Packaging, Physical Layout And Accessories
Opening the double-corrugate carton and freeing the XG2401 from its dense foam packaging reveals a panel, base and upright that are built solidly with more heft than you might expect for their size. The upright is already attached to the panel. All you need to do is screw on the base with its captive bolt.
Included cables are USB 3.0, DisplayPort and an IEC cord for the internal power supply. The manual and necessary drivers are provided on a CD-ROM.
Product 360
The XG2401 exudes quality and has nice styling that befits a gaming display. Everything is covered with hard plastic but the base and upright have thick metal at their cores. A little red trim is provided to help set the monitor apart from rank-and-file business class screens. Full ergonomic adjustments are included with 4.7in (120mm) height, 27 degrees tilt, 175 degrees swivel and a portrait mode. When you turn the screen from side to side, the base moves along with it. ViewSonic has thoughtfully added felt pads to keep the moving parts from scratching your desktop.
The screen's front layer is 3H hardness, which is what we see on the majority of LCD monitors. It will reject reflections effectively without reducing image quality. There was no grain or softness on our sample.
Controls are via push-button and located underneath the front-center bezel. The keys click with a quality feel and are reasonably intuitive.
You can see that the base is generously-sized for stability. The upright has a clip-on cable organizer to keep your desktop tidy. There are no side-mounted USB ports, unfortunately. You'll find all the XG2401's connectivity on the bottom-facing jack panel.
Things look pretty clean around back with a couple of stylish curves that integrate the inputs and ventilation grills. The upright can be removed to expose a 100mm VESA mount. The speakers are rated at two watts per speaker, like most built-ins but they pump out much more volume than many of the displays we've reviewed. You won't hear much in the way of bass but at least there's some extra decibels there when you can't use an external sound system. Headphone users are accommodated by an output on the jack panel.
You'll need to use DisplayPort for FreeSync operation but ViewSonic has also included two HDMI inputs. The USB hub is version 3.0 and includes one upstream and two downstream ports. The audio jack is for headphones or powered speakers.
