Computers

ViewSonic VX2418 review: A display of well-roundedness

An entertainment-friendly monitor for every device

Published

August 20, 2021

Gab Orlina

Everybody needs a good monitor these days, and it’s not that hard to find one. Whether it’s for work or play, getting a monitor that suits your needs is a godsend. Plus, you want it to fit your entire setup nicely, instead of taking too much space just for additional things to look at on your screen.

ViewSonic has always given people the kind of monitors they need for any use case. The company doesn’t shy away from delivering high-grade monitors for productivity or for gaming. Now, they have another offering that supposedly hits the mark on both the productivity and gaming aspect with the ViewSonic VX2418.

Is this an all-around display that you should go for?

What’s in the box?

Before we go any further, I think you should know what you’re getting with this monitor. For starters, the ViewSonic VX2418 comes with a 23.8-inch LCD, anti-glare display and up to a 165Hz refresh rate. At the back of the monitor, you will see two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort, and a headphone jack for audio output.

Also, the ViewSonic VX2418 also comes with dual integrated speakers found on each end of the monitor. If you’re lacking any good speakers for your setup, this monitor will provide those for you instead. In terms of any extra freebies, ViewSonic included a DisplayPort cable with the whole package, which saved me the hassle of buying one.

A display for practically anything

Once you set the monitor up, you will realize that you could use this monitor for any device you own. To be fair, those two HDMI ports open the monitor to a multitude of devices as long as you have an HDMI cable nearby. Whether it’s a gaming PC, a spare laptop, or even your consoles, this monitor accommodates them all.

Here’s the thing: this monitor is quite bright and delivers colors fairly accurately. Across all my devices and consoles, the VX2418 produced great quality suited for watching movies, playing a few games, and even getting some work done. Plus, even under great lighting conditions, it’s still pretty bright provided that you turn it up to around 70 to 80 percent.

Remember those speakers I brought up earlier? Well, I’m happy to report that they sound pretty good for dedicated monitor speakers. I felt that having two of them amplifies the sound a little bit more, which is great for PC users and gamers. If you’re more of a console player, don’t play too far from the monitor if you want to hear your game sounds.

Good for competitive, great for casual

For all the PC gamers out there, the ViewSonic VX2418 poses as a prime candidate for your future monitor upgrade. See, with the 165Hz refresh rate, you can crank up the frame rates on your games and experience less lag while playing. If you’re more of a casual player, you wouldn’t really notice this as much, but if you’re trying to get good at a game, it helps.

For competitive players, it’s just a good thing to have in any monitor you pick up. Another thing that this monitor comes with is support for Adaptive Sync, which promises a smoother gaming experience. Whether you’re team AMD or NVIDIA, this monitor will allow you to experience less screen tearing and low input lag, especially since it also comes with a 1ms response rate.

If you plan to hook up your consoles to this monitor, it will still display everything properly and in great detail, too. Although, I don’t recommend using this monitor for your next-gen console if you’re looking to maximize it.

Some missed marks

Alas, this monitor isn’t perfect and some of these will sound a little nitpicky. For starters, the whole refresh rate stipulation, I felt was a bit of a misstep. The only way you get access to the 165Hz refresh rate is through the DisplayPort; if your GPU doesn’t have a DisplayPort, tough luck. If you opt to use HDMI, which most available GPUs come with, it is capped at 144Hz, which isn’t necessarily bad.

Another thing is, well the anti-glare display itself — particularly against direct sunlight. When using the monitor against direct sunlight, there is a glare on the screen with respect to where the sunlight is coming from. I had to crank up the brightness to 100 percent to subdue the glare a little bit. Honestly, it wasn’t that much of a bother for me but for others, it might be.

Finally, the monitor doesn’t come with any form of cable management feature at the back. If you’re somebody who loves to manage their cables for their setup, this is a bit of a downer. There are other monitors out there within the same price range that offer a cable management hook, at least.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

At PhP 10,999, the ViewSonic VX2418 delivers great visual quality and color accuracy for any use case. Whether you’re typing up documents, editing photos, playing games, or watching streams, this monitor suits all of those well. Plus, the speakers sound good and loud enough, but don’t be too far from the monitor.

