Vertical Monitor Review - Iiyama ProLite B2482HS-B1 24"

We're all working from home now, right? I got this specific monitor for two reasons only:

1. It rotates to vertical mode
2. It was within my employer's home working budget

There are no integrated USB hubs, no TV tuners, no gaming mode, no 4K, no HDR, no smarts. It is just a screen. That happens to rotate.

Tech Specs

Gloriously boring. For video, there's an HDMI socket. You also get a legacy VGA socket and a DVI. Audio is a 3.5mm jack in and out. That's your lot.

It appears to have standard VESA mounting screws if you don't like the stand. Oh, and there's a Kensington Lock socket if you want to securely bolt it to something. Bizarrely, it doesn't come with an HDMI cable. You get power, 3.5mm audio, and DVI.

UI

The interface is about as good as any computer monitor - which is to say pretty bad. Repeatedly clicking stiff buttons is no one's idea of fun. But it only needs to be done once. There is no way to set the UI to be rotated, so you have to twist your head whenever you want to adjust it. There's no way change the way it presents to your computer. So you'll need to find your machine's settings for rotating a display.

Posture

As well as rotation, the stand is height adjustable and has a bit of tilt.

It takes a little bit of adjustment to make it just right for your personal preferences.

Why vertical?

I read lots of long boring important documents. A tiny laptop screen isn't suited for that. A 24 inch monitor, when landscape, has a height of 30cm. The same height as A4 paper. But once you add in the overhead of the program you're using to read the paper, it is considerably less. If you're a sensible distance from the monitor, you'll also want a larger font.

So a vertical monitor is just right.

Downsides

This isn't a true vertical monitor. The viewing angles when rotated are nowhere near as wide as when in landscape. As you move your head, it becomes apparent that colours and contrast alter quite rapidly.

Jelly Scrolling. When quickly scrolling documents, there is some distortion - the right side appears to move before the left side. I think this is because the monitor is drawing from top to bottom, but receiving the data from side to side - if that makes sense. It's not hugely distracting. You can see the effect on this testing website.

Finally, the speakers are basic. They're stereo - but when rotated, they're vertical. Which is a little odd, but fine for conference calls. They're not particularly loud, but they fill my small office. There's no way to control the volume over HDMI. That may be a limitation of MacOS though.

Buy it

I was about £130 when I ordered it - but prices are fluctuating based on stock. Buy the Iiyama ProLite on Amazon