LG Electronics Flatron L1515SL

Only 5 inches deep (including the stand) and weighing only 6 pounds, the Flatron L1515SK is a thin, lightweight monitor that doesn't take up much desk space. However, the unit is not particularly easy to position: The only movement the stand allows is a 5-degree tilt--no height or swivel adjustments.

This keep-it-simple philosophy also applies to the on-screen menu, which offers the basic controls you would expect (contrast, brightness, and so on) but skips the more advanced controls, like gamma, common on other monitors. You can, however, lock the on-screen menu--a useful feature in corporate situations, where a user might accidentally alter the settings. There is also no digital video (DVI) input, a feature found on other similarly priced monitors. We found that both text and graphics looked very good, with sharp, well-defined text, even at small font sizes. Graphics also looked quite good, although some colors were a little pale in our test photos.

Upshot: The Flatron 1515SK is great to look at, but a bit pricey for a no-frills model.

Richard Baguley