ASUS VK228H-CSM Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LED Monitor 250 cd/m2 ASCR 80,000,000:1 Built-in Speakers Built in Webcam

Pros: Incredible contrast ratio
Super-bright LEDs
Webcam is fairly sharp
Very lightweight. You'll have no problem moving this
The ports are positioned in such a way that it's really easy to plug/unplug things! Made the setup that much quicker
Beautiful hardware, absolutely stunning to look at!

Cons: The built-in speakers aren't so great. I'd equate them to what you find in a laptop
Almost too bright! I've turned the brightness down to 10 (out of 100) and it's still insane.
WEBCAM DOES NOT MEAN "COMES WITH MICROPHONE"! I and many others have made this mistake

Other Thoughts: In terms of displays, I've never seen something so beautiful, and was amazed at the range of colors it can display! I couldn't be more satisfied unless I could turn the brightness down even further. It really is a fantastic product to have on your desk.

However, you need to understand that the speakers aren't perfect. If you care about audio quality, look elsewhere. More importantly, I learned the hard way that a webcam and a microphone are two separate things. The webcam is quite nice, but make sure you have a microphone available.

When you think about it, you can only expect so much from a monitor. They crammed speakers and a webcam in there, but that's it. I bought this to simplify my desk, and in that regard it's a great success. As long as you know what you're getting, I strongly recommend this

Pros: beautiful picture
no dead pixels
great price
lots of inputs
NO POWER BRICK! YAAAAY!

Cons: speakers are very quiet, even for built in ones
built-in webcam is not great
no microphone. seriously? They saved, like, a dollar.

Other Thoughts: if the webcam is important, screw it. Otherwise, this is a great monitor for the price.

Pros: Nice bright display, auto-configured when connected. Works as expected - except for the camera.

Cons: This device comes with a USB camera built into the bezel. Windows 7 recognized the device as soon as the USB cable was connected. Device manager says the device is working normally. ASUS web site says Windows should work with the device without any special drivers.

Once installed, there is no menu device, shortcut, or program I can find to turn the camera on and off. I called ASUS support line, and they said it is a software issue; perhaps Windows needs to be "configured" or "optimized." Since it's not hardware-related (according to them) they will work with us to get the camera running - for $99.00.

I asked how they knew it was not hardware, when Windows clearly sees the device and reports it is working properly.

The support person insisted it was software and the only way to get the issue resolved was to pay $99. That's over HALF what the monitor cost.

This is the LAST ASUS product I will buy.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear ctmorgan,

I’m sorry to hear your camera issues with this monitor. Please uninstall/reinstall the device from the Device Manager. More information can be found here: http://support.asus.com/Troubleshooting/detail.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=13&m=VK228H-CSM&s=20&hashedid=cGAb79TlF6l3Jkh0&os=&no=1721

Feel free to email me your inquiries, comments or concerns about this product at cl-celeste@asus.com and include ref#1072-9810 in the subject line.

Sincerely,
Celeste
ASUS Customer Loyalty

Pros: No glare, HDMI, and speakers thats all I needed for the application.

Cons: The speaker volume is a bit low.

Pros: Looks awesome, is super light, little to no assembly, sounds fine, the webcam has good image quality. for the price it is hard to beat.

Cons: very little: the only thing i dont really like is that the neck to the monitor is attached and has very little movement(only able to swivel right to left), but besides that there are none

Other Thoughts: i see people complaining about the lack of a mic, but i already have a better one then what would have come built in.

Pros: Very nice monitor for the price in this class. Arrived, set-up, and performed as advertized with all three cable connections to the video cards. Tested with three different levels of video cards, and this monitor performed flawlessly with all three. The built in webcam works well -- better than my previous stand alone webcam. I purchased another for a system I am building for a client, and it too met all my expectations. Newegg service and shipping was also up to speed.

Cons: The only criticism that I could think of is that the built in speakers are not as strong as they could be, but they are adequate for everything I've done so far so that's not worth a deduction. If you want hi-fidelity you'll want stand alone speakers anyway and probably a separate sound card. The video on the two monitors I am running seems to be as steady as a rock. I've had them on every day for over a month now.

Other Thoughts: Very good HDMI monitor for the price.

Pros: 1. Easy to setup.

2. Very clear 1900x1080 picture. Contrast and brightness are exceptional.

3. Sound is crisp.

4. Very clean and simple looking.

Cons: 1. The Life Frame 2 Software that came with the install CD was unable to run on the computer; The webcam can still be used without the program though.

2. There was a dead pixel on one of the start ups, but we rubbed the pixel gently and it went away.

3. Sound is not very loud. No bass.

4. There is NO MICROPHONE? Big turn-off; knocked off a whole star for this one. Testing out video chat, and couldn't get the microphone to work. Looked online for solutions and can't find any. The manual is of no help either. Was unaware this did not come with a microphone.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Ryan,

I’m sorry you were turned off by this monitor, but if you are looking for a monitor that has a built-in microphone, please check out our MK Series/models:
http://usa.asus.com/Display/LCD_Monitors/MK221H/#specifications
http://usa.asus.com/Display/LCD_Monitors/MK241H/#specifications
These multimedia monitors are really designed for your needs (i.e. video chat), so if you need help, please contact me at cl-celeste@asus.com.

Sincerely,
Celeste
ASUS Customer Loyalty

Pros: Great monitor, very bright and sharp. Webcam is good quality but don't plan on using it much.

Cons: It had 1 stuck pixel upon arriving but a simple tap made it start working again. The built in speakers aren't great quality but that's expected.

Other Thoughts: Awesome monitor if you're planning on using external speakers.

Pros: Really nice screen -- hooked up to a GeForce 520M over HDMI. Very clear, bright, good viewing angle, nice minimal styling, matte black screen (no gloss!!). Built in webcam is decent, built in speakers are a nice plus but are not high quality at all, lots of ways to connect (HDMI, DVI, VGA). Lots of included cables!!

My past four LCD screens have all been Samsung -- IMO, their image quality is always mind blowing for a really good price. For $150, I took a chance on this ASUS and I was glad I did. I don't think the image is still quite as good as a Samsung, but I also paid over $100 less. If you're on a budget and need a built in webcam and speakers, I would absolutely go for this monitor.

Cons: When trying to calibrate the screen, the image was just a bit too bright or colors were too subdued -- I wasn't able to strike a balance between the two. I ended up using the built in enhancement mode along with some tweaks to the color on the GeForce card to get it as close as I could to optimal. Sided with being a little too bright instead of having the colors too dull. This is being pretty nitpicky -- the image is great -- but like I said before, my 4 other Samsungs were just superior and this doesn't quite match up in quality.

Other Thoughts: Used this monitor to build a kiosk system with a Zotac ZBox ID80. The back of the monitor is VESA 75/100 compliant and worked really well with the mount for the Zbox. Some monitors are really curvy in the back and the ZBox won't sit flush, but this monitor worked really well for this application. Plus, the built in webcam and speakers, along with the HDMI + audio really minimzed the cables needed in the back for a super clean look. I would highly recommend this for a kiosk build.