Sharp 18IN LCD COLOR MONITOR BLACK SXGA DUAL DVI-I 10-BIT GAMMA CORR (SHARP ELECTRONICS MONITORS-LLT1820B)

What's Not: We noticed a grayish tint to the white background of Word documents and Excel sheets that made text slightly harder to distinguish than on competing models. By contrast, we found far better text quality and nearly equivalent graphics quality on this monitor's 19-inch sibling, the Sharp LL-T19D1. And while the 18-inch LL-T1820B sold for $1099 at the time of our review, the LL-T19D1 sold for just $705. We also saw good text quality, and even better color, on Eizo Nanao's 18-inch ColorEdge CG18 monitor, which we reviewed alongside the LL-T1820B for our December 2003 issue. The Eizo is considerably more expensive, however, running $1640 at the time of our review.

What Else: To make sure that the grayish tint was not an anomaly on our particular review unit, we asked Sharp to send us a second monitor for comparison. However, it was identical in all quality characteristics, including the presence of a single defective pixel. While pixel defects were common in years past, nowadays we often see error-free panels, and we were disappointed to find detectable defects on two units of a monitor costing nearly $1100. (Sharp representatives say the company will replace a monitor that has at least five defective pixels.)

The LL-T1820B comes with a 30-page printed manual that provides thorough specs and detailed setup and adjustment information. Unlike monitors from most other vendors, however, the LL-T1820B doesn't have online documentation. Most disc-based manuals are more detailed than the LL-T1820B's printed manual, for instance offering extra features such as troubleshooting information. The bundled CD includes Pivot Pro software for reorienting the screen when it switches between landscape and portrait positions, and a basic utility for adjusting the screen to optimize its performance in analog mode.