Customer Reviews

LG W2486L 24-Inch Widescreen 1080p LED Monitor (Gloss Black)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Well, after researching this and reading Cnet reviews etc, I took the plunge.

Lessons Learned:
1. Brightness: Very nice. Absolutely no problem here despite what places like Cnet would have you believe. I honestly think that those nerds just imagine stuff sometimes.

2. Black Level: I'm a stickler for this and found this monitor to have deep blacks. I really don't understand the people who buy 4000 dollar plus televisions for "bottomless blacks." What nonsense.

3. Colors: Accurate as far as a layman like me can tell. Nice all around.

4. Whites: Pretty white? It looks white and not some washed out light gray.

5. Backlight: I was afraid of this when choosing a monitor. This one had maybe a very thin and faint backlight bleed around the bottom edge. I'm pretty anal about stuff like this but found it to be so insignificant that even during dark scenes I didn't notice it. And as usual, your backlight results vary depending on if you get a good one or not.

6. GAMES: No ghosting, awesome image, what more can you want?

7. Ergonomics? : I wish it tilted more, it's pretty limited when it comes to that. The buttons are fine and look cool too. It's nice to look at.

8. Viewing angles: Dont come in thinking you can watch it from some retarded angle and get the same quality. As usual with any monitor, you can see colors shift if you move your head too much. It was definitely noticeable with this one (its not some big 40 incher so what do you expect?). But who really watches a monitor from an off angle? You sit down look at the screen and do whatever. Perfectly fine as far as games go.



Overall, I'd buy it again if the need arose. I'm set with my games. Oh and seriously, when researching monitors, most reviews will be glowing simply because people want to justify their purchase. I had to return this one fo financial reasons but will be rebuying it in a few months. Its that good.

I recently upgraded from a 22 inch Acer to this 24inch LED LG monitor. The colors are deep, images crisp and the white/dark contrast is amazing. Truly a good monitor at a good price. If your looking for a great 24 inch monitor under $350 - this is definitely a keeper!

There is no doubting the sexiness of this monitor. LED backlit, BEAUTIFUL black shell, thin as Brangelina after a 48 hour cocaine binge. As pretty as it is on the outside, the screen falls a tad bit short on the inside. While it does produce a nice image, I have seen more vivid and bright offerings from other manufacturers like Samsung and Asus. I am sure the matte screen helps with reducing glare, but I do prefer glass. Text isn't as good as I have seen on other screens of this type. But all in all, the image produced by this screen is JUST good enough to pass MY smell test. Overall, the image quality is a notch or two above good, maybe even very good.

One area this monitor shines is hookups. 2 HDMI, 1 DVI, 1 VGA, and the headphone/audio out jack. Another strong suit already noted, its aesthetics. LOVIN' the red highlight on the base! Gloss black is pretty, but it is a fingerprint magnet. IMO, this is the prettiest screen on the market, hardware wise. Even better, this thing arrived without ANY dead pixels! Image wise, it could be better. One area this monitor blows is the software. The software pops up EVERYtime my computer boots. Nothing major, just an annoyance. Also, where is the Gaming Mode preset? I find it hard to believe that a monitor of this design does NOT have a gaming preset? Why is it shown in the literature if it isn't available in software? Regardless, as a gaming screen, this piece of hardware holds its own, and as stated earlier, if not for the so-so text display and the below average image vibrance, this monitor would get that fifth star. The only minor issue I had when setting this monitor up was the driver installation. But, a bit of wiggling finally got it installed (figuratively speaking).

In the end, it gets a bit higher than 4 stars, maybe more like a 4.6 outta 5. Is it a bit high on the price? Maybe. Yes, the colors are on the cool side. The base wobbles a bit as noted in other reviews (which I fixed with a cardboard shim which is unseen). But compared to other screens, this monitor ranks in the upper echelons of graphics hardware. I have no doubts that with a bit of tweaking, I can get pretty damn close to my personal image preference. I guess the important question is, if I was on the market for a new screen, would I buy this one again? I can say honestly, and with confidence, YES, I would purchase this screen again. Hopefully LG will update the software to deal with the splash screen issue. To sum it up, I am very pleased with this purchase.

This monitor is Merc APPROVED!

I have only used this over the weekend but am very impressed. I bought this to function as a monitor for both my PC and Macbook pro. It worked flawlessly out the box with both systems. I found watching streaming video from youtube and Hulu to be amazing clear with little or no blur artifact. As a monitor, I found the text easy to read. The color was set a little cool and the brightness was VERY high at the factory settings but this was easily corrected. The 24" screen is great. i love the extra real estate in comparison to my 17" MBP. It is a perfect "big" monitor. I considered the 30" apple display but am very happy I went with this monitor!! It is also very nice that it comes with a 3 year warranty. Most other monitors come with a one year warranty. Amazing value!

Plus sides: It's big, it doesn't look bad, does real 1080p resolution, fits on my computer desk (which has a shelf over the monitor area) because it's really wide but only about as tall as my old 22" monitor, and it has two HDMI and one DVI input so I can send my upconverting DVD player's output to it as well as my computer's output. And it uses ridiculously little power -- it comes with a 36 watt power supply and probably uses around 24 watts in normal use, thanks to the thirfty LED backlighting.

