Tech Review

Acer H233H bmid 23-Inch Widescreen LCD Display (Black)

Acer X233H bd 23-Inch Widescreen LCD Display - Black

This monitor has been a source of conflict in our home. My wife and I each have laptops (I use it for important things, like Dragon Age and bringing important world events to your attention; and my wife piddles around, selling stuff on eBay and communicating with her family). On a lark (what's a lark? why would I be on one? why would it encourage irresponsibility?), I decided to buy a monitor. Well, now we fight over who gets to connect their internet rig to it.

The monitor:

It's truly a wonderful experience going from the 14" screen on my E6400 or 13" on my wife's Vostro to a large monitor. Everything's bigger, brighter. Since we use our computers for watching TV and movies, the extra size is especially welcome.

The Acer's a very solid monitor. It's full 1080P and 16:9, ideal for Hi-def movies. I like the semi-touch controls. It has Digital (DVI- with HDCP), HDMI and standard analog VGA inputs so you can hook up your Blu-ray player, but not your old VCR or portable media player (like mine, below).

IOGear GMD2025U 120 GB Video MP3 Player (Black)

I like that it's a matte screen, as the new, low-energy light on the ceiling would make viewing impossible otherwise.

I got the one with the speakers. The sound from my laptop is better than the Acers' so plan on using external speakers. There's also one with USB ports. It arrived with no dead or stuck pixels and all necessary cables.