19" LCD Monitors: The Spring 2006 Collection

Overshoot

Since the Q90U took more than one frame to stabilize, we give it a C classification under ourtest system.

The Tom's Hardware Guide Overdrive classification is a way of evaluating the precision of the Overdrive on LCD panels. How important is it? If the use of Overdrive is not under control, the colors displayed are not at all accurate during the space of more than one frame. The result is colors that are flashier than they should be. That's a problem with movies, where this phenomenon causes video noise. In animated images, this problem can manifest itself in the form of chromatic aberrations. Certain non-requested colors appear temporarily - red in a green-yellow transition, for example.

In Use

Office applications are more than feasible with this monitor. The well-controlled brightness will let you work on text documents for long hours without too much fatigue. On the other hand, the quality of the colors is not up to par. If you also do photo retouching, this may not be your best choice.

The Q90U performs well with video games. If you're an FPS fan, the Q90U will serve you well. For "World of Warcraft," however, a monitor that's a little slower but has better color is a better choice. Overall, we noticed very little remanence in the image. But you'll absolutely have to play in native resolution, because the interpolation is very poor.

We rate the monitor's suitability for gaming on a scale of one to five. To do it, we try the panels with different FPS, RTS and RPG games. The panel's reactivity is obviously the first point we're interested in, but the quality of the colors also has its importance with certain titles.

For video, however, this is not the monitor to choose. A lot of video noise was visible in color masses and color shadings - an immediate consequence of poorly-controlled Overdrive. Once again, remanence wasn't very perceptible, but the overall quality when screening movies was clearly insufficient.

Here again we use a five-point rating system. While latency plays a role, we also evaluate the amount of video noise induced by the monitor. Good viewing angles are also crucial for multimedia use.

Rather than estimate a quality/price ratio, we prefer to concentrate on the price/performance ratio. What's the difference? Quality in an LCD monitor is a perception that varies from one individual to another. The quality of an LCD display varies depending on who's judging it. Somebody who wants a sturdy monitor they can take anywhere even if the performance is mediocre will have a very different idea of what quality is than someone who wants a fast monitor but doesn't care much about its finish. Performance, on the other hand, is measurable. So this rating is a synthesis of the monitor's performance as compared to the Tom's Hardware Guide benchmark.

Conclusion

Hyundai confirms their policy of making long-term investments in the gamer market with their LCD displays. It has paid off with the Q90U, which performs well with video games, but is priced a little high for a plastic shell that's been around for over two years. If you're looking for a gaming monitor, it's a good choice, but certainly not the only choice. And you shouldn't expect it to do anything other than gaming and word processing.