We’ve mentioned several times that ViewSonic simply refuses to enter the cosmetic race long dominated by Korean manufacturers, namely Samsung and LG. VX2739 has brought certain design novelties nevertheless, albeit almost unnoticeable compared to the aforementioned manufacturers’ latest. We have to salute dumping the ancient OSD menu, although the navigation system, which is hardly our favourite, has remained. We aren’t too fond of barely marked buttons on the right side either, as is the case with this model.

Except a 4-port USB hub (two on the back, two easily accessible on the front) and its sheer size, this model is no different than standard, simple models. No pivot rotation, no height adjustment. We fancied the solid installed speakers and an easily accessible audio output connector. The thing that made us shrink was the size of the monitor itself. With a diagonal of 27”, it’s bound to attract attention, but that’s a feature that has to be justified in our trial of fire. A 1 ms response time sounds interesting, but if you think about it, it’s only a millisecond faster than what we’re used to seeing.

We have nothing to reproach in the colour display department, but a bit stronger brightness and contrast wouldn’t hurt the overall impression. Still, this will only bother fans of extremely accentuated colours, which are becoming more popular lately, while others will probably not even notice the difference, especially if they don’t have such a monitor at hand for direct comparison. Backlight pervasion is nowhere to be seen, although one could notice tiny artifacts of this sort along the edges of the panel under special conditions. Viewing angles are, in lack of a better word, spot on. The interesting thing is that the vertical viewing angle allows for a bit more freedom, while the horizontal requires viewing right along the middle, or suffer a few subtle, but visible image aberrations. It’s usually vice versa. The response time is excellent, as advertised. “Splitting hairs” is an expression that seems to have been invented for the process of us finding the tiniest aberrations in utterly cruel response time tests; bear in mind that this served no other purpose than satisfying our professional deviations and won’t be noticed by end-users, unless they’re carrying the same disease. Response time tests are much a historic remnant in modern-day panels such as this one.

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This monitor has ample physical surface at disposal, although the actual desktop size remains that of a 22” model. This is nothing negative in itself, since proper HD resolution is more than enough for most applications. A potential buyer of this sort of monitor is also not that difficult to imagine - mostly film freaks and gamers. They are unlikely to be bothered by a dot size bordering the upper tolerance level of the human eye and somewhat underachieving viewing angles, since gaming and film watching usually mean a greater distance from the screen. On the other hand, they’re likely to appreciate the superfast response time. However, this user profile intertwines with those overly accentuated colours we’ve already mentioned, so this isn’t exactly an entirely perfect solution. Bear in mind, though, that colours can be set up, while physical surface has to be bought. That brings us to the final retail price, which, taking into consideration the size and speed of this display, as well as available video inputs, seems decent.

 

ViewSonic VX2739wm
Diagonal	27"
Resolution	1920 x 1080
Pixel size	0.31 mm
Panel type	TN + Film
View angle (H/V)	170/160°
Pixel response	1 ms
Brightness	300 cd/m2
Contrast ratio	1,200:1
Connections	HDMI, DVI-D, D-Sub
Price	380 €
Contact	www.viewsoniceurope.com