The only problem area is, LG apparently got a huge batch of very "cool" blue-tinted LED's for their backlight, because the colors are awful. Luckily my Macbook has an option in its color profiles to shift all colors towards the "warm" side of the scale, or I would have had to return this monitor. And it's not because of LED backlighting in general, my MacBook has an LED backlight too. LG just cheaped out on the LED's (it's *hard* to find a true white LED, and they're expensive).

Oh, about the base -- there are various complaints on the web that the base is somehow "flimsy". LG must have redesigned the base or something, because mine is big, round, heavy, and does its job well.

I love Amazon shipping. We had these (I bought 2 of them) delivered in 3 days. The 24" screen gives you a lot of desktop space. Windows 7 looks beautiful on this LCD. Images are very crisp and clear. I love the dynamic backlighting, so if I turn off the lights in the room, the display dims according to the amount of light around you. Hookup was a snap and the base screws on, making it very easy to install and take-apart. With it being an LED backlit display, almost no heat is generated, and you got to love the 27 watt power consumption. This is a must buy.

Beautiful display, lots of inputs, HDMI, Digital, VGA .. great value for the $$. Set up in 10 minutes. After a day or two I re-tightened the screw that fastens the base to the monitor and the wobble is not noticeable. Then again, I set it where I wouldn't be bumping it. Thank you LG and Amazon!

This monitor is connected to a Mac G5. Automatic connection. Terrific picture. Deep, deep blacks and clear whites for high dynamic range. It is very light in weight compared to a Dell 24" monitor, and no wobble detected in base which had been mentioned as a problem in other reviews. Vivid colors. Definitely would buy another.

Cliffnotes at bottom if you're impatient. :-)

I had read some iffy reviews of this monitor and was a little reluctant to buy one. However compared to other $300 monitors it just had the most features and was easily the most beautiful of the bunch. I also noticed most of the complaints were coming from professional graphics developers, photographers, etc... people that can tell you the font and size of text from across a room. Chances are you're not one of these people and most likely will not notice any of these "problems".

The first thing you'll notice when you unbox this is how light it is. I had made a decision to find an LED monitor just to see what all this LED fuss is about. Regardless of any technical benefits of LED backlighting, it makes the monitor thin and light. My 24" TV looks bloated compared to this monitor. It is paper thin and light as a feather. However the monitor itself feels very sturdy and well built.

The second thing you'll notice is that the base stand, while artistic and delightful to look at, will have you wondering if you secured the monitor to it well enough. It is shaky. I wouldn't say flimsy, but shaky. I haven't found this to be a problem at all and is just a symptom of choosing form over function, but to some people it might be a little unnerving. After adjusting the monitor's position numerous times I've grown confident that, while it may be a little scary to see your new $300 monitor wobble around, it is in no danger of toppling over.

The connectors are all in a cluster at the base of the panel in the rear. The inputs go straight into the back so your connectors will be 90* to the rear of the panel. For some reason a lot of people complained about this. I thought it was MUCH easier to deal with than my last monitor that had its jacks facing down. I would have to tilt the monitor almost flat against my desk to adjust connections. With the LG W2486L it is very easy to adjust connections by just reaching to the back of the panel and feeling your way around.

After setting it up you'll look for a power button to turn it on and will not find one. The buttons are all part of the touch sensitive bezel. It is responsive enough, and while not as intuitive as a simple menu button and arrows, it gets the job done. Obviously a lot went into making this monitor aesthetically pleasing. The smooth, glossy face with no buttons is extremely modern and tasteful. The extruded point that houses the power led does a wonderful job of providing a shapely contour.

When you finally turn on the monitor you should go to LGs website and download the latest Forte software. The CD shipped with version 2.xx which was incompatible with Windows 7. Version 3.xx from their website worked just fine. I'd recommend this as it contains useful settings and a calibration wizard.

A common complaint is the apparent cool blueness of the colors. After playing with some settings I did notice where these complaints were coming from. However it was EASILY corrected with the Forte Manager software. It took less than one minute to adjust the colors, brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc... to balance everything nicely. My whites were very white and crisp and there was a very nice gradient to black with plenty of grays in between.

In the end the monitor itself is absolutely beautiful and does a wonderful job of producing crisp, clean images. I am not a graphics developer, so some of their complaints might be lost to me. However I have had no issues whatsoever with the quality of this panel and would recommend it to anyone. Images are beautiful, and the monitor is a near work of art that will make any room look better.


Cliffnotes:

Pros:
Absolutely beautiful, glossy panel.
Thin and light.
Great image reproduction with a decent setup program to adjust and calibrate colors.
Connection options: VGA, DVI, 2xHDMI.

Not-really-pros-or-cons:
Uses a power brick, no internal power section. May or may not bother people. Personally I prefer the brick.
Don't touch the glossy panel! Like anything high gloss it's an oil/dust magnet.

Cons:
Base is a bit wobbly, but uless you live on a ship or under train tracks you won't notice after you set it up.
OSD isn't too intuitive

Very satisfied with this monitor. Great image quality ... large screen allows me to view windows side-by-side. Delivery was fast and item was well-packed. Recommend Amazon.com.