LG L1980Q

Touchy and Athletic
It's been well over ten months since we last reviewed a 19" LCD monitor on Techtree. Yes, we have been testing a lot of 17-inch models and there will be more to follow but there is always something special about a 19" screen. Needless to say that when it comes to monitors, the phrase - 'bigger the better' always holds (if price is not a constraint). Today we have for you, a sleek 19" LCD from LG's Slim series that not only plots to enchant you with its looks but also enthrall you with its performance. Let's see how well things shape up for the LG L1980Q.

For starters, it is a sleek monitor with a black frame with metallic grey edges and a white piano finish at the back. An adjustable, round, lustrous stand adds to the looks. Yes, it may seem like too many shades in one piece but the eventual result is classy. The buttons that help you access the different functions of the LCD are located along the bottom edge of the monitor and respond to touch. You don't need to press them; simply touch to access that function and that applies to the power button as well which by the way is a semicircular transparent thing with a blue LED at the bottom right corner of the device. The connectors at the back include a D-Sub, a DVI input, and a power adapter input. The VGA cable, the DVI cable and the power adapter were bundled in the package.





The specifications of this display are pretty good. Other than the 19-inch screen area, this monitor has a response time of 8 ms which translates into better picture quality and minimal ghosting effect. The pixel pitch stays at 0.294 mm which is common to most 19" LCDs. It has a maximum brightness level of 250 cd/m" and a contrast ratio of 500:1. The horizontal and vertical view angles stand at 160 degrees each. It supports a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024 at 32-bit color depth.

This monitor supports an interesting feature called Auto Pivot. This isn't the first time we are seeing something like this but the way it's implemented in this model is quite interesting. Generally in monitors supporting similar feature, the screen can be tilted sideways and the matter on the screen adjusts accordingly. LG seems to have taken this a step further. This screen can flip backwards by almost 180 degrees and the matter on screen does a 180 degrees somersault too. So you wish to show something to the person sitting behind your monitor, just flip it over and the monitor adjusts automatically. Neat, isn't it? However you will need this software called LG Forte Manager installed on your PC which is bundled along with the monitor or can also be downloaded from the LG website. The Auto Pivot feature can also be disabled from the software.

Performance for a price

Now it's time for the performance. We tested this monitor using DisplayMate to get a bearing on how well it performs when put through various test patterns. DisplayMate first lets you tune a monitor to get the best possible display settings and then runs it through a series of test patterns to test everything from color, brightness and contrast to screen geometry. The test resolution was set to 1280x1024.




We used the monitor using both - the D-Sub and the DVI inputs but ran the tests using the DVI signal. The output was good on both occasions but the DVI does take the quality a notch or two up. And if a monitor supports DVI input, it is always wise to use the same for better results. Talking of results, they were fantastic for this LCD. The picture quality was sharp and the color reproduction was excellent. There was absolutely no bleeding of color when using either of the inputs and nor was there any anomaly in color shades. The screen was bright enough and the contrast was one of the best I have come across among LCDs. There were no dead pixels on the screen either. In the horizontal color registration test, there was a slight mismatch of green and red strands. That seemed like the only minor glitch in this excellent device. We tried a few games on it and thanks to its 8 ms response time, there was hardly any ghosting effect. This monitor is a very decent option for gaming too. Just make sure that you have a powerful enough graphics card to render playable FPS (frames per second) at 1280 x 1024 resolution for best results. Of course, it can support lower resolutions too.

The LG L1980Q is available for a street price of Rs. 25,000 with a 3-year warranty. 25K is a lot of money but I would still term the price as reasonable considering the quality of this display. And what more, it is more or less at par with its international price. All and all, the LG L1980Q is an excellent LCD that delivers in style as well as performance. It is highly recommended for those with fairly deep pockets, looking to buy a high quality big screen with good amount of features and style.

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