14 DAY TRIAL // So... you want to leave the past behind and make the jump from that bulky CRT to a sleek LCD? Now might be a good time for this move, as LCD panels get cheaper and cheaper by the month. If you are a fan of 4:3 aspect ratio, stick to it with the LCDs as well, but I personally recommend a wide-screen LCD. A while ago, the wide-screen LCDs were quite prohibitive, but now, prices have dropped and 16:10 LCDs sell like crazy.
Although not as notorious as Samsung, Dell and other LCD manufacturers, Eizo is known for its superior quality displays. Eizo used to offer pricey LCDs but with the announcement of its latest wide-screen lineup, the Japanese company wants to prove it can deliver decent priced devices.
The new FlexScan lineup of widescreen LCD monitors includes the 20.1-inch FlexScan S2031W and the 24.1-inch FlexScan S2431W displays. Eizo claims that the panels are specifically designed for business environments such as back offices and trading rooms and offer increased horizontal screen space, brightness and color control, energy saving features and a sleek design. Both wide-screen displays integrate the latest vertical alignment (VA) panel technology and come with a 16:10 aspect ratio, which translates into native resolutions of 1680 ? 1050 for the 20.1" model and 1920 ? 1200 for the 24.1" one.
In order to cut down on the final price, Eizo provided only one DVI-I input (digital/analog) and one D-Sub (analog) input, along with a high speed USB 2.0 hub that features two downstream ports. Surprisingly, Eizo equips its latest monitors with audio capabilities, supplying dual 0.5 watt speakers hidden at the bottom of the bezel. Users still have the possibility to opt for the improved i-Sound L3 speakers that come as accessories. The i-Sound L3 includes dual 0.9 watt speakers and attaches to the bottom of the bezel.
As far as technical specs go, the FlexScan S2031W has a brightness of 300 cd/m2 and contrast ratio of 900:1 while the S2431 is capable of 450 cd/m2 and 1000:1. Specific for the VA panels is the large viewing angles of 178? horizontally and vertically, while the response times are 8 ms (presumable gray to gray) for the S2031W and 6 ms for the S2431W. The OSD menu includes brightness, contrast, gamma, saturation, hue, gain, and color temperature controls. Saving the best for the last, Eizo continues to include the 10-bit gamma correction feature in its latest LCD, making them capable of producing a palette of more than one billion colors from which 16.7 million are displayed simultaneously.
Availability for the new displays will vary by country, but prices should be closer to what Dell and Samsung have to offer.