Yesterday, my new display arrived. New display? Why? Basically, the monitor we had upstairs for the shared computer broke, so my old monitor is up there. In return, I got a new 22″ Acer 2223W Widescreen display (basically, I paid my parents the difference.) Although it may seem kind of confusing, the gist is that I get a new, bigger, widescreen monitor.

Aesthetics

The display casing is black, with a silver panel on the front. The silver color is very similar to that of the Apple Cinema displays. As you can see in the picture at the beginning of this post, the edge has a sort of ’step,’ different levels before the actual LCD screen. This makes for a very pleasant viewing experience.

The profile of the display is not very thick, although thickness is not a large issue for me; my desk is propped against the wall.

Click for larger image

This monitor is in the Acer “Business Class” series, and neatly hides away the buttons under the bottom of the screen. When you’re working, you can’t see the buttons. The monitor also has built-in speakers, a nice idea, but without much sound power at all.

Click for larger image

Size

Obviously screen size is an important factor with a monitor. The 22″ widescreen boasts a 1,680 by 1,050 pixel resolution. You can easily open three full-page text documents on the screen at once. Coming from a 1,280 by 1,024 17″ monitor, this is a lot of screen space! The picture below compares the 22″ display with my laptop’s 15″ display:

Click for larger image

Picture

The picture on the display is bright and crisp, probably the best of any of the monitors I’ve previously owned. It integrates with OS X perfectly with just a few tweaks of the default color profile.

Concluding Thoughts

All in all, the Acer 22″ widescreen is a great value at a budget-friendly price ($200 range.) I’ve been enjoying every minute of its widescreen goodness!