Home > Consumer Reviews > Viewsonic Vx900-1 19" LCD Monitor (Silver/Black)

Reviews of the 17" version of this monitor at tomshardware panned Viewsonic for claiming extremely high contrast ratios and an incredible response time of 25ms. Accurate or not, they forgot to mention that overall the VX series of monitors from Viewsonic is great, and if memory serves me correctly, the Viewsonics were some of the least expensive displays. "Streaking" and inaccurate color reproduction have been the main faults of LCD screens, and regardless of what kinds of software tests reviewers may run on this monitor, in everyday use and even gaming, I have found this monitor to be faultless. Admittedly, the speakers were an unneeded addition, but I wasn't expecting much given the quality of other integrated speaker setups as well as the very thin profile of this monitor.

I do recommend you install the included software (I was always a skeptic and never did it with my other monitors, but the difference in color will surprise you), and if you can, take advantage of the DVI connector rather than the analog VGA connector--no substantial difference in image quality, but you won't have to wait as long for the monitor to self adjust whenever you change resolutions if you use the DVI. Also remember that the native resolution of the monitor is 1280x1024--other settings just won't look very crisp.

Edit: The monitor is still sweet after half a year of use. But, after reading one review in which a person stated that they "had to lower the 5 star rating" by giving it only one, I felt I "had to" post my rebuttal since this monitor is extremely crisp UNLESS you use something other than the native resolution. Posting a lower rating than one feels the product in question deserves to lower the overall average defeats the purpose of giving consumers an accurate gauge of how well the product performs. Following the same logic (or lack thereof), I wish I could give the monitor a 6 star rating.

I had a large 18" CRT NEC monitor, which was big and took up too much desk space. I needed more desk space to work properly. After checking out several monitors I decided to purchase the View Sonic VX 900 LCD display and it's an excellent choice. At first I was skeptical because I heard that you have to give up text quality and I work with a lot of text. However, after trying out this monitor I can honestly say that the text is extremely clear and crisp (much easier to read than my old CRT monitor). The colors are bright and beautiful and it's great on your eyes. This monitor was easy to set up--I recommend it hightly. I have not tried the speakers, so I can't comment on the sound quality.

My first was a 12" CRT 256 color Apple monitor that my family bought for me when I went to college. I tried to do some work using it for fun a year ago and it was oh so painful. My next monitor was a Gateway 17" CRT that was a step in the right direction, but still was far from perfect. My, my, how the times have changed.

I've been using the VX900 for a few days now and I'm rather pleased with my purchase. It has the following advantages:

1. Its light. <30lbs.
2. The flat panel is easier to read. And because its so slim, there is a lot more deskspace available.
3. It has analog and digital plugs. I plan on getting a digital video card soon. The quality of the picture should improve dramatically over what is still considered a rather high-quality image.
4. And its 19"! Bigger is always better. Because of this, I now have the luxury of using bigger fonts and I still have extra space on my screen.

My only problem with it is the audio system. The speakers are poor and can be outplayed by any standalone set. (I think they used speakers from a clock radio...) But since I primarily listen to talk radio, its not a big deal. The thing that really annoys me is where they put the headphone plug. Its located near the video inputs behind the monitor under a panel. So if I want to listen to something with my headset, I must turn the monitor around, remove the panel, pop in the plug, install the panel, and then turn the monitor back around. I was hoping that a stereo plug extension would work but it cuts out the speaker output regardless of the headphones being plugged into the extension.

Would it have been better if they did not install any sound system into the VX900? Yes. An expensive monitor with a very cheap sound system is a cruel joke.

But this is a monitor. Its a very good monitor. And I slapped my money down because of it and don't regret it.

Superior picture at an extremely good price for a 19 inch LCD monitor--in digital mode it is better than any CRT I have ever seen--extremely bright, clear and sharp. Blacks are deep, invisible blacks and whites are stunningly bright. No dead pixels. Speakers sound pretty good as monitor speakers go. Some minor minuses: auto picture adjust is slow (can be annoying if you use with a switch box/kvm to switch between computers), no documentation on cable hookup (had to play around to learn how to expose back panel cable inputs), back panel cable covers are akward and do not snap on securely.

Just abslutely outstanding LCD display. Large screen. Extremely high contrast ratio of 600:1. 170 degree viewing angle. DVI digital input takes full advantage of the capabilities of this display monitor. And best of all Amazon offers the best price on the market (even better than on eBay). The only weak point is the built-in speakers, which have just an average sound quality.