Sony has got an affordable flat panel display listing for $ 449.99 and found on Epinions advertisers for a nice low price of $299.99. The SDM-S51 is a 15 inch LCD TFT Display that employs exceptional image color quality with an extra bright display.

It is stylish in design in the color black weighing in at 8.1 pounds and a size of 15.2 inches wide by 12.0 inches in height. Now the depth is 6.8 inches but that includes the base, the panel itself is about one inch thick on the sides.

The control buttons are on the right side of the monitor instead of the traditional bottom of a monitor (display). I thought this is very attractive, I guess because it is different.

Features
The SDM-S51 has a TFT Active Matrix LCD with a pixel pitch of 0.297mm and a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. It shows 16.19 million colors with a Luminance of 250cd/m2 and a Contrast Ratio of 300:1.

The Horizontal Scan Range is 28kHz - 61kHz, the Vertical Scan Range is 48Hz - 75Hz and the Viewing Angle is Horizontal 120/Vertical 90.

It is hooked up through a 15-pin VGA port and for the Macintosh an adapter is provided.

The stand can pivot and the tilt base can also be wall mounted.

There are three-color temperature pre-sets to choose from to get what looks the best for you.

Setup
Using Window XP all I did was connect the display to the VGA input on the computer and plugged the display into an AC outlet. Windows recognized it and there was an instant great looking display. You will have to fine-tune it to your preferences, that is easy to do.

Sony's Advanced Auto ImageSet feature is a simple function that automatically sets image position, phase, and pitch. Very Nice!

Cons
The main con about this display that I could see was the Viewing Angle. The Viewing Angle is Horizontal 120/Vertical 90. Well the Horizontal wasn’t a problem and the Vertical isn’t as long as you sit in front of it. If you got up out of the computer chair and moved to the sides of the monitor the lines in the text would look streaked.

What you get
The SDM-S51 display with an AC Adaptor power cord.
It is made for the Macintosh and Windows with provided utility disc for both.
A MAC Adapter, Warranty Card and User's manual

Overall
The picture quality is excellent for a flat panel display like this one. The text and graphics on Windows and the Internet are great. Watching a DVD movie also produced a nice color. Now viewing my large digital photos did show a slight loss in color compared to what I am use to. The color was good on the digital photos but I just feel like it was missing a little of the brightness in the photos. Games ran smooth and were beautiful to play, the only drawback here was it isn’t a 20 inch display.

Yes this is a nice display but for me it is way too small, I have had a 19 inch monitor for about 2 & ½ years now and anything smaller than that looks too small for me.

I personally think it is a very attractive display. One thing I did like a lot is there are no built-in speakers! I run a Dolby 5.1 sound system on my computer, why should I or anyone else pay extra for the speakers if they are not going to be used? It is a monitor that can fit into smaller places that the old conventional monitors could, plus you can mount it on a wall.

For the price, features and a three-year warranty it is a nice LCD Display.


Read about some of my other Monitor reviews.
Sony CPD-G520 21" Computer Display
Samsung SyncMaster 171 B 17 in. Display
The Samsung 950B is a Great Low Cost 19 Inch Monitor!




The Parts for Building a Computer from Scratch!

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 329
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh