Lenovo ThinkVision L220x

Lenovo's L220x innovates in two ways:

• it supports a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, rather than the 1680 x 1050 that we usually find, or, in rarer cases, 1920 x 1080
• it has a PVA panel, rather than a TN panel, increasing viewing angles and removing the problem of the screen image appearing black when looked at from below.

The monitor looks quite unusual (especially the base). The pedestal seems enormous and the cable guide truly oversized. This doesn't mean however that it can't be adjusted: it can move up and down, pivot to portrait mode and be mounted on a platter, something that is becoming rare on a 22'' screen.


There's a four port USB hub on the screen bezel but no HDMI to go with the DVI and VGA inputs.  Anybody who has decided that a TN screen is not for them will be delighted to hear that we can confirm the viewing angles are very wide and that the L220x can boast a perfect visual homogeneity.

Is the advertised 6 ms response time a cause for concern when the fastest TN screens reach 2 ms?  Not at all: as far as we're concerned, you can safely ignore this spec. In fact, our measurements show that this screen performs better, with in fact less ghosting visible than on most 2 ms TNs. The Lenovo has a coloured image ghosting of 0.55, while the average 2 ms is at 0.8. The record is still with a TN however, the Samsung 2253BW, which we measured at 0.35.

We measured an identical value on another 22'' PVA monitor, the HP L2275w, but Lenovo manages to the lead, as it's just a little quicker off the mark: it has just under two frames of input lag, while HP's screen is just over two frames behind.


Unfortunately colour rendering is not up to scratch. With a gap between the colours requested by the graphics card and those displayed above 7, the monitor is far from the acceptable level, which is closer to 3.

The contrast, however, is excellent: 900:1 when whites are at 200 cd/m², leaving blacks of 0.21 cd/m².

Movies

When it comes to films, just like the HP L2275w, this screen behaves like the others. A correction chip would have been some help in reducing flickering and compression faults. Nevertheless it does do better than a regular TN-based screen because at least you don't have to point it in a particular direction to be able to get a good view. This is what the PVA panel is all about: no blind spots caused by narrow viewing angles.