LG 29EA93 Monitor Review - Rev. 1.25
by Chris Heinonen on February 12, 2013 8:49 PM ESTAnyone that read my initial review knows I was disappointed with the performance of the LG 29EA93. I’m a big fan of the aspect ratio, but I wasn’t a fan of the performance numbers that I saw from it. Well, it seems that LG wasn’t a fan either and went back to fix it, returning with a display that puts out some of the best numbers that I have ever seen. There isn’t a single issue that I found that LG didn’t address in full and add into their QA workflow to prevent the same issues from happening again. It really feels like someone gave me a totally different monitor to review than before.
While I think LG probably would prefer that every product they put out be perfect, to me this was actually a good thing to have happen. I’ve reviewed many things that I’ve given poor reviews in my life, and this is the first time I’ve had a response like this. LG wasn’t content to have a bad review out there, or to have flaws in their product, and worked hard to address those issues. Seeing that commitment from a company said a bit more to me than seeing a company put out a good monitor does.
If I were reviewing the LG 29EA93 from scratch, I’d say it’s a fantastic monitor. It has incredible uniformity, the highest contrast ratio I’ve seen in a long, long time, and after calibration it’s almost totally flawless on all our tests. The CMS for video works fantastic, and watching 2.35:1 movies on it is a really nice visual treat. The lag response is very low and for gaming it will work well and offer a very nice field-of-view in games. It really is an incredibly well made, and unique, monitor in the marketplace today.
Because of my prior review I’m even more impressed. Coaxing this performance out of what I had before is a huge improvement, and I believe that because of this experience in improving their monitor quality, it will help LG to develop better monitors down the road. As it is, I can easily recommend people look at the 29EA93 if they get a chance. It offers fantastic performance that can compete with almost any display I have used to date, and really impressed me the second time around.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
108 Comments
View All Comments
genomecop - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
Is this available in the US? I've looked but don't seem to find it listed anywhere. Thanks.genomecop - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
Ebay?cheinonen - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
I'm not sure when US availability is, I just know it was delayed after the initial review with the problems that were found.buhusky - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
Not saying you need to purchase every item you review at retail, but I do think that it's kind of weird that they brought you a monitor with the specific purpose of changing a prior review. It's one thing to be shipped something for review when it's first released, it's another when the company says it's unhappy with that review, asks exactly what can be done to improve the review, and then provides you with a specific unit that is meant to change your opinions in the prior review.flexcore - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
I have to believe that LG wouldn't be stupid enough to send a special unit that is different than what they will be selling to the public. If that happened I know they would get caught and it would be the last time A LOT of users bought anything from them! I just don't see them going through all the trouble just to ruin their brand name in the end. I will definitely be paying attention to this model in the future.I do agree that LG needs to either differentiate this upgraded model from the original or offer the original model buyers an upgrade.
KLC - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
But how will the public know their monitor is different from the reviewed one? Almost no one has the equipment, the time and the knowledge to replicate this testing on their home unit. I go and buy one and I assume it's working like the review said it was, but I have no data to support that assumption. And once I spend the money I'm certainly going to have a healthy dose of confirmation bias that tells me my monitor really is fabulous, because the review at Anandtech told me it is.shamgar03 - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
You should probably put a disclaimer at the beginning of the previous (1.09) review so that people don't get confused when they search for reviews online.secretmanofagent - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
Don't know if they'll read this far into the comments, but thanks, LG. It's awesome for a company to take the negative feedback and use it to improve their product before releasing it. This monitor's now on my radar.Oxford Guy - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
Still waiting for Anandtech to address PWM backlight flicker, a significant drawback to many LED backlights.Still waiting.
waiting......
Oxford Guy - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
Also, if you're going to make your contrast ratio comparison more meaningful, you should include an A-MVA panel.