In Practice
Using this monitor with office applications was no problem. Text was clear, even though the monitor has no DVI input. However, trails are visible behind the windows when they're being moved around. In the absence of calibration, you'll most likely have to make color adjustments with the OSD. That's because the screen appears slightly bluish, and none of the six presets really got rid of that effect. You'll have to make the adjustments manually.
Even the most demanding games are quite playable, especially if they're very colorful. In dark universes like that of Doom 3, you'll detect a little more remanence due to the panel's slowness in transitions at low amplitude. Pixel interpolation is frankly not great, and you may have to invest the money you saved in a good graphics card for this monitor. That's fairly characteristic of LCD panels of this generation. Manufacturers have made a lot of progress since.
For possible multimedia use of this monitor, our experience confirms the measurements. The monitor was fast enough for screening DVD decently, but no more. However the lower part of the screen appeared slightly brighter than the upper - an immediate consequence of the two halos measured in the lower corners of the panel. The angles of vision are also characteristic of the technology, but were still much more comfortable than other monitors. Finally, LG has followed the crowd, and the power-on pilot is, once again... a fairly intense blue LED. However, it's less outrageous here than with the ViewSonic VX750, for example. The brightness is concentrated around the edges of the power button and passes through a diffuser, so it's much less distracting.
Conclusion
You might wonder why we bothered to test a monitor that's been on the market this long. Simply because it's a great buy if you can live with its few shortcomings, that are related to its age. At $420 (330 euros), it's a monitor with design that puts it in the luxury category and performance that still holds its own.
