Acer AL2216WBD vs Westinghouse LCM-22W2

I took advantage of the Best Buy offer for the Westy 22" and drove away with it, and went in search of a DVI cable for less than the $50 Best Buy wanted (none included)

Arrived at Costco. noticed they had the AL2216 in stock, and surprise surprise it was also priced at $399 but it included a DVI cable. So I bought one as well!

Got them home and did a side by side review. Bottom line; the Westy is going back. It all came down to the controls and trying to set the colors up correctly. With the Acer all my photos look good with colors pretty much at default, but with the Westy everyone in the photos looks red faced drunk all the time. And we were only red faced drunk some of the time....

Placed each monitor side by side and heres how they look:



Both have swivel adjustment but neither has pivot. The Westy sits higher than the Acer and that cant be adjusted.

Both change in brightness as you move your head up and down - but not by much.I found that acceptable.

Both are 1680x1050 and apart from color the picture is pretty much identical. Coming from a 19" CRT running 1600x1200 I noticed the drop in vertical res but the quality of image is far better overall.

Both monitors appear to resize any supplied res from the vid card to fill the screen. I dont get black bars if I lower the res.

Now I set each monitor side by side with my Iiyama CRT to do some response tests

Input lag; ran the stopwatch test but the numbers are all a blur (my digicam shutter must be slow) so I ran the 'sync' test using Digitial Video Essentials DVD, which has a 'clock' sweeping out 1 sec each revolution,. in different colors. Easy to photo, and no significant difference seen. so if there is input lag, the camera couldnt catch it in this test. Ran the mouse and windows around the desktop in clone mode, but couldnt see any lag. Played Counterstrike and all seemed normal. Both the Westy and the Acer seemed to perform the same in terms of responsiveness. Here is the Acer under test - but the Westy results are no different so I'll spare the 56k users another photo.



Looked at various images, including the Gamespot webpage, and I couldnt see any banding. Couldnt see it on the DVD test screens either.

However, I did notice that the Acer has 3 pixels that might be 'dead'. They appear light grey and are nearly impossible to see, even though they are in the middle of the screen. The Westy has no dead pixels.

So I then spent ages playing with each monitor by itself, tweaking the color temp and values, bightness, contract, and the sharpness. At the end of all that the Acer did an acceptable job of showing my photos and the Westy came close, but came second.

As the Acer has better color, a DVI cable, and the Costco warranty. So the Westy goes back tomorrow. Having said that it was a really tough call, and unless I'd dome the side by side, I'd be happy with either.

Oh yes - important point - 1680x1050 is marginally less pixels than 1600x1200, but 1920x1200 is a whole lot more. I decided on the 22" because 20s were too small, and a 24 would mean I need to upgrade the rest of the system. If you have an Nvidia card, setting 1680x1050 is pretty easy.

On the Acer I also noticed that the VGA looks 98% as good as the DVI. I had it running side by side with the Westy, VGA vs DVI, and there was nothing in it.

So after months of research on the forum my search is over - right size, right price, right resolution. Thanks for all your posts and I hope this helps you find the right one for you.

Good review. I have the Westy and I have to say, I can certainly understand how you may have had a difficult time getting the colors right. For you and anyone else who in interested in the monitor, here are the best settings I've found:

Red: 100
Green: 94
Blue: 96

Contrast: 0 (yes, it's true!)
Brightness: Whatever you find pleasant

Maxing out the colors and completely cutting off the contrast like that made the colors really stand out like they should.

With that said, enjoy your Acer, I'm sure it will serve you well.

Yes - there wasnt much in it between the two, and only a side by side resolved it.

I think these 22" monitors now hitting the market are going to be very popular. They are very similar to 19" fullscreens with three inches added on the side. When you compare these 22" ws monitors with 20" ws (at $50 less) or the 24" ws (at at least $300 more) they seem a bargain. I had been looking at the 24" market for months and in the end couldnt justify the extra cash for the extra 2" and a better panel.

Whoa... very interesting indeed. I might return my westy just because of the Costco warranty.

As for checking the input lag, I have suggestion:

Put your digital camera in movie instead of picture mode, and record a short video of it.
Once imported on your computer, you should be able to check the movie frame by frame.

the acer is a 6-bit tn panel?

