Lackluster performance but good value for the price

I "upgraded" to this monitor from a 17" Optiquest CRT that I used with my home
computer, a PowerMac Quicksilver G4. My computer at work is a Dell desktop
workstation driving a pair of 19" Dell UltraSharp monitors. The ViewSonic
Optiquest Q19wb is an upgrade from the Optiquest CRT only in terms of
resolution, and not in terms of other areas of performance. It also does not
compare in quality to the UltraSharp LCDs, which cost twice the price of the
Q19wb (about three years ago).

The Q19wb was easy to set up and the G4 had no trouble switching to the higher
resolution (be sure to swap the monitor with the computer off; if you do it
while the computer is just asleep, the new resolution modes will not be
recognized until restart). But right away some weaknesses were apparent; a
few weeks of use haven't changed my impressions about these issues:

* Color and contrast are more than a bit peculiar on this monitor. None of
the built-in color settings (including the sRGB setting, which the Mac has a
matching counterpart for) produced satisfying color and contrast performance.
Colors tended to have a bluish cast with most settings. Macs have a nice tool
for calibrating a monitor's color profile (accessible via the Displays
preference pane's Color pane), but it doesn't work well with the Q19wb, mostly
because it is based on the highest contrast setting, and the Q19wb has a
strange contrast curve at its highest setting. It took a lot of fiddling
back and forth between hardware monitor settings and software color profile
settings to get the color/contrast/brightness response close to that of my
other monitors (using an intermediate hardware contrast setting and the Mac's
"Expert" calibration mode was the trick for me).

* The manual says to keep your head 18" from this monitor, and there's a
reason for that---the color and brightness change with angle much more
noticeably than with more expensive monitors. If you are just a couple inches
closer, you will see noticeable color shifts between the center of the screen
and parts of the screen just a few inches to each side (e.g., a white window
will look white in the center, but take a slightly yellow/pink cast to the
sides). Even 18" away, if you put up a large white window you will see this;
it is especially evident if you move your head side to side a few inches while
looking at one spot on the screen. The change isn't drastic, but it's
definitely noticeable and I found it pretty distracting for a few days, despite
not being a graphics pro. CRTs obviously don't have this problem, but neither
do more expensive LCDs. The UltraSharps, in particular, merely look dimmer
toward the edges, with no obvious color shifts.

* After the monitor is asleep for a while, it will take the better part of a
minute to reach full brightness after waking. It quickly reaches perhaps 70%
or 75% brightness, but then only slowly brightens the rest of its range.
Other LCD monitors I use reach full brightness in seconds on waking from
sleep.

If you are a print or photography pro (I'm not), I think the color and angle
issues will drive you nuts. If you have a more casual interest in color and
contrast accuracy, I think the monitor is a good value at its low price, and
you will find it hard to go back to a smaller monitor. I am happy but not
thrilled with it. I purchased it in Fall 2006, when ViewSonic was offering
substantial rebates, putting the final cost well below $200. I think I'd be
unhappy if it I'd paid over $200 for it.