LG L1980U LCD: The New 19" Panel on the Block
by Kristopher Kubicki on May 13, 2005 4:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Displays
Conclusions
LG’s L1980U gave us a different experience from most of the monitors that we have seen in the past. LG.Philips LCD, the panel manufacturer for this display, has produced some of the most stunning panels that we have had the pleasure of setting our eyes on over the last few years. Although we can’t call the LM190E04 panel from LG.Philips LCD stunning, it is certainly on par with other 19”, low response time displays from AUO. We were pleased that the viewing angle problems mentioned on the LM190E03 were corrected on this panel.The LG L1980U screams two things: sleek and thin. Everything from the housed cable management to the touch sensitive interface makes us feel like this monitor was intended for royalty. Attention to detail goes a long way when we are evaluating how a display is constructed, and LG really excels this time around with some of the detail in their Flatron L1980U. forteManager was an excellent addition to an already outstanding user interface – so hopefully, we will get the opportunity to see more of applications like this in the future.
Had LG opted for a slightly different panel (which was probably not possible due to their relationship with LG.Philips LCD), we could have easily considered this to be one of the better 19” LCD monitors that we have seen in years. The unfortunate problems that plague all 6-bit TN displays are present in this unit too; washed out and mildly inaccurate colors were somewhat of common place. On the other hand, gaming was fine if we ignored some of the instances where subtle details were completely washed out. This monitor is great for just browsing text on the web, but the point of getting a low response time LCD is for it to perform well in games.
Unfortunately, the deck was stacked against LGE from the beginning. With Dell’s awesome UltraSharp 1905FP retailing for $200 less than the sticker price on the Flatron L1980U, LG had to demonstrate that their display was worth $200 more than Dell’s in order to truly win our stamp of approval. This was not the case in many of the benchmarks, although we have to commend LG for taking fusing the better elements of style and control into their Flatron L1980U. The L1980U was a great attempt by LG to unseat the 800lbs. gorilla, but ultimately, price and the mediocre LM190E04 panel got the best of them.
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nthexwn - Sunday, May 15, 2005 - link
I still like my Samsung 710T for gaming ;) Any word on 8ms displays?phaxmohdem - Sunday, May 15, 2005 - link
LOL Wish this article was published a day sooner. Not even 24 hours before this story went online, I walked out of my local Sams Club store toting two brand new Samsung 913V 19" LCD monitors. I paid around $350 ea for them.It was worth it though, these suckers have an 800:1 contrast ratio and are the durn purdiest monitors I have ever pwn3d. There is not much info online about this particular model, but I would recommend them to anyone in the 19" market. only down sides so far, is no DVI input and teh bases are not adjustable, just a tilt option. (and some ghosting on games which is to be expected from a 25ms monitor.)
BUBKA - Saturday, May 14, 2005 - link
wouldn't it be nice if somebody did a monitor review without a Matrix text complete with screenshot...g33k - Friday, May 13, 2005 - link
Thanks for the review. I enjoyed the read and as I am in the market for a new monitor, this will definitly help in my buying descisions.Spacecomber - Friday, May 13, 2005 - link
Sorry, one more comment. I believe the LG1930B uses a LG Philis S-IPS panel, though it is rated as only a 25ms panel. Still, this monitor might compare well against the Dell 1905FP, and NewEgg currently is selling it for $288 after a mail-in rebate. This might be another interesting 19" LCD monitor to take a look at.Ok, I think I'm done now.
Space
Spacecomber - Friday, May 13, 2005 - link
Thanks for this review. Trying to keep up with how these 19" monitors stack up against each other is important to me, since they do seem to be the sweet spot for recommending a LCD to someone these days (as you noted).I think some of these have been mentioned before, but an interesting comparison would be this monitor to the Hyundi L90D+, which uses a Samsung TN panel, and the Viewsonic VP912B, which I think uses the AUO panel. At the moment, I would think that the Hyundi L90D+ gets the nod for a fast gaming monitor, because of its cost, about $350.
I know you guys really like the Dell 1905FP, but its PVA panel is really too slow for games. In fact, I would like to see the 1905FP compared against the Samsung 910T. Although the 910T is rated as a 25ms panel and the Dell a 20ms panel, I didn't think there was much difference between them when it comes to games. The 5ms reported difference in response times is for black to white transitions, and this doesn't really reflect how the PVA monitor has so much trouble with black to grey transitions. The small 5 ms difference gets washed away by the high response times in these situations.
And, I personally liked the much more extensive control features available on the 910T, compared to the Dell. Currently the 910T is available for $349 at NewEgg after a $50 mail in rebate, and they even have the 193P for $392, after a $200 rebate. So, the market for LCDs using Samsung's PVA panels is actually fairly tight.
A couple of other monitors that I'd like to ask you to keep an eye out for, as they sound quite interesting, are the Samsung 193P plus and the Eizo L778. The 193P+ is suppose to be a 8ms PVA panel. I'm still skeptical if this will really make any difference in games, but inquiring minds want to know. The L778 is also a PVA panel, but Eizo claims that their "overdrive circuit" keeps the response times at a low level across the spectrum of black to grey transitions. If this is true, then this PVA panel might rival the S-IPS panels as coming close to being a good all-around LCD monitor.
Some links:
http://www.eizo.com/products/lcd/l778/index.asp
http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2...
Thanks again,
Space
ocyl - Friday, May 13, 2005 - link
Good poundings on the 6-bit panels, Kristopher! Keep them going :D !!!Samadhi - Friday, May 13, 2005 - link
1280x1024, it's about time someone produced a higher resolution 19" display.rqle - Friday, May 13, 2005 - link
I like these flatron monitor, burrow friend LCD to carry around. I would only pay 15% more then a dell though, so price is a bit high for me.xpose - Friday, May 13, 2005 - link
Nice review. I am glad my Dell is still the champ. hehee. Plus I paid 297.00 +tax shipping for the UltraSharp 1905FP just last week. With a price like that, this monitor doesnt stand a chance.