Viewsonic VP2365-LED review

Improving on excellence is never an easy task, but that’s the task for ViewSonic’s latest 23in Full HD monitor. Building on the success of the A-Listed VP2365wb, the VP2365-LED keeps the same superb e-IPS panel but swaps out the CCFL lamp for an LED backlight.

Visually, it’s tough to tell the two apart. The acres of black plastic bespeak a monitor whose focus is on the practical – the adjustable stand rises by 135mm, pivots into portrait orientation and swivels left and right. Connectivity is fairly basic, with only DVI and D-SUB ports, but the four-port USB hub is a nice touch, even if the ports are all concealed at the rear.

The understated exterior belies its capabilities, however. Out of the box, the e-IPS panel rewarded with solid, punchy image quality. Colours appear rich and evenly saturated, and good contrast and natural skintones helped make the most of our test photographs. For people that want to plug in and go, it’s an enviable out-of-box performance.

Testing with our X-Rite colorimeter revealed a solid set of results. Brightness peaked at an ample 271cd/m2, and a contrast ratio of 906:1, while a little down on the previous model, is perfectly acceptable. Installing ViewSonic’s monitor driver improved the colour accuracy too, resulting in an impressive average Delta E of only 2.7 and a maximum of 4.1. Images do tend to look a shade too warm, no doubt due to the colour temperature of 6,227k, but we’d happily use it for our photo editing without calibration.

As it’s an IPS panel, you have to move far from head-on to cause any noticeable contrast or colour shift, and the viewing angles remain wide with the display in portrait mode. There’s the usual IPS glow as you move off-axis, though, and we noted a reddish tone at more extreme angles.

Static images see the ViewSonic shine, and with movies and games it’s equally solid. Motion isn’t quite as smooth and blur-free as the best TN panels, but it’s subtle enough that only elite gamers need be concerned.

The LED technology makes it a relatively frugal monitor. At maximum brightness, the VP2365-LED draws a mere 34W from the mains, but that low consumption comes at a different cost: the evenness of the backlight has worsened noticeably. On a black screen, or indeed in darker scenes during games and movies, there’s some obvious backlight leakage, with a pronounced glow along the top of the screen and a large patch at the left edge.

The dodgy backlighting is a disappointment, then, but considering the three-year swap-out warranty and zero-pixel defect guarantee, those after fine image quality on the cheap should cut the VP2365-LED some slack. Despite its flaws, it offers superb colour accuracy and a fine e-IPS panel, which at this price is not to be sniffed at.