Review: LG Flatron M228WD monitor

Who needs a TV? Use your monitor instead

Price: £260

Manufacturer: LG Electronics 0870 873 5454

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Verdict

Good points: Easy to set up and use; very good picture quality; lots of sockets; well designed
Bad points: Poor internal speakers; pricey
Overall: Excellent as both a TV and as a monitor, but the speakers could have been much better

Andrew Sutcliffe, Computeract!ve 27 Mar 2008

It’s amazing that products such as this aren’t more common, being a normal widescreen PC monitor with the ability to receive digital (Freeview) television.

It even comes with a remote control and an socket for connecting a high-definition (Blu-ray) player or games console.

But all of that is pointless gimmickry if the LG Flatron M228WD can’t hold its own as a computer monitor.

Fortunately enough, it can – in fact, it’s an excellent monitor, giving a lovely image with great clarity and vibrant colours, thanks to the high resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels.

That’s enough to just about squeeze two pages of the same document on the screen together, just like a large book or magazine.

It even looks nice from a design point of view, although it does have the depressingly clichéd blue light to tell you it’s switched on. We’ll forgive LG for that because there’s no on/off switch – instead it uses a rather pleasing touch sensor. It’s also extremely capable when it comes to gaming, which hasn’t always been the case with flat panel monitors.

Viewing angles – the ability to see a bright image from either side of the screen - were acceptable. One disappointment is the stand, which doesn’t allow much tilting or rotating. It is easy to assemble, though, and while not oozing flair, it certainly isn’t ugly.

As a TV, the setup is very easy. Simply plug in a suitable aerial and use the remote control to scan for channels. The set picked up all the available channels and had very impressive reception on each.

There are outputs on the rear panel for plugging in external speakers (which would probably be in addition to your PC’s speakers) – we’d suggest using these if you have the space, because the monitor’s own internal speakers were quite poor, easily the weakest point of the package.

We are a little concerned at the pricing - £260 is quite a lot more than you can expect to pay for a monitor of the same and size similar quality without the TV features. However, given that you can find the M228WD for less online it makes much more sense.

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