ASUS MX279H Computer Monitor Review

This computer monitor from ASUS comes snugly packed. Out of the box, package includes VGA cable, 3.5mm AUX cable, power adapter and HDMI to DVI cable. The panel very slim, so you have external adapter which is nice for warming feet during cold winter days. Monitor that I have unpacked had no bad pixels. Out of the box, it was very bright which washed out colors a little bit so you will have to calibrate it a little bit in order to make colors a little move vivid. Since backlighting is even there was no much bleed. Base is attached to display screen with one screw and it sits pretty good on the table, it is very stable.

Display panel is about 2 cm thick, it is not edge to edge, you have about 1 cm on the sides and about 1.5cm at the top. All this make this panel pretty good looking, and as it is matte screen, you will not have reflection or glare when you watch it. Ports on ASUS MX279H are a bit different then on most monitors, they extend straight backwards so this make all easier to connect. Well, connecting is certainly easier, but management is a bit confusing.

OSD is fluid and touch controls are neatly tucked away just under the bottom edge. Controls are certainly responsive and very easy to learn. First thing that I have changed is color mode to sRGB and I suggest you to do the same. That will result in lower brightness without affecting the colors. I may say that colors are very accurate and clear and since this is ISP monitor you will notice difference at this point. If you want, you may also lower down trace free feature to eliminate major amount of ghosting effects.

When talking about response time and contrast, contrast ration of ASUS MX279H is 1000:1 while response is 10ms. That would be good for every day gaming. If your previous monitor had faster response time you will notice slight difference. I have tried playing few games like Far Cry 3 and Battlefield 3. I may say that higher response time was noticeable but colors were amazing. Everything just came alive. After some playing, I have tried playing Blu-Ray movie, and on 1080p resolution everything was great. Colors are natural and picture is crystal clear. Furthermore, text and images are also sharp.

Chances that you will use speakers that are built in are small anyway, but if you do want to use them they are better than in most computer monitors. Of course, do not expect much from them considering that they are tiny. Don’t expect from them to compare with living room TV. On the other hand, I do believe that you will use more often other nice feature, passthrough, to connect your headphones to your monitor, which will make playing games or using console more convenient.

For the price at this moment, I could say that this monitor, ASUS MX279H, is a great buy, It is slim and beautiful, IPS display, amazing color reproduction, stable on the desk and have good response time. Only thing that is a bit odd with it is port direction that may not be suitable for the all consumers. In case that you are hardcore gamer, I suggest you to chose something from VG series as they have 144Hz refresh rate. For all other people, that don’t play games as that much this could be one monitor to buy!

PROS:

- Beautiful design (silver - black combination), stable on the desk

- Very thing panel, near edge to edge matte screen

- Amazing color reproduction, sharp text, very bright

- Little backlight bleed with even LED lighting

- Dual HDMI input (good for connection PC and other device like Blu-Ray, gaming console)

CONS:

- No DisplayPort

- Slow response time in case that you are gamer

For more information`s about ASUS MX279H and price check this LINK

Cheap LED and LCD Computer Monitors

To be honest, it was a bit difficult for me to choose what I would demand from the cheep LED or LCD monitor. Main reason for that is the fact that it may be cheep, but why you would buy it if it is peace of junk? Of course, there is no point to look for cheapest possible monitor when you will spend time in front of it. So, next monitors that I have decided to choose are cheep but not the cheapest on the market. Those are the ones that are worthy to purchase.

And now, I believe that I'm done talking nonsense, it is time to reveal my first few picks for this article. There will be no practical listing by listing or price, no particular order so all of those are number five or number one. Place is not important at all on this list. So, let's start this with one very beautiful computer monitor.

HP Pavilion 20 xi 20-Inch Screen LED-lit Monitor

As said few lines before, this 20 inch LED monitor is beautiful, at least for me. That is my first impression, although I have black screen in front of me. If you are one of those people that believe that first impression is important then go for it. Price of somewhat more than $100 is ridiculous for a 20 inch display.

When talking about monitor quality and performance, we could say that it has IPS display which means that if is capable to produce bright, vivid image with great accuracy and consistency across wide viewing spectrum (although users state that it is not that bright). It has native resolution of 1600x900 pixels (not full HD), 7 ms GtG response time (not that great for FPS and similar games),

When talking about user experience, hate it or love it, it really depends of what you want it for. If you are looking for good price, then this is a bargain. All in all, pretty good monitor at cheap price.

