Specifications & Connectivity
The 22” Viewsonic VX2245wm LCD display has a native resolution of 1680 x 1050 with a 700:1 contrast ratio. Brightness is 280 cd/m2 and the display has a 5ms gray-to-gray response time making it great for gaming. The display area measures 18.7 H x 11.7 W x 22” diagonal. Viewing angles are good at 170 degrees horizontal and 160 degrees vertical. The display weighs in at 18.7 pounds with the stand and measures 20.6” x 19.4” x 8.4” with the stand.

Connectivity on the display is not as robust as some other displays on the market with one DVI and one VGA input. No HD component inputs are offered. To go along with the integrated iPod dock there are two 2.5-watt speakers and one 3-watt sub. The plug that you use to power the display doesn’t power the dock and speakers; rather it has its own power supply. The base of the Viewsonic VX2245wm 22” LCD has four A type USB ports, one B type USB port, audio out jack, audio in jack and a headphone jack. There is also an analog volume knob on the front of the base to control the sound level during iPod playback. On the right side of the Viewsonic VX2245wm 22” LCD’s base is also a card reader that can read SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro, SM and CF Microdrive.

Visually the Viewsonic VX2245wm 22” LCD is definitely a very attractive monitor. The glossy black finish looks great, though it does tend to be smudged with fingerprints easily. Around the top and sides of the display is a silver ridge that offsets the black color nicely. The surface of the LCD screen is covered with an anti-glare coating that does a good job of reducing glare on the screen, which in turn makes the display easier on your eyes and helps deliver better visual quality.

Testing
To test out the display I watched some movies and played some games on the Viewsonic VX2245wm 22” LCD. First up was some gaming on the display. I fired up several FPS titles that have lots of fast action and no matter how heated things on screen became I never saw any ghosting, smearing or tearing of on screen images. I played FEAR, Quake 4, Battlefield 2142, and Oblivion on the Viewsonic VX2245wm 22” LCD and it performed flawlessly.

I also watched some movies on the display and chose Underworld: Evolution for the test film. The Viewsonic VX2245wm 22” LCD does a good job with gray scale changes and has decently crisp blacks for the price. Colors are bright and vivid and skin tones look very natural. All in all the color reproduction and black levels are very mush in line with other displays of the price class.

What really sets the Viewsonic VX2245wm 22” LCD apart from the other displays in the size and price class is the integrated iPod dock. The sound quality with the iPod dock is decent, you won’t mistake it for a high-end home stereo, but it does sound good. It is undeniably convenient to be able to dock and charge your iPod right on your display and if you are into downloading movies and TV shows to your iPod, you will love this display.