Sure, there were some hiccups along the way, depending on whether they bother you or not. Again, some of the missed opportunities seem nitpicky, but they affect the overall experience with the monitor. Even with these hiccups, it still brings a lot to the table that you will appreciate about it.

If you’re looking to upgrade your old monitor at home, this is a great pickup. It serves as a more well-rounded option that fits any device you hook up to it.

Related Topics:Viewsonic ViewSonic VX2418

Computers

New Mac mini starts at a whopping $899, only 256GB of storage

It comes with the M6 or the M5 Pro.

Published

August 26, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Almost two decades ago, Apple was infamous for being an anti-gamer brand. Though the company’s devices touted superior protection against viruses, they couldn’t play video games, alienating a significant chunk of the population and forcing them onto PCs. For a while now, the Mac has changed the status quo, bringing in more powerful hardware that can play games. Today, Apple is championing that cause further through the newly launched Mac mini.

Compared to the chunkier Macs, the Mac mini has a lithe 5” x 5” profile, emphasizing the “mini” in its name. Despite the size, the new mini will tout two flavors of Apple silicon: the M6 and the M5 Pro.

The M6 variant delivers with up to two times faster gaming performance with ray tracing when running Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, compared to the previous M4 version. Meanwhile, the M5 Pro version touts up to 4.5 times faster rendering performance with ray tracing in Blender, compared to the M2 Pro. It will come with macOS 27 Golden Gate out of the box.

You won’t have to worry about connectivity, either. The Mac mini comes with compatibility for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and 2.5Gb Ethernet (going up to 10Gb in upgraded versions). It will also have two USB-C ports, three Thunderbolt 5 ports (but only Thunderbolt 4 for the M6 version), and HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and a headphone jack.

Unfortunately, price seems to be another thing that it’s getting from PCs. The new Mac mini has an increased starting price. Specifically, the M6 version starts at US$ 899 (with only 256GB of storage), and the M5 Pro version starts at US$ 1,699 (for 512GB of storage). Preorders are open now, but they ship out on September 22.

Accessories

OBSBOT Meet Flip Hands-on

It’s tinier and folds this time

Published

August 14, 2026

Phones flip and fold. Now webcams do too.

Foldable screens have found their way into phones, tablets, and laptops in recent years. Now, OBSBOT is taking that idea in a considerably smaller direction: the webcam.

The OBSBOT Meet Flip is the company’s first foldable 4K webcam packing:

1/2-inch stacked CMOS sensor
intelligent audio
a collection of AI-powered meeting tools

All of these inside a body weighing just 37.7 grams.

A fold that does something, not just a gimmick

The OBSBOT Meet Flip isn’t foldable just to make it easier to throw into a bag.

Closing the webcam physically blocks the lens and puts the device into sleep mode. Open it when you want to be seen, flip it shut when you don’t.

A physical privacy cover isn’t novel in itself. What’s clever here is how it’s part of the folding design.

As someone with a love-hate relationship with data privacy, I almost always keep some physical barrier over my laptop webcam. And if I can avoid having a webcam there entirely, even better.

Serious camera hardware in a pocket-sized webcam

Despite its size, OBSBOT hasn’t treated the Meet Flip like a basic laptop-camera replacement.

Inside is a 1/2-inch Exmor RS stacked CMOS sensor with Quad Bayer technology, capable of recording 4K UHD at 30 fps or 1080p at 60 fps. It also packs an f/1.8 aperture, HDR, PDAF autofocus, ISO 100–6400, and up to 4x digital zoom.

At its core is a 1/2-inch Exmor RS stacked CMOS sensor with Quad Bayer technology.

It can record:

4K UHD at 30fps
1080p at 60fps

You also get:

f/1.8 aperture
HDR
PDAF autofocus
ISO 100–6400
up to 4x digital zoom

On paper, that gives the Meet Flip a better shot at handling the situations built-in laptop webcams often struggle with: dim rooms, harsh backlighting, changing lighting conditions, or simply moving around in front of the camera.

