Screen test

Gizmo Gallery

The Asus' PW201 LCD monitor looks brilliant. But is it? For the two-odd weeks that we used the large, bright 20 inch (diagonal measurement) LCD screen, we were in awe of it.

The Asus contained some 60 miles of wiring, to connect to various ports on the back. Since the test unit's manual had gone missing, we were quite happy to note that setting up was a snap fit process, and we were happy to note that there was a wide range of video input ports.

The back of the monitor sports the usual serial monitor port, plus a component input (DVD or Game console), a DVI input, a USB 2.0 port replicator, S-video, various audio ports... in short, a lot of options. The best being that you can use a touch-sensitive control on the front to 'channel-surf' the input sources and play what you want.

First sight When we reviewed the Asus Lamborghini laptop a few issues ago, we already commented on how the mirror-finish screen catches reflections. The PW201 is no exception to that rule. However, its crisp, bright rendition of windows is a beauty. Compared to its peers, the Asus does well.

Compared to older 15-inch displays, like the IBM CRT we normally use, the 1,680x1,050 (native resolution) Asus looks as good as a science fiction gizmo. When you the spec list, the great image quality should not be a surprise, though. It has a great 8-millisecond pixel-response rate, four preset image modes and whether you're looking at a word file, a photoshop document or a movie, it looks good.

The 3 watt speakersincluded in the monitor's bezel are good too. They won't rattle any windows, but they're quite loud for their size and produce surprisingly clear audio.

Downsides It isn't perfect, of course. The included webcam, while a great idea, is a buggy little gizmo. It causes much frustration in setting up and we checked on the Internet and found our experience is not a one-off. But that is about the greatest fly in an otherwise very likeable ointment.

Other niggles include the lack of a way to 'harness' the wiring. On the test, we almost never had more than two video sources plugged in. But if you did plug all of the inputs into the monitor, you'd have a substantial tangle of wires behind it.

And given the cool brushed aluminium mounting supplied, you'd be hard-pressed to conceal that mess. The monitor's powerbrick is another of those giant black boxes that are becoming just too common (have you seen the new XBox 360's monster brick?). Perhaps the biggest gap in the spec is the omission of a HDMI port.

However, Rs 36,000, the quoted price is steep. There is no getting away from that. Which raises a few questions. A 20-inch LCD TV nowadays costs just over 25,000. So why would you spend as much as ten thousand precious ones on the Asus?

For general TV watchers, and low-end graphics users, the Asus does not really make sense. A 1080-ready LCD TV will offer these users more than enough resolution and image quality for their purposes.

However, for those of us who want more, like a 20-inch, 1600 pixel wide rendition of a Nissan Skyline GT-R burning through a Need For Speed Underground game,the Asus is a must-have.