Review: LG “Flatron” W2361V-PF 23″ LCD Monitor

Posted by Dan on November 6 in Reviews |
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I recently purchased the LG W2361V-PF LCD Widescreen monitor as a replacement for my previous 23” full HD monitor as I had to unfortunately return it due to a fault and couldn’t get a replacement.

F390A58D-B31D-4770-B386-B79F013E906BThe Specs:

  • Aspect Ratio – 16:9
  • Resolution - 1920 x 1080
  • Brightness- 300 cd/m2
  • Digital Fine Contrast Ratio- 50,000:1
  • Response Time (GTG) – 2ms
  • Viewing Angle – 170°/160°
  • Surface Treatment- 3H, Anti-Glare

Initial Thoughts:

I mainly purchased the monitor based on price for the features I was looking for and the reviews I had read previously, as it came up pretty good in the reviews on eBuyer.

As with anything new and shiny I eagerly opened the box and have to admit I was a little disappointed, while it’s fantastic that this monitor includes both a VGA and DVI I was disappointed that they are extremely poor quality. I also found the buttons on the side appeared cheap and plasticy, but still perfectly bearable for minimal usage.


The monitor itself seems fairly solid, as with the last one and it seems most modern widescreen monitors it does seem a tad unstable on the mount, but seems fine once you have got it situated.

IMG090I both love and hate the clear droopy clear plastic bar on the base of the monitor which acts as the power button, this a “Live Sensor” which apparently recognises hands approaching the monitor and automatically turns on/off by proximity sensor. However in reality it seems a little unreliable and usually you have to touch the droopy area to get it to recognise, and seems to require a few seconds between turning on/off before you can turn it on/off again as it seems to not detect for a few seconds, which can be slightly irritating. This is a very cool little feature from a geek point of view, so kudos!

Functionality:

I do appreciate that this monitor (unlike my previous one) has a non-glossy finish which really helps with the keeping the colours and glare in check, it also majorly reduces a problem with my previous monitor where the slightest touch left dirty marks on the screen and it generally seemed to get dirty very easily, this one however seems to be holding up well.

This monitor includes 3 inputs, VGA/DVI/HDMI I have yet to test out the HDMI or VGA I am currently opting for the DVI option as main input. I  have briefly tested the VGA as a second input which worked well, you can switch between inputs via the forteManager software or the middle button on the side of the monitor.

Usability:

Generally I have to admit the software and inbuilt buttons and menus for the monitor bloglgmonitoraren’t as intuitive and easy to use as previous monitors I have and it can take a few minutes to figure out what you need to do with the software to change the colours to suit your preference. It is also slightly irritating that It seems I now have 3 pieces of software running in the tray constantly – forteManager which is used to control colours, contrast, colours and other monitor display controls – “ImageBooster” (still not sure what this does) and finally CinemaMode which while I am not 100% sure on it’s function it appears you click the icon and then select an area on screen and the screen adjusts to match, obviously intended when watching movies.

Movie Playback:

I have played a few movies on the new monitor ranging from DVD quality to full 1080 HD and it’s pretty damn good, the quality is what you would expect from a full HD LCD, a crisp clear picture and fantastic colours.

The blacks as with all LCDs have the white areas at the top due to the back light however this monitor has very crisp dark blacks which really helps boost the quality and any light areas on black is restricted to the top of monitor and doesn’t effect viewing.

So should you buy it?

This monitor seems good for the price and is a good quality for most usage, good colours and a fairly reasonable price at the £150 mark especially considering the 3 input functionality which could make it an ideal solution for anyone wanting a nice HD monitor for their PC which can easily be used for the game system too – not being much of a gamer I can’t comment, but I can guarantee if I get my hands on an XBOX it’s going straight into the HDMI.

While the quality isn’t fantastic it has to be expected that there are compromises when getting some good features you unfortunately have to sacrifice the quality of the small things – cables, buttons and perhaps slightly user interface of software/menus – to keep the price low.

So far this seems a great buy for those on a budget and definitely a recommendation.

You can check it out on http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165288

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1294857355 Jack Barnard

    Good over all view of the products exterior design, function and how prone to breakage this product may be.This could be considered very useful to possible buyers being fooled by this products seemingly great design, and great concept. reading this it seems that this product is unreliable and more or less all talk. As a regular guy and not knowing much about computers the sections headlined “initial thoughts”, “usability” and “so why should you buy?” would be quite helpful in making my decision. however I found myself not being bothered to read into the movie playback section, probably because I have not much clue what this is, over all easy to understand and I would recommend anybody who is wanting to purchase this monitor, for a good overview

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1294857355 Jack Barnard

    Good over all view of the products exterior design, function and how prone to breakage this product may be.This could be considered very useful to possible buyers being fooled by this products seemingly great design, and great concept. reading this it seems that this product is unreliable and more or less all talk. As a regular guy and not knowing much about computers the sections headlined “initial thoughts”, “usability” and “so why should you buy?” would be quite helpful in making my decision. however I found myself not being bothered to read into the movie playback section, probably because I have not much clue what this is, over all easy to understand and I would recommend anybody who is wanting to purchase this monitor, for a good overview

  • Blackburnchristopher48

    simply has anyone who has bought this having problems with the power saving mode?
    it goes into power saving mode in the middle of things and wont turn on again.
    is it me or a fault?

    • http://dansgalaxy.co.uk Dansgalaxy

      That sounds like a fault to me, I don’t recall having that problem when I had the monitor (no longer have it because someone broke it).

      If within warranty I’d suggest getting in touch with whoever you brought it from.

  • Noemal

    I’ve had this very same monitor for at least 2 years now, I use it for my PC and my PS3 and XBOX (using an HDMI switch to connect all three to the single HDMI input on back of the monitor).  I plays games like Uncharted and Call of Duty (PS3 or XBOX) with no problems.  There is a slight amount of blurring that I can see while playing games but not enough to bother me. I have never noticed any input lag on this monitor but I do on my big LED TV (60 inch Sharp). Color and viewing angle are both excellent, no back lighting problems at all with my monitor.  I have the monitor on a very sturdy desktop so I have never noticed any wobble but it should be noted that the monitor stand is a bit thin and probably would wobble on a less stable surface. The controls as mentioned are not real easy to use, but I almost never have to adjust any settings, even when switching between games and just using the PC. I use the HDMI port exclusively so can’t comment on VGA or DVI inputs. I connected my PC speakers to the headphone jack on the back of the monitor since I use HDMI and they sound fine (nice Bose speakers help). I bought this monitor for about $200 (USA) and I feel I have gotten more than my moneys worth.

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