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The VX2235wm can be tilted quite a lot (forwards, backwards), but unfortunately you can't adjust the height. I would have preferred it to be a bit lower, as I am a short person.

On Windows, I downloaded the latest driver version for this monitor from Viewsonic website and installed it. After it was done, the default monitor profile was changed by the driver, and it's now using the Viewsonic-recommended one. The only adjustments I had to make *before* I installed the driver was to just "auto calibrate" and this fixed the screen that was a tiny bit off (the colors were as accurate though). The monitor is at 6500k btw.

On Windows, I downloaded the latest driver version for this monitor from Viewsonic website and installed it. After it was done, the default monitor profile was changed by the driver, and it's now using the Viewsonic-recommended one. The only adjustments I had to make *before* I installed the driver was to just "auto calibrate" and this fixed the screen that was a tiny bit off (the colors were as accurate though). The monitor is at 6500k btw.

Ah nice, so with this brand a lot is done for you. If only that were true of all of them.

There is a 90-day return policy at Geeks, yes. As I said in my article, this unit had no problems at all. Even my 21" Samsung monitor, which I bought brand new for $600, came out of the factory with TWO stuck pixels! This Viewsonic had no such problems.

Yes, my Samsung monitor supports both vertical and horizontal, which was the reason I shed $600 for it.

It is absolutely amazing using a web browser with it, pages just fit! Office documents, programming, also much more efficient to use than in widescreen!

This is why I use one widescreen monitor for movies and normal apps, and a vertical monitor for documents. Bliss!

How does sub-pixel font rendering look on the vertical monitor? Does the vertical rgb pixel component arrangement make the text a bit fuzzier than in horizontal mode or is there no visible difference in your experience?

With LCD panels, each pixel stacks the RGB shutters so there is no equivilent issue to the variation of RGB arrangments with CRT phosphors.

Are your sure? The reason I asked about the vertical oriented LCD was because of this page:
http://www.grc.com/ctwhat.htm

And I can tell you for sure that both the Thinkpad I'm typing this on and my MacBook at home have that same pixel component arrangement.

My office is always a mess. It's part of the experience.

mine looks pretty much like her... a mess but clean

Short answer: European prices often includes taxes, US prices don't :-)

I did a comparison myself once and that is not true.

On many occasions it would be cheaper to buy the stuff online and ship it to Europe even including tariffs, additional payments ... would still be cheaper.

Yet this still was no option for me, as it would overcomplicate warranty claims.

Imo companies know that they can exhaust us, maybe once higher prices were due to shippment costs etc., but imo now they only remain because people still buy the overprized stuff. Look at the PS3, in Europe it is stripped down, yet we still pay more.

PS3 on Amazon.de:
599 Euro
599 / 1.19 = 503.36 Euro (without VAT)
503.36 * 1.364 = 686.58 US Dollar
PS3 on Amazon.com:
599.99 US Dollar

Germans pay 14.4% more just for the sake of it.

VX2235wm on Amazon.de
483.56 Euro
483.56 / 1.19 = 406.35 Euro (without VAT)
406.35 * 1.364 = 554.27 US Dollar
VX2235wm on Amazon.com
346.29 US Dollar

60.1% more, for what?

A difference of 10%-20% is normal, you can't do a comparison on a single product on a single shop.
Distribution costs in Europe are terrific, and the need of translation.

And don't forget marketing :-)

In fact I can compare a single product on a single shop. I never said this example is representative - and in fact it is not - it just outlines what I experienced on many occasions.

The costs of translation are negligible in the case of the PS3 or a LCD compared to the total costs of production, R & D etc.

Additionally did the EU lowered the distribution costs a lot. So there remains marketing as main inflater. Yet I doubt they invest so much in marketing that you could legitimate a 60% higher price.

The translation argument is a dead end, I'm afraid as we pay more in the UK too.

As for taxes not being included in the US price, most US states "require" that you pay tax on items that you've ordered online. My local sales tax is 9%, which would bring the $599 PS3 price up to $652.91.

You still pay more, I'll admit, and what's more, the taxes (on the online orders) are more of an "honor system" than anything, so I don't know anyone who pays them.

[edit] If you buy locally, you have to pay the tax.

Edited 2007-04-27 15:25

That is why I subtracted the VAT in my example, so that you can easily compare prices without VAT.
So I divided the price of Amazon.de by 1,19 as this is the German VAT.

Edited 2007-04-27 17:21

Dustin.se sold this monitor for 3000 sek for a while I think, so that's like 330 euro or so, including swedish vat (if I remember correctly), so it's not that much more expencive here, use buggy.nu, pricerunner or prisjakt.nu to find good swedish prices.

Because 1920x1080 is way too small for a computer screen to be readable if it's less than 24". And still many people uses a lower resolution than the panel's native.

It is useless to have 1080 vertically on a monitor that's 1680 horizontally and not 1920. So, no, it is not a problem to be 1050. You are looking at the 24" range where the resolution is usually 1920x1200.

You sit closer to a 14.1" laptop screen than 22" wide desktop one.

>it could atleast have covered the panel type used and >compared it to say a new TN-panel of whatever brand

Sorry, but you ask for too much. The panel was not sent to me from ViewSonic, but from a retailer. I have no way or knowing what kind of panel that is, neither I can't compare it to another TN-whatever-the-hell that is panel because, well, I don't have access to that stuff.

My review was a user's review. While I do have an extensive lab, most of the hardware comes from retailers, not from the manufacturers (unlike sites like Engadget and Gizmodo). And therefore, I have limited contacts towards more internal specs.