LCD Monitor Review

LCD monitors: Tests and ratings

TFT Central, a British website, has the best reviews of LCD monitors. Incredibly practical visual documentation adds credibility and substance to the ratings, and while many websites cover LCD monitors from only one or two viewpoints (gaming or DVD-watching, for example), evaluation at TFT Central covers all aspects of usage including text, imaging and video. We also found detailed and substantive reviews at the Government Computer News (GCN) website.

Another website, X-bit Labs, reviews the largest number of LCD monitors. Formal testing is extremely thorough and well documented, but reviews tend to be highly technical and harder to read. PC Magazine and PC World also have good reviews, though they lack the depth of the aforementioned sites.

We especially like reviews that identify what type of LCD panel is used in the monitor (we explain types below), because LCD monitors from many brands often use the same panel (the actual hardware behind the frame and stand). If you can identify the panel model that delivers the performance you want, you can search for other LCD monitors that might be less expensive or have the specific convenience features or frame style you prefer.

For this update, we found that LCD monitors by Samsung and Dell are highly rated consistently in reviews. While we didn't find any brands or specific monitors that are consistently poorly rated, most reviewers pan one or two monitors in their articles. Yet, in each case the same LCD monitor that's panned by one reviewer receives hearty recommendations from other sources. Whether this is a case of beauty being in the eye of the beholder or variations in review sample quality is very much an open question. Regardless, buying a monitor from a vendor with a reasonable exchange policy is probably a good idea.

Conventional LCD monitors with a 4:3 aspect ratio are now harder to find and often more expensive than their widescreen counterparts. But despite the popularity of widescreen LCD monitors, they aren't necessarily the best choice for some users. LCD monitors with conventional shapes are taller than a same-size widescreen displays, which means less up-and-down scrolling in Word and Excel documents and on web pages. If that's your primary usage, a conventional 4:3 aspect ratio monitor provides the greatest productivity. On the other hand, a widescreen LCD monitor enables you to fit two documents or web pages side by side on the display, and you can use them to watch widescreen format movies that fill the screen.