Viewsonic VP2770-LED review

Viewsonic’s VP2770-LED is very much a high-end monitor. It’s a 27in IPS screen with a huge 2,560×1,440 resolution, meaning it has 20% more screen area than a standard 1920×1080 display.

While text can look rather jagged on a 1920×1080 screen this large, at the VP2770-LED’s resolution things are much smoother. Modern versions of Windows cope fine with the resolution, scaling the operating system’s icons to suit, and it works particularly well with Windows 8’s Start Screen apps, which tend to run full-screen.

The large resolution also means that it’s simple to work on two documents side by side, and it’s perfect for using applications with multiple toolbars and windows, such as photo-editing like the excellent Adobe Photoshop Elements 11.

The monitor is also packed with features. It has VGA, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort inputs, and there’s also a built-in hub with two USB and two USB3 ports. The screen is also highly adjustable. You can use it in portrait and landscape modes, tilt it towards or away from you or pivot it from left to right. There’s also a large amount of height adjustment – you can raise the base of the screen from 88mm all the way to 242mm, so you should be able to get comfortable no matter how tall you are. The only real drawback is that the three-legged stand measures an enormous 518x418mm from leg tip to leg tip, so takes up an awful lot of your desk.

We were initially disappointed with the results of our calibration tests; out of the box, the VP2770-LED only came within 93% of the sRGB colour gamut, and the colour gamut diagram generated by our Dispcalgui calibration software showed the monitor struggling at its native Natural settings to display enough red and green to satisfy the sRGB standard. The monitor also has an sRGB mode, but this was much too dark, and there’s no way to change the brightness level when the screen is set to sRGB. However, once we set the screen to User mode and ran our calibration process using a Spyder4Express colorimeter, the software reported a much-improved 99% of sRGB colour gamut.

Viewsonic VP2770-LED pre-calibration gamut

Viewsonic VP2770-LED post-calibration gamut

When viewing our test images, we struggled to find fault with the monitor. Large areas of colour were vibrant and uniform across the display, and the monitor showed all the detail we could hope for in both light and dark areas of our test pictures. The screen’s matte finish also means it hardly suffers from reflections from overhead light sources.

Viewsonic’s VP2770-LED is a feature-packed and highly-adjustable monitor, with superb picture quality once you’ve calibrated it yourself. It doesn’t have the best colour accuracy out of the box, so we’d recommend you invest in a colour calibrator, but if you’re prepared to do this it’s a great buy. However, if you can do without the USB hub and screen pivot and want better colour accuracy out of the box, we’d recommend saving £50 and buying the Asus PB278Q.