Envision G218a1

Envision's entry in the 22-inch wide-screen category, the G218a1 offers a bright screen that handles text impressively well, but its graphics performance was spotty. Though it did a good job with skin tone reproduction, it struggled with contrast. Its price ($280 as of October 9, 2007) is low for this category, though the AG Neovo H-W22 costs slightly less and achieved better overall performance.

The black Envision monitor panel is only a few inches deep, but its cabinet design makes the display seem thick. The sturdy rectangular stand slopes slightly in the front. The only physical adjustment you can make is to the monitor's tilt. A long thin speaker panel spans the length of the monitor and sits at the bottom of the screen, just above the monitor stand; the integrated speakers are better than the built-ins on most competing LCDs. Movie dialogue was quite distinct, as was the movie soundtrack. Still, a pair of external speakers would be worth the investment if you plan to use your PC regularly for watching movies or listening to songs. The monitor offers little else in the way of extras, but the DVI connector is HDCP-compatible, so you can view high-definition copy-protected content.

I watched a few scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl to gauge the G218a1's multimedia performance. A sunset scene--which normally has a bright copper-orange tinge--seemed somewhat dark. Though color reproduction and saturation looked fairly good, reds seemed a slightly off. Even so, skin tones looked natural, and darker skin contrasted well against lighter (at times overly pink) tones.

This capable 22-inch wide-screen monitor would provide good service in a small-business or home-office desktop setup that deals where most of its work would involve displaying text documents.

Roy Santos