LG 29EA93 Ultrawide Display - Rev. 1.09
by Chris Heinonen on December 11, 2012 1:20 AM ESTLG 29EA93—Brightness and Contrast
The LG 29EA93 uses a totally different panel and backlighting setup than any display that I’ve tested, so for once I am coming into a review without any real idea of how something will perform. With the LED backlight set to maximum with a pure white screen, the peak brightness measures at 252 nits. This is a bit lower than I expect but fine for those people without direct sunlight on the screen. With the backlight at minimum that light output level drops down to 61 nits, which provides plenty of range for users that have light controlled environments and want a dimmer display.
Black levels on the LG are pretty good in comparison to other IPS panels. The black level with the backlight at minimum is a nice 0.237 nits, and that drops all the way down to 0.057 nits with the backlight at minimum. When measured against the peak light levels and against other IPS displays, these are good black levels to see.
These numbers combine to give us a contrast ratio over 1060 for both minimum and maximum backlight levels. This puts the LG up there with the best IPS contrast ratios we have measured on any size display. The best VA displays still perform better, but IPS has managed to really improve upon contrast ratios the past few years.
Overall the peak brightness left a bit to be desired on the LG 29EA93, but the black levels and contrast ratio help to make up for that. They still won’t make it a good choice for someone that has to deal with direct sunlight on the display, but for users without that you can get plenty of brightness and a good contrast ratio from it.
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Concillian - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
1) Input lag is too high.This is a great form factor for gaming, but gamers are going to be turned away by the input lag. Even gamers who won't necessarily notice such lag will be scared away just from the reviews. For a monitor of this size and price, I would think it would be necessary to address as much of the market as possible, and they are cutting off a big piece with that input lag.
2) Windows 8 wrecks this as a dual monitor replacement.
The size is reasonable for someone who wants to go from 2x 1280x1024 monitors to one wide monitor. It's very close to the same pixel count as 2 1280x1024 monitors. This would be great for 2 windows side by side using half the screen... if Windows 8 would let you do that..
radbeard - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
this monitor is great for office work. Its ideal for people that work with PDFs, Excel, and Email that all relate to one another and frequently need to display multiple documents at once. I do not see this as a good gaming form factor at all, its not tall enough.Concillian - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
Not a great gaming form factor? 3 screen gaming type immersion without 3 screen pricing, bezel issues and driver issues sounds pretty good to me.1080 vertical isn't tall enough for gaming?
It's great for office work. like you mentioned, but my point was that Windows 8 doesn't let you do what you are talking about doing. It's either docked or maximized, and like it or not, home users are going to be virtually forced to migrate to Win 8 over the years.
peterfares - Wednesday, December 12, 2012 - link
Are you really that dumb? Windows 8 has the same desktop UI and Windows which is what you're supposed to use when being productive. Metro is horrible for productivity.bigfire - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
It won't take off. Can't imagine myself playing computer games and looking left and right all the time. And I don't think this monitor is a good one to watch films with. Such a big display requires a definite video resolution (yeah, a high one if you don't want to look at blurry image).radbeard - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
there are no resolution problems. Its 2560x1080. nothing is blurry, there is just lots of horizontal space. I own the dell one and I wouldn't recommend it for games, what its terrific for is office productivity.peterfares - Wednesday, December 12, 2012 - link
How is a 2560x1080 monitor better for office productivity than the similarly priced 27" 2560x1440 screens? How often do you have really wide and short stuff in an office? 30" 2560x1600 is even better.xKeGSx - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
Any word on the 27EA83? Waiting on reviews before I but it or an Asus PB278Q. Thanksdrumhellar - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
"There is still a lot of resentment over the transition from 16:10 to 16:9 displays"I'm still bitter about the transition away from 4:3.
jcm722 - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
I just heard where the FCC will now allow cable television providers to scramble all channels. So, having an HDTV with internal tuners is foolish, unless you are watching over-the-air TV. This LG is a great idea as a television, just make it bigger. As a computer monitor for my needs, nope. I don't use all of the horizontal space in my 1366 x 768 screen, and would prefer having the old 1280 x 1024 monitor, but that's just me.