Viewsonic VA2251m-TAA

For government agencies and other organizations seeking an affordable 22-inch desktop display that meets TAA (Trade Agreement Act) requirements, the Viewsonic VA2251m-TAA will fit the bill. This no-frills monitor offers good color quality and is a power miser, but its feature set is limited and it has trouble displaying the lightest and darkest shades of gray. A quick note regarding Trade Agreement Act eligibility; TAA compliancy requires that products purchased for government agencies are made in the U.S. or a designated TAA country, which in this case is Mexico.

Design and Features
Not unlike most budget monitors, the VA2251m-TAA is fairly ordinary looking. A matte black cabinet houses the 1920 x 1080 TN panel, which has a non-reflective matte anti glare coating. The screen is framed by thin (0.6-inch) bezels and is supported by a matching rectangular base. You can tilt the panel backward and forward but you can't swivel it or adjust its height. There are five buttons on the right side of the lower bezel, one of which is a power switch. The other four are used to navigate the OSD and serve as hot keys for adjusting contrast and brightness, selecting an input source, and adjusting speaker volume. The buttons are black and use black labeling that makes them very difficult to identify in a normal office lighting environment.

The VA2251m-TAA has DVI and VGA inputs but lacks a more current digital input such as HDMI or DisplayPort. You won't find any USB ports here either. There's an audio input for the speakers embedded in the rear of the cabinet. The speakers are low-powered and as such don't get very loud. They also lack mid-tone and bass response, which is typical for a low cost business monitor.

Picture settings are very basic. In addition to brightness and contrast, there are five color temperature presets (bluish, cool, native, warm, sRGB) and a user setting that lets you tweak red, blue, and green color values. There's a Dynamic Contrast control and three ECO modes (Standard, Optimize, Conserve). Optimize decreases panel brightness by 25-percent and Conserve decreases it by 50 percent (Standard is the default setting). Additionally, you can use the AutoAdjust feature to automatically center and fine tune the picture when using an analog signal.

Performance
The VA2251m-TAA's color reproduction is quite good for a low cost display. Swatches from the DisplayMate Color Scales test were well saturated and rich and appeared uniform across the scale. However, the panel didn't fare so well on the 64-Step Grayscale test; the lightest shades of gray were washed out and the darkest shades were black. Highlight and shadow detail was weak on my test photos as well.

Small text from the Scaled Fonts test looked clean and crisp but there was nominal color shifting when viewed from an extreme side angle, which is fairly common with TN panel technology.

The VA2251m-TAA used only 15 watts of power in my tests while operating in standard mode, which is excellent for a 22-inch panel. In Optimize mode power usage dropped to 13 watts and Conserve mode reduced usage to a mere 10 watts without becoming too dim. This kind of energy efficiency earns the VA2251m-TAA our Greentech stamp of approval.

For businesses seeking a low cost desktop display that meets Trade Agreement Act requirements, the Viewsonic VA2251m-TAA is a safe bet. It offers solid color performance and will help cut back on utility costs too. Its grayscale performance comes up short, but if you require a high degree of grayscale accuracy you should be looking at an ISP monitor. If you aren't bound by TAA restrictions and want an affordable monitor that offers good grayscale performance and outstanding color quality, the ISP-based Asus VS229H-P is your best bet.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/9tYnHsI2kqE/0,2817,2411478,00.asp

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