LaCie Photon20Vision

TFTs have always had problems accurately representing a full colour range, so while much of the rest of the world has gone flat, many graphics professionals are still left squinting at their CRTs. The Photon20Vision aims to appeal to this market by promising superb colour representation, as well as features that a CRT couldn't even dream of.

Aside from the two-port USB hub, perfect geometry and minimal reflections from the completely flat screen, you can also spin the Photon20Vision through 90 degrees to work on a full A4 page. While it doesn't adjust automatically, the Pivot Pro software adds rotate commands to the Desktop's right-click menu, as well as a handy taskbar button for access mid-application.

It's a relief to see good horizontal and vertical viewing angles, particularly as they're interchangeable. What's more, the 20.1in visible viewing area and a native resolution of 1,600 x 1,200 offer serious flexibility.

There are two stands as well - a desktop foot, and another for clamping to your desk edge. The former is robust, offering smooth movement through just about every angle, and is height adjustable. The latter comprises a sturdy, desktop-liberating armature, enabling complete freedom of movement.

To reduce ambient light reflection, there's an easily fitted hood, a sign of how seriously LaCie is targeting this panel at high-end users. It may compromise the screen's sleek looks, but it's effective in minimising light interference and can be adapted to fit both screen orientations. There's also a useful range of presets, accessible through the comprehensive OSD, for differing light conditions, although they will compromise colour accuracy.

If you want adjustable gamma settings or direct sRGB support, you'll be disappointed, but RGB settings are temperature-switchable between 6,500 and 9,300K, as well as individually. If you need to standardise colour representation throughout your workflow, the optional Blue Eye calibrator will be an attractive proposition, though it costs £279.

Running DisplayMate Multimedia Edition through a Radeon 9700 Pro via DVI, the screen performed admirably. However, the top end was a little muddy, indicating a slight truncation at the high end of the spectrum, and this was borne out in the colour ramp tests. There was little banding, though, and the full-colour ramp was handled extremely well, particularly at the darker end - at least until we tested the Eizo ColorEdge CG18 (see below). LaCie's screen still doesn't have the range of a high-end CRT, but the difference is small and sufficient for most design work.

In our real-world tests, the Desktop looked slightly muted, but was sharp and detailed. Anyone wanting a little after-hours fun might be a touch disappointed with the 25ms response time, though - the big screen looks great, but fast-action games become blurred. DVDs were perfectly watchable, however, with balanced colours and surprisingly few artefacts.

At £100 cheaper than the Sharp LL-T2020B (see issue 104, p78), this panel offers superior colour representation and more extras for the money. If you're in the market for a high-quality 20in TFT, especially for colour-crucial work, this is an excellent choice.

Author: Ross Burridge