Eizo Flexscan S2231W review

The 22in widescreen Eizo Flexscan S2231W - a brand favoured by imaging professionals and graphic designers - is the most expensive screen we've looked at of late. It's also the heaviest, weighing in at a monstrous 11.2kg.

The Eizo Flexscan S2231W certainly looks and feels business-like. An adjustable-height stand allows the monitor to be angled forward and back, swivelled left and right and, like the competing HP W2408H, rotated through 90 degrees for a portrait view. It boasts impressive 178-degree viewing angles.

As you'd expect for the price, the Eizo Flexscan S2231W offers both DVI and 15-pin D-Sub inputs and three USB 2.0 ports (one upstream, two downstream), but there's no HDMI. There are unobtrusive 0.5W built-in speakers, plus an input for additional speakers or headphones.

Switch the screen on and an auto-setup procedure is performed, making it a breeze to get the display up and running. Operation is reasonably intuitive – it's not immediately clear what the 10 small buttons below the screen control do, but you soon get used to their various functions. The Eizo Flexscan S2231W features standard presets for viewing pictures, films or text, along with a custom setting.

As for picture quality, you get what you pay for. Left at its default settings, the Eizo Flexscan S2231W delivered the sharpest picture and truest colours we've seen in a long while. It was particularly impressive for viewing photographs, and was generally excellent at gaming. However, a response rate of 8ms doesn't make for the most fluid of moving images, and the jumps between scenes were sometimes rather awkward.

The Eizo Flexscan S2231W is quite literally a heavyweight offering, and if all you want to do is watch movies, play games or peruse the odd spreadsheet, you'll be paying over the odds. For those wanting true-to-life colours and razor-sharp images, it's a strong investment.