17" LCD Part V: Four Panels Compared

NEC LCD71VM

NEC is undeniably one of the players in the forefront of LCD improvement. They are always introducing new technologies, and all kinds of advances, while still being highly competitive in pricing. The cases are also in the latest styles. The first 16 ms panels had barely come onto the market when NEC was bringing out a monitor with this spec (called the LCD1701 in Europe, the 1760 in the US). We have also discovered that NEC is one of the few companies to work in a different lighting mode to the neons. It uses diodes, which perceptibly improves the color rendering and they are making efforts to improve their policy in relation to dead pixels.

Once again, we're anxious to try out their new monitor, because LG has finally brought out its own 16 ms screen, but for some obscure reason, they decided not to lend us a monitor for testing. Hence the interest in the LCD71VM, which is based on one of two LG panels, the Samsung version of which claims to be able to overturn the status of the best game-playing LCD screen, held at present by HyDis.

Upon opening the packaging, the 71VM appears at first glance to be a monitor that is economical but practical. It has a small footprint and the transformer is incorporated into the stand. On the other hand, the stand is not height-adjustable, the screen be attached to the wall with two screws, there is just a single analog socket in the back, and there's no USB hub in the stand. Note that the VM version tested integrates the speakers into the stand. If you don't need them, you can make do with the basic version, the LCD71V.