iiyama XU2290HS-B1 22" ProLite IPS HD Slim LCD Monitor - Black

Love it love it love it, I recently had to return a Dell 25inch monitor due to compatibility issues (their loss) and the picture was not all that anyway. Before that I had been using a 24 inch Ben Q monitor which was superb but I fancied a change. I had always been a little nervous about buying a 27 inch monitor due to pixel density as I am an amateur photographer and I am a pixel peeper and demand the bestFirst of all I could not believe the size of the box when the IIYAMA was delivered it was huge, unpacking was easy as was the fixing of the stand with three decent fixing screws and no screwdriver required. The quality of the stand is excellent with a decent weight and nice and sturdy, good tilt and height adjustment as well. The monitor itself looks like the dogs --------- beautiful looking and nice slim and BIG but still looks aesthetically pleasing to the eye.Now to the most important part the quality of the screen, one word AWSOME!! Straight out of the box it was bright, vibrant, rich colours and to my eye no pixels on show, I have not had to make one single adjustment to it, some people might find it a tad bright but for me it was perfect. My photographs on this 27inch screen have never ever looked so fantastic. This monitor really has brought my PC to life and I am enjoying it so much more. I would not hesitate to recommend this monitor to anyone looking to spend under £300, go out and buy one you will not be disappointed.

This monitor is quite a revelation compared to the 19" lcd monitor I've been used to for the past 12 years. I spent a fair bit of time reading the reviews and tossing up whether to go for a 24" or a 27", 1920 or 2540 resolution etc. I decided on 27" because, although it is a lot wider than my old 19" (4:3 screen ratio), it is only about 1 inch taller, whereas a 24" (16:9 ratio) monitor would have been a little shorter vertically. Much of my time is spent using PhotoShop and when editing a portrait format photo I find a taller screen to be better, so that decided it in favour of a 27" screen. Resolution-wise I was happy with the old screen and this new one is about the same or a fraction better. I decided I didn't need a 2540 resolution screen and I certainly didn't need the extra expense. I think that was a good decision because this screen, viewed from a distance about 20cm beyond my outstretched fingertips, is pleasingly sharp even for quite small text.The first thing to do after removing it from the box was to attach the base, very easily done with 3 supplied special screws done up finger tight. The screen swivels and tilts smoothly and the height can be adjusted over a range of about 4" by pressing a lock button on the back of the stand and pushing the screen up or down. Although it doesn't lock positively in any position, there is enough friction to hold the screen firmly at whatever height it is set.Connected up to my pc (Windows 8.1 which I get on well with, despite all the bad press), the first challenge was to turn the monitor on! It has 5 buttons mounted under the right bottom edge of the bezel, of which the rightmost one is the power button. On close inspection with a torch shone at just the right angle, the button functions are in fact shown in slightly raised lettering on the front of the bezel above each button. But it's black on black so very hard to read! I deemed it a slight annoyance but since the buttons will hardly ever be used I'm not too concerned about that. Otherwise installation was just plug'n'play, the pc recognised the new monitor and adjusted the video output and I didn't have to do a thing.Once switched on, the monitor came on at retina-searing full brightness, quickly solved by more button-fumbling with the aid of a torch to access the menu, where I reduced the brightness to 75%. It's still a bit too bright when the room is dim in the evening so I may turn it down a little more. The colours are nice and punchy and the brightness and contrast are visually consistent across the screen, courtesy of the IPS panel. No sign of backlight bleed or any of the other gremlins reported by users of other IPS panels. The picture is just lovely and I'm well pleased with it.Not so good is the sound - you know what I'm going to say because it seems to be the same for all thin lcd screens - tinny and lacking in base. It's also very quiet even on max volume. However I was already using a separate sound system which I have coupled up to the pc so the poor monitor sound is of no consequence to me and I have not down-rated it for that.The monitor has a party trick in that, after raising it to max height, the whole screen can be rotated 90 degrees clockwise to give you a giant portrait format monitor, fantastic if you are seriously into lots of word-processing or PhotoShopping portrait format pictures. Having set it like this, you need to set your pc's display manager to rotate the picture 90 degrees too, otherwise you'll get a crick in your neck.What else can I say? Oh yes, it's physically quite nice looking on my desk and the bezel is acceptably thin - I measure the top and sides bezel to be about 10mm, and about 20mm at the bottom. Totally happy with this monitor so far, thoroughly recommended if you want a big beast at a reasonable price.

The monitor display is great, but the built in speakers are absolutely terrible. They sounds like the sort of noise you'd expect from a pair of headphones held at a meter away. Don't buy these if you want to get any sounds from them.

I have been through about 5 monitors in as many years due to a really, really bad thunderfly/midgie/thrip problem in my home office in the summer...I needed a good but cheap 2nd monitor.Brief history of insect vs monitor [Please skip for actual review]: I had a Benq 24" HD originally which was replaced 3 times under warranty due to "insect incursion", when the warranty ran out I bought a 27" LG IPS, awesome! My 2nd monitor an old Sony 17" eventually succumbed to midgies and my friend gave me a 24" Samsung 1920x1600 Syncmaster that was nearly as big as the LG. This year the midgies killed that this year, 5 of them stuck in the middle! Worse they even managed to sneak one into my LG which I removed but damaged the panel doing do! So...I probably needed a UV "insectecutor" but I wanted another monitor.I couldn't afford another 27" IPS to match my LG and I was worried about it being ruined but I didn't want a 24" so this 25" seemed like the obvious compromise and came in at the right price too. Iiyama used to be THE monitor to have back when everyone was rocking CRTs and I wondered if their LED panels were as good?When I first got it out it seemed sleek and well made but too small. I mount mine using the VESA mounts on swing arms and had no problems doing that with this. When I switched it on and lined it up beside my LG, it looked even smaller. I noticed although it has a very small bezel there is a border on the INSIDE of the bezel so...The thin bezel is kind of pointless as its not borderless for dual/triple monitor setups. I felt cheated and decided to measure the panel (excluding the border), and compare it against my LG and my original Samsung 24...Although it has an odd aspect ratio, actually the viewable area IS more than the Samsung it replaced and I realised it was quite respectable.I used my monitor mainly for working at home (software development), and a bit of gaming so I tested it for both. I actually swapped the LG and Iiyama onto different sides as this made for a better fit with the extra wide 25". I was initially disappointed but decided to give it a day or two before deciding if to keep it.NOW it is actually my main monitor! I quickly realised the IPS panel is easily as good as the LG and for some reason, it actually seems to work better for text. Its a very bright, very clear monitor, and I had to turn the brightness down for prolonged use. Even for gaming it works really well with no discernable refresh rate issues. It also starts up very quickly, just over a second from pressing the button to seeing the image, my LG is actually much slower in that respect.The controls and menu are fairly are easy to use but not clearly labelled, this is not a problem once you get used them and usually you only set it up once or twice. The only niggle is I notice more of a LCD "polarisation" effect from different viewing angles than I do with the LG, that said its not a serious issue.All in all considering what I paid for it, and the fact its now my main monitor I think it was a good buy