ViewSonic touts adjustable flat panels
The new monitors, which feature adjustable height, thin bezels and high resolutions, are geared toward businesses.
The VP ThinEdge Series, with screen sizes ranging from 17 to 21.3 inches, is geared toward businesses. The thin bezels, adjustable height and higher resolutions are designed to suit graphic designers, financial traders and video editors, in particular.
Thinner bezels--as small as 17 millimeters for the 17-inch model--allow for an easier fit on trading floors and in call centers, where workers commonly use many displays and space is tight. A display's height can adjust up or down 4.25 inches to match a user's height.
Such features are becoming more popular among display vendors as the market for flat panels grows and they compete for business from companies switching from traditional CRT (cathode-ray tube) monitors.
IBM recently introduced a thin-bezel, height-adjustable ThinkVision 20.1-inch flat panel and is expected to add those features to the remainder of its flat-panel line.
Of ViewSonic's new flat-panel displays, it is making 17-inch VP171b and 19-inch VP191b models available first. They are priced at $599 and $849, respectively, and are available now, the company said.
Both displays offer SXGA or 1280-by-1024-pixel resolutions. Their prices are similar to competing models at retail, where 17-inch flat panels sell for $499 and up.
ViewSonic said that it will start offering the rest of the displays in May. These are the 18.1-inch VP181b, the 20.1-inch VP201b and the 21.3-inch VP211b. The displays will cost $699, $1,399 and $1,599, respectively. These larger displays will include a built-in USB (universal serial bus) hub to attach devices such as keyboards and mice to a PC.
While ViewSonic is clearly targeting corporate buyers with its new displays, the company says that it is also focusing on consumers who use top-of-the-line PCs for gaming.