I-O Data Sends Out the 21.5-Inch MF222X LCD

I-O Data has already turned a few heads with its introduction of the 2TB USB 3.0 external hard drive, but it looks like the company won't rest easy unless it also makes a small foray into the PC display market. After EIZO came out and delivered a power-hungry (100W), self-calibrating professional display, I-O Data has come to deal with what can be seen as the opposite end of the market, by offering a low-power, 21.5-inch monitor with support for Full-HD video quality.

The new LCD monitor is known as the MF222X. Unlike the HDJ-UT external hard drives, which target the high-end market with their USB 3.0 support and fast data-transfer rates, the MF222X seems more bent on meeting end-users’ requirements for low power consumption and compactness, with as little impact on overall performance as possible.

The end-result of I-O Data's efforts has, thus, taken the form of an LCD desktop monitor that has a maximum resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, a brightness of 250 cd/m2, a dynamic contrast ratio (DCR) of 800,000:1 (1,000:1 contrast ratio) and a response time of 5 ms.

What is especially interesting about the company's latest display is its power consumption. Instead of drawing out as much energy as possible, the device only consumes 17.8W during normal operation and only 0.4W during standby. This efficiency is quite noteworthy, considering that, in addition to the white LED backlighting used in the screen's construction, the product itself also boasts a pair of 5W speakers.

The I-O Data MF222X is equipped with D-sub, HDMI and DVI connectors and has already been put up for pre-order at a price of roughly $286. Unfortunately, it has not yet been made available, with actual shipping only slated to begin sometime during the latter half of the current month.