LG Flatron L1980Q

The LG Flatron L1980Q is all about style. While other monitors tend to be thick, blocky, and difficult to adjust, the L1980Q is a testament to thin and slim. This innovative design is a bigger asset than you might expect, making it easy to move and adjust the unit according to your usage patterns. The price is a tad high, but for sheer "wow-factor" the L1980Q wins hands down.

 

With its unique neck design, the L1980Q can be adjusted in a full 90-degree range, from straight up and down to lying flat on its back. The DVI and analog inputs and the power port are all located in the easy-to-reach base, unlike most monitors that frustratingly place them in the back of the panel or the underside of the display. While the 19-inch screen size is in line with most of the other LCDs here, LG's sheer compactness makes the display area seem twice as large.

 

The 1280 x 1024-resolution is relatively standard for a panel this size. There are only 16.2 million possible colors instead of 16.7 million. The 500,000 fewer colors may not sound like a big deficiency, but it's a little disappointing when such a high-end product skimps on details like color depth. The 250 cd/m2 luminance is the least bright of all the monitors we tested, although for the most part the difference was imperceptible.

 

Despite the shortcomings, the overall picture quality was high. The L1980Q boasts LG's "f-Engine," a proprietary picture-enhancing chip that's designed to independently adjust brightness and contrast on the fly. While it doesn't have a recognizable impact on the overall experience, the ability to fine-tune the display quality is a plus.

 

The L1980Q claims to have an 8-ms pixel response time, a measurement of how fast it can switch pixels, but this is an unreliable number since response time is often culled differently from one manufacturer to the next (see sidebar). Nevertheless, there was no perceptible lag while playing pixel-heavy 3D games like Doom 3.
There's no question that the LG may not be the best value. Sony includes a TV tuner, speakers, and a subwoofer in their model for the same price as this panel. However, the Flatron L1980Q is the sexiest-looking monitor you can buy.
www.lgusa.com