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Apparently you may want to disintegrate the monitor?

Ok, bit of a confusing one here. Despite the L1750HQ model name around the back and an 8ms sticker slapped on the bezel, I’ve been informed by LG that this monitor is actually a 12ms L1750H. Perhaps an 8ms one is due out soon? Anyway, as always I will take this 17in LCD at face value, and give you my opinion of its looks, features, build, performance and value.

Straight out of the box, the first task I had to do was to fit the circular base to the neck of the L1750H’s stand. This involves aligning a set of hooks and then using a coin to tighten up a screw that secures the two together. A bit of a palaver if you ask me, especially when you consider that the majority of bases either clip into place or are pre-fitted at the factory.

In terms of build quality, the plastic construction feels a little flimsy and there’s a certain wobbling flex to the whole unit when it’s on the desk, especially noticeable when you decide to adjust it for that all important ergonomic position. For this, you have both height adjustment (through eight centimetres), and a tilt function (five degrees forward, 20 degrees back). However, LG has not opted for a pivoting mechanism, so if you after a portrait orientation, which is ideal for text work, then you should look elsewhere. As for the base, this swivels 10 degrees short of a complete circle.

Looks-wise, I have to say that I’m not exactly filled with awe. In my opinion, the L1750H is pretty unremarkable aesthetically. Granted, the thin silver coloured bezel frames the picture with minimal distraction, but the narrow, tall neck and circular base just doesn’t do it for me. That is of course a subjective opinion, but I think it’s largely due to an angular versus curvy mismatch. I mean, that round base combined with that angular chassis just seems to clash.

On the connectivity front, things are a little brighter. Behind a removable flap, there’s dual connectivity in the shape of two signal inputs – a DVI-D and a D-SUB one, plus you get all the cables you need for hooking up your PC to either of these selectable sources. However, there’s no USB hub or integrated speakers, but LG has been thoughtful enough to include a couple of hooks to keep the cables under control.

Now, with the L1750H rigged to our test machine, it was time switch it on, leave it to warm up, and then to mess around with the controls and OSD in order to optimise it before testing.

A total of five buttons sit in a row along the lower right portion of the bezel. To make adjustments, it’s simply a case of hitting the Menu button, highlighting the control icon with either the – or + buttons and then pressing the Auto/Set button to access it. Subsequent presses of the – or + buttons adjust the picture to the desired level, after which you can exit by pressing the Menu button. Sounds a tad lengthy but in practice menu navigation is simplistic.

In regards to settings, there’s no Flatron f-Engine this time around, but among the usual ones for brightness, contrast, screen position and pixel clock and phase, there are also settings for gamma, white balance, two colour presets (6500K, and 9300K) and independent scales for the RGB levels. Like many other LCD manufacturers, LG has also included what it terms as “Lightview” – a feature where the user can easily select predefined picture settings that have been optimised for the ambient illumination (night or day) and the type of image displayed (Text, Movie, Photo). Personally, I prefer to leave it on the Normal setting most of the time, but the boost in vibrancy in the Movie and Photo modes does help to bring out the detail when watching videos and editing pictures respectively.

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