ViewSonic VX2457-MHD 24 Inch 75Hz Gaming Monitor - Full HD 1080p, 2ms Response Time, AMD FreeSync, HDMI & DP Ports, Eye Care Technology, Black - Perfect for Esports, Home Office & Multimedia Entertainment

Fast response time and 75hz makes this a great screen for rigs that dont push 4k but are a step up from 1080. I use it as a third monitor to have projects on when my 4ks are taken up by photoshopping or games.For the most part this monitor is pretty a standard, decent monitor. No real flaws compared to expectations at this price, but nothing really standing out either... With one major exception: Freesync -- As far as I'm aware, this is the least expensive 24" freesync monitor on the market. Which, really, is a pretty big deal. So, given that everything else works like you'd expect, this review will focus almost entirely on that one feature.First, a quick overview of how freesync works, and what it means. Most people looking at this may already understand it fully, so feel free to skip. Basically, a monitor works by pulling displaying a scene a certain, specific number of times a second, on a precisely timed refresh cycle. A video card, on the other hand, works by rendering a scene from top to bottom, then immediately starting on rendering the next scene. The currently rendered information is stored in a buffer, and when the monitor's cycle time rolls around, the current contents of the buffer are sent to the monitor. This process can be a problem if the monitor is timed to receive the buffer right in the middle of a refresh - the top half of the screen will be the next frame, where the bottom will be the prior frame. Especially when there is rapid side-to-side motion, this can cause 'broken' objects, walls, etc. on the screen - commonly referred to as 'screen tearing.' A common fix for screen tearing is 'vsync' - which is, in effect, having multiple buffers; the live buffer that gets rendered data, and the output buffer, which only gets refreshed when the live buffer is completely finished with a rendering. Unfortunately, for various reasons, enabling vsync can have serious performance and input lag impacts, making it often undesirable (admittedly, much of the problem here is software/implementation, but still...). Freesync works by allowing the monitor to vary its refresh rate, so long as the refresh cycle falls within a certain functional range. This monitor has a 48 to 75 hz freesync range - what that means is, as long as each frame is between 1/48th and 1/75th of a second after the prior frame, the monitor will refresh precisely when the next frame is ready, rather than its normal refresh timing cycle. If the framerate drops to 45 fps, or if it goes up to 80 fps, freesync will no longer have any impact.So with all that said, the one reason this monitor doesn't get 5 stars is, 48 to 75 is a pretty weak range. The upper bound I completely understand; at this price point, it would be unreasonable to expect a 144hz refresh rate at all (75 is actually the upper end for the monitor overall). However, I'd have really preferred to see a better lower limit, like 30fps. I strongly prefer higher refresh rates myself, but setting quality high enough to *usually* run at (for example) 60fps will often lead to occasional slowdowns, and slowing down to 30fps occasionally is still a pretty good experience - unless when that happens, you suddenly have glaringly obvious tearing alongside the slowdown. Having said that, it's fairly straightforward to keep refreshes within this range - The AMD driver suite has the option to frame limit, so just setting a universal 75hz frame limit accomplishes the high end - then for the low end, simply make sure your game is set to quality settings appropriate to your video card in order to ensure it can almost always break 48fps. In theory, you could also go ahead and enable vsync; since the monitor will alter its refresh rate to match the buffer, vsync *SHOULD* have minimal performance impact while in the vsync range -- but I think it's a bad idea, since the objective of enabling vsync would be to fix tearing when framerate dropped below 48fps ... and since that would only happen when outside of the freesync range, performance *would* be impacted, right when performance is already at its worst. Bad combo :)So to take all that semi-technical info and put it into context of actual games:PROS--No more screen tearing! (usually, within certain contexts)-Very affordable!-Darn good entry level monitor in general besidesCONS--75hz upper boundary on refresh may not be desirable, especially if you play twitch multiplayer games-48hz lower boundary means you'll need to be a bit more attentive to video rendering quality settings, or lose freesync effectiveness when you get slowdownSo if you ****HATE**** screen tearing, but also ****HATE**** the input lag usually associated with vsync, and if you don't really play a lot of twitchy/mp gaming, this can be a great solution for a really affordable price. If you really love the higher refresh rates seen on other monitors, this probably isn't the best choice, but all the options to fill that need are a noticeable price increase over this option.My use isn't gaming - but I will look at relatively large images/models so the resolution and image quality is important. My viewsonic arrived very quickly - and I removed the built in stand and put it on a monitor holder that allows you to swing the monitor around - standard TV/monitor mount and this monitor just fits (took a bit of qualified guessing to see which screws I had to remove to remove the built in stand completely). Eventually I need to use the DisplayPort but for now I'm doing fine with standard VGA.The image is clear, basic video playback works and basic modelling programs work and is easy to view. No adjustments needed (using Fedora 34 - "just works").I already had external speakers and a sub that I found in the bin of "old but good stuff". Then I realized the monitor had both speaker and microphone ports so I thought I wanted to give it a try. The old sound system sounded perfectly fine - but it feels like a cardboard speaker - not even a left/right channel speaker - same mono speaker that sounds like it's coming out of a plastic jug somewhere. I'll keep using my REAL speakers thank-you-very-much - so while I didn't choose this monitor for