Product Reviews

Last year saw real supply problems with 15in TFT screens, as competition forced prices so low they simply weren't profitable to manufacture anymore, while demand for 15in notebook screens drained the existing supply. Add to this the fact that 17in panels are only slightly more expensive yet offer much greater flexibility, and it's difficult to see why it's worth buying one at all. Nonetheless, if you're short on space, looking for something to run on a server or simply want a second screen for your email, they're still a viable option.

While many 15in screens have been caught up in a price war, it's good to see Iiyama hasn't cut too many corners with its latest creation. There's an integrated power supply to save on clutter and, although there's just a single analog input (thankfully non-captive) and a basic stand, they do the job perfectly well.

In testing, the panel got off to a flying start, with an excellent, natural level of brightness as well as a crisp and well-contrasted Desktop. Whites are bright and neutral, and colours show a pleasing depth. Also, despite the slightly sluggish 25ms response time, DVDs showed little lag, although there were occasionally distracting artefacts visible in some movies. They were still watchable, though - the panel's good definition simply shows up flaws in MPEG-2 compression. But a bout of fast-action gaming proved that the Iiyama isn't an ideal panel

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for the shoot-em-up enthusiast, with occasionally blurry motion.

Our gruelling round of DisplayMate tests didn't manage to trip the E383-B up on sheer performance, however. Distinctions between dark tones were handled well, although there was less impressive separation at the top end of the spectrum. Both colour and greyscale ramps were even and defined too, with graduations showing little banding or colour bias. Overall colour balance was also excellent, with smooth and balanced transitions across the colour spectrum, and any concerns about the analog input were soon dispelled by throwing some unpleasant moire patterns at the panel, which showed no sign of pixel jitter.

The OSD is intuitive once you realise that the menu button also acts as select, and we were pleased to see settings retained after power-off. There are five separate colour temperatures, including user-defined and sRGB modes. Two alternative gamma settings are available too, which are useful if you find certain games or DVDs too dark. There are also two 'economy modes', which simply lock brightness settings at medium or low values.

The front-panel buttons are responsive to the touch, and the whole construction is robust, save for the join between base and stand. That said, the relatively large footprint makes the panel sturdy. Not surprisingly for a small screen, there's no height adjustment or swivel assist in the stand, but backward and forward tilt is more than adequate. Not that you'll need to move the Iiyama too often, as viewing angles are excellent in both planes. There's quite a sharp tail off in brightness as the horizontal angle increases, but it's still visible from an impressive 170 degrees.

With reasonable-quality 17in panels continuing to fall in price, it's arguable whether it's worth buying a 15in panel of this quality - it seems a waste when it will probably be used as a secondary screen. However, if you're set on a 15in TFT, the E383-B is about as good as money can buy.