I have been using a Viewsonic VA721 monitor with a Power Macintosh G5 tower for light graphic work and web design/programming. On a typical day, I will work on sites built upon the LAMP architecture (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) and use the G5 for development and testing purposes. As far as 17-inch monitors go the Viewsonic VA721 has a typical 1280×1024 resolution and I try to build pages that still fit within 800×600 for those with smaller monitors. I usually have Firefox, Word, iChat, Photoshop, Navicat, Yummy FTP, Apple Server Monitor and the Apache, MySQL and PHP architecture on Mac OS X open at all times and this monitor could use some more real estate.

As far as color quality I find that the Viewsonic VA721 is acceptable. Small text is a little fuzzy but again in this department it is pretty usable for everyday work. I usually like to work on monitors with much larger resolutions due to the fact that I usually work with many windows and applications open at once. Adjustability of the monitor just swivels forward and backward and there really is no adjustment for height. The monitor is situated where height adjustment really isn’t a factor for my work. After long hours of work I go home without any strain to my eyes.

The sharpness of the Viewsonic VA721 could be improved as well as the refresh rate. I can notice a slow down on video and multimedia applications, but most LCDs are a problem in this department. Only recently have LCDs had acceptable refresh rates for multimedia. The monitor is analog only and it would probably benefit from increased clarity if it used a digital connection. Other than that I don’t really find any problem with the monitor.

The Viewsonic VA721 is a relatively inexpensive monitor and is great for everyday office use. If you use more multimedia applications I would recommend a larger screen nowadays and one with a faster refresh rate. I would definitely look into a monitor with a DVI port. The response time and clarity is so much better in my opinion and you can usually find one without any price difference over an analog model. If there is a price difference I can justify spending a little more money to reduce the strain on your eyes.