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Performance:::...
Games::
Probably
gaming is the critical category for most of you, and it's
therefor the one I spent most time judging.
I
think perhaps the easiest way to sum up the experience of
gaming on the E435S is that by the time you come eyeball
to eyeball with your first zombie, enemy troop, assassin
or otherwise unsavory character, there's a good chance you'll
have forgotten you're using an LCD display. Yes, it really
is that good!
Doom3,
Far Cry, Colin McRea Rally, 3DMark, Combat Flight Sim, Need
For speed, Hitman, No One Lives Forever, Grand Prix 4 and
others, all fired up and played exactly as they did on my
CRT, and not one exhibited anything that could remotely
be accused of being a motion generated trail or ghost image.
Gaming-capable
LCDs are here at last, and the fact you can pick up a decent
sized example in the sub-£200 bracket is incredible
if you look back at prices and performance just 12 short
months ago.
Movies/TV::
I
saw the 10ms claims, I understood the theoretical benefits,
I didn't think I'd see those theoretical benefits translate
into real world advantages, I was wrong!
Even
the fastest moving action remained fluid, free from ghosting
and simply dripping with colour and contrast. The E435S
is an excellent choice for the movie buff looking to save
a little desk space without destroying the emersive experience
in the process.
Faster
response times equate to less loss of colour and contrast
in moving images which in turn makes for a more enjoyable
viewing experience.
Text
Based Applications::
Text
at the native 1280x1024 was crisp and clear as I'd expected,
but more importantly, at non-native resolutions it was considerably
better than similarly priced units I've played with, and
some significantly more expensive units too.
The
menu-based text sharpening (softening) settings work incredibly
well and I take my hat off to iiyama for the improvements
they've made in this area.
The
E435S rates as one of the best 17" mainstream LCDs
for text-basedl work at any price, let alone at such a conservative
one.
Graphics
and Image Based Applications::
Colours,
while bright and vibrant, aren't really natural enough across
the entire spectrum to rely on for any critical image editing.
The E435S shares a potential weakness with a great many
mainstream LCD screens in that its colour depth is just
6-bit and it relies on dithering to fill in the gaps and
create a full palette of colours.
6-bit
LCD screens are only actually able to create 262,144 colours,
though through dithering techniques can increase this to
16.2 million. A genuine 8-bit display can render a full
16.7 million colours without relying on dithering, and thus
it's a good indicator that any screen claiming 16.7 million
rather than 16.2 million colours is true 8-bit display and
probably better suited in situations where colour matters..
Though
the difference isn't really noticable (or important) to
most users, graphics professionals would almost certainly
demand a true 8-bit display which rules this our for any
hardcore image work.
In
use I found the colour curve to be a little off the mark
with some colours showing a lot more punch than others,
and try as I might I couldn't quite balance them up to the
extent I'd have liked. Maybe with more time and twiddling
I could get things nearer my preferences but like many users
I still believe there's no substitute for a quality CRT
when it comes to working with true-colour subjects.
Audio
Performance::
If
you expect the onboard 2.5w speakers to be anything more
than vaguely convenient for when your main speakers pack
in, forget it. Though not the worst I've heard they're about
on a par with the majority, and for the size of them that's
hardly unexpected.
If
all you need sound for is error tones then these will suffice,
otherwise you may as well forget they're there.
Unfortunately
iiyama didn't see fit to compliment the audio line in with
a matching headphone socket so you'll be reaching for your
case when you want to connect some cans for a little late-night
gaming.
Colour,
Brightness and Contrast::
Overall
I found all three parameters to be really impressive, particularly
given the cost. Colours were bright and saturated, if a
little off the mark in relationship to each other sometimes.
Contrast
was adequate and then some with bright highlights and very
respectable blacks. On the subject of contrast, this is
another area where manufacturers are cheating the system.
One way to get an impressive contrast rating for an LCD
screen, even one that suffers from poor blacks and shadow
detail, is to boost the brightneness of the highlights.
You may not be able to comfortably use your screen turned
up this bright, but the contrast rating sure looks good
on the spec sheet!
Brightness
was also good with plenty of scope for all tastes and some
headroom to spare too. The backlight seemed surprisingly
even which helped keep colours vivid from edge to edge.
Conclusion
The
3DVelocity 'Dual Conclusions Concept' Explained: After discussing
this concept with users as well as companies and vendors
we work with, 3DVelocity have decided that where necessary
we shall aim to introduce our 'Dual Conclusions Concept'
to sum up our thoughts and impressions on the hardware we
review. As the needs of the more experienced users and enthusiasts
have increased, it has become more difficult to factor in
all the aspects that such a user would find important, while
also being fair to products that may lack these high end
"bonus" capabilities but which still represent
a very good buy for the more traditional and more prevalent
mainstream user. The two catergories we've used are:
The
Mainstream User ~ The mainstream user is likely to put
price, stock performance, value for money, reliability and/or
warranty terms ahead of the need for hardware that operates
beyond its design specifications. The mainstream user may
be a PC novice or may be an experienced user, however their
needs are clearly very different to those of the enthusiast,
in that they want to buy products that operate efficiently
and reliably within their advertised parameters.
The
Enthusiast ~ The enthusiast cares about all the things
that the mainstream user cares about but is more likely
to accept a weakness in one or more of these things in exchange
for some measure of performance or functionality beyond
its design brief. For example, a high priced motherboard
may be tolerated in exchange for unusually high levels of
overclocking ability or alternatively an unusually large
heat sink with a very poor fixing mechanism may be considered
acceptable if it offers significantly superior cooling in
return.
The
Mainstream User ~
Until
now I'd have recommended anyone looking to switch from CRT
to LCD to stay put and bide their time. The technology offered
almost nothing more than lower power consumption and a smaller
footprint, hardly enough to justify what was a serious outlay.
Now
I'd be more likely to cautiously back the move to LCD, but
on the condition that plenty of research goes into the process.
I'm
not sure how close iiyama really get to 10 ms, but having
seen it in action that's almost academic. The E435S is the
first budget/mainstream display that I'd feel comfortable
telling a friend to buy, and though it comes up short on
frills like headphone socket, USB ports and swivel/height
adjustment, that doesn't alter the fact that it's a supremely
capable performer at a very tempting price.
The
Enthusiast ~
There
aren't many LCD displays I'd recommend for enthusiast use,
depending of course what field they're an enthusiast in.
Certainly
for serious image editing, the vast majority of LCD displays
don't cut it in terms of colour fidelity and consistency,
even 8-bit displays, but for most other uses the E435S sets
new standards in price and performance that the new breed
of screens will undoubtedly have in their sights.
A
class act provided you realise the limitations and are prepared
to trade them for the undoubted benefits these displays
are now beginning offer. The LCD era is finally coming of
age!
We're
always looking for ways to make our reviews fairer. A Right
To Reply gives the manufacturer or supplier of the product
being reviewed a chance to make public comments on what
we've said. They can explain perhaps why they've done the
things we were unhappy with or blow their own trumpet over
the things we loved. It's easy for us to pick a product
apart but sometimes things are done a certain way for very
specific reasons.
Should
iiyama decide to exercise their "Right To Reply",
we'll publish their comments below:
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