Posted 11/09/09 at 05:40:31 PM by Michael Brown

None of the monitors we examined was flawless, but the ViewSonic VX2433wm surprised us with how poorly it fared in many of our DisplayMate benchmarks, even after an intense round of button-mashing. In the color-uniformity test, for instance, the monitor should have displayed a consistent wash of color from edge to edge; what it delivered instead was a mottled, blotchy mess.

The VX2433wm had trouble with all four test colors (red, green, blue, and gray), but the distortion was particularly objectionable with green and blue—it was almost like staring at a Rorschach inkblot (ironic, considering we used Watchmen for our Blu-ray movie test). The ViewSonic turned in another poor performance when displaying low-saturated colors against the high end of the grayscale, with red, green, and blue at two-percent saturation disappearing into the background.

Continue reading this review after the jump.

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Posted 06/25/09 at 08:58:24 AM by Paul Lilly

First spied at CES earlier this year, ViewSonic has begun shipping its VPC100 All-in-One PC in the U.S. Billed as being eco-friendly, ViewSonic says the VPC100 uses about 50 percent less plastics and requires roughly 45 percent less power than a traditional computer.

The spec sheet screams nettop and consists of an 18.5-inch LCD display with a 1366x768 resolution, Intel Atom N270 processor (1.6GHz, 533MHz frontside bus), 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 160GB hard drive, four USB 2.0 ports, WiFi, Super Multi DVD writer, and Windows XP.

The VPC100 is available now with an MSRP set to $599, an street pricing hovering around $550.

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Posted 03/19/09 at 10:23:34 AM by Paul Lilly

If laptops keep getting bigger, we may need a new term for these gigantic portable PCs. Such would be the case if rumors of ViewSonic releasing a 22-inch notebook turn out to be true.

The rumor comes courtesy of news site DigiTimes. Citing those always un-named "industry sources" in Taiwan, DigiTimes says ViewSonic is looking to have a bigger presence in the Chinese market, a goal it literally plans to follow through with by developing a 22-inch laptop to be released in China. The company also plans to push its full product line, from LCDs to netbooks, in China as well.

Earlier this year ViewSonic jumped into the netbook and nettop sectors with the VieBook and ViePC, respectively. The all-in-one ViePC comes with an 18.5-inch display, which means the low-power desktop would be trumped in size by the rumored 22-inch laptop.

No other details are yet available on the upcoming notebook, including price and whether or not ViewSonic also plans to release it in the U.S. market.

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Posted 01/09/09 at 09:42:48 AM by Paul Lilly

Need more proof that the netbook market is the most popular kid on the block? Try this on for size - ViewSonic is getting in on the action! That's right, the company best known for its monitors, digital picture frames, and other types of displays plans to offer a computing line based on the stupid popular netbook and nettop segments.

The VieBook, as ViewSonic's calling it, will check in at 2.6 pounds and pack an Intel Atom (what else?) 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of memory, a 160GB hard drive, a webcam, WiFi, and all the other doodads you'd expect on a modern netbook. A 10.2-inch screen and Windows XP Home round out the package.

On the nettop front, ViewSonic will also release the VPC100 ViePC, an all-in-one unit with an 18.5-inch display. This too will boast the same internals of the VieBook, except the ViePC drops down from a 4-in-1 media card reader to a 3-in-1 and adds a DVD burner.

Last on the list of ViewSonic's venture into low power computing is the LinkPC, an attachable box that the company says will hook up to the back of any VESA compatible monitor. Once again, look for an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of memory, and a 160GB hard drive as the main components.

ViewSonic says the VieBook and ViePC will be available in February 2009 for $430 and $550 respectively, with the LinkPC showing up in March 2009 for $400.

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Posted 01/08/09 at 02:50:05 PM by Andy Salisbury

Today Nvidia announced their wireless 3D solution aimed at games, photos and movies, GeForce 3D Vision.

GeForce 3D Vision will work with “the new pure Samsung and ViewSonic 120 HZ LCD monitors, Mitsubishi DLP HDTVs, and the DepthQ HD 3D Projector by Lightspeed Design, Inc.” And instead of working on the principles of polarized light, it will work with a sequence of high-speed LCD shutters in a pair of special glasses that will alternate on a timed sequence along with the images as they’re displayed on the monitor.

Nvidia’s newest step into the 3D realm will be available starting today from online retailers such as CompUSA, Tiger Direct and straight from Nvidia.com. It’ll be priced at $199.

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Posted 09/16/08 at 03:54:37 PM by Norman Chan

Take note, Rainier Wolfcastle, because these goggles may actually do something. Nvidia’s latest visual computing venture is a serious foray into stereoscopic 3D, a technology that has not found success among mainstream consumers (or even enthusiasts) in recent history. 3D movies and gaming at home have always been seen as gimmicky, a perception that can largely be attributed to the fact that you have to wear some pretty goofy glasses to experience the effect. In fact, past iterations of 3D stereographic technology (including efforts by the now-defunct company ELSA) have been especially troublesome because they required bulky headgear (that had to be tethered to your PC) that had a tendency to give gamers headaches after just a few minutes of use. Nvidia wants to reinvigorate the 3D stereoscopic market by developing its own glasses hardware and driver software, which they hope will avoid the pitfalls of previous efforts.

Do we have the technology to make stereoscopic 3D tech practical? And more importantly, is this something that, as a gamer, you’d be open to embrace? 

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Posted 08/22/08 at 02:00:00 PM by David Murphy

ViewSonic’s VX2240w is unwatchable at its factory default setting—the screen’s brightness is cranked beyond the point of acceptable image quality. Fortunately, we were able to tweak the display’s settings to produce an image that was at least similar in quality to the Gateway HD2201’s. While the VX2240 matched the HD2201 tit for tat in its ability to produce lighter shades of gray on a solid white background, the former exhibited better color saturation in the lighter shade levels.

We control the horizontal; we control the vertical after the jump.

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Posted 04/11/08 at 01:02:51 PM by David Murphy

ViewSonic’s VLED221wm 22-inch LCD is the first LED-backlit display to grace our Lab, and we were anxious to put the technology to the test. LCD monitors typically sport cold cathode fluorescent backlighting, which can be less than uniform, and because it’s always on in the background, it can impair a screen’s ability to produce a true black. With LEDs, the screen is backlit with a grid of lights that can be turned on and off as needed. Sure enough, the 1680x1050 VLED221wm was capable of a black that exceeded that of any other LCD we’ve tested—but the result was actually overkill.

Click Read More for more. 

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