MaximumPC 2004 06

I

n last month’s Maximum PC

Challenge we set out to test

whether today’s LCD monitors

are as unsuitable for gaming as their

predecessors, which tended to suffer

image-quality flaws when displaying

fast-moving content. Our findings

proved pleasantly surprising. Of the

Challenge’s eight test subjects (LCDs

culled from the recent offerings of

leading manufacturers), three passed

the stringent qualifications of our

expert panel of editors, proving them-

selves fit for today’s popular 3D titles.

But loath as we are to admit

it, a PC geek can’t live on games

alone. So this month Planar’s

PL170, Samsung’s 172X, and Dell’s

2001FP advance to the finals to

determine which is the all-around

champion.

—KATHERINE STEVENSON

Planar PL170

The 17-inch PL170 was the least

expensive of all of last month’s

challengers, and one of just two

that sported a VGA-only interface,

so it’s a triumph simply that it’s

come this far. The PL170’s appear-

ance is unassuming, to be sure.

The plain black (or white)

plastic chassis

is nothing to write home

about, but also utterly

inoffensive. The five black

control buttons on the moni-

tor’s frame are so low-profile

as to be difficult to see and

ambiguously labeled. And

the PL170 won’t win any con-

tests with its adjustability, as it

is able to tilt just slightly for-

ward and back on its base,

but that’s it.

For image-quality tests,

we turn to our standard

ally DisplayMate , a com-

pilation of various test

screens designed to expose

a monitor’s worst, or hid-

den, flaws. Whereas our

game tests of last month

were focused on issues

of ghosting, interpola-

tion, and color-contrast

in action-packed graphics,

DisplayMate isolates specific

qualities in a way real-world

apps can’t. For instance,

when looking at a gradu-

ated series of gray boxes

against both white and

black backgrounds on the

PL170, we had trouble dis-

tinguishing subtleties at the

extreme ends of the scale.

In other words, very light grays

looked white, and very dark grays

look black, though not to any

degree that would make it unus-

able for most applications other

than image editing.

It’s quite likely the PL170 is

handicapped by its VGA interface.

After all, the analog conversion

inherent in VGA LCDs introduces

an additional abstraction layer that

the DVI-ready Samsung and Dell

monitors don’t have to mess with.

This distinction was most obvious in

the DisplayMate screen that tests

video noise. A screen that should

have appeared absolutely stationary

showed distinct noise on the PL170,

though we were able to minimize

the noise via the Auto Adjust set-

ting. We also noticed obvious verti-

cal banding on the PL170 when

looking at swaths of continuously

graduated color, particularly at the

dark ends of the color spectrum.

Serif text was comfortably leg-

ible at 9-point and greater, on both

dark and light backgrounds, but

appeared a tad fuzzier than the text

on the other two monitors—anoth-

er shortcoming we attribute to the

PL170’s analog signal.

LCD Love It or Leave It

Three LCD monitors that are good for games show

us what else they’re made of

Planar’s

decision to

make the

PL170 VGA-

only was

tantamount

to throwing

in the

towel.

The 172X’s handsome folding

base allows the monitor to sit

atop a desk or be mounted to

a wall.

Reviews

86 MAXIMUMPC JUNE 2004

Inexpensive, good gaming performance,

acceptable image quality for most applications.

SEEING

SEETHING

VGA interface, inflexible neck, banding problems

in DisplayMate.

$460, http://www.planar.com

MAXIMUMPC VERDICT 8

PL170

DisplayMate’s grayscale tests are

important indicators of how an LCD

monitor resolves subtle differences

in tone and color. In this screen, for

instance, it’s ideal if you can distinguish

between the darkest gray box and the

black background.