Review on ASUS VE228H 1920X1080 Back Lit Monitor 21.5", 60Hz, Wide Screen, by Phil Gardner

There have been some reports of dead pixels and faulty devices, but I'm happy to report that the monitor I received a few days ago was in perfect condition. The screen is perfect - it's wide, much wider than my last screen, and I'm running it at 1980 x 1080. I'm a gamer (who I would call a "hardcore" gamer, as I'm very keen on making my own building computers and choosing the right hardware) and I was worried I wouldn't be able to find a monitor. that would suit my needs. This one is perfect for her. It's sleek and stylish, with glossy finishes (which is good, which is bad, as they can easily get scratched if you're not careful) and some buttons that I'm too scared to press because I don't know what they are do . This monitor also has speakers, but since I play with a pair of fancy Turtle Beach headphones I don't see the need for them. I've heard (from other reviewers) that the built in speakers are pretty useless so if I were you I wouldn't buy this thing because you've read it has speakers. Again, I can't give my personal opinion on this as I haven't used it yet (and don't intend to). Now that I've gotten rid of all the good stuff, I'm going to move on to the bad stuff. , which are very few. I only have two serious complaints. First, you can't raise or lower the screen. That's a pretty big deal to me. You can tip, but not by much. Due to this thing's poor viewing angle, it can be difficult to find the right spot on your desk without space adjustments (my desk is a mess, so maybe I can't relate my dirty habits to the screen). The inability to raise or lower the screen brings me to my second complaint, which is that the HDMI port (and every other port I've seen) is under the screen. The monitors I've had in the past did the same thing, but they were on the BACK of the monitor, elevated to allow more room for the cables. Not this monitor. Having not had many newer monitors in the past, I don't know if this is considered the norm or not. If you have a thick HDMI cable (or any other cable), good luck connecting it securely without bending or breaking the pins. Oh, and in hindsight, that instruction manual (if you can call it that) is utterly useless - it doesn't make any sense. While this may be an ASUS feature, I might not be able to complain about it in this particular case (I've only had one other ASUS product before, my motherboard, and the manual for it was very well done). All in all, this is a great monitor and I would recommend it to anyone whose monitor budget is around $150 - I don't think you can find many better options than this. Summarize my comments. Pros - Good features, although the manual is totally useless to teach you how to use them. - Sleek, modern look. - Speaker. While I haven't used them, I know that most monitors I've had in the past didn't have built-in speakers. Great resolution, really very high resolution. I find it necessary to play around with any menus or options, I just plugged it in straight away and it worked great with my new graphics card. Cons - It is easy to scratch the surface of the monitor. at the potential of bending important cables or pins, unless you're lifting the monitor up onto something like a stack of books (I'm too paranoid to raise the monitor more than necessary) - Cannot raise or lower the monitor, only tilt. - Terrible instruction manual.