IBM T541 15

WHAT'S HOT: The best thing about the T541 is its design: Like its more expensive sibling, the T560, it has a basic-black bezel that rests on a square base. This solidly constructed monitor projects an all-business image.

WHAT'S NOT: Other similarities to the T560 include a high price. At $349, it's expensive for a panel lacking a DVI connector.

Like the T560, this LCD has a relatively slow pixel response rate of 45 ms. It's poky compared to many other panels we've evaluated.

WHAT ELSE: The T541 delivered unexceptional image quality on both graphics and text screens: Fonts and letters didn't show consistent focus from edge to edge of the screen, and colors in photos looked too dark and saturated at default settings.

The T541 is less adjustable than the T560. It can be tilted back about 30 degrees, but it doesn't swivel.

The OSD contains common adjustments such as horizontal and vertical screen position. One control we would have liked to see is an auto-adjust control, typically found on units with analog-only video inputs. (To compensate, the T541 offers separate controls for resetting the color and screen position to factory defaults.)

UPSHOT: The monitor has a patrician profile, but its price and just-okay image quality reveal that its beauty is only skin-deep.

SUMMARY

IBM T541 $