Does the Acer have the glossy screen like their 20" has? Crystal-something is the name of the technology...

The Acer is a TN panel which I believe is a 6 bit 'dithered to 8' panel.

The screen is matte not glossy. Good news is I dont see reflections in it.

I just bought the Acer today at costco. It was $350 , but unfortunately it will be going back ASAP. Within 5 mins of browsing these forums the view angle limitations became apparent. Just moving my head down a little bit or sitting back in my chair I can notice the limited viewing angle. Other wise its a pretty nice monitor. $350 for 22" is a bargain.

Just a head's up!

Stopped by my local Costco and they don't have this monitor in stock. In fact, the inventory guy said he didn't even see ANY 22" Acer in his system.

This might be a regional-only offering.

I picked up the westinghouse while it was on sale at Best Buy + a gift card I had, I can't complain, actually I love it! I wondered over after spotting it in store and incorrectly guessing that it was a 24in (what I had been holding out for). After learning it was 'just' a 22 inch, but realizing it would be a while before I could reasonably have a chance at getting a 24in at near $300, and that there is no way my ol' Nwood system could run the needed resolutions I jumped on the Westinghouse.

The bottom line here is that it is a good monitor, and if you can get it "for the right price" I recommend it. However! I understand that Samsung and Dell will be using the same LCD panels in upcoming monitors, and being competitively priced I'd pick one of those when they come out only because those are names I'm more familiar with. Why didn't I switch? I already had this one home and was too spoiled to take it back and wait!

Can anyone who's picked up the Acer monitor from Costco post which state/city they found it in? I've checked out two Costco's in the Chicago area and neither one of them even had the monitor in the system. I'm curious where these Acer's are in stock.

P.S. - great side by side review PSB! Thanks for doing the homework on this one!

Hello,
I just bought an Acer 22" from costco too for $350. It was from fullerton in Califonia for those of you who are interested.

For those of you who have one. What color, contrast, brightness settings are u using? I can't seem to get the perfect blend yet and would like some imput. Thanks

$350?! wow.

Contrast 70
Brightnes 46
User Colour settings R/G/B all at 45

Got mine from the Torrance CA Costco 2 weeks ago and I paid $399

How exactly do you get a TV image displayed on these monitors?

I see Costco is now selling the Acer 22" for $349 + s/h. Guess I should have waited 3 weeks...!

Update after one month of ownership:

1) In Office apps I notice some red/ochre 'blooming' behind small text (but only when the text is bold. Normal text is just normal.

2) The viewing angle is just great - I notice a slight increase in brightness if I raise my position a few inches, which is no issue. However, if I sit on the floor and look at the screen from well below the normal view it is much darker; but then again, I dont consider that an issue unless you weant to mount on of these high on a wall (or like to sit on the floor)

3) 2 dead pixels but they are very hard to see - only visible with a black or grey//blue background, and they seem 'fainter' than the rest. Red or green screens rende them invisible, so the pixels must be partially inoperative rather than stuck.

4) All the games I ran in 1600x1200 previously on my CRT run just as well if not better due to the similar pixel count - this is a BIG plus as it means I dont have to upgrade the rest of my system to drive the screen.

5) Overall the value is outstanding - 22" of desktop for $399 (now $349)

Hope you find this useful

I've had mine for about a month now I think and I'm happy with it. Color wise, it comes close to my Vp191b(the newer 8ms one) which is an 8bit panel so that says alot. I dont notice any ghosting but a little color blurring with cafe(brown) colors, but not much. For $350 I'll definately keep it, but for $500, I'd get a Samsumg 215tw, but then you loose an inch.

I got the same monitor and love it !

Here is the problem though (look at the link) ----> HERE. I can't install any drivers although monitor seems to be working fine. I get this Device Installer Error that I can't get around. Help !

I never bothered installing the Acer drivers. It works great without them. I'm using the Nvidia 6800 with 84.21 drivers. The monitor shows up as a 60Hz Plug and Play monitor under 'Adapters'

Does anyone know if you get a performance enhancement using the monitor driver?

Microcenter has this for $299 no rebates. I think i might pick one up. Can i see HDTV programing with this using DVI?
Acer AL2216