Computer Shopper - February 2006

REVIEWS DISPLAYS
LaCie 319
Pricey LCD offers advanced features
A LOT OF people are in the market for a svelte,
high-performing LCD. Unless you’re a graphics pro,
however, LaCie’s 319 might be out of your range.
Sure, its color performance is excellent, but at $999,
the display costs twice as much as a layperson’s 19inch
LCD.
EDITORS’ RATING 7.1
The black-clad 319
doesn’t break any
0 BETTER >> 10
ground in LCD design.
PROS Outstanding color
It is, however,very
performance; lots of adjustment
potential; optional color-calibra- flexible, with a neck
tion software, colorimeter
that telescopes between
1.5 and 6.5
CONS Expensive; unwieldy
inches, and a lazy Su-
tilt adjustment; disappointing
gaming performance
san that lets it swivel
90 degrees right and
LaCie, 503-844-4500
www.lacie.com
left. Besides rotating
between portrait and
Direct Price $999
landscape modes, the
screen can tilt forward and back, though adjusting
the stiff ball-and-socket-style joint on our unit required
two hands and near-superhuman strength.
The display supports VGA and DVI connections.
Additionally, you can fit a metal hood to keep out
ambient light. A little hook in the center enables
you to hang LaCie’s optional $349 Blue Eye Pro colorimeter
for performing advanced calibrations on
white-point temperature, gamma, and brightness.
Alternatively, you can buy the 319 bundled with the
colorimeter for a hefty $1,199.
The 319 did an excellent job in our color tests. It
displayed a wide range of colors that looked very
rich and didn’t shift in tint as the display progressed
up and down the intensity scale. Grayscale
performance was also satisfactory, with only
slight introduced color in the midlevel grays. Although
the screen performed well in our DVDplayback
tests, gaming performance was jerky
and blurry. —Kristina Blachere
38 February 2006 computershopper.com
Sony SDM-S75A
A no-frills display suitable for office use
EDITORS’ RATING
6.5
0 BETTER >> 10
WITH THE 17-inch SDM-S75A, Sony
trades the glitzy look of its flagship
LCDs for a more restrained design. At
PROS
$315.99, the monitor is an entry-level
Sharp text rendering
display fit only for office use.
CONS Hard-to-read button
The screen’s bottom edge is fixed 5.75
labels; no digital input; ghosting
when displaying video
inches from the desk, a good height for
most people. You can tilt the display
Sony Electronics, 877-865-7669
back 20 degrees and forward 5 degrees,
b2b.sony.com
and it swivels from side to side. Keeping
Direct Price $315.99
with the display’s streamlined look are
small black buttons, embedded in the right bezel, used for navigating the
onscreen menu. Their tiny labels are hard to read, however.
The SDM-S75A has a native resolution of 1,280x1,024 and only a VGA
input—no digital connectivity. The
display excelled at rendering text,
but it didn’t impress us as much
with color. We noted compressed
shades at the bright end of their
ranges, and solid colors showed
traces of other tints. Also, despite its
reasonably zippy 12-millisecond pixel-response
rate, the LCD exhibited
ghosting in our DVD-playback and
gaming tests. —Dan Littman
BenQ FP91E
Stylish screen delivers subpar performance
5.6
THERE’S NO denying the visual appeal
of the $479 BenQ FP91E, but this 19-inch
EDITORS’ RATING
LCD’s image quality doesn’t justify the 0 BETTER >> 10
asking price. The display is adequate for
basic tasks such as word processing and
PROS Attractive design; integrated
speakers; includes preset
Web surfing, but graphics enthusiasts brightness/contrast levels
should look elsewhere.
CONS Lackluster image quali-
Despite our test unit’s 8-millisecond ty; limited adjustability; cramped
response time, we experienced digital cable connectors
noise and ghosting during DVD play- BenQ America, 949-255-9500
back. On the plus side, the FP91E comes www.benq.us
with two integrated 2-watt speakers, its
onscreen menu is easy to navigate, and
Mfr. Est. Price $479
preset modes for brightness and contrast
are built-in. You can easily calibrate
the screen by connecting it via an
analog interface. (DVI is also supported.)
The display offers little adjustability,
however, and its fixed height may require
a monitor riser for comfortable
viewing. Another quibble: Its tightly
spaced cable connectors make it difficult
to connect cables behind the monitor.
—K.B.