Government Computer News
L680 monitor delivers high-quality images at a high price
But Hi-res mode must match pixels to image evenly, otherwise text becomes jagged
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By Carlos A. Soto
GCN Staff
The $3,500 Eizo Nanao L680 LCD monitor has no problems in image clarity. It outperformed two other high-performance monitors I placed next to it in testing.
Nor did I see any image residue when I suddenly closed a window of black text in many sizes, some highlighted, that had been running against a white background for 20 minutes.
On other LCD monitors, closing the window would have left an image residue that took five to 20 seconds to fade. But I saw no afterimage on the L680.
A slight shadowing did appear when I viewed several Motion Picture Experts Group-compressed images and assorted moving pictures of different sizes and lengths. Shadowing was barely noticeable.
Looking good
 An all-black design makes the 17-inch monitor’s appear bigger, but it interferes with using the well-camouflaged controls. |
The Eizo L680 has a 170-degree viewing radius, thanks to Hitachi Home Electronics America Inc. technology known as super in-plane switching. In-plane switching is common in flat, thin-film-transistor monitors larger than 15 inches. It maximizes viewing angle and quality by changing the angles of the liquid crystals in the screen.
The problem with this is that adjusting the angle causes ghosting and slow response. But Hitachi’s Super IPS eliminated both deficiencies in the L680.
Sharp text, however, was another matter.
To get clear lines of text, I had intensify the resolution to 1,280 by 1,024 pixels. At any lower resolution, text and script looked blurry and undefined.
Blurry text is still an unsolved problem in flat-panel screens. A pixel in an LCD is either on or off; there’s no fuzzy ambiguity. In contrast, CRT monitors have much smaller dots and can electrically adjust their brightness.
The L680 has one LCD pixel for every dot only at 1,280- by 1,024-pixel resolution. When the resolution drops to 800 by 600 pixels, the L680 tries to fill in the image by emulation.
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