Iiyama ProLite XB2374HDS-1
Ratings:
4/5
Price: $243
Website:
www.cclonline.com
Iiyama ProLite
XB2374HDS-1
XB2374HDS-1
of Iiyama has an IPS screen with Full HD resolution,
a fully adjustable stand and a choice of input for VGA, FVI or HDMI.
The plain
black matt finish is common used in most monitors and there’s no shining design
to take attention away from the screen. The menu system is simplified down to
basic stuff and 4 buttons at the bottom follows standard Menu logic: Back and 3
navigation arrows.
Aside from
brightness and contrast controls, Eco modes are added to dim the backlight plus
a set of i-Style presets and ACR, a different kind of
Dynamic Contrast. The latter is quite elegant – we didn’t notice any change in
luminosity – but it disabled other controls and gave no much enhancement to
image quality.
In general,
presets are terrible. Text and Internet presets dim the display too much while
Game, Movie and Sports seems cutting the resolution by half. You are also
offered color calibration in the form of Gamma and Color Temperature.
Color
temperature is limited under Warm, Normal, Cool, User and sRGB.
On sRGDB preset, our checking software announced a
91% match with sRGB and a poor report of greens and
blues.
Despite
these disadvantages, visual quality is generally excellent. In Casino Royal,
hues were plentiful and warm flesh tones stood out, with strong contrast in
dark scene although this is not as good as other best IPS we have viewed.
Color
accuracy, viewing angle and contrast are far more superb than these of TN
monitors which might be front of you at present. It’s just as good as some
rivals of XB2374HDS-1. However, with 5ms response time, we didn’t notice any
problem with illusion or motion. This is a great progress compared to first IPS
monitors having low response time.
XB2374HDS-1
is great value beside VX2336S-LED of ViewSonic. If
you prefer a HDMI port or an adjustable stand, XB2374HDS-1 would be a good choice.
Overviews
Consideration: Full adjustable stand and excellent
visual quality makes XB2374HDS-1 an upgraded one from TN monitors.
23-inch
LCD wide-angle screen: 1,920x1,080 resolution; inputs for VGA, DVI,
HDMI; 3.5mm line-in audio
LG IPS235V
Ratings:
4/5
Price: $208
Website:
www.ilgs.co.uk
LG IPS235V
LG’s LG
IPS235V is a Full HD IPS panel under $235. Despite this, it is unlike other
budget monitors due to its brushed-metal-effect bezel and nice stand. It has a
complete set of inputs including VGA, DVI and HDMI. This means you can connect
the monitor to PC, game console or Blu-ray player at the same time though you
have to route audio via an AV amplifier or rear headphone port because there’s
no integrated speakers.
The menu
system is controlled by unlabeled buttons on the bottom of the screen. On
condition of one button pressed, one pop-up appears to show options. To enter
options for image quality, you can choose a preset which disables standard
configuration or select user setting an adjust brightness, contrast and hue
manually.
We noticed
that Movie and Photo presets produced unbalanced colors, over saturating and
losing details while Text preset was too dimmed. sRGB preset created the best balance but still needed
more luminosity. We left sharpness default because it might add unnecessary
dots to the image.
IPS235V’s
color adjustment is its secret weapon. Instead of the default color
temperatures like Warm, Medium or Cool, you and select Users and enter many
color calibration and saturation controls for 6 colors: reds, greens, blues,
cyan, magenta and yellow. It’s best to use one color calibration tool with them
to achieve most accurate colors.
Unless you
work with either photos or videos at the highest accuracy, IPS235V’s sRGB mode creates warm color in such a variety and excellent
contrast. In a gaming test, we didn’t find shade, which reassure our belief in
LG’s claim about 8ms response time. It can’t be faster 120Hz response time than
other ones optimized for game but color gradients and contrast are valuable
upgrades from TN monitors.
Superb
visual quality and low price turn IPS235V into a big deal. Since its first
appearing, we have seen following appearances of low-priced IPS panels from
AOC, Philips and ViewSonic. Unless you want either an
HDMI port or a headphone output, ViewSonic’s
VX2336S-LED is better.
Overviews
Consideration: This is a budget IPS panel with
inputs for VGA, DVI and HDMI plus good color settings.
23-inch
LCD wide-angle screen: 1,920x1,080 resolution; inputs for VGA, DVI,
HDMI; 3H hard cover; headphone output.
Philips E-line 237E3QPHSU
Ratings:
3/5
Price: $212
Website:
www.pixmania.co.uk
Philips E-line 237E3QPHSU
E-line
237EQPHSU from Philips possesses Full HD IPS 23inch screen plus white LED
backlight, 2 HDMI inputs and a 2-year RTB warranty. It’s also energy-saving,
taking on 30W in use and below 0.5W in standby mode. The downside is that
backlight may cost more energy because it’s too dimmed. This causes problems
when trying to adjust settings to get the best visual quality.
237EQPHSU
owns a set of touch-sensitive buttons which function as shortcuts for image
presets as well as show up main menu setting. It’s unclear where your fingers
should tap to activate a button because they’re not really sensitive.
This is
extremely disappointing. For instance, main menu button brings you to Power
Sensor control but if you unintentionally tap it twice, you are likely to
change over your setting. Luckily, Philips provides Windows utility which saves
your adjustments plus a wizard and color calibration utility.
On the
whole, image quality is much finer than what you’ve found on mediocre TN
monitors, plus deeper colors and better viewing angle yet we expected more from
such an IPS monitor. The dim backlight is to blame but the poor blacks and the
anti-glare surface mean dull colors. Night scenes in Crysis’s
intro were not convincingly dark and the game also showed slow response time
and visible illusion.
Translucent
plastic bevel of 237E3QPHSU is fairly ugly but the slim stand and rear black
cover are classier. Not having VESA at the back means the monitor can’t be
wall-mounted, plus no speakers. Instead, there’s one HDMI pass-through 3.5mm
audio socket for headphone.
Though the
color reproduction is finer than on most cheap TN monitors, we are disappointed
by 237E3QPHSU’s dim backlight. Control system is such a pain and the panel
can’t be wall-mounted. This model can provide you with IPS technology for under
$235 but in comparison with VX2336S-LED of ViewSonic,
it isn’t good value for those first sight features.
Overviews
Consideration: It seems a big deal but dim
backlight, complex touch-sensitive control and lack of VESA case means that
237E3QPHSU is not a good vale.
23-inch
LCD wide-angle screen: 1,920x1,080 resolution; inputs for VGA, HDMI
audio input; 2x HDMI display extra. 
