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

In Practice

There's a lot to say about this monitor from a user point of view.

For office applications, all is well. Graphics and photos were flatteringly displayed, but color fidelity for dark tones was poor, as the tests showed.

The same held true for games. Colors were pleasant to look at, if not accurate. But Sony still hasn't solved the problem with screen reflection that plagued its SDM-HS73P some time back. When the image displayed was dark, the monitor started looking like a mirror. Increasing the brightness to try to cancel out this effect resulted in washed-out blacks. This is a real problem if you play Doom 3. The solution, I guess, would be to play in the dark... unless you're too scared of the monsters. The pixel interpolation didn't impress us, either - but if you're investing in a Sony, the price of a good video card shouldn't hold you back.

The same comments hold true for screening video. Dark movies like Dark City or Matrix were hard to watch except in total darkness. The viewing angles cited in the specs - 160/160 - were quite a bit less than that in practice. Fortunately, the horizontal viewing angle was better than the vertical, meaning you'll be able to screen movies to a large group without problems. The sparkling we noted in connection with the LG1730S on color masses was also visible here.

Conclusion

What can we say about this monitor? It's magnificent, there's no denying that. The X-Black technology is a plus, even if it's quite a subjective one. But it does have its disadvantages (screen reflections in particular) and the panel is not as responsive as some others. For multimedia and gaming use, the Sony monitor is not the best choice - obviously unless you're a fan of the brand. For professional use, the situation is different. This is not necessarily a good working monitor, but its brightness and radiant colors can be an advantage in environments where ambient lighting is high. And the design is attractive, which is always a plus.