TFT Goodness! (Iiyama Pro Lite E431S-B)

Member Name: unknownlunatic

Product:	Iiyama Pro Lite E431S-B
Date:	07/08/04 (3290 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Frees up desk space, Looks great, 2 inputs

Disadvantages: Speakers not very good

I decided to make the switch from a normal CRT monitor to a TFT monitor a couple of months ago.

I had various reasons for doing this. Mainly just because I wanted to!!! I did also think that the desk space that would be freed up would be nice too. Another major factor was that I had been told that they were easier on your eyes. As a contact lens wearer (well, I was then, I'm not any more, as I had laser eye surgery 3 weeks ago.... but that's a whole other op!) I was all to used to the feeling of dry eyes after staring at a screen for ages.

I made a choice that I wanted a 17" TFT, which offers a much larger viewable area that a 17"CRT. Apart from high quality build and picture quality I also wanted it to look good. I did not wan't a huge plastic looking thing. Some TFT monitors can be rotated by 90 degrees meaning the screen is taller than it is wide. I have no need for that, so that was not an essential feature.

So the research began.... I read many reviews all over the place, in magazines and on the internet. I finally decided on a Black Iiyama Prolite E431S. Then the challenge of finding somwhere that had them in stock started. I eventually found that scan.co.uk had a few in stock so went and ordered one.

The monitor arrived well packaged, with a manual and CD, and normal monitor cable. One thing that it didn't come with was a DVI cable. I had to buy that seperately for about £7. The monitor cost £316 including VAT.

The monitor clips onto it's stand, which adjusts for tilt only. It is not height adjustable. Everything is in a nice matt black finish. You can also get it in Silver and Ivory. The surround (or bezel to give it it's correct name) arount the edge of the monitor is very thin. Around the sides and top it is approximately 1.2cm. The bottom edge is bigger as this includes the buttons, and the integrated speakers.

The speakers are actually not very good. They are tiny, b
ut will do fine for everyday windows sounds like the occasional 'bing' etc. However for listening to music and playing games they are rubbish. However, most people have seperate speakers anyway, and use them. I certainly didn't choose this monitor for the speakers. If this model had been avaliable without the speakers, then I would have gone for it.

On the fromt of the monitor are 6 buttons. Menu, Contrast/-, Brightness/+, Exit/Volume, Input, and Power. As you can probably tell, some of them are multi function. The menu button brings up the on screen menu. This is nice and neat, and easy to use. You move around the options using the + and - buttons. To alter contrast you press the contrast button, which brings up the contrast display on the screen. You then use + and - to adjust it. The same goes for brightness and volume.

The input button is a really useful feature. The monitor had a normal monitor connection, and also a DVI connection. And you can use them both at the same time, and switch between the 2. This can be really useful. For instance I was using my main computer for browsing etc, using the DVI input. I was also re-installing windows on a second computer. Instead of having a second monitor I plugged it in to the Iiyama with the normal monitor connector and just switched between the two at the touch of a button.

The power button includes a small LED. When the monitor is on, but the computer is off, this is orange. When the monitor is active, it changes to a nice blue! If you press the power button to completely turn off the monitor, the LED goes off.

The monitor was easy to get up and running. Just plug it in, and tell windows what display it now has using the drivers on the supplied CD. All I had to do was adjust the brightness and contrast to suit my particular preference, and then I was away.

I have used the monitor for everything from watching DVD's, browsing the internet, general word proces
sing, and games. It has been excellent in all respects. There is no evidence of 'ghosting' where the picture becomes blurred. This is because the monitor has a 16ms response time. The picture is sharp and clear, and runs at a resolution of 1280 x 1024.

Dead pixels is a particular concern when buying a TFT monitor. Mine came with no dead or stuck pixels, and continues to have none. Iiyama have a replacement policy that they will replace the monitor if it has more than 3 dead, or 7 stuck pixels.

Summary: