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Asus VE276Q
by TheGoodSurveyer
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=== Purpose of Purchase ===
I needed a new monitor after a previous one was damaged, following a power surge.
I initially wanted to get a new power circuit board, but as I couldn't find any at a decent price; I began visiting computer stores to take a look. One of the stores told me they sell ... PCBs, but as they had them unlabelled, they wanted me to bring in the monitor; so they could match the PCB. They couldn't match the PCB, but when I got home, I opened the monitor to find the mercury tubes broken. The store technician must've applied a lot of pressure when trying to open the monitor.
I then needed new mercury tubes and a PCB, and I wasn't sure if the inverter board was in working order. Even if I replaced two or three parts, there may still be something else wrong with it.
=== Recommendations ===
I was recommended several larger widescreen monitors; one of the biggest of them being twenty seven inches, with a nineteen twenty by ten eighty pixel resolution. This was one of the ASUS monitors I was recommended. I was recommended a number of monitors from various companies, but after reading the specifications of some of them; I could easily dismiss them from my wish list. Some other monitors were too expensive, and offered very little value for money; they weren't worth considering.
=== Purchase ===
I found the cheapest deal on the ASUS VE276Q on Amazon, which was still a few hundred pounds. I thought I'd take the risk of buying it, so I did. The total cost was more than four hundred pounds, and is currently sold at roughly half that price by laptops direct.
The monitor arrived a few days later, which was under the free Amazon Prime Delivery. The item was too heavy for the postman to throw through an open window; weighing at well over a stone in its packaging, and more than a stone without.
=== Features ===
The monitor has seven buttons at the front, five of which allow you to make quick adjustments, a menu button and a power button. The five quick adjustment buttons include audio volume, brightness, contrast, switching the display input, automatic adjustment and toggling between the display modes. The monitor also allows displaying two screens in one, under the picture in picture display function.
The monitor came with several cables and a kettle lead, which can all be connected at the back. The available ports include HDMI, DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, Audio-in and Audio-out. The HDMI cable wasn't provided, which I bought separately. The kettle lead was too short, but I had purchased longer surge protected kettle leads, so I wasn't worried about any of the cables. A CD is provided with additional software (LifeFrame), which can be used for simple graphic tasks.
=== Using the Monitor ===
I've used the monitor on a computer containing several multi-booted operating systems, with different image and video editing software, as well as multimedia and everyday word processing.
I found the monitor to be a bit small in terms of height, when it came to tasks involving editing, word processing and general use. Everything was good in multimedia. The reason is due to the monitor's display ratio, which is sixteen to nine. The ratio is of the horizontal and vertical display size; I prefer the sixteen to ten.
The colour and display quality is excellent, which is especially important to anyone who needs a monitor for multimedia and image editing purposes. The high quality display helps produce better quality images in an editor, as the colours and shading are much clearer. I took the time to try out a few games on this; I must say it's very impressive. Although the computer's GPU isn't too great, nor does it have extreme gaming performance capabilities.
The monitor is also very good for reading, which requires a slight brightness and contrast adjustment. I prefer to adjust the settings so that the text is easily visible, and the screen is to be slightly dimmed. This makes the display more eye friendly, and is especially good when looking at the screen for longer periods of time. Remember to take regular breaks, to avoid causing harm to your eyes. Word processing is made more comfortable due to the massive size of the monitor screen, which means I can sit more than a metre away from the screen and see everything clearly. This makes it especially good for writing letters, reports and reviews. If you're writing a very long document; it always helps to have access to a very large monitor.
The monitor comes with some software, which I found to be quite useless, because it only supports Windows. The software can be used for additional tasks to the standard monitor configurations, but I never had the need to use it. I was mostly using Linux on that computer.
=== Advantages ===
>> The monitor is very big, wide and supports HD.
>> It has very high quality display.
>> It has a very quick response time.
>> It's ideal for multimedia and gaming users, and quite good for general use.
>> Good for reading, with a bit of adjustment.
>> Good value for money.
