ViewSonic CES announcements also include a new 4K 27-inch model along with the XP in their Professional series, and two new Enterprise series models.

Bigger monitors are in increased demand this year among commercial customers.  At CES this week, ViewSonic announced a new 32-inch one – the 8K Ultra HD (7680×4320) VP3278-8K. The new high end of ViewSonic’s VP Professional Monitor series, it will carry a $USD 5200 price tag. Another new Professional Monitor, the 27-inch VP2768-4K  features Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.

ViewSonic is introducing four new models for the commercial market, two in the VP Professional Series, and two in the VG Enterprise Series, with the VP models being considerably splashier – and more expensive.

“We are seeing demand for both higher resolution and bigger screen size in these markets,” said Nick Lin, Product Marketing Manager at ViewSonic. “The 24-inch is still more than 50 per cent of the market, but the 27-inch is really picking up. By way of comparison, four years ago 17-, 19- and 20-inch monitors were more common, and the 27-inch was under 10 per cent of share. Today, even in the commercial market, you are seeing enterprises moving to 32- and 34- inch monitors to get really large viewing spaces.”

The VP3278-8K is ViewSonic’s first 8K monitor, and its 7680×4320 resolution will  provide four times the resolution of the 4K. It’s more than four times the price as well. The VP3278-8K’s $USD 5200 street price dwarfs the VP2768-4K’s USD $900 price.

This monitor is designed to provide life-like color reproduction. To assist in this, it is hardware calibration-ready, so users can quickly and easily calibrate color accuracy.

The VP3278-8K is important to ViewSonic to make a technology statement, and show the extent to which its technology will go. It still needs customers, however. Who in the commercial space would want – and pay for – such bleeding edge technology? Prosumer-types who want high end capabilities for both work and play.

“We have customers who do workstation graphics and who want very high-end accuracy, and also use the monitor for entertainment,” Lin said.

One downside – these customers will have to wait a while for the 8K offering to become available. It’s not scheduled for availability until Q4.

Lin said that the VP2768-4K will find a much broader market, and that it responds to another trend – greater demand for 4K resolution in 27-inch monitors. It features the new Thunderbolt 3 connectivity technology.

“The higher resolutions need a lot more bandwidth,” Lin said. “Thunderbolt 2 can do 20 Gb/s, but Thunderbolt 3 doubles that.”

It will be available in Q3.

The two new VG Enterprise monitors ViewSonic announced lack the sizzle of the VP entries, but ViewSonic partners will sell a lot more of them.

“The VP Professional monitor line is only about three years old,” Lin said. “Their sales have been doubling every year, but they are still only about 10 per cent of the whole. The VG Enterprise models are still our bread and butter. They make up more than 50 per cent of our sales.” The rest is consumer brands, both gamer and value models.

The 24-inch VG2448 and 27-inch VG2748 are aimed at the broad corporate, government, and education markets. Both have Full HD 1080p resolution with SuperClear IPS panel technology for optimal colour, and an ultra-thin bezel for multi-monitor setups.

“They both have very strong ergonomic features, including being among the first monitors to offer a 40 per cent tilt angle, to let a second person who is standing also view the screen fully,” Lin said. “They are very easy to assemble. All you do is screw the base to the neck and snap it into the monitor. They are also very eco-friendly. There is no Styrofoam in the packaging at all, just cardboard. We also make sure we have newer features on these as well. For instance, many computers today are hidden, and not on top of the desk or under it, like they once were. All you see is the monitor. So these have mounting holes on the back to mount a small form factor computer behind the monitor.”

The price point for these models is far lower than the VP ones, with the 24-inch model selling for $USD 238 and the 27-inch $365. Partners and customers will also get them sooner. The smaller model is due in March, and the larger in June.

ViewSonic also made several other sets of announcements relevant to the commercial market. product market. Two larger 4K Ultra HD digital signage  displays were announced in their CDE series, which are designed as ‘commercial light’ models that run 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are the 65-inch CDE6510 and 55-inch CDE5510, which list for $USD 2,329 and $USD 1,599 respectively. They will be available in February.

ViewSonic also made multiple projector announcements at CES, two of which will be strong commercial market performers. The ViewSonic LS800HD and LS800WU laser phosphor projectors feature a brightness of 5,000 and 5,500 ANSI lumens, respectively, a 100,000:1 contrast ratio, and up to 30,000 hours of light source life. Designed for the professional installation market, the LS800HD      will list for $USD 2,999 and the LS800WU for $USD 3,199. Both will be available this month.

Finally, while the gaming market is technically consumer, many partners have moved back into the gaming industry in recent years, attracted by higher prices and better margins. ViewSonic expanded its XG gaming monitor portfolio with multiple new entries. They are the XG2560, a 25-inch monitor with Full HD 1080p resolution, NVIDIA G-SYNC technology, and a 240Hz refresh rate. The XG3220 is a 32-inch monitor with Ultra HD 4K resolution, the that features HDR10 (High Dynamic Range) support and AMD FreeSync technology. The XG3540C is a 35-inch curved widescreen display with a 21:9 aspect ratio, Ultra-Wide QHD (3840×1440) resolution, and a refresh rate of 100Hz.

The XG2560 lists for $USD $573 and will be available this month. The XG3220 has an MSRP of $USD 629 and will be out in March, and that the XG3540C is slated for Q3 at $USD 739.