Home > Consumer Reviews > ViewSonic VX1962wm 19" Wide 2ms High-Res 1680x1050 LCD Monitor - DVI and speakers

Nice, sharp, bright and colorful display. The higher resolution makes a big difference and my Vista Aero graphics never looked better. This is a nice size for a desktop monitor for business and gaming applications. It was easy to set up and it looks really sharp in my home office.

I haven't hooked up the speakers, so I can't speak for the sound quality. If I could figure out how to work them into my 5.1 surround sound system I would, because getting two existing speakers off of the desk would make for a nice, clean look and give me a little more desk space.

I wanted to purchase an inexpensive display to use with my 24" iMac. I use CS4 quite extensively, and really needed some extra space for menus. I initially purchased a HANNS HW173 for a mere $80, and thought for that price it would be fine for my purposes. The display was horrrible and I ended up taking it back and purchased the ViewSonic VX1962wm. The display is crystal clear at 1680x1050. The colors are rich and true without calibration. I highly recommend this monitor.

I bought this monitor to use initially with an older desktop running Windows XP and later to use as an extra monitor for a laptop. The pluses are a sleek design and exceptional high resolution display, particularly when set at the recommended 1680 x 1050 resolution.

Installation was a bit more problematic. I'm not a novice, but neither am I a tech guru, however, I can follow reasonable instructions. For this Plug and Play monitor, the instructions are minimal and the illustrations practically non-existent. I managed eventually to hook up all components, but when using the installation disk I discovered a missing (or outdated) Installshield msi file. Viewsonic Support was no help at all, so I finally Googled a fix and downloaded a file I hoped would work. It did, and the rest of the installation was smooth.

The monitor has built-in speakers. While not loud enough for a stand-alone operation, they work very well with my existing Boston Acoustics and sub-woofer.

I would definitely recommend this monitor for a quality picture at a bargain basement price.

Pros: Great picture, built in speakers are decent. Low pixel lag.

Cons: Speakers are too quiet, and will buzz when they are loud enough. Menu setup is irritating. Will not switch to VGA input without restarting you computer.

Notes: It wouldn't play Blu Ray, even though it says that it's HD. Which is misleading, because the website states that it is HD, but has no HDCP support. If you don't want to use it for Blu Ray then it's a great monitor, but if you want to do so, then you need to buy a different one. The price is too expensive for it's size if it doesn't do so, especially since you can buy a 21.5" 1080p monitor that does support Blu Ray playback for about the same price. You also have to ensure that your video card supports HDCP as well, or you'll be stuck using VGA; when DVI provides a much better picture.

Great product. Love the screen size and how compact the unit is. Color and sound are great as well. Would definitely recommend it.