ViewSonic VP171s

When on one pleasant, until that moment, Saturday morning my current home PC monitor decided to spontaneously combust I was left with not only the acrid smell of flaming plastic inhabiting my lounge but also the pressing need to acquire a new screen. In an attempt to find some kind of silver lining to the incident I decided that this would be a good opportunity to upgrade to a nice shiny new 17-inch flat panel monitor. A couple of days of hectic research later I settled on the View Sonic VP171s.

When you first remove this monitor from the box you are immediately struck by the quality of the product. It is without doubt a very stylish looking screen but, equally importantly, it also feels very solid and well put together. The base is nicely weighted, thus preventing any costly mishaps, while the extensive position adjustment possibilities can all be made with a fairly light touch.

The task of wiring the screen in is about as simple as it can be. With both DVI and VGA connections available, the necessary wires for each are included in the box as standard, there is no reason for this job to take more than a minute or two of your time. The installation process is just as quick to complete and includes the bundled “pivot pro” software. This, in conjunction with some extra hinges, allows the screen to be rotated through 90 degrees to a portrait position. While this sounded like a very handy little trick before purchase and provided 5 minutes of entertainment when first used, I must now admit that I will in all likelihood never make use of the feature again. Although anyone who word processes frequently will probably find the ability to view a full A4 page on the screen a bonus.

In general use I have been very happy with the VP171s. There are enough picture adjustment options to give exactly the image you prefer and with its 16m/s response time gaming is far more practical than on older flat panels. So far I have suffered no problems at all, but should a similar fate befall this screen as my previous monitor then the standard 3 year warrant will put pay to the need for any more expensive monitor shopping in that time.