BIOS: Technology Means Business

The VG920 is ViewSonic's brand-new 19-inch multimedia LCD monitor. Available from early next month, the display is a standard 4:3 monitor (451x391x197mm, 4.5kg), so it doesn't offer the extra screen space of widescreen displays for enhanced productivity, flexibility and viewing pleasure (especially for gamers and movie buffs). It does, however, integrate a pair non-removable 3-Watt stereo speakers.

ViewSonic's latest offering (Best Current Price: £261 inc. VAT) sports an attractive black-and-silver enclosure and robust design, but it's not without its shortcomings. In particular, it has a native resolution of just 1280x1024 pixels, it doesn't have headphone or line-out jacks for feeding more powerful audio sources, there's no S-Video port, its on-screen display (OSD) is unituitive (you're never quite sure which button to press), and the control buttons are virtually indistinguishable by touch.

Thankfully their functions are labelled, but it's annoying to have to keep referring to the tiny icons. Our test screen had a dead pixel too, which is a reflection of ViewSonic's quality control, and the tilt-only base (no swivel) won't find favour in corporate environments. These issues aside, the VG920 has a reasonable amount of features going for it. Its relatively speedy response time of 8ms means the screen is good enough to display even the most bustling action scenes or immersive gaming action without distortion or ghosting, and the stereo speakers are piercingly loud. The screen's bright at 300cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 500:1 is ideal for a multimedia monitor.

The multimedia model, with integrated power supply, is equipped with an analogue and a digital (DVI-D) interface as well as an audio input (short cable supplied), so you can toggle between two computers. Stereo speakers are integrated into the slim bezel and settings can be adjusted via the on-screen menu. Unfortunately, there are no direct settings for bass and treble levels, so you'll have manage these via your preferred media playback software or soundcard drivers.

Mid- and high-range audio levels were excellent in out tests, but the speakers lacked bass. As a result they're perfectly acceptable for general office and multimedia duties, but music buffs will be left wanting. The fact that they're only 2.1 and fixed may also put off games and movie enthusiasts looking for an all-round sound experience.

A lock function for the OSD and power switch prevent unauthorised changes to monitor settings and ensures the display won't be turned off accidentally. sRGB colour space adjustment is possible, to ensure the colours depicted on screen match those on printouts from sRGB-compatible printers, and the screen is PC and Mac-compatible.

From the OSD you can select the screen to automatically adjust the image size and centre the screen image automatically, alter contrast and brightness levels, select the input source (toggle between an analogue and a digital signal), adjust audio levels (there are also dedicated volume controls), tweak colour levels (factory setting is 6500K, but you can select 9300K or 5400K). You can also manually adjust horizontal size and position, vertical size and position, and sharpness level.

Thanks to ViewSonic's ClearMotiv technology, relatively high brightness and contrast levels, the LCD monitor delivers crisp, clear and vibrant images suited to a wide range of applications. When the LCD monitor is set to sRGB colour mode via the on-screen menu, the colours returned on sRGB-compatible printers will more closely match those shown on the screen.

Image quality was competent but not extraordinarily good, and we found the display's balance very good when running bright and colourful multimedia applications. Black levels weren't deep and rich however, a feature we cherish in an LCD monitor. Business users may also be disappointed that the screen can't pivot from landscape to portrait mode (a boon for viewing long documents or Web pages). Overall the VG920's image quality is above par for general computing duties and office tasks, but performance enthusiasts can get more for their money if integrated speakers aren't necessary. [7]