LG 23MP68VQ 23-Inch Cinema Screen IPS Monitor (1920X1080, VGA, DVI, HDMI, 250 cd/m2, 5 ms) - Black

Well...what can I say, had this for a few days now and it is absolutely brilliant! White is white and black is black, everything just looks so different on an IPS panel, all the colours is so vibrant!Brought this to replace a TN panel monitor which was also from LG, and you can see the difference instantly, the viewing angles on this is amazing compared to the old monitor, colour shifting is a thing of the past with this monitor. The monitor was pretty much all set up and ready to be used straight out the box, its very easy to assemble, although I had to turn the brightness down quite abit as this thing is really bright, for me anyways, although personal preferences may vary of course.The screen itself is matte, not glossy and the antiglare coating on the screen is not grainy at all with this monitor, incase some of you are worried about that. (I was worried as well)The bezel is very thin on this monitor, the 'physical' bezel which is the frame of the monitor is super thin, about 2mm although the actual screen doesn't go right up to that 'physical' bezel, there is another 'inner' bezel underneath the screen which you don't see if the monitor is off, it just looks like its part of the whole screen, but this bezel is still quite small, about 4-5mm so the overall bezel is about 7mm which is still very thin!The curved monitor stand gives it a very stylish look and it also very stable, when I give the monitor a light push from different angles, it doesn't feel like it will topple over, so top marks there. However the monitor frame and the stand is glossy, this means that you can easily cause and leave scratch marks and fingerprints on it, but if you treat the monitor right and not plan on moving or dropping it often, it should keep its pristine look with the occasional dust brush off.With the monitor I received, I didn't notice any backlight bleed except only a tiny bit on the top left of the monitor, although you won't notice it unless you go looking for it. As for IPS glow, again you won't really notice it unless you go looking for it, or if you plan on using this monitor at weird side angles for a long period of time.Also did a quick check for any dead or stuck pixels but it all seems good so far!As for input lag, I haven't noticed any yet but since this monitor has a response time of 5ms, I think that is perfectly fine for gaming unless you play games competitively and have a VERY good eye for these things, then I doubt you will notice any input lag. So if you're one of those that are still worried about the slow response time that comes with IPS displays, then you have nothing to worry about with this monitor!I have yet to try the Freesync on this monitor yet as my graphics card does not support it, but keep in mind the range of the variable refresh rate for Freesync on this monitor is between 40-75Hz, so don't be expecting very high refresh rate with this monitor, but I'm sure games will look buttery smooth with Freesync on!I have not tried the speaker on this yet either, but I can assume that it wouldn't be the best of all quality but if you don't have any other speakers and need sound, I'm sure it will be satisfactory. Still I would recommend getting some dedicated external speakers to go with the monitor.One thing I don't like about this monitor, which is also the exact same thing I didn't like on my old LG monitor is that the LED light will flash on and off in standby mode, its not a dim light either so when I'm trying to get to sleep I find it very distracting and means I have to turn the monitor off everytime I finish using it to stop the flashing. Suppose the only good thing with that is I'm saving electricity a tiny bit by turning it off! But I wish that it would either be on constantly or stay off when its on standby mode.So overall I'm extremely happy with this monitor and would recommend it wholeheartedly, the vibrant colour on this makes me feel like I'm seeing all the webpages and games for how they should look like, and for this kind of price for an IPS display as well as Freesync, I would say it's definitely worth it.Even if you don't have a graphics card that supports Freesync, you should still get this for the IPS benefits, besides just think of the Freesync bit as a future proofing bonus, you can always upgrade to a AMD graphics card that supports Freesync in the future! (Which is what I'm planning on doing)A few things to keep in mind:- You can only use Freesync function if you're using the HDMI port.- Only the 27 inch monitor version of this comes with 2 HMDI port and 1 VGA, the other model sizes will come with 1 VGA, 1 DVI-I (Dual Link) and 1 HDMI (for Freesync).- Only a VGA cable was supplied with my monitor, so if you need a HDMI or DVI cable, you'll need to order one seperately.Edit 2020:For years later, this monitor is still going strong and I have got another since (2 years old now). Everything is still great about them and nothing has broken nor degraded - I still recommend these or maybe their newer models if these are not available!

This is my second LG monitor and they really are very good indeed.The brand is probably perceived as being at the 'budget' end of the scale but they punch way above their weight. For example I was reading a technical review of a much more expensive monitor from another well-known brand and it was stated they were using an LG panel inside. Given that there are only relatively few manufacturers of the actual LCD panels in the world there is bound to be a lot of 'rebranding'.What sticks out with the LG marque for me is their simplicity and easy style. The new type of stand on this one, the large arc, actually lets you put things in front of you on the desk, rather than a big circle taking up most of it. The edgeless frame does, of course, have a border but it is very narrow. The bottom part of the bezel is small too and there is only one control, right in the centre under the LG logo.Screen control and adjustment is done through the single on/off button, This is actually a joy-stick and once pressed brings up an on-screen menu of possible actions. All the usual colour settings, brightness, contrast, pre-sets etc are there. I was worried at first because reviews said you controlled the screen settings via a software program. This is going to be Windows I imagine (a CD is supplied) and I'm running a Mac. I needn't have worried. The control stick does everything needed.On the back are HDMI, DVI and VGA inputs along with a headphone/speaker out and the power socket (separate power brick). Audio out only works with HDMI cable input and it's worth noting there's no way to control the volume except on the output device itself.Picture quality is excellent. The IPS panel gives great viewing angle scope and the colour renditions and clarity are superb. I only carried out limited testing but felt the HDMI input gave slightly better quality than DVI (VGA is always going to be slightly lower because of the older, analogue technology involved). Once up and running I have brightness set to 55% and contrast to 70%.In the panel I received there are no defects. No stuck or dead pixels. In fact this was the case with my previous LG monitor, so nothing new, but nice to find.I bought the smaller 21.5" panel which is fine for me and the distance I sit from it. Bear in mind that because this panel is full HD at 1920x1080 it has the benefit of smaller pixels and therefore pictures and text suffer less from jagged edges. Yes, they are still there but the same number of pixels in a slightly smaller space makes them harder to spot. So all in all a very nice monitor indeed.

I give this a 3.9 stars. The first one that arrived had a dead pixel so I arranged a 30 day loyalty return exchange without even speaking to a human. Excellent! The second monitor was fine no dead pixels, but it had a tiny tiny bit of backlight bleed on the bottom right, but coming from 16" laptop screens it is absolutely nothing to complain about. Bottom line, this is a fantastic budget monitor with excellent colour production and fantastic viewing angles thanks to the IPS technology. I've never tested it with gaming but 1080p is fantastic for every day computer work, especially photo editing and generally watching things on YouTube. It doesn't have speakers but you can always connect a pair on the back. LG are renowned for having very high quality displays. Buy with confidence, be patient and take use of Amazon's amazing returns service, and you'll get a good product, an IPS 1080p panel for £130.