Is Solarism's Future Looking Bright?

Introduction

The Solarism LM1503 15" LCD panel display boasts one of the brightest pictures in the business: 800cd/m2 (or 800 nits), and it certainly shows when you first turn it on. Solarism is proud of their ABT (advanced brightness technology), and other LCD manufacturers are also beginning to offer brighter panels. The LM1503 also features a fast response rate - so fast that it can be used as a television video display if you want to connect a VCR or DVD player. While being one of the brightest LCDs on the market today, the LM1503 isn't perfect.

Specifications

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15" TFT Active Matrix LCD
Pixel Pitch.297mm(H) x .297mm(V)
Brightness800cd/m(squared)
Contrast350:1
View Angle+/- 80 degrees (h), +/- 60 degrees (V)
Response Rate13-27 ms
Resolution1024x768
Frequency30-61KHz (H), 50-75Hz (V)
Input(s)Analog RGB 0.7p-p 15-pin D-sub, 1 S-Video and 2 composite RCA, Earphone jack RCA terminal (2x) 2 built-in 2w speakers
Power Consumption45W
Dimensions16.3 x 15.7 x 7.9 (WxHxD)
Weight9.5lbs (4.3 kg)
Three year limited warranty (up to 3 dead or faulty pixels).
Wall mount kit, mechanical arm extension, and touch screen options also available.

How We Tested

We tested the LM1503 using a P4 1.8 GHz system running Windows 2000, and equipped with an ATI Radion200 AGP graphics board with 64 MB (which has a 350 MHz RAMDAC). Like other fixed-resolution 15" LCDs we had to run the LM1503 at 1024 x 768 at 60Hz. Note that the monitor does support lower resolutions down to 640 x 350, however most people would never use these settings. For our tests, we used DisplayMate Multimedia Edition v2 (www.displaymate.com ).