ViewSonic VX2739wm LCD monitor

ViewSonic's VX2739wm Full HD, 27in LCD monitor is targeted towards gamers and boasts an HDMI port and built-in speakers. It is relatively inexpensive for a monitor of this size and offers reasonable image quality, but it doesn't excel in any particular area.

Once you get past the sheer size of the ViewSonic VX2739wm, this is quite a standard monitor. It has a glossy black bezel surrounding the display but, thankfully, a matte finish on the actual screen itself. We prefer screens with matte finishes, as a glossy finish usually reflects fluorescent lighting and can be distracting. The VX2739wm sits on a standard dome shaped base. The stand can only tilt; you can't adjust the height or swivel it. The monitor is wall mountable using a standard VESA mount.

The ViewSonic VX2739wm has four buttons that control the on-screen display (OSD) on the bottom right side of the bezel. The OSD is easy to use, but the buttons are awkwardly positioned towards the back of the monitor and the lack of light and hard-to-read labels mean using them at night isn't ideal. This isn't a huge issue though; once you've selected optimal picture settings, you shouldn't need to change them very often.

The ViewSonic VX2739wm has a 1920x1080, Full HD resolution. Its 1000:1 static contrast ratio and 300cd/m2 brightness are on par with most other TN LCD monitors on the market, and even some of the smaller LED-backlit screens such as the Samsung SyncMaster XL2370. However it boasts a significantly faster 1ms response time; along with HDMI, DVI and VGA inputs, this makes it ideal to connect to one of the latest high-definition gaming consoles. ViewSonic has clearly targeted this monitor at gamers on a budget. The two built-in speakers offer little in the way of bass but do a reasonable job on the whole, while we experienced no sign of lag or ghosting during gaming or movie watching via an HDMI connection.

ViewSonic has recently announced that all of its future LCD monitors will be LED-backlit, but the VX2739wm unfortunately misses out on this treatment. Despite this, image quality is reasonably detailed with strong brightness and accurate colours. During our DisplayMate tests, the VX2739wm distinguished gradients well but fell short in some of the colour tests — colours are accurate but not as vivid as we've seen on other TN panels. Backlight bleeding, a common issue for basic LCD monitors, is also present on the VX2739wm and is particularly noticeable on the top and bottom edges of the screen, while the backlight isn't as warm as some of the latest LED-backlit monitors.

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