LG L226WTQ-SF

...came across a range of LG widescreen TFT monitors on eBuyer that looked suitable. The L226WTQ-SF stood out due to its 3000:1 contrast ratio (the ratio of the brightest and darkest images a display can reproduce), but that wasn't the only good feature. The specs quoted a 2 ms response time (the amount of time the display takes to change from transparent to opaque), which was important to me, though unimportant if all you do is office work and surf ...
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Setting up was a breeze. All I really had to do was just plug the provided cable into my graphics card and boot the PC. The monitor came with two cables, one for each type of connection you might have on your graphics card which is a handy bonus and unheard of in most other monitors and a CD, which I never needed to use. All I had to do after Windows booted was change the display resolution to match the monitor's native ... more

There were a few reasons I was looking to change my monitor. The first was that, at just under five years old, my old (19" CRT) monitor was starting to show signs of strain and I wanted it replaced before the poor thing died on me. Secondly, I'm considering building myself a new PC (or buying one) at the end of the year and in order to spread the cost out a little, I wanted to buy a new monitor now.

I had actually been looking for a new monitor for some months, having initially discounted CRT (the big television type monitors) for being far too bulky for the screen size I had in mind (over 20 inches), my choice was TFT (or LCD) monitors.

I had a few criteria in mind. I was looking for something at least 22", preferably widescreen, a good contrast ratio and a quick refresh time (8ms or under) which was necessary for watching DVDs, using my TV card and playing the odd action game.

Over the months, I had selected and discounted probably around half a dozen monitors for various reasons. Finally, I came across a range of LG widescreen TFT monitors on eBuyer that looked suitable. The L226WTQ-SF stood out due to its 3000:1 contrast ratio (the ratio of the brightest and darkest images a display can reproduce), but that wasn't the only good feature. The specs quoted a 2 ms response time (the amount of time the display takes to change from transparent to opaque), which was important to me, though unimportant if all you do is office work and surf the internet.

Monitor Set up

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Setting up was a breeze. All I really had to do was just plug the provided cable into my graphics card and boot the PC. The monitor came with two cables, one for each type of connection you might have on your graphics card which is a handy bonus and unheard of in most other monitors and a CD, which I never needed to use. All I had to do after Windows booted was change the display resolution to match the monitor's native resolution of 1680 by 1050 pixels.

The buttons for changing the settings are easy to access and the menu sy6stem is fairly self-explanatory making display tweaking easy to do. Adjusting the vertical tilt angle of the monitor required a little elbow grease, but not so much as I was worried about damaging my new toy. I had the monitor set up pretty much to the way I wanted within 5 minutes of opening the box.

Monitor Use
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The display was clear, bright and HUGE! There was so much desktop workspace to use, I had to start changing the way I used some programs. Word processing and internet surfing changed, for starters. In the past I had previously ran these programs maximised, to fill the entire screen, now it doesn't make sense. Writing something in Microsoft Word, in 'print layout' mode means that approximately two thirds of the screen is wasted grey space. I can now open two documents and have them sitting side-by-side and view both at once, should I have the need. [Note: having just upgraded to Office 2007, it appears that you can generate documents in Word side by side, making full use of the monitor.]

Web browsing is exactly the same. Quite a lot of web pages only take up a fixed width of the screen, wasting a lot, so my web browsers are now scaled to approximately 60% of the screen width, letting me see pretty much every web page without having to scroll across plus I can have something like Skype, MSN or Yahoo Messenger open at the same time without having to Alt-Tab between programs.

Some applications do benefit from having the extra real estate onscreen. Email programs, especially those where you have the inbox and preview pane separated vertically, can now display much more information in full screen mode (full details of each email plus all of the email itself). Graphics tools and mapping programs (Microsoft Autoroute, maps.live.com, Google Earth) can display an awful lot more because of the widescreen nature of the monitor and the high resolution.

All text is displayed clearly whether it's a word processing document, labels for menus in programs or icon labels on my desktop. The colours seem to be displayed correctly, though I've no doubt that further, careful, tweaking could improve the image, though by how much is still unanswered and I'm currently happy with the setup.

The Moving Image
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When it comes to moving images such as DVDs, my digital Freeview card or the odd game, the monitor takes everything in its stride, even though my graphics card is set to the maximum resolution. DVD picture is excellent, especially from recent DVDs such as Casino Royale and the quick response time means the monitor can keep up with the fast-paced action. The superb image quality of the monitor is a little more unforgiving when using my Freeview card as the imperfections of the Freeview signal/image are more apparent. On the days when I can get a good signal, the monitor does its job very nicely. Being able to watch DVDs and my TV card in proper widescreen is also a pleasure.

As I previously mentioned, my current graphics card is currently right at the top end of its display resolution, so fast moving, 3D games are scaled down to something a little less demanding, but as with the DVD display, the monitor still manages to keep up with the action splendidly (though I am now torn between buying a beefier graphics card now or waiting until I do actually build the new one later this year).

Overall
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I was about to say that I don't usually get excited with computer gadgetry, but that's a barefaced lie. However, as it's used as a combined television and computer monitor and it was only £187 (from eBuyer.com at the start of July 2007), I have been over the moon with how good the L226WTQ-SF has performed. The fact it's about 11 inches shallower than my old 19" CRT means I've also got a lot more desk space to play with, too.

In fact, I'm hard pressed to think of a single negative thing about it, even after four weeks of almost daily use. I suppose some people might be put off by the lack of height adjustment (though it's only the minority of TFT monitors that offer such a thing), but mine's perched on a raised platform that eliminates such a need.

If you've got a couple of hundred quid in your pocket and you're considering a replacement monitor, then the L226WTQ-SF is superb. The specs are pretty much standard fayre (except for the contrast ratio), but it's a good looking monitor with an excellent image, mine had no dead pixels and a capability of matching live television, DVDs and games as well as the normal computery stuff and all for under £200. 

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