It’s Iiyama’s big return.  After a superb 24 inch – the five star ProLite B2403WS – here is the Prolite E2201W or quite simply the most interesting 22 inch to come out at the end of the summer.  It’s particularity is that is combines a 2 ms (particularly reactive) response time, an attractive price, nice design and a DVI input which supports HDCP protection (the standard necessary to watch Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies).  In terms of ergonomics, Iiyama opted for a black matte bezel with sharp angles.  However, it cannot be pivoted or vertically adjusted.

In games…

There is indeed the reactivity of a ''2 ms'' and a net difference if we compare its afterglow (trail of light behind objects in movement) with the 5 ms of most competing 22 inch monitors.  This screen is particularly intended for those fans of FPS games (Quake, Unreal, etc.), in which you run, jump and shoot in every that moves.  A second characteristic that will please this group is that there is no input lag when compared with a CRT side by side in clone mode.  There was no delay and both screens appear to be perfectly synchronized.  The Samsung SyncMaster 226BW S was close but wasn’t completely there.

The downsides

So is the Prolite E2201W perfect and should we rush out and buy it?  Before committing, allow us to point out two things.  The first is rather typical ; preset colors are good but not perfect.  The average difference between perfect colors and the ones actually displayed on the Samsung 226BW S series was a delta E value of 2.6.  This  Prolite E2201W had an average of 4.4.  In addition, for once we found an unusual green dominance in grays.  This was not too bothersome, all the more so because it can be remedied via a few manual adjustments.  On our test model, we set brightness to 79, contrast at 30, red to 94, green to 91 and blue to 98.  The average difference then decreases to 3.6 and a noticeable improvement.

The other more bothersome problem was the poor viewing angles.  To not confuse this with another characteristic (viewing angles proper), we will take a slight detour concerning this screen’s brightness homogeneity.  When we took measurements on various places on the panel, we find an average difference of 8 % between two points.  This went as high as 25 % between the brightest and darkest point with the display of a white image.  Even if these figures seem a bit high, this is well within the norm.  However, the problem arises when you fix your eyes on an object in the center of the screen and then glance up to an edge without moving your head.   The area appears darker.  Inversely, if you look at a corner and then the opposite edge, there is this same darkening of the image.  Why is this?  In our opinion, the problem seems not to be related to the backlighting or liquid crystals but rather to a filter applied to the panel.  We believe the race to manufacture panels in the most cost effective manner has some produced some casualties.

So is this a fatal flaw? For some, yes.  Just to have a clear conscience, we asked for another screen from Iiyama to verify that this wasn’t a random defect. Unfortunately, the two monitors have identical behavior.