Acer AL1715b 17" LCD Monitor

In the earlier days of LCDs, users faced many problems including poor response time which causes "ghosting", poor viewing angles, and pre-mature pixel failure; just to name a few. Luckily, over time, LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology has been fine-tuned. All though LCDs aren't yet perfect, they have definitely improved over the years, and have some amiable advantages over traditional CRT (Cathode Ray Tubes) monitors. Some of these amenities include their weight, space, and power usage. Up in our testing labs today we have two of Acer's economically priced LCD displays, the AL1715b. The Acer AL1715b has a stated viewing angle of 150°/135° (Horizontal/Vertical) but what is truly impressive is the 12 ms response time. One of the reasons die-hard gamers generally steer clear of current generation LCD displays is due to the response time. When gaming, not only is network lagging an inevitable enemy, but also the latency of the LCD display refreshing. LCDs currently on the market come in a wide array of refresh rates from 40+ ms all the way as low as 8 ms, with the lower number being the better. Since less time is required for the display's pixels to refresh, there is no “ghosting" effect. A generally accepted rule of thumb is the monitor should have a refresh rate of no more than 25 ms, as anything higher is highly prone to "ghosting". Will the Acer AL1715b 17-inch LCD be able to tread water, even without a DVI port, and prove to be an economically priced LCD display for gamers? We will investigate the Acer display as we examine two of them while running dual head in Linux.

Features:

Contents:

Trapped inside of the small Acer shipping container, we found the following parts:

· LCD Monitor
· CD
· Quick Setup Guide
· Power Cord
· D-Sub Cable

The Acer CD contains the user's manual and an electronic copy of the quick start guide. To assure no damage to the fragile LCD displays, Acer carefully packages them in Styrofoam. After removing the plastic bag that was surrounding the monitor, there was an additional piece of plastic that served to protect the viewing surface from being damaged. With the power supply being built into the display, no external power supply is required. The AL1715 is available in both beige and black. The units in this review are black. Both Acer AL1715b monitors arrived at our doorstep in pristine condition. However, were there any dead pixels?