instances you need to actually see how the screen performs with your own eyes.  While I can’t exactly have YOU test the monitor with your own eyes, I’ll describe what I saw or did not see in my testing of the Viewsonic VA2226w.

What do hardware enthusiasts do with their monitors?  Playing PC games is obviously at the top of the list and one of the most important facets of the monitor for gaming is how well that 5ms response rate holds up.  I took some time out of my day to play Valve’s Portal as well as 2K Games’ Bioshock on the Viewsonic monitor and was pleased with the results I saw.  At both the native resolution of 1680×1050 and at a lower 1280×800 resolution I saw no visible ghosting or artifacts on the display.  Ghosting occurs when the display’s response time is too high and residual color remains after the graphics card requests a change in it; in my testing the 5ms response time on the monitor lives up to its claims.

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I also decided that watching a couple of good movies on the Viewsonic VA2226w 22″ display was worth a go and so I watched some parts of Star Wars: Episode III, Planet Earth (a BBC and Discovery documentary) and Simpsons Season 10.  I saw no problems with the display when watching in windowed or full screen mode with good color saturation and even color across the entire video.  There also were not any ghosting issues during the video playback, something that we would have expected to see in the faster scenes of Episode III.
 
Pricing and Availability

The Viewsonic VA2226w 22″ monitor is pretty widely available and prices start as low as $250 shipped.  That is a pretty good price for a 22″ widescreen display though looking at our pricing engine for 22″ displays shows that there are only a couple with lower prices, but not by much.  Viewsonic has a great name and reputation along with a decent three year warranty to help with ease of mind.

Final Thoughts

I come away from the Viewsonic VA2226w 22″ monitor with a good feeling — seeing monitors of this size reach the masses with prices at $250 or lower is awesome.  If you are still living in the world of the 17″ or, god help you, 15″ monitors, you owe it to yourself to step up in the world and this Viewsonic offering is a great choice to do so. 


Be sure to use our pricing engine to find the best prices on Viewsonic monitors and anything else you might need:

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