Asus VK266H Full HD monitor

Feature

The Asus VK266H LCD monitor is a 25.5� (WUXGA 1920x1200) Full HD 1080p widescreen monitor with a 16:10 aspect ratio and two built-in 3W speakers. In addition, the monitor professes a built-in 2M pixel camera the angle of which can be adjusted vertically so that you do not necessarily have to sit up when you wish to be seen by your Skyping pals.

January 14th, 2009 by Marko Susimets�

Design and features
The Asus VK266H LCD monitor is a 25.5� (WUXGA 1920x1200) Full HD 1080p widescreen monitor with a 16:10 aspect ratio and two built-in 3W speakers. In addition, the monitor professes a built-in 2M pixel camera the angle of which can be adjusted vertically so that you do not necessarily have to sit up when you wish to be seen by your Skyping pals.

The control panel is located on the bottom right and consists of an array of buttons that allow you to adjust the brightness of the display and the speaker volume directly, without having to enter the menu system first (big thank you for this). A separate input selector button allows you to switch between HDMI, DVI, Component and VGA sources on the go. In addition, there is a quick viewing mode button to allow you to switch between different viewing modes - the Standard mode, Theater mode, Game mode, Night View mode and Scenery mode. Some of the modes have pretty bad presets (standard is washed out, while the game mode destroys the colour balance quite a bit) � but, naturally, you are supposed to adjust them to your liking. The menus are as cumbersome to navigate as in all monitors we've seen. Someone should really come up with a better way to access all the settings.

Specifications
Panel Size: 25.5" Widescreen
True Resolution: WUXGA 1920x1200
Pixel Pitch: 0.287mm
Brightness (Max.): 300cd
Contrast Ratio (Max.): 20000:1 (ASUS Smart Contrast Ratio)
Viewing Angle (CR≥10): 170�(H)/160�(V)
Display Colours: 16.7 million
Response Time: 2ms (Gray to Gray)
Stereo Speaker (built-in): 3W x 2 stereo, RMS
Net Weight (Est.): 7.9kg
Tilt: +20� ~ -5�

Connectors:
PC/Video Input: DVI-D/D-Sub, Component, HDMI, VGA
PC Audio Input: 3.5mm Mini-jack
USB2.0: 1 for webcam

Power Consumption:
Power Consumption < 60 W
Power Saving Mode < 2 W

Performance
We tested the monitor in general use including various games and video feeds over the Christmas holidays, which gave us plenty of time to fall in love with every aspect of this monitor. The display produces an excellent image quality consistently on every section of the screen. The backlighting is even and there is no detectable leakage at the edges of the screen. The wide viewing angles (horizontal 170 / vertical 160 degrees) allow you to play games and watch movies with your friends if you want to and the monitor is big enough to use as your secondary TV (or rather blu-ray) screen. The fast response time of the display never lets you down or shows any ghosting even when the action is hectic.

The speakers are a definite upgrade from the 1W speakers that we've previously seen in Asus monitors. The 3W stereo speakers are good enough to allow you to enjoy movies and games without any immediate danger of feeling that you are missing on something, but they fall behind the speakers that regular TVs tend to have these days. Of course, external speakers will enhance your viewing experience in any case, and we ended up connecting the sound back to our external speakers after having tested the monitor's own for a while.

Conclusion

Over the weeks that we had the monitor in our hands, we never found anything lacking with it. And for those who think that 25.5� monitor is way bigger than they need � think again! You quickly learn to respect the larger size screen and it really helps you to immerse into the games that you play, as the view fills up more of your field of vision. Naturally, the bigger screen also allows you to watch it from further away, if you want to enjoy an occasional movie.

Asus VK266H may feel a bit pricey, but it is definitely worth every cent that you pay for it.

Our rating: 9.4 / 10