HARDWARE REVIEW

Viewsonic VX2475SMHL 4K Ultra HD PC Monitor Review

by Luke Walsh, September 9th, 2015

Viewsonic VX2475SMHL 4K is the recent release into their Ultra HD range and is the coming of 4K monitors that might actually be affordable to normal folk that want to receive 8 million pixels of quality over a 3840 x 2160 resolution. The 23.6 inch 16:9 ratio widescreen PC monitor could be a good companion that wants to do a lot of different things with the 4K quality.

From a build perspective it comes in a semi glossy black bezel with a large solid base which has a single easy screw. Sadly the screen does not have a fully adjustable base, only allowing tilt forwards and backwards unlike like their ViewSonic VG2401mh, and for a monitor which has such great resolution it could be off putting for a video editor, graphic designer or gamer who likes to control every aspect of their set up. As bases go for monitors, it is solidly built and heavy but did not feel very study at the seam between the base and the monitor. Even when connected, the panel wiggled quite a bit with a light touch. Screwing the base as tight as possible did not seem to change the fit between the two parts. At 1.9 inches thick, it’s pretty slim while weighing in at 3.6kg with VESA screw holes. It could be quite easily attached to the wall or a dual monitor mount without much issue.

At the bottom of the monitor are the buttons to turn it on/off as well as accessing the settings. These are pretty much impossible to see as the button markings are etched into the monitor in black. For some reason, there is also a unnecessary piece of flimsy clear plastic which serves no purpose other than making it harder to press the buttons. At the back are two HDMI 2.0 ports, one which is MHL compatible. HDMI 2.0 is refreshing to see as it has more bandwidth to support better frames per second at higher resolutions which is great for 4K gaming. HDMI 2.0 also allows for two video streams at once but the VX2475SMHL does not seem to support this feature which is to be expected as only Samsung and LG have delved into it. Would’ve of been cool though.

Along with the HDMI ports is one DisplayPort 1.2, a headphone jack and 3-watt speakers. The speakers were loud but don’t expect to bring the house down with them and the bass level is nothing to shout about. In the box the VX2475SMHL comes with a HDMI cable, power cable, resource CD which is basically a manual and a quick start guide. 3 year warranty comes as standard and includes the back light, parts and labour which is good.

Performance wise the VX2475SMHL does a pretty good job with colours using their PLS panel (Plane-Line Switching). Testing the monitor it kept within the different RGB ranges, showing pretty accurate colour representations. Movies looked well defined when using the VX2475SHML, with rich and natural colours. Blacks on the monitor were clearly visible and could be distinguished between each other without having to always fiddle with the settings to compensate. Their dynamic contrast setting also worked better than I have seen on other monitors, quite accurately adjusting for different levels of luminescence which was a pay off when playing games that jumped from light scenes to dark ones such as Battlefield 4.

With a 4ms response time of grey to grey pixels, the panel produced a clean and ghost free experience and did not seem too different from the 1ms times of other monitors. However to a eSports gamer or someone looking for an almost lagless experience, there are better monitors out there but the VX2475SHML will be fine for anyone not looking specifically for the quickest response times. Power consumption for the VX2475SMHL is rated at a C and on standard ECO mode, it drew about 30 watts which on average would be about 51 kWh per year. On average in the UK that would cost around £50 to run it continuously. When trying to reduce the power consumption, dialing down the back lighting did reduce the power consumption but the harshest setting made the monitor look quite dim which ruined the overall look of the images on the 4K device. If you are worried about power rates, 4K monitors draw more power than the traditional panels and is worth mentioning but for £50 a year, the quality is a good sacrifice of your wallet.

You can see the original 1080p corners of the screen with the desktop icons on the 4K monitor. Get that magnifying glass out.

At the highest resolution gamers will have to make sure they have a graphics card that can support 4K gaming. Even with my GTX 680 card, games like Dying Light chugged along at 4K and the 3840 x 2160 resolution on Windows 10 did not play nicely with desktop items and other programs like Photoshop. With the giant leap in resolution, you might need a magnifying glass.

Overall, the Viewsonic VX2475SMHL-4k enables you to get a decent sized 4K monitor which is able to deliver crisp, sharp images with deep distinguishable blacks and pretty rich accurate colours for £320. The monitor feels a little too movable at the end of the base mount, doesn’t have a fully adjustable stand and lacks some additional features such as USB ports but does a stand up job at delivering 4K content with the latest connections available using HDMI 2.0 and MHL. For a gamer, they will enjoy the 4K gaming benefit if their machine can handle it but as with most 4K monitors, not all media supports the Ultra HD resolution yet to read up on the games you want to play.