HDR helps keep faces visible against bright backgrounds, while PDAF autofocus continuously adjusts focus as you move closer to or farther from the lens.

The wider f/1.8 aperture should also help in less-than-ideal lighting.

The point is that once the Meet Flip is set up, you shouldn’t have to spend much time thinking about the camera itself.

It listens differently depending on the room setup

The Meet Flip also uses an intelligent dual-microphone system combining omnidirectional and directional microphones.

Instead of relying on one pickup pattern for every situation, it offers four audio modes for different setups:

Directional Mode focuses on sound coming from the front, making it the obvious choice for solo calls.

Dual-Directional Mode listens to both the front and rear of the webcam, which could be useful for interviews or conversations between two people sitting across from each other.

Smart Omni Mode is designed for group meetings, picking up voices from around the room.

And Pure Audio Mode provides unprocessed left and right stereo channels for users who would rather handle the audio themselves in post-production.

Auto Gain and AI Noise Reduction also work across the first three modes, helping clean up audio without requiring much manual adjustment.

It gives the Meet Flip more flexibility than a typical webcam microphone, especially if you regularly switch between solo calls, interviews, and group meetings.

AI that doesn’t intrude

AI has become an almost obligatory addition to new hardware in 2026, but several of the Meet Flip’s features put it to work on real-world meeting annoyances.

AI Auto Framing keeps you in frame, with options for:

Group
Single Close-up
Upper Body
Full Body

Gesture controls can also toggle Auto Framing or adjust the zoom without reaching for a keyboard or mouse.

More interesting is AI Magic Notes.

Through OBSBOT Center, it provides real-time transcription and can automatically generate meeting summaries with key points, decisions, and action items. It works across Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.

Although AI Magic Notes is offered as a subscription service, every Meet Flip includes 120 complimentary minutes to get started.

MORE with OBSBOT Center & OBSBOT Live

There are plenty of other software features as well. OBSBOT Center includes:

Background Blur and Background Replacement
Real-Time Beauty Mode
Picture-in-Picture overlays
Smart Eye Tracking
Teleprompter support
Detailed image adjustments

The Meet Flip isn’t limited to laptops or desktops either. Through OBSBOT Live, it can connect directly to smartphones and tablets over USB-C for mobile streaming and content creation.

Flip it open. Fold it away.

None of those features reinvent the webcam on their own.

Taken together, though, they make the Meet Flip a more thoughtful take on a piece of hardware whose basic design and features have barely changed.

The flip may grab your attention first, but it’s how OBSBOT uses that design alongside its camera, audio, and software features that makes the Meet Flip interesting.

The OBSBOT Meet Flip is now available at US$ 119 and is currently available through OBSBOT’s official store, Amazon US, and select retailers.

@gadgetmatchPhones flip. Now webcams do too. 👀 Meet the OBSBOT Meet Flip, a tiny foldable 4K webcam with a lot packed inside. ✨

♬ original sound – GadgetMatch

If you buy one, here’s what you’ll get out of the box!

Computers

AMD launches Radeon RX 9050 graphics card

Affordable GPU option for AAA titles

Published

July 30, 2026

GadgetMatch

AMD has launched the new AMD Radeon RX 9050 graphics card, expanding the Radeon RX 9000 series with an affordable option.

This brings AMD RDNA 4 gaming technologies to mainstream gamers with a retail price of US$ 279.

The particular GPU is designed for responsive gameplay at 1080p. That’s for esports and modern AAA titles.

Some popular titles it can run at high frame rates on a 1080p resolution include: Cyberpunk 2077, Forza Horizon 6, Pragmata, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Valorant, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, to name a few.

This highly efficient, drop-in upgrade features a 92W TBP and fully supports the latest AMD FSR technologies, next-gen raytracing, and high-quality AV1 video streaming.

Key specs: