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

Finish: In The Shadow Of The 1720B

The LG1730's finish is good. The plastics are of good quality, but the design is a little less successful. The brushed-aluminum finished plastic on the back of the monitor is very handsome. Yet the overall looks are far from being as nice as the 1720B, despite the fact that we're in the same price range.

Ergonomics

The lid on the back of the panel slides back to reveal the VGA and power-supply connectors. There's a cable chase behind the panel and also in the stand. The latter isn't very practical, however, and you wonder what purpose it's supposed to serve, since the housing of the panel already guides the cables. The transformer is built into the monitor, which eliminates the need for an external unit.

The OSD is very classic and in line with what you find on all LG monitors. It offers a few result programs (film, photo, etc.)

On the other hand, there's still no height adjustment. The screen tilt is adjustable, but you have to overcome your fear of pushing on it too hard to get it to move. LG has an unfortunate tendency to over tighten the pivots on its monitors. I've noticed that on all the LGs I've tested up to now. In the final analysis, the monitor's ergonomics are very similar to those of the 1720B, except for the useless cable chase built into the base. Connectivity is limited to classic VGA on this model costing $430 (360 euros).