ViewSonic VA2448-LED review

ViewSonic’s brand new VA2448-LED is a fairly typical example of a budget 24in, Full HD monitor. It has a tilt-only stand and VGA and DVI inputs. That’s about as far as the list of physical features extends – there are no built-in speakers, no USB hub or other extras, and no HDMI input. Most PCs have a DVI output, and if you want to connect HDMI devices such as a games console you can use an inexpensive HDMI to DVI cable, as the VA2448-LED supports HDCP.

Our only gripe is that ViewSonic includes a VGA cable in the box, instead of DVI. The power supply is built in, and all ports are rear facing. This makes it much easier to connect cables than on monitors with ports that face down; it may look neater, but they’re a pain to get to.

We weren’t particular fans of the VA2448-LED’s design. The gloss black plastic and bevelled edges don’t look particularly modern, but the addition of a triangular scoop on the bottom edge differentiates it slightly from the sea of other gloss black displays. A blue LED casts a faint glow in the scoop, but it’s only really noticeable in very dim lighting.

Although the controls are mounted on the rear of the right-hand edge, they are at least proper buttons. Regular readers will know how we much we dislike most touch-sensitive controls due to the fact that there’s nothing to feel for when your eyes are focused on the on-screen menus, and touch-sensitive systems can also be quite sluggish to respond.

There’s not much to tweak in the menu, but you do get a choice of colour temperatures including sRGB and a user mode where you can set the individual red, green and blue levels. The dynamic contrast is best left disabled; as with virtually every other monitor we’ve tested, it can’t overcome the fact that the LCD panel’s native contrast is only 1,000:1. Also, the obvious brightness changes when watching a video or playing a game are distracting.

Despite this, image quality is surprisingly good. We couldn’t improve on the default settings, except to reduce brightness slightly. Colours are natural enough for editing photos and video; they’re not oversaturated, and not too dull. Our test photos highlighted no problems at all. Contrast is perfectly acceptable for a monitor at this price – plenty of detail was retained in cloudy skies, for example, where other monitors simply show white areas. We saw no blurring or any other problems with motion when playing games or watching videos, either.

If you have two computers connected, you’ll appreciate that you can quickly switch between the VGA and DVI inputs by pressing the ‘2’ button. Pressing the up or down buttons provides direct access to brightness and contrast. Oddly, there’s no shortcut to the two Eco modes, ‘Optimize’ and ‘Conserve’. These reduce power consumption from 19W to 15W and 12W respectively but, as with other displays, this merely reduces brightness.

If you don’t need a monitor with an HDMI input or a height-adjustable stand that rotates to portrait mode, ViewSonic’s VA2448-LED is a great-value no-frills monitor.