I Purchased my Iiyama Visionmaster pro 454 in February of this year. I have a mixed opinion of it so far.
Technical Spec:
19” Diamondtron Screen 0.25mm AG pitch Max Resolution 1920 * 1440 @ 85Hz Max Refresh Rate 1600 * 1200 @ 95Hz Speakers 2 * 1 W Powered 4 PortUSB 1.1 Hub Demensions – 17.7”Width, 17.6”Height, 17.6”Depth 3 Year Warranty
The display is a very good one, with an excellent refresh and high brightness making it easy to look at for an extended time and gives a crisp clear display. It easily gives the best picture of any monitor I have had before and I very much enjoy using it. I tend to work with it at 1600 * 1200 resolution at 85mhz refresh rate, this suits me well but other people who use it complain that they can’t always read everything on the screen. There is no doubt in my mind that the picture is one of the best you can get and while I was tempted by getting a TFT screen, none I found at the time could match a CRT for picture quality and resolution, with my preferred working resolution as I mentioned at 1600 * 1200.
The screen actually takes up little more space than most 17-inch units I have seen, and of particular use to me isn’t too deep, such that I can push it up against my wall and still have some desk space in front for a keyboard. In terms of layout, all the buttons are easy to locate and feel solid enough to the touch, the standard inclusion of a powered USB hub in the base is most welcome also although it is only a USB 1.1 version rather than the more recent and faster USB 2.0. The speakers in the unit do an adequate job for office usage but as you might expect are of little use if you want to listen to music or play games.
The on screen controls are very much functional and easy to navigate, allowing a large selection of possible options for configuration. This happily means that getting the display just as you like it is quite easy even for the first time.
However having glanced at my score quickly you may be wondering where the ‘but’ comes in. Well it’s all to do with the build quality and reliability I have experienced. 5-6 months after receiving my monitor and having had trouble free usage to that point, upon switching on my computer rather than the nice bright image I’m used to I was greeted by a series of load bangs and crackles from the tube and nothing onscreen. Needless to say this was pretty terminal and I looked into getting it sorted out. My monitor was under warranty and Iiyama did replace it pretty much trouble free within the week although only with a reconditioned unit and not a new one. The monitor I got back works ok so far but often makes buzzing noises I find distracting. Talking to a friend of mine who’s company deals with a lot of computer hardware, he tells me that Iiyama are not really a brand that they trust for reliability and have had a lot of trouble in the past with reconditioned monitors.
So my conclusion is that this is a great performing monitor, that now cost only about 2/3 what I paid 6 months ago if you shop around. I’m very happy with it while its still working but I feel I can’t recommend it though because I am not convinced it will outlast my computer like other good monitors I have had in past.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I have a 19" Iiyama VM Pro 451, which I have been using for just under two years - my first unit was faulty and was exchanged without fuss. The current monitor has been excellent aside from some driver issues (which I am not convinced I have resolved, rather found a solution by chance). Overall, I am very pleased and still have a year left on the warranty.
Advantages: Sharp Picture, Flat Screen, High Resolutions, Speakers on the front. Disadvantages: Takes up a lot of space on a desk, 2 thin horizontal lines going across the screen
Aug 5th, 2003
very helpful by (67%):
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