ViewSonic VX2276-SMHD
ViewSonic’s VX2776-SMHD is a 27in full HD monitor with an elegant design and great colour accuracy. At £199, it’s more expensive than many of its competitors, though.
Design
As you can see from our image this is certainly a good-looking display. Alongside its silver bezel and brushed aluminium base, the monitor has a borderless design around the sides and top, which helps the image stand out and gives a more cinematic experience. As for the stand, it allows you to move the unit five degrees forward and 17 degrees backward.
The ViewSonic’s On Screen Display (OSD) buttons are located in the bottom righthand side of the monitor. They are, however, too small for our liking and during testing we found them hard to press. Furthermore they aren’t clearly labelled, which is annoying if you want to quickly access a specific setting.
On the rear of the VX2776 are HDMI, DisplayPort and D-Sub (VGA) display sockets. There is also a headphone out and auxiliary input.
The monitor comes with two 3W speakers, which are fine if you are working in Windows but not for listening to music or gaming.
On Screen Display
The ViewSonic’s OSD offers a wide variety of options. You can, for example, adjust or mute the audio, modify the view mode, and change the colour, contrast and brightness. Other features include Black Stabilization, which lets you customise the levels of black used; Advanced DCR for more dynamic colours; and Blue Light Filter, which is designed to reduce eyestrain.
Performance
The VX2776-SMHD comes with flicker-free technology, which should help reduce eye strain. It also has a response time of 4ms, according to ViewSonic.
In our Spyder5Elite test, the monitor displayed a maximum brightness of 211.6cd/m2, which is a little dim when compared to other monitors we’ve seen. Nevertheless, the ViewSonic’s maximum brightness will still suffice for bright room conditions. We also found its 800:1 contrast ratio a little low for an IPS panel.
The VX2776-SMHD achieved 99 percent of sRGB’s colour space, and 77 percent of Adobe RGB. In comparison, the Philips 246E7QDSW which has a PLS panel (very similar to IPS technology), was able to score an impressive 85 percent – a number that will appeal more to those who want a better colour gamut range.
Colour accuracy is more impressive though, with a Delta E of 1.14 (lower is better). We found its colours to be accurate, though slightly lacking in saturation. However, through the OSD you can fine-tune the colour temperature and image quality settings to make the colours pop a tad bit more.
Verdict
The VX2776-SMHD looks great and has good colour accuracy. Unfortunately, when it comes to brightness, contrast and response time things aren’t as rosy. If it were cheaper we could overlook them, but at this price, there are better options.