Richard Baguley

Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454

The Vision Master Pro 454 has a lot of features, including two VGA inputs (so you can connect two PCs and switch between them), a built-in four-port USB 1.1 hub, and a set of 1-watt speakers built into the tilt-and-swivel base.
Although it packs plenty of features, the Vision Master Pro 454 has merely average image quality. Text screens in our tests were reasonably sharp, but we saw some fuzziness at the edges of the letters, making them slightly difficult to read. The monitor rendered images reasonably well, but the colors weren't as accurate or lucid as we saw from other models that are less expensive. The speakers are adequate for casual use, but they produce rather weak, tinny sound that's nowhere near as good as sound from a separate set of speakers. And all of these features come at a price: The Vision Master Pro 454 costs $440.
There are three buttons on the tilt-and-swivel base: a circular four-way control button used to move around in menus, a button for switching between the two inputs, and an OPQ (Optimum Picture Quality) button. The OPQ button lets you switch among three modes optimized for still images, movies, and text. These modes work fairly well for their respective purposes, but you can't customize them. The on-screen menu times out a little too quickly for our liking by default, but you can change the amount of time it remains visible.
The Vision Master Pro 454 saves desk space by combining a monitor, speakers, and a USB hub into one, but the performance and price are somewhat disappointing.

Buying Information

Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454 18-inch viewable area,.25mm strip pitch Diamondtron M2 tube, up to 119-Hz refresh rate at 1280 by 1024 resolution, TCO'99 compliant. Three-year warranty, 10-hour weekday toll-free support. $ 440 18-inch viewable area,.25mm strip pitch Diamondtron M2 tube, up to 119-Hz refresh rate at 1280 by 1024 resolution, TCO'99 compliant. Three-year warranty, 10-hour weekday toll-free support. http://www.iiyama.com 800/394-4335