ViewSonic VA2246M-LED 22-Inch LED-Lit LCD Monitor

I have decided to write a little bit about this one particular model from ViewSonic, mostly because it is worth buying, especially if you have small office or if you do not use speakers much for listening loud music. This monitor comes with integrated speakers, so it is one plus for it. Price is another one as it comes at the price of $120 and that is great for 22 inch LED monitor.

When talking about performance, I will say that this is Full HD (1920x1080 pixel) wide monitor with 16:9 aspect ratio. It has 10M:1 dynamic contrast ratio, automatic adjustment, DVI and VGA inputs (although DVI cable is not included in the package). It is capable of delivering great contrast and vivid image and combined with 5ms response time (I do believe for gray-to-gray) that will ensure smooth playback.

Users tend to prize this ViewSonic monitor, mainly because of its price and low brightness bleeding. No one said that this monitor had dead pixels, so no worry about that. All of them said that it is good monitor for home or office while speakers are not that great as expected. In overall, good full HD monitor at reasonable price.

ASUS VS228H-P 22-Inch Full-HD 5ms LED-Lit LCD Monitor

This article would not be complete if we don’t have ASUS monitor review, not because ASUS is that good, but because ASUS is solid and cheap. This particular model, VS228H-P comes at price of $130. It is really slim, looks good and simple, just the stuff that I like. I'm not that much in fancy stuff on my desk.

When talking about performances, ASUS VS228H-P is 22 inch wide, Full HD computer monitor with 1920x1080 pixel resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. For the backlight, as you can see from its name, it uses LEDs that deliver great dynamic contrast of 50M:1 powered with ASUS smart contrast ratio. One big plus for this monitor is HDMI port and great 5ms response time.

When talking about user reviews, most of the users prize this monitor and say that there is no much to say against it. Users like design and contrast ratio, fact that it has HDMI port so you can plug in it your headphones. Also they like physical buttons on it. It sands good on the desk without fear that you will knock it down. On negative side, users say that when it goes to standby, the music stops playing. Also, it is not IPS monitor. All in all, for this price it is real bargain, so you can consider it for sure.

Difference between LCD and LED

Back to basics

Most of the time people do not understand what is LCD, LED, what that stands for and why people gave those names to monitors since when you look at them, they do look pretty much the same. They appear to be completely the same. When you look at them, you will see that LCD monitors are just a bit thicker, so why is that? Why people gave them those names?

Let's start with LCD since they appeared first on the market as replacement for well known CRT displays. LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. That basically means that they use light modulating properties. Since they do not emit light directly they need some sort of back-light. Well, there are few different types of LCD displays but we will focus on technology behind computer monitors in order to not go to much technical here.

When talking about computer LCD monitors, we need to know that those have CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamps) placed behind of the panel that produce the light needed for producing image that we actually see on our monitor. Maybe it would be easier for you to imagine big screen with fluorescent lamps, which you have in your home or office, which are used for producing light (but much smaller). Because of those lamps, LCD monitors are a bit bulkier compared to LED monitors.

LED stands for Light Emitting Diodes, which is pretty self explanatory, so those displays have diodes that produce light for illuminating LCD display. So, basic difference between LED and LCD displays is their back-light. Apart from back-light, technology is pretty much the same. So, why so much talking about which one is better? Main reason is because of not understanding the basics.

So, why we have them when they are the same?

Well, they are not the same; they utilize same technology but LEDs use much less power meaning that they are more energy efficient compared to LCDs with CCFL back light. LEDs produce brighter colors thanks to diodes that produce bright light, so they have tendency to produce better image that you see on your screen. You have noticed that I have said "have tendency" and you are puzzled now.

When companies make computer displays, when talking about LCDs, they must place those CCFL lamps one next to other in order to cover whole back side of the monitor in order to produce image. When talking about LED monitors, they can make few different types of them just with placing diodes on different places that lead to different quality of produced image.

There are few different types of LEDs: one have diodes placed on the top, top and bottom, on all four sides and even with diodes that spread all over the back of the display. You can guess which one is best and more expensive. Yes, with diodes that cover whole back side, but they do not produce computer monitors with whole back side with diodes. Now, let me show you few images that can explain all this technical stuff just a bit better.

On this image you can see what is basic difference between LED (on the left side) and LCD (CCFL back-light on the right side) monitors. You may notice that LED monitors could produce a bit better image.

On the following image you can see what I mean when talking about diode placement in LED monitors. Hope that now you can understand a bit better what I was trying to explain.

I hope that now you understand why people talk that much about LCD and LED monitors. Believe me, this is shortest explanation that I could give you in order not to skip important details.  Now, when you know what we are talking about, we may proceed and look for interesting monitors and different types that you can find online.