In Practice
You'll be able to use this monitor for office applications with no problem. Text is sharp both in VGA and DVI mode. Note that certain low-end 3D VGA graphics cards are naturally blurry in 2D, so be careful. What might be acceptable on a 17" CRT monitor can turn nightmarish on a 19" LCD. The viewing angles are good, since the PVA technology used in this monitor's manufacture has the advantage of providing decent viewing angles.
On the other hand, this is no gaming monitor. In fact it's simply unplayable. Okay, so the term is a little strong. If you're a fan of Civilization 3, you might find the responsiveness acceptable, provided it's the only game you play.
Pixel interpolation is another problem. LCD monitors have trouble displaying resolutions that are below their native resolution - 1280 x 1024 for 17 and 19 inch panels. And although 17" units are beginning to get a handle on that problem, 19" monitors are still far from offering interpolation of sufficient quality. This problem is not specific to the Xerox model. With the units we tested for this article, it's more a question of finding the least bad one in terms of interpolation rather than the best one. This is an area where performance is not yet up to snuff, so you'd do well to have a good graphics card so you can play games in native resolution.
Screening DVDs was also a painful experience. The monitor is just too slow. It's a shame, since the colors were very nice to look at. Videos your colleagues at work send you may look alright. But quality is not much of an issue there. If you buy this monitor, you'll have to get used to the idea that it's geared for work or for photography, but not for video.
Conclusion
Xerox has made an impressive debut with the XL795D. The build quality is remarkable, and while all colors are not perfect on this monitor, the black is deep, and that's rare enough to deserve mention. On the other hand, gamers should look elsewhere. This is not a monitor for games or for movies. Its place is in the office.
