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Although nearly all LCDs display sharp text, the SENergy stood out even among a field of excellent 19-inch competitors by earning the top text-quality score in our March 2004 roundup. That honor should especially catch the weary eyes of people such as accountants or stock traders who spend long hours looking at text. The SENergy 914's graphics quality fell a bit short of the average of other 19-inch monitors we looked at, but it was still quite good, and the unit scored above average in a few tasks, such as displaying uniform brightness in our white-screen test and capturing subtle brightness and color gradients on our gray-scale and color-scale screens.
We found both position and image quality adjustments a bit awkward. The screen tilts but does not swivel, as many other LCDs do; and the stiff height adjustment mechanism gave only about an inch and a half of travel. The image control options are more extensive. We appreciated extras such as the ability to choose from four preset gamma values and three color temperature presets. You can also custom-adjust red, green, and blue color levels. Unfortunately, the on-screen menu display times out in just 30 seconds if you don't make up your mind. (The delay is not adjustable.) And some controls were unduly cumbersome; to reset the monitor to factory presets, for example, we had to first turn off the monitor, and then press the menu, mode, and power buttons simultaneously.
One extra worth noting is the inclusion of two analog inputs--in addition to a digital connection--for hooking up to three PCs to the monitor. If you plan to hook your display up to a digital graphics adapter, you'll also appreciate the inclusion of a DVI digital cable. Many vendors leave this out. (The cost of a DVI cable runs about $20.) Yet even with the extra cable, the SENergy had, at the time of our review, a below-average price of $699, compared with all chart contenders.
Upshot: Despite a few glitches, the SENergy 914 is a good buy among 19-inch LCDs and is a solid choice for text-intensive work.
Sean Captain
