Design and Ergonomics

When viewed from the front, the ViewSonic XG240R doesn't really reveal its gaming, or "elite", nature. It sports a simple black-on-black design with ViewSonic's familiar, almost rectangular base at the bottom, a nice stand rising above it, and a 24-inch panel with fairly thick bezels attached to the stand. The base has a texture resembling brushed metal, but make no mistake, it's encased in plastic with a steel core that makes it weighty and stable. Plastic was used on all other surfaces of the monitor as well. It feels sturdy but doesn't look luxurious; if you're after a monitor that's going to impress your friends with its nearly non-existent bezels, this isn't it. That also means the XG240R isn't a good choice for multimonitor setups as the "gap" between two adjacent monitors would simply be too large to ignore.


Things get more interesting around the back. Here, we have two V-shaped RGB LED strips behind a milky-white plastic cover, which softens up their light and acts as a diffusor. Even though the RGB zones are much larger than they are on the MSI Oculux NXG251R, which I reviewed recently (available here), they still aren't nowhere bright enough to properly illuminate the wall behind the monitor, which would reduce eyestrain in the dark. You will see some subtle color effects on the wall behind the monitor, assuming the wall is fairly close to the monitor's rear side, but that's about it. With that said, the RGB functionality of the ViewSonic XG240R doesn't seem like its killer-feature.


If you're into RGB effects regardless of their true usefulness, you'll be interested to find out that the ELITE RGB lighting system, as ViewSonic calls it, is fully compatible with both Thermaltake's TT RGB PLUS and Razer's Chroma RGB ecosystems. Meaning, you'll be able to sync the RGB effects on this ViewSonic monitor with those on Thermaltake's and Razer's peripherals.


I tested this by using the luxurious Thermaltake Level 20 RGB mechanical keyboard and their Riing Trio 12 fans supplied with their corresponding fan/RGB LED controller in the Riing Trio 12 LED RGB Radiator Fan TT Premium Edition 3-Fan Pack. It works as advertised—after you connect everything to your PC, the TT RGB Plus Windows app used to control the fans detects both the keyboard and ViewSonic monitor. You can select the "Sync On" option for either, or both, and that's that; the RGB effects will synchronize with those you apply to your fans. There are a ton of effects to choose from in the TT RGB Plus app. Combine that with the ability to freely pick any desired color(s) from the color wheel and the combinations and possibilities are endless.


None of this will work without Thermaltake's fan controller, though. If the fan controller is not connected to your motherboard, the TT RGB Plus app is rendered useless. In other words, you can't sync the RGB effects between just the keyboard and the monitor, at least not within Thermaltake's TT RGB PLUS ecosystem.


The base of the monitor consists of a steel core that is covered in plastic. The plastic cover has a brushed metal texture to it. More importantly, it's quite stable. There's no chance of the screen toppling over even if you accidentally hit it. The base tightly connects with the stand and allows it to be rotated to the left and right (45° in both directions). The rotating motion is smooth, completely doable with one hand.


In terms of cable management, ViewSonic went with a plastic loop that can be attached to the stand. It will secure a couple of cables and hide them behind the stand, away from sight.


On top of the stand is a small, retractable hook that can hold your headset.


The panel can be adjusted in height. When pushed all the way down, the distance between the screen's bottom edge and the table's surface is 7.5 centimeters. If you pull it all the way up, said distance goes up to 19.2 centimeters. You won't need both hands for this maneuver as the mechanism isn't too stiff.


The monitor can be swiveled to the left and right. The stand allows it to swivel for 45° in both directions.


The angle the screen can be tilted in has a range of roughly 20°, which doesn't give you all that much to work with. Most monitors can be tilted for more. Luckily, since the screen is height-adjustable, the tilting feature isn't too important—you'll have no issues finding an optimal position regardless of how you're sitting.


The screen can also be pivoted by 90° clockwise. Should you want to use its portrait orientation permanently, the OSD can be rotated by 90° as well, which is pretty useful.


The monitor can be mounted on a desk arm or wall stand by simply removing the entire stand and affixing it to any standard VESA 100x100 mount.