Sharp LL T17A3-B

The Sharp LL T17A3-B is a good 17" TFT monitor that doesn't really stand out from the crowd, but does its job well and the picture quality is great in both productivity software and games. I wanted a TFT monitor that I could transfer back and forth to university easily, but also one that would have a good enough update rate for gaming. This one seemed to fit the bill.

Technology:

One of the major complaints with ...
...the past) is the slow update rate of the pixels. In productivity software such as word processors this isn't really an issue, but in games it can totally ruin the experience due to one image being left on the screen too long when a new one should have replaced it. However, I can't notice a big difference between this monitor and my 19" CRT at home in terms of update rate. The only game I've found to have noticeable blurring is Half-Life, although ... more

The Sharp LL T17A3-B is a good 17" TFT monitor that doesn't really stand out from the crowd, but does its job well and the picture quality is great in both productivity software and games. I wanted a TFT monitor that I could transfer back and forth to university easily, but also one that would have a good enough update rate for gaming. This one seemed to fit the bill.

Technology:

One of the major complaints with TFT monitors (and the reason I've never bought one in the past) is the slow update rate of the pixels. In productivity software such as word processors this isn't really an issue, but in games it can totally ruin the experience due to one image being left on the screen too long when a new one should have replaced it. However, I can't notice a big difference between this monitor and my 19" CRT at home in terms of update rate. The only game I've found to have noticeable blurring is Half-Life, although this could be attributed to a software problem.

The actual display is bright (with adjustable brightness and contrast), vivid and easy to read, although sometimes fonts in Windows can look a little blurry and pixellated when compared to a CRT monitor. The monitor supports 32-bit colour (millions of colours), which is a necessity for gaming and up to 1280x1024 resolution, which is more than enough for most purposes and even acceptable for CAD and level design programs. Also, most of the supported resolutions can be displayed at a rate of 75 hertz, which is well above the acceptable threshold of 60 hertz (At 60 hertz and below you can notice flickering on monitors, especially in productivity applications).

Another common problem with most TFT screens is that they can sometimes be supplied with "dead" pixels. These are tiny dots on the screen that stay pure black or pure white all the time, which can be an annoyance in productivity software and ruin the atmosphere in games. I haven't noticed any on my monitor though, and they don't develop over time - they are there when you buy the monitor because of the way TFTs are manufactured.

The monitor also includes a built-in stereo speaker system (with included audio cables), which is fine for general work but sounds tinny and unrealistic in games. You can't really expect much from built-in speakers though and you should really invest in some proper external speakers if you want decent sound. There's also a headphone socket should you want to use it, although the line out socket of your computer does the same job. As for inputs, there's a standard power cable and a D-Sub monitor connecter. The monitor would have benefitted from a DVI input too, as most video cards now come with DVI output, but the picture quality is great even with the standard analogue D-Sub connection.

Features:

All the features you'd expect are there - brightness, contrast, black levels etc. and a whole host of other things you probably won't use unless you want to tweak the monitor to your exact liking. A very useful feature is the automatic setup, which automatically resizes the display and sets the monitor up for each resolution.

Ergonomics / Aesthetics:

The monitor is well-designed with a thin, black casing. It is rather heavy though, so the electronics must be quite densely packed inside. All of the controls are easily reachable, as they are all in a row along the bottom of the screen. The base of the monitor can be used to tilt the monitor in two different ways but it's very stiff and hard to get into an exact position, which is especially annoying when trying to fit it back into its box if you want to transport it.

The features of the monitor are accessed via an on-screen-display (OSD), which is easy to use but it can be a little confusing as to which buttons to press at first. Reading the manual should put you right though.

Conclusion:

This is a good monitor that doesn't really stand out from the huge crowd of 17" TFT monitors, but it has some useful features and great picture quality so it's up there with the best. It's a particularly good choice for gaming due to the fast update rate and you should be able to pick one up for around £300.

Chris Swan 

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