Dear Friends:

As noted in a previous thread here, I, like many computer users who love good visuals, have been trying to choose a first-rate 22" widescreen LCD monitor. As I noted in a previous thread, I was torn between the Samsung 2232BW and two of LG's new models.

My pick was ultimately the LG L227WTG. Its glossy screen and "wide color gamut" truly make its images all but pop out of the screen with vividness, detail, and depth that is almost three-dimensional. Importantly for anyone who enjoys computer games, both LG monitors offer the option of going to a 4:3 screen, something the Samsung, an otherwise excellent monitor, lacks. The latter was ultimately a "knockout factor" for the Samsung 2232BW with me.

As it seems apparent from viewing and comparing many different 22" LCD TN panels side by side, gloss screens indeed do generally afford more color vividness and image clarity, but there is a tradeoff. While all LCDs, particularly those using TN technology, are far more limited in optimal viewing angles than CRT monitors, it seems that LCDs with gloss screens have even narrower optimal viewing angles than do those with matte screens.

Overall, I would strongly recommend the LG L227WTG to anyone looking for a good, relatively affordable 22" LCD widescreen monitor. It is worth the higher price. The gloss screen, if properly located in a room with respect to other lighting, offers far more benefits than problems. The L227WTG truly is among those comparatively few LCDs whose image quality virtually matches those of good CRTs.

As with any LCD monitor, especially those with TN panels, if one views the L227WTG's screen at extreme closeup, colors darken and dull in the areas farthest from one's eyes. If one views it far from right or left, especially when too close to the screen, this darkening and dulling occur on the side farthest from the viewer.

This is, of course, most especially noticeable when viewing a mostly or all white screen--such as a Google page or, for that matter, pages in this forum. In that case, the white, as expected, darkens to a yellow. (I have been told that with LCDs, true whites are currently impossible to attain.)

The same effect occurs, but to a far lesser extent, when one views the screen dead center but at too close a distance. In the case of my specific LG monitor, this effect starts to occur noticeably (at least to my disciplined, flaws-seeking eyes) within about 15 to 16 inches of the screen; to my eyes, it might start as far back as about 19 or 20 inches. (Of course, for any 22" LCD, these distances are too close for optimal viewing!)

However, my concern stems from how it seems that the yellowing effect that occurs when viewing the monitor from the side often seems to extend slightly farther from the opposite side when one views the screen from the extreme left--meaning that for any given pair of testing positions, the yellowing effect seems to extend a bit farther (by maybe about 10 to 20 percent in distance for each comparable pair of positions) on the right side of the screen. Again, this effect and its slight but discernible asymmetry seem to be noticeable almost exclusively with all or mostly white screens.

Has anyone else noticed this apparent asymmetry with the LG227WTG? Is it common to this model, or to certain LCDs generally? Or might it indicate a potential problem with my monitor's backlighting and/or panel?

Please give me and all of us who have or who are considering the L227WTG your best advice on this. Thanks!

-o0o-

HP 763n, Pentium 4 (2.53 GHz), 80-GB hard drive, 512 MB RAM, nVidia GEForce4 MX420 graphics card (64-MB)--planning to beef up RAM to 2 GB and video card to higher level later this year (I much prefer Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 2, to Vista!)

Peripherals also include 2.1 Altec Lansing speakers, Epson printer, and HP flatbed scanner