Laptop LCD Roundup: Road Warriors Deserve Better

Closing Thoughts

The results of our testing are at the same time both surprising and somewhat expected. They are expected when we consider that using only our naked eyes, we can clearly see that all of the displays provide a less desirable image than just about any desktop LCD we have used in recent years. The surprising aspect is just how bad many of the displays scored, particularly in terms of color accuracy. While there are almost certainly other laptops that have LCD panels that can rival the ASUS G2P, there are plenty of others that more likely than not rate about as high as the ASUS A8Js. We're also more than a little shocked that ASUS managed to provide both the best and worst display experience of this roundup, which goes to prove that there's far more to this than simply choosing a reputable manufacturer.

We will continue to review this important aspect of notebook computers on all future laptop reviews, and over time we will be able to see how future products compare to this initial roundup. Sadly, unlike with desktop systems you can't simply choose which display suits you best and pair that up with the components you want. If that were the case, we would at minimum want notebook displays that could match the quality of the ASUS G2P, whether in 12", 14", 15", or 17" notebooks. In fact, the G2P has become one of our favorite notebooks simply because of the stellar display quality relative to other notebooks, and since we don't often require high-end gaming performance from a laptop we would be more than willing to sacrifice some graphics performance in order to get a better display. Of course, not everyone would agree with that sentiment.

As good as the ASUS G2P is when compared to these other notebooks, however, the overall display quality is still clearly inferior to most desktop LCDs. Viewing angles are similar to what we have seen on the 22" LCDs, and the Acer AL2216W has the worst viewing angles of any of the high-end desktop LCDs that we've reviewed so far; it makes us wonder where the S-IPS and S-PVA notebook LCDs are hiding. Color accuracy is also still an order of magnitude lower than any of the desktop LCDs we've looked at in the past six months, and although we find it more than sufficient for our use we imagine imaging professionals at the very least would want something better. For a 17" laptop, we would also prefer a native LCD resolution of at least 1680x1050 (without sacrificing the brightness and other qualities currently offered). In short, as usual, we want more!

The good news is that with many new technologies being researched and the potential for OLED displays to make all of our current LCD preconceptions a moot point in the future, hopefully the only direction to go from here is up. We're working on getting more notebooks for review, specifically some of the new Santa Rosa models, and in the very near future we will see whether anything has changed in regards to notebook LCDs. All of these laptops are, after all, at least six months old. However, notebook computers do tend to have longer life spans as they cost more and take more time to pass through the R&D process. Dell's XPS M1710 for example has been around for over a year now, with no discernible change in the LCD quality during that time. We would like to think that it's about time for some updates to arrive, but time will tell.

As a final comment, we have only tested a very small number of laptops at this point in time. We would be extremely interested in testing more displays, and if anyone has connections with some of the larger laptop manufacturers we would be interested in working with you - particularly if you feel your notebooks can excel in the area of display quality. Stay tuned for future laptop reviews where we will continue to look into this subject as well as performance and other features.