The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful: 17" LCDs Reviewed

In Practice

Text is clear on this monitor - proof that a DVI input is not necessarily indispensable on an LCD monitor. Colors are a little pale, and as a result photos lack punch. A shame.

Overall, gaming was pleasant on this screen. However, dark games suffered from the too-low black level, and colorful games like FarCry would need more saturation in the bright colors. Remanence was quite acceptable, even if the difference between the 12 ms and the 16 ms is really minimal. And above all it's not as good as the Hydis 20 ms panel, which is over a year old. But that's a moot point because you can't find the Hydis anymore.

Finally, screening a DVD gave rise to a few problems. First was the luminance gradient we mentioned earlier. Then, the vertical viewing angle really is narrow, and this accentuates the problem caused by the lack of luminance in the lower part of the panel. Some sparkling can also be noticed in solid colors.

Conclusion

I was fairly disappointed by the 1730S. It's by no means a bad monitor - it's nicely finished and fairly responsive - but the internal competition with the 1720B makes it harder to justify investing in the 1730S. That said, no one knows how much longer the 1720B will be available on sale.