=== Disadvantages ===
>> The height appears a bit small due to the 16:9 display ratio, where users are used to 16:10.
>> The additional software only works on Windows.
=== My Conclusion ===
If you want a very good monitor for an affordable price, and you don't mind the 16:9 display ratio, then I'd recommend you buy the ASUS VE276Q. If you're not a Windows user, you may want to take into consideration that you won't have access to the LifeFrame software.
If you only need a standard smaller screen, then you'll save yourself a lot of money by purchasing a cheaper smaller monitor.
I haven't had any real problems with the monitor, and the overall experience has been very good. I believe it was a good investment, and I'd rate the monitor four to five stars; an overall rating of five stars due to its quality.
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Asus VW247H
by Graeme567
I purhased this 24" monitor for a great price of just under £140 online and it arrived yesterday. Here is my review;
In the box:
DVI cable
VGA cable
Audio cable
Power cord
Quick start guide
Support CD
Warranty Card
Some notes about this monitor:
> It has speakers which ... are always handy if connecting to console via the monitor HDMI port! They are average, monitor, speakers. The sound is ok but I would not use them for music.
> The stand is matte finish, not glossy. This is good because glossy attracts fingermarks.
> It is very light and easy to lift.
________________________
NOW THE INTERESTING PART!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
First there were CRT. Huge power consumption.
Then there was LCD. Ok power consumption.
Now there is LED LCD. Lowest power consumption. (This monitor)
Before I bought this monitor I was using a 6 year old 19" LCD monitor consuming 54W.
Amazingly this 24" LED monitor consumes 16W, yes 16W, at a level that I find perfect (not too bright as bright monitors are horrible).
Nowadays, an LCD 24 inch monitor consumes around 50 Watts which is still high.
For me, buying this meant a saving of 38W(54-16) per hour. My monitor is on around 50 hours per week, saving 1900W per week or 98800W per year. If I pay an average rate of 13p per kwh in electricity, this saving is equal to £12.84 per year in electricity bills. Also, the standby power is only 0.2, where the old monitor was 4W, so this is more money savings!
In conclusion, I find it a great improvement in technology that I can now get a 24" monitor using 16W where I was using a 19" monitor using 54W.
Anyone reading this review, if you are thinking of buying a new monitor or TV, switch to LED. You will make huge savings and you'll help save the environment too!
More info: http://uk.asus.com/Display/LCD_Monitors/VW247H/#specifications
Power consumption info gathered from: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_find_es_products
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Asus VK246H
by noxiuniversitas
I used to do a lot of essay-writing which required reading multple sources and extensive cross-referencing. As such, to spoil myself I decideded to get a multiple monitor setup, comprising this monitor and two other 19-inch LCDs in portrait mode. Since then, I have wondered how I could ever have survived with a smaller ... screen.
Image quality: this has been excellent. Colours are vibrant, and images always look sharp and crisp. At maximum screen resolution, it looks even better than my laptop output to my 37" LCD Toshiba TV. I have my screen refresh rate set at the standard 60Hz, and have no complaints. There are various pre-sets available in the menu for you to play with if you so choose, each of which creates a slightly different image (for example a more mellow one) to suit your mood.
Input: the monitor offers three separate input methods - VGA, HDMI and DVI. This is useful as it allows you to connect a maximum of three separate devices to the monitor, meaning you don't have to constantly plug and unplug your devices. This is especially relevant to people who may want to buy a games console but who don't want to invest in a HD TV. Switching between inputs is a simple matter of pushing a button, although it seems to take an eternity fo the switch to occur.
Output: the speakers are awful, don't even consider using them. If your input is through HDMI, you can plug your speakers or headphones directly into the 3.5mm jack at the back of the monitor and enjoy the sound like its supposed to be enjoyed.
My only major gripe is that there is very limited room for adjusting the viewing angle. The stand that the monitor comes with doesn't really allow for any degree of tilt, so I have sometimes had to resort to putting my monitor on a thick book. Its a minor point, but a gripe nonetheless.
In summary, if you're looking for a cheap 24-inch display, this will do the job admirably.
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