Are widescreen monitors only good for movies? Does the extra real estate really make you more productive? Are games more impressive on a 16:10 screen? To answer these questions, FutureLooks take a look at Viewsonics VX2025WM 20.1 inch widescreen LCD monitor:

Furthermore, many newer LCD monitors are now hitting 5ms (as in the case of the VX2025WM's bigger brother, the VX2035WM) and some are even advertised in the 2ms refresh rates. As we all know, the faster the response time, the faster the screen can refresh an image. If an LCD's response time is too slow, the image on your monitor will not update quickly enough with the information being sent from your video card, and thus, you'll get ghosting or blurring of your image. This is critical for hardcore gamers that play first person shooter games as a blurred image could mean that split second where you can get fragged.

That's not to say that the 8ms of this monitor is slow, but we must consider that many LCD manufacturers (including our VX2025WM) report the LCD's gray-to-gray response time (pixel cycling between gray states) vs. black-to-white-black response time (pixel cycling from black-to-white and then black again). Manufacturers will typically report the fastest possible response time, so expect our monitor to have a response time greater than 8ms for black-white transitions. Buyers must shop with caution when comparing response times as they all may not be equal. With all that said, the monitor still produced a very good picture, with hardly any ghosting or blurring during intense high speed movies scenes.

It is however, a very good value price-wise compared to similar sized monitors. This monitor is capable and very flexible with everything that we threw at it. The only downside is the speakers that we rarely used. They may be suitable in an office environment, but they shouldn't be used as your primary speakers at home. An external set of speakers will only do the display justice, otherwise, the movie watching and game playing experience is just ruined.  Overall, the Viewsonic offers exceptional quality at a very good price. It may be a bit more expensive compared to similar sized monitors, but with it's exceptional picture, build quality, and versatility, it is well worth the extra coin.