Iiyama Pro Lite E380S

...harddrive and most importantly an Iiyama 14" monitor.

Sadly the wages department of the hotel restaurant I worked through that long and tedious summer dictated a few small changes. The PC eventually became a 386 processor running at 40MHz, 4Mb RAM, 120Mb harddrive and no Iiyama monitor. Instead of the Iiyama I had some rebadged monitor with a huge curve and a low refresh rate. The Iiyama was the first thing to drop off the list ...
...point? Even then Iiyama was synonymous with quality and of design and product. The Cathode Ray montiors they produced then had an appropriately high refresh rate and even then less curvature on the screen than counterparts products.

Now, Iiyama still lead the field and this product, despite sitting at the budget end of the Iiyama product line is still a remarkably high quality monitor.

I have used these for about six ... more

Thanks in advance for reading this and I hope it helps you in making a purchasing decision.

Over a decade ago I was a poor student shopping for my first ever PC. I knew what I wanted - a 486 processor running at 25MHz, 8Mb RAM, 200Mb harddrive and most importantly an Iiyama 14" monitor.

Sadly the wages department of the hotel restaurant I worked through that long and tedious summer dictated a few small changes. The PC eventually became a 386 processor running at 40MHz, 4Mb RAM, 120Mb harddrive and no Iiyama monitor. Instead of the Iiyama I had some rebadged monitor with a huge curve and a low refresh rate. The Iiyama was the first thing to drop off the list as it saved the most money.

My point? Even then Iiyama was synonymous with quality and of design and product. The Cathode Ray montiors they produced then had an appropriately high refresh rate and even then less curvature on the screen than counterparts products.

Now, Iiyama still lead the field and this product, despite sitting at the budget end of the Iiyama product line is still a remarkably high quality monitor.

I have used these for about six months now and they came as part of a PC package so I can't say exactly how much we paid. It probably added about £250.00 to the price then but I expect careful shopping would see them available for nearer to £200.00 now.

THE SPECIFICATION
The monitor has a 15" TFT active matrix screen. Depedent on the price difference you may opt for a slightly larger screen but be aware flat screens do tend to give more viewing area for your money anyway and this feels comfortably big enough to work on for me.
The maximum resolution is 1024X768 and I guess this is where the budget dictates the product. I personally am glad we opted to buy Iiyamas with a lower resolution as you will see if you read my response to the quality. Higher resolutions will be available from other companies for similar money but cuts will have been made elsewhere, probably in quality or support. I find 1024 X 768 fine for working but if you are a top end gamer you may be crying into your gamepad already at the thought of such a meagre resolution. Each to their own - it's fine for word processing and data handling. I find that on this size of screen also higher resolutions tend to result in ridiculously small toolbars and personally I think higher resolutions are best left to larger monitors.
The monitor has built in speakers which although not the loudest make a reasonable quality of sound. (Probably the weakest point of the onitor if I'm honest.) If this was for my home machine not my work machine I would connect external speakers but then again this would be personal preference.
The monitors also came with three years warranty which was one of the selling points when commisioning this purchase for our school. A decent warranty always encourages us to look more closely. On this occasion, none of our monitors have gond down yet after about six months of high volume use. So, no need to test the warranty yet.

THE QUALITY
This monitor looks and feels good. People who see the computers carrying these monitors are always impressed - and fooled. They usually comment on how great the computer looks. (Nope, the computer is the same as all the others around school - just that this one carries the best monitor).
The colour vibrancy is superb and moving away from CRT screens means no flicker.

WHY BUY?
If I had the money when I bought my first ever PC I would have purchased an Iiyama. They have always been market leaders. This time, I made the decision as the reduction in flicker I believe must be healthier, especially for those using the computer for any length of time. The warranty and company reputation led me to feel this was a worthwhile investment. There used to be a saying in the computer industry "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM". This was a reflection of the quality you received for paying the premium of buying the IBM brand. I think the same saying could well carry over to Iiyama monitors. This product, like the other in this brand, represents exceptional quality and therefore good value for money despite the slightly higher price than some other less maginificent brands.

OVERALL
I have no hesitation in recommending this display to anybody. The quality is superb and the price is fair. If you are someone with a need for higher resolution then, in my opinion, stick with Iiyama but buy a bigger display as well as the higher resolution. If you are a die hard gamer then budget for additional speakers and be aware the maximum resolution - you may also want the larger screen and the larger resolution. For my needs of education software for children and word processing and web design for me this is a great display.

Thank you for reading this opinion and I look forward to reading you responses - Phil. 

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