that feature, I'm deducting a star as an advertised feature is barely present. I have other monitors with build in sound - and you can barely tell the difference on basic video play-back (games is a different story). You can DEFINITELY tell a difference here. I fear the mic would be even worse (did not test). Even more strange, you have no volume keys on the monitor! You have to go through a menu to find the audio settings to set the volume controls. So much for a quick "mute" button if you need it.The operations buttons are on the back of the monitor - behind the labels printed on the front. This is definition "odd" - I'm used to buttons on the front or on the bottom of the monitor - not on the back, but I guess you could get used to it in the long run.Given the relatively low resolution and framerate (at least with standard VGA that I'm using now) this is definitely NOT a gaming system. It will not be used with a high-end graphics card - but I do think you would get "ok" performance on the average game, and if you're not a "graphics-phile" probably wouldn't notice reduced framerates etc on this monitor.The advantage of this monitor is the price-point. You can get relatively good quality for the money and get two for what you would have to pay for one high quality one. For a monitor I need on a work-bench, that will do just fine.Really pleased with this purchase. I bought this monitor for £100 which it was on sale and at that price its good for a freesync monitor. It took a few tweaks to get the brightness/contrast exactly as I like it but that happens with every monitor I work with. People can say the color's don't look right but it has adjustments, you just have to take the time to use them. The menus as with any monitor are a little confusing but I havent found one yet that had some trial and error.Pro's- Value for Money (a good inexpensive freesync enabled monitor)- Colours (there is good saturation and brightness)Cons- No Height Adjustment- A slight amount of back light bleed at the edge but its very minimal and only when viewed from certain anglesNiggles- Controls for the menus are on the backside of the monitor which can be tricky to operateOverall very impressed with the monitor and I had it setup, tweaked to my preference in around 10 minutes.Note: For users wanting to use this for freesync with an AMD graphics card you will need to do the following. Go into Windows Display settings and change your monitor refresh rate to 75 hertz. Go into the menus in the monitor and enable Display Port 1.4 and Freesync. Download the latest AMD drivers from AMD.com and then once you have them installed there will be an option within AMD software to enable freesync. (it took me a bit of research to get this working so wanted to make it quicker for others.)Its an ok monitor and you get what you pay for but would advise you to go elsewhere.I bought this from CCL computers and I would have returned it if I didn't have to stump up £16 for P&P. If you buy this then buy it from amazon "Prime" then if you need to return it you can free of charge.Pros.Its a nice looking 27inch monitorFreesync enabled with the right GPU, check if your AMD GPU will run Freesync - if this is something you want to use75 MHz resolution @1080Cons.The stand is a little weak and wobbly but not noticeable when it is on the pc desk.The light bleed from the screen is really noticeable and off putting - the main reason why I wouldn't buy this product again and would of returned it if it wasn't going to cost me the p&p.The buttons are at the back of the screen on the right hand side and can be a bit fiddly when trying to set the screen to the right configuration.I feel almost wrong writing this as the monitor was so bad, I actually wonder if I got a faulty one.When the box first arrived, it was clear it had been resealed by the manufacturer. The seal sticker was doubled up and the box did show signs it had been opened. Monitor itself had all the covering on it and looked new with no dead pixels so fine, we'll ignore that. That is when the problems started.Colour is bad. Really really bad. Worst monitor I've ever seen bad. I tried tuning it and got it sort of ok but never great. Blues still appeared purple and the colour was washed out at different parts of the panel. To make it more difficult, when you open the OSD, the monitor colour changes, then reverts again when you close it.Text in Windows 10 just wasn't clear. The usual calibration options helped some but it never got close to any of my other screens and remained fuzzy.Next up was to try the PS4. Going through my hdmi switcher it kept flickering and had green lines showing on screen. Fine so it doesn't like the switcher. Swapped the cables around and plugged it in directly which worked fine however the monitor then refused to go into power saving mode, repeatedly turning itself off and then back on saying no signal, then repeating the process.Given the numerous problems, I never got to try the freesync option, it did run a PC game fine with v-sync enabled.Bought this monitor for my gaming rig.At first, colours seemed a little washed out. Removed the presets and set everything to default instead of "game 1" or whatever that was.As soon as I did, I was very happy with the image quality. Visuals are very crisp, nothing more to really ask for.Monitor speakers: for one, don't bother with any monitor speakers. Period. If you are looking for good sound, get a proper speaker system, a sound bar, or a decent set of headphones. The speakers in the monitor are okay but won't wow anyone. Don't let it weigh on the opportunity to have a good monitor at [email protected] monitor is worth it for any console and entry/mid PC gamer.Pretty much as expected. This is hooked up to an Xbox one in my son's bedroom via HDMI. Picture quality is superb. Really balanced colours with a decent brightness (without being overpowering) and a good field of vision. Only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because the sound is poor. To be fair however sound is poor on most of these type of screens and I suspect most people will have speakers hooked up to their computer so wouldn't be an issue. For the Xbox my son uses a gaming headset anyway so the sound is not an issue.I've mounted it to the wall using the VESA holes on the back and it looks really nice.