LG 915FT

...I am staring at my LG FLATRON 915FT monitor. Just looking at the thing is quite an experience to be honest. The whole thing began when I was buying a new PC. It came with a 15” TFT monitor but I was told I could receive a 19” flatron monitor for 70 pounds LESS! Now this seemed like a good deal to me. So the computer arrived and of course the humongous box containing my beast of a monitor. I ripped open the box and everything was perfectly packed ...
...of the box were given. Although it was fairly easy to get everything out of the box the monitor itself was extremely heavy. In fact even with my muscles I couldn’t lift it alone so along with my dad’s help and a lot of struggling we managed to get the thing onto the desk.

Setting the thing up
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Now after seeing the size of the monitor, and form previous experience I thought that setting ... more

As I type this op I am staring at my LG FLATRON 915FT monitor. Just looking at the thing is quite an experience to be honest. The whole thing began when I was buying a new PC. It came with a 15” TFT monitor but I was told I could receive a 19” flatron monitor for 70 pounds LESS! Now this seemed like a good deal to me. So the computer arrived and of course the humongous box containing my beast of a monitor. I ripped open the box and everything was perfectly packed and instructions on how to actually get the monitor out of the box were given. Although it was fairly easy to get everything out of the box the monitor itself was extremely heavy. In fact even with my muscles I couldn’t lift it alone so along with my dad’s help and a lot of struggling we managed to get the thing onto the desk.

Setting the thing up
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Now after seeing the size of the monitor, and form previous experience I thought that setting up my monitor would be a long and tedious task. However this was not the case. It was simply a matter of inserting a few provided cables and abracadabra that was it. How could that be it I thought to myself as I saw a disk inside the cardboard box? It turned out the disk contained drivers for the monitor however my PC already had the specified drivers so I didn’t require the disk but I have come to find out (when helping my friend set up the same monitor) it is a simple case of inserting the disk and installing the drivers before you are set to go. You must also attach to your PC using USB. More about this is explained later on. So on the whole so far so good. The monitor has been quick and easy to set up and the only drawback was its weight but this also means it won’t get knocked around and fall easily.

Appearance of monitor
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The monitor is a whopping 19” FLATRON! This means it has a flat screen, like a TFT monitor. Just to look at this monitor is like a dream. It makes all other monitors look miniscule. The monitor is extremely large at the back (is extends about 35cm back) so a lot of room is needed. This is because it uses the same ‘tube’ method as conventional monitors. However when it is set up and you stare at the screen it looks just like a 19” TFT monitor! The monitor has a power button at the front along with buttons which allow shape, set up, position, brightness, contrast, colour and other special options to be changed quickly and easily. The actual screen is surrounded by a 2cm border of casing. Overall in this case, big is beautiful!

Image quality
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The images on this screen are crystal clear. The monitor can cope with high resolution colours and textures easily. DVD’s are a walk in the park. The image quality is far superior to that of any TFT monitor because this uses the conventional tube method. Colours are radiant and bright and black and white are dealt with superbly. There is no horrible fuzziness at the edges of the screen. Another important point is that this is one of the few FLATRON monitors without tension lines! Due to the FLATRON screen I have found that eye strain is reduced greatly and I can look at this monitor longer than I can look at my TV! Admittedly for simple web pages a TFT has even more reduced eye-strain but for moving objects this monitor does the job much better. Overall this monitor displays supreme images on a giant screen!

Features
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I know what you’re thinking. It’s a monitor what features could it possibly have? I’m going to tell you! There are 4 addition USB sockets at the back of the monitor! This is fantastic as USB hubs can be quite pricey and to have them on the monitor, even if they are at the back, is extremely convenient and helpful. It means scanners, cameras, printers and MP3 players can be plugged in at once. This monitor supports a refresh rate (The refresh rate is the amount of times a display's image is repainted or refreshed per second) of 120Hz. This means the image is refreshed 120 times per second! This is great news for gamers as it means games are continuous and flowing without jittery screens. This is the major advantage that the tube method has over TFT monitors as TFT monitors tend to support much lower refresh rates (75Hz-85Hz) which doesn’t make them good for gamers. The highest resolution supported is 1600*1200 which is huge and is never really used. The monitor is on a kind of ‘ball and socket’. By this I mean you can swivel and tilt the monitor to your desired angle without having to move it. This is extremely useful and allows the user to always enjoy the ultimate viewing experience.

Using the monitor
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It is simple to use. Simply push the heat sensitive power button at the front on the screen to turn it on (a beep is hear when any button is pressed). You don’t have to push hard at all. The OSD allows shape, set up, position, brightness, contrast, colour and other special options to be changed at the touch of a button. Other than that is it simply turn on and turn off as required. When your PC is on the power button will be green but if the Pc is off and the monitor is turned on the power button is orange. This is a handy indicator, and helps you to remember to turn off the monitor.

Cost
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This product came with my PC and this was about 1 year go. However I can tell you that nowadays this monitor costs about £200. This may sound quite expensive but remember you are getting a 19” monitor and 15” TFT can easily cost £300 or more.

Where can I buy it?
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This monitor is not as widely available as it used to be. However you should be able to purchase it from most PC suppliers (such as Evesham) and also at some shops such as microwarehouse. When buying from the internet remember to take postage and packaging into consideration as this is a large monitor and postage and packaging may be expensive.

Why this monitor compared to other monitors?
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As always, as time goes by things get newer cheaper and better. However I feel that this monitor is good for numerous reasons. Firstly the gigantic 19” screen makes it a completely new viewing experience. It is supreme. With a small £200 price tag you are getting a quality refresh rate, a FLATRON monitor and 4 extra USB sockets (along with of course the amazing screen size). The picture quality is immense and it is user friendly. Compared to TFT monitors it a LOT cheaper and you still get the FLATRON. It is also competitively priced with monitors similar to itself. If you can find a better cheaper monitor, like you probably will do as time goes by and TFTs become cheaper but at the moment I think it is still a good buy.

Bad points
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The monitor can get very hot if left on for a long time and the user can hurt themselves.

The screen is very vulnerable to stains from fingers etc. and sometimes 2 or 3 special monitor wipes are needed to get them off.

As TFTs become cheaper and better this monitor will not be as good a buy as it currently is.

At 1600*1200 resolution the monitor can only support a refresh rate of 85Hz or so.

The main one is the actual size of the monitor (not the screen size but from the back). It is huge and requires a lot of desk space!

The USB sockets would be better placed near the front of the monitor and it is a pain to have to reach round the back of the monitor to plug in USB devices.

Conclusion
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I have had the monitor for about 1 year now and have had no real problems with it. It has served its purpose superbly. It isn’t the latest gadget on the market but is a reliable, quality monitor. I have no regrets after purchasing this monitor and even after a year it still looks as good as it did when I first got it. If you can afford a top of the range TFT then all I can say is you get what you pay for. However if you want a top class, extremely large, crystal clear, budget monitor along with a few extra features from a good reliable company then this is for you.

By Rishi, age 14

 

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