ViewSonic VX2457-mhd review

ViewSonic’s new VX2457 comes in several different variants. The VX2457-mhd on test here is a 24in 1920×1080 TN monitor which supports AMD FreeSync. If you have a compatible AMD graphics card, you’ll get a tear-free experience at up to 75Hz. The monitor can be found for £139 on Amazon. See also: Best budget displays 2016. 

ViewSonic VX2457-mhd monitor review: Build quality and Design

The ViewSonic VX2457-mhd has a tilting stand (forward 5 degrees, backwards 23 degrees), but no pivot or height adjustment. Usefully, though, it can be mounted on a standard VESA 100x100mm stand – you can clearly see the four mounting holes:

We were a bit disappointed by the build quality, as we found the stand couldn’t really cope with the weight of the display and it wobbled more than we’d have liked. The glossy plastic base might look nice, but it does tend to show the dirt and fingerprints. Thankfully, the rest of the monitor is finished with a matt grey coating which is also less distracting to the eye.

The bezels are neither thin like on the Asus VN247H, but nor are they overly big like on the BenQ RL2460HT. Adding a bit of style at the front is a curved plastic power light, but you can turn this off if you don’t like it.

At the back on the bottom right hand-side there are a few awkwardly placed buttons which are used for the on-screen-display (OSD). The OSD buttons are also not clearly indicated, whereby they are denoted by a 1, 2, arrow up, arrow down and game logo.

The screen itself has a matt finish which prevents reflections. There’s a also a Kensington Lock slot, which allows you to secure your monitor to the desk. See all display reviews. 

ViewSonic VX2457-mhd monitor review: Connectivity and OSD

The ViewSonic VX2457-mhd has HDMI, DisplayPort and VGA connections at the back, alongside an auxiliary 3.5mm input and output. There’s no DVI connection, but this shouldn’t be a problem for most people.

The monitor has – like most monitors – a pair of weedy speakers. These are really just for Windows sounds; you’re not really going to want to use them for gaming or watching videos.

With a simple button-press you’ll be able to quickly change the input, adjust the volume, brightness and contrast settings and also enable game mode. Within the OSD we were pleased to see an extensive list of options, such as the ability to individually adjust the red, green and blue levels, change the sharpness, adjust the blue-light filter, lower the response time and enable low-input-lag mode.

An interesting feature is the ability to reduce the blue light – handy if you’re using the monitor late at night as blue light from LCD panels is proven to keep some people awake.

ViewSonic VX2457-mhd monitor review: Performance

The display runs at a 75Hz refresh rate with a response time of 2ms Grey to Grey (GtG), which is great for those who want a smoother and responsive gaming experience over the standard 60Hz refresh rate found on most monitors. 

We found the ViewSonic to have a great overall response time and low input lag in fast paced games. The Low Input mode found within the OSD noticeably reduces input lag. However, Low Input mode can’t be used at the same time as the faster Response Time option, which is odd.

In our tests we found the various ‘faster’ response options led to noticeable ghosting, so it’s best to enable the Low Input mode and have the Response Time option set to Standard.

Using our Spyder5Elite, the VX2457-mhd achieved a gamut that displayed 98 percent of sRGB’s colour space and a mediocre 77 percent of AdobeRGB’s colour space. It also had impressive colour accuracy with an average Delta E of 0.95 (lower is better). This means you’ll be able to see accurate colours, benefiting those who are looking to use the monitor for photo and video editing through colours which aren’t washed out. See also:  Best UHD displays 2016.

Unfortunately, viewing angles aren’t great, You really have to look at the monitor square-on to see colours as they’re meant to be. At a slight angle, either from the top and bottom or left and right, the colour shift is noticeable. This especially affected small text written under icons, where purple-blueish colours would shine through a pure black text.

Returning to test results from the Spyder, the VX2457 has a good brightness output of 265cd/m2 and a great contrast ratio of 1050:1, which means the black levels and white point accuracy were both well presented. This will mean you will see deep blacks in dark scenes and accurate white colours which aren’t yellow-tinted.

Finally, we were impressed with AMD FreeSync, which enables certain AMD graphics cards to synchronise with the monitor’s 75Hz refresh rate. This reduces tearing which occurs in certain games and gives a noticeably smoother look. Of course, the VX2457-mhd will work with Nvidia and AMD cards which don’t support FreeSync. You just won’t get the same synchronisation.