Acer X223WbD 22″ Wide 1680 X 1050 Resolution LCD-blk

5 comments

1. 

   H. K. Suh on December 13, 2009 at 6:08 pm

   Just got the monitor and started tweaking the controls. One thing I noticed is that it is so much brighter than my cheaper AOC 2217V. I’ve set both contrast and brightness to 0 but still it’s far too bright for my liking. Now I have to resort to dimming software because I don’t think you can change the brightness of your monitor through graphics drivers (well not with ATI drivers anyway).

   The Acer also looks very washed out compared to my AOC. I just can’t bear to look at it, I might just sell it.

   I thought Acer might have produced a good product for once, but I guess I was mistaken. Never buying Acer again. Should have bought the LG that was at a similar price, sigh…The only good side is the price, and if you don’t use the computer much then I guess this is an OK buy. But I’d still buy something else over this if I had a second chance.

2. 

   S. Poston on December 13, 2009 at 8:47 pm

   For the price of this display the quality is quite good. Have not had any problems yet.

3. 

   A. Dent on December 13, 2009 at 11:42 pm

   I ordered this monitor for the office and it is pretty good value for what I paid and this is the best I can say about it.

   When reviewing electronics I am always tempted to list the ‘goods’ and the ‘bads’ but, in this case, except for the price, which is ‘good’ and the warranty provisions, which are ridiculous (read below), just about everything else is… bland. Not too bad but not exceptional either. So, let me list what’s worth knowing about it and I will have a few closing thoughts after that.

   - 1680-1050 display
   
   - VGA and DVI inputs (no HDMI), cables included
   
   - displayed colors appear to be a best effort approximation (they don’t look very good, I meant to say)
   
   - cheap-looking, black plastic body and stand
   
   - plugs directly into the power outlet (no external power supply)
   
   - color management is pretty basic with not the best ‘buttons’ interface
   
   - disk includes 2-page setup manual and a registration form, no drivers
   
   - same 2-page manual is included on paper, in many languages
   
   - 3-year warranty ‘excludes plastic parts’ (I swear, it’s a quote)
   
   - warranty does not cover shipping/insurance costs
   
   - make sure you save your original invoice and the original packaging or you may experience problems if you ever need warranty repairs
   
   - stand tilts but it can’t be raised/lowered
   
   - energy-star compliant

   This is an acceptable monitor if price is the primary concern. In my case, price was the primary concern because my boss had to approve the purchase and employers tend not to be over-generous with such expenses these days. Like I mentioned before, I would absolutely not have this monitor at home. It would probably be very bad for displaying pictures or playing movies and the design… it shouts “I’m a bare-bones-cheap monitor”.

   I am reluctantly granting this item 3 stars and 2 out of the three are awarded for its cheapness. The third star is for its actually displaying a picture and for its ease of setup – no software driver needed, and no external power supply.

   UPDATE: The monitor seems unable to handle ’sleep’ over the DVI connection. On my 32-bit Vista computer, every time my computer turns off the display (a power-saving feature), the monitor goes to sleep and it can never be reawakened if connected over the DVI. I had no choice but to remove the DVI cable and to connect over the old-fashioned VGA port. I’ve had no similar problems with the VGA so the root cause could be either the monitor being unable to process a ‘wake up’ call over DVI or my Vista machine misbehaving.

4. 

   Whitewater on December 14, 2009 at 12:14 am

   I’ve had this for several weeks now and this is the best monitor I’ve seen. But even more amazing is the price! I still can’t believe the value. (Mind you, I bought a flat screen monitor in 1998 for $3000. How times have changed!) I have this hooked up to a new Mac Mini and couldn’t be happier. If you’re looking for quality monitor at a super low price, this is it.

5. 

   A. Murray on December 14, 2009 at 12:51 am

   To put this review in its proper context, we have to be honest up front: this is not a high-end monitor, nor does it purport to be. What it is, however, is a relatively large, well-performing monitor that is affordable for the masses. If ever there was “bang for the buck,” this is it.

   I’ve owned this monitor for almost exactly two years. As a college student for one and a half of those years, I spent a lot of time on the computer daily, primarily in word processing and web browsing, but also doing some light graphic design in Photoshop. I can’t speak to color profiles or color accuracy, but to my eyes, what I saw on the screen essentially matched what I saw printed out or on others’ computers. The brightness of the Acer is astounding (with a caveat as explained later); on the Acer, white looks white, while “white” on my then-four-year-old 18″ Dell UltraSharp LCD looked so dull/beige/gray that I couldn’t stand to keep my dual monitor setup for longer than about a week before I sent the Dell packing. On the Dell, I had a single red pixel that never really was an issue, but my Acer came with none and has yet to have that problem. For gaming and television, I haven’t noticed any ghosting or lag, so the refresh rate seems sufficiently quick for those purposes.

   Having upgraded from 18″, I was excited about the size upgrade; let me tell you, it makes a world of difference. 22″ is large enough to be easy on the eyes and afford lots of workspace, but small enough to not overwhelm a dorm room desk or home office. Of particular importance to me, at its native resolution (1680 X 1050), I could comfortably view two word documents or websites side-by-side, allowing me to take notes in Word while reading a journal article online without having to switch windows. If I could do it all over again, since the monitor is probably the component of the computer which which we interact most, I probably would have paid more for a higher resolution 23″ or 24″ monitor – but I think that I’ve just become accustomed to 22 inches. Also, for its screen size, the Acer seems impossibly thin – it hardly takes up much desktop real estate at all. There is a ton to love about this monitor.

   I couldn’t bring myself to give this monitor five stars given some major flaws, primarily its substantial backlight bleeding along the edges. For those unfamiliar with the term, the light essentially “leaks” through the LCD panel, leaving splotches of light that are noticeable against darker backgrounds. Of course, the black level isn’t particularly great either; when the screen is predominantly black, it looks more like navy blue (but again, mainly along the edges). I also have noticed that with black text on a white background, the edge of some words will occasionally look greenish at some viewing angles; however, it only affects a small percentage of text and it in no way is an obstacle to reading or enough of an annoyance to be a deal breaker. My Dell had neither of these problems, though it was more than twice as expensive.

   The build quality of my Acer seems questionable in some respects. For me, the locking mechanism on the stand (into which the monitor “snaps”) isn’t seated properly, so detaching the stand from the monitor for transportation is a lengthy and painful experience. More importantly, I experienced a very noticeable humming from the back of the monitor. I lived with this constant presence for almost exactly a year before I read online that turning the brightness up to 100 (the maximum) resolved the issue. It certainly did for me, which was a relief, but obviously there was a small tradeoff in black level with the brightness set so high. At school, I had television set up through Windows Media Center in Vista, and the quality was average (though it may be difficult to tell because it relies on the signal and my TV tuner card, an ATI TV Wonder HD 650 PCIe). HD broadcasts were surprisingly good, and in such instances the Acer could almost pass for a television monitor. On the other hand, it isn’t really anything on which you’d want to watch movies with many dark scenes.

   Overall, I have no major complaints or issues with the monitor. It may not have an HDMI or DisplayPort connection, a 1080p resolution, or the best black levels, but I never expected any of that at this price point (at least at the time of my purchase). I have gotten two years of such solid performance that I’m looking for a holiday deal on a second one to put next to this one. I’m fairly demanding about my gadgets – so much so that I even build my own desktop PCs so that I can hand-select components – and this Acer hasn’t disappointed me yet. I’m guessing that for the majority of you looking for a relatively inexpensive monitor, you’ll be similarly pleased.