Leave it to the Koreans when the question under discussion is “who are the top LCD panel manufacturers of the world?” Although the presence of Taiwanese rivals is hard to disregard, the competition is dominated by LG and Samsung without a doubt, with both companies having a hold over nearly 50% of the global LCD market share.

 

 

 

Given the reputation that they possess, it is only sensible that their offerings stand out amid other products in terms of aesthetics. In the same way that their colossal HDTV cousins draw our interest, Korean LCD monitors continue to put us under a spell with their eye-catching designs, not to mention the cutting edge technologies beautifully hidden underneath them. LG is throwing in a precise example of these ingenious inventions with the Flatron W2253TQ LCD monitor.

 

 

 

At first glance, the 22-inch LG Flatron W2253TQ bears a resemblance to the LCD monitor that we met a couple of months back. Even though both models are framed with a glass-like edging, LG has chosen to place that design element at the arched bottom of the W2253TQ to make it look more pleasing.

 

 

 

With a DCR (dynamic contrast ratio) of 50,000:1, the W2253TQ tells us that such a feature, which was once salted away for high end LCD TVs, is quickly becoming a common phenomenon among LCD monitors these days. Monitors with higher DCR can produce sharper, more vibrant outputs especially under poor lighting conditions, making them a top choice for avid gamers and movie enthusiasts.

 

 

 

Setting up and disassembling the W2253TQ is unproblematic. For accessories, it comes with two cables for connectivity: a VGA and a DVI. Obscured at the lower right hand side of the monitor is a set of sensitivity buttons. Even if your finger is just a few centimeters away from the sensitivity buttons, they glow red instantaneously, demonstrating their receptiveness to the slightest sense of touch.

 

Looking over at the W2253TQ’s user interface, we can say that it is user-friendly in general. Aside from the usual menu in which picture quality and color settings can be adjusted, the monitor has additional lists of options that you can access to make the best use of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 To achieve an optimized picture quality that can meet your visual requirements depending on the purpose, the W2253TQ integrates the proprietary Flatron f-Engine, a chip that intelligently enhances the monitor’s picture quality. The f-Engine has been around since 2004, when LG first introduced the chip on its 17- and 19-inch LCD monitors. 

 

 

 

 For the W2253TQ, the integration of the f-Engine chip is expressed through a simple menu that provides you with four picture modes: Movie, Internet, User and Normal.

 

 

 

 You can also modify the tone and color of what you see on the W2253TQ by using its Photo Effect feature. Three effects that can be applied are Gaussian Blur, Sepia and Monochrome.

 

 

 

If you intend to save energy, simply turn on the W2253TQ’s Smart feature. By doing so, the monitor switches to Cinema Mode, activates its ambient light sensor, and sets the timer automatically.

 

 

The W2253TQ performed impressively in our set of static tests, and this can be clearly seen on the screenshots that we took while running the DisplayMate application. Out of the box, this Flatron has flawlessly rendered black and white at different intensities. Likewise, the transition from lighter to darker shades was fluid in general. Take note that the tests were done while the monitor was set using factory settings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually, the performance that we had seen during the static tests were also reflected when we played HD video clips. On Normal mode, the color was generally subtle to the eye and minute details were easy to recognize. Whereas under Movie and Internet modes, the contrast level was visibly increased, though we found the latter adjustment was a bit harsher that it resulted in a considerable gap between lighter and darker tones. Nevertheless, if any of these modes doesn’t fit you, you can actually do some personal fine-tuning on the picture quality and save the changes under the User mode option.

 

 

NORMAL MODE

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOVIE MODE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTERNET MODE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The LG Flatron W2253TQ is a high performing full HD LCD monitor that you could splash out on for just a fraction of the price of comparable models from other brands. In any case, we had wished that it had an HDMI connector, taking into consideration its striking picture quality that is ideal for watching HD movies. In all, anyone trying to find a sizeable flat screen display would be unwise not to take notice of the LG Flatron series, the W2253TQ in particular.