LG W3000H-Bn Black 30" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ HDCP Support 370 cd/m2 3000:1 w/ 4 USB ports

Pros: Inordinate amount of desktop real estate! Switched to this unit after having used a Dell 22" lower-end LCD for about 3 years. Dreamed of owning a 30" and had finally pulled the trigger. 2560x1600 looks GREAT - you can have multiple full windows open at a time without squinting - its great. Games look super clear, can play Bluray WINDOWED and still native resolution of the video. This display has changed the way I compute - I used to alt+tab like a mad man (and still do.. but..) but now I can have two full web pages open, outlook/web page, etc. The color is VERY nice. The touch buttons are neat and you can turn the power LED on/off as well as whether or not the devices "beeps" when you press a button. Brightness is easily adjusted from the front panel. Excellent monitor all in all.

Cons: 2560x1600 - how is this a con? I had to build a new PC in order to be able to game at this resolution! I was using a Q6600 on an EVGA 780i SLI w/ a EVGA 8800 GTX card - not a slouch but not bleeding edge. I had to build a Core i7 on EVGA X58 Classified, with two EVGA GTX 295s in Quad SLI in order to play games at this resolution. This shouldn't really be considered a "con" but more of a "reality". No HDMI - but that doesn't offer much really.

Overall Review: Its 30" - which is BIG. However, its got a resolution appropriate for a desktop computer viewing-distance. What I mean is that although it is 30" a lot of people think it'd be ideal for giving presentation and such. This isn't exactly true - the display itself is large but 2560x1600 means that your text is similar to a 22" 1680x1050 display... except theres more display. I had to convince someone at work that at a 30" 'monitor' is not what he wants to present to 15 - 20 people and that a 42" 'tv' with an HDMI would be better. Just keep that in mind - this is a desktop monitor so at 2560x1600 your font/windows/text are the same physical size as on a 22", theres just more room.

Pros: S-IPS. Beautiful reproduction of color after calibration. Flesh looks like real flesh tones, and high res photos look amazing. Backlight was fairly even. Very good contrast, but wish I could lower the backlight even more for a better black level.

Cons: Design isn't the prettiest. Anti-glare screen has poor off angle viewing for dark scenes. Because the screen is so big, at a viewing distance of two feet the edges will look hazier than the center on dark images. It is such a shame because this is such a nice panel. Uncalibrated, the monitor is greenish. The screen is really bright. The brightness control/backlight will only go down a little bit, and limits the ultimate lowest black level for calibration. This is most clearly visible on a totally black screen.

Overall Review: I received a defective monitor. The signal would flash in and out on certain values, it went completely dark when I open a dark gray window. I don't know if the defective monitor had an impact on the viewing angles, but I doubt that it did. Don't get me wrong, it is a nice IPS panel. However, the viewing angle due to the anti-glare coating and backlight limitation were big cons.