LG L206WU review

A look at one of LG's offerings, once part of the high-end, now an affordable 20" model, priced at less than 150eur.

For this relatively low price you get:

• VGA cable
• USB Type A->B cable
• A "special" green cloth to clean the LCD
• CD with driver, software and some manuals

Being an LCD with a DVI input, it's rather strange it doesn't ship with the appropriate cable, as most - if not all - monitors with DVI inputs do. This was either a mistake from LG in shipping the monitor to retail or a cost cutting measure (it was listed in the manual as part of the package).

How it looks

The "special" green cleaning cloth.

Good looks and height adjustable, for a very good range. This enables the monitor to fully rotate 90 degrees:

Some people might find it useful. Given the already big size and resolution (1680×1050), I personally don't.



View from the back, a very simple design.

DVI, VGA, USB Hub, power.

Specifications:

Panel TN
Size 20"
Resolution 1680 x 1050
Pixel Pitch 0.258 x 0.258
Brightness 300 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio DFC 5000:1
Viewing Angle H : 176˚ /V : 170˚(CR≥5)
Response Time 2ms (GTG)
Display Colors 16.7 M Colors
Sync Range
Horizontal Frequency 30~83Khz
Vertical Frequency 56~75Hz
Connectors
PC 15Pin D-Sub, DVI-D, USB
Plug & Play
DDC DDC CI
USB 1Up 2Down
Stand Pivot (90º), Height Adjustment, Tilt, Swivel
SPECIAL FEATURES - FLATRON f Engine, HDCP, 4:3 in Wide

The most notable downside with this monitor is related to color reproduction. LG's claims the ability to reproduce 16.7M colors, or 8bits per component, which is completely irrealistic. This mostly looks like a 6 bit per component panel, or 18bits, capable of reproducing 262K colors. I have a laptop which employs dithering to approach true color reproduction and it indeed achieves a better result than the enourmos amount of color banding that the L206WU produces. This is most noticeable in dark colors.

The standard color profile that ships with the monitor manages to hide this but, as soon as a proper calibration is done, the flaws pop up.

The worse defect is that this monitor can't reproduce gray tones - ever. For as much as I played with color settings. The only thing close to gray is a brown tone or dark yellow, gray's can't be found, properly. In this regard, it's probably among the worst LCD monitors I have ever tested.

There's good stuff though, the 4:3 in Wide technology is useful, the response time of 2ms seemed to be fully there when I played some FPS games and brightness was more than enough, on the top setting it was even probably too much, leaving the user to choose how he wants it. Light leakage was also not disproportionate for a CCFL backlit monitor.

Summing it up:

The good:

• Good response time
• Not bad light leakage
• Wide range of height adjustment
• Ability to rotate the monitor 90 degrees
• 4:3 in Wide
• Good dot pitch, typical for 20 inch monitors
• Very good looks
• USB cable included
• Price

The bad:

• No DVI cable included (which you should buy, forget about VGA)
• Color reproduction is very poor, especially regarding gray tones

Most LCDs aren't very good at color reproduction and this is a prime example of that: it's clearly sub-standard. If you can look past that, it's something to look at twice. It's nice for games and movies, if you can live with the yellowish gray tones. If you're into graphical design, even running on a budget, do yourself a favor and stay away - I've seen better panels come out of LG's headquarters, as from Samsung.