LG Flatron E2350V

LG has launched the E2350V, a 23'' monitor with a Full HD display and LED backlighting.  This technology allows for finer control of the screen's energy consumption (see inset), but also trims the frame down to just 17 mm.  Of course, moving the transformer to a separate unit also saves space--but takes up more room on your desk. 

Hardware: traditional stand or photo frame

It's difficult not to think that LG's design team hasn't been inspired by Samsung's monitors: the glossy black frame is there, as well as a thin purple strip that reminded us of the one on the SyncMaster Txxx series.  More surprising, though, is the stand: it can either sit on a regular mount, or fold out to support the monitor like a photo frame.  That means you can either use the E2350V as a traditional desktop monitor, or as a secondary display for a laptop, meaning both screens will be at the same height. 

Everything else is disappointingly traditional though: the standard trio of VGA, DVI and HDMI inputs are all at the back, but there are no speakers.  You can recover sound from the HDMI signal and use the headphone jack to listen to it, but it's at the back, so not that easy to use.

Responseness: gamers should look elsewhere

Coloured   Transparent
Average ghosting over ten frames

Our tests confirmed the response time of 5 ms given in LG's documentation.  That means the E2350V won't be able to accurately reproduce the rapid movements that are so important for enjoying FPS games.  You'll have to stick to using it for desktop activities instead, or for titles that don't need a particularly responsive display like platform or strategy games.  If you like online gaming, you'll be glad to know that the input lag is small enough to go unnoticed, so it won't hold you back at your next LAN party.

Colours: factory settings are wrong--and you can't fix them

Default Colours

Ideal Colours Compare the LG Flatron E2350V to other LCD monitors in our Product Face-Off

Getting colours right is important for displays with a 5 ms response time, as they can't fall back on gamers if they're not up to doing detailed graphics work.  LG hasn't been too kind to its 23'', though, and by default, the colours suffer from a strong blue tinge, and it's impossible to get rid of it using the onscreen menu. 

The best we could manage was a deltaE of 5.0, which is way too high when we normally expect that value, which represents the gap between the shades requested by the graphics card and those actually displayed, to be below 3.0 before it's invisible to the naked eye.  In a pleasant surprise, though, the E2350V has a contrast that climbs above 1000:1, which is an excellent ratio for a monitor.