14 DAY TRIAL // Where LCDs once had the problem of very narrow viewing angles, they have come far enough for visibility to not be impaired except at very wide ones, and LG's newest display series seems especially driven to optimize this aspect.
Back when the liquid crystal display technology first came around, it was rightfully seen as a very promising step forward.
It enabled monitors and TVs to be much thinner and lighter, as well as power-efficient compared to what they were before.
Things started to progress even further once more advanced backlighting solutions reached the market, LED being the current trend, for its low power draw and high brightness.
What LCDs had as major problems were the visibility under sunlight, or any strong light source, as well as the viewing angles.
The former is still not exactly surpassed, since most TVs and monitors, or panels for laptops or slates (or anything else) don't deal well with bright environments, especially sun rays.
Fortunately, the other drawback has been addressed with much more success, to the point where both vertical and horizontal visibility retains mostly the same sharpness.
The new series of displays from LG, known as IPS1, boasts, as its name implies, the in-plane switching (IPS) technology.
With a diagonal of 23 inches, it has image consistency at angles of up to 170 degrees both horizontally and vertically.
The line was created for graphics designers, whose “role today is likely to embrace digital photography and video as much as illustration.”
That said, the response time is of 6ms GTG (gray to gray) and the energy savings are of up to 30% over regular LCDs (Energy Star 5 and EPEAT Gold certifications).
Finally, a couple of 5W built-in speakers are present. Unfortunately, the so-called affordable price has not been outright disclosed.