Nice, cheap widescreen monitor (Acer X221W)

Member Name: philhaz

Product:	Acer X221W
Date:	24/05/09 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Price, size, build quality

Disadvantages: Contrast ratio

When replacing my aging 19" TFT I had three requirements: it had to be widescreen, it had to be a decent size, and it had to be cheap.

Considering this, I went to amazon and picked the cheapest 22" widescreen monitor, which happened to be this Acer. The version I have is finished in a glossy black effect, and looks every bit as premium as some of the top-end Sony offerings.

Using it as a secondary display on a Vista laptop, there were some issues reaching its native 1680x1050 resolution to begin with. These were soon resolved by downloading new drivers from the internet, but it would have been nice if it'd just worked out of the box.

In terms of picture quality, you get what you pay for. I have no issues reading text for long periods of time, and find that the brightness is just right for most applications. I use it to watch a lot of films, and the one thing I think could be improved in this area is the contrast ratio. In a dimly-lit room, the backlight causes the corners to glow ever so slightly, and the blacks are not as black as you would get from a more expensive monitor. But this really is a minor gripe.

For the money they're asking, Acer is giving a lot. If you're looking into widescreen displays of this size, and have a limited budget, this should be the first monitor you look at.

Summary: Versatile second-screen for a smaller-screened laptop.

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