Sony SDM-P82

This 18in LCD is aimed at the corporate market.

Price: £997.58

Manufacturer: Sony

Ratings

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Verdict

Pros:
Corporate space-saving design.
Two D-Sub ports and one DVI-D.
Quality image.

Cons:
No swivel facility.

Overall:
Aimed squarely at the corporate market, this LCD is a non-gimmicky, classy 18-incher with a good-quality image. It's worth considering if space is at a premium or if you need two or even three inputs.

Jalal Werfalli., Personal Computer World 14 Jan 2003

As you might expect from Sony, the SDM-P82 looks stunning.

It's finished in matt silver and comes with a narrow bezel, giving it an eye-catching appearance that would complement any company's offices.

This 18in LCD sits on a small circular base with a stylish cylindrical neck that doubles up as a cable tidy.

Furthermore, Sony has done away with an external power adaptor and has instead housed it in the back of the unit.

While this keeps your desk free from clutter, it results in a somewhat thicker profile, so wall mounting isn't really an option.

The screen can be tilted through 25 degrees, but disappointingly you cannot swivel the unit.

Around the back, behind a removable cover, the SDM-P82 has two D-Sub ports and a DVI-D port for a digital signal, if your graphics card supports it.

Potentially, three PCs could be hooked up to the display at any one time.

You can also switch between the signals using the input button on the right side of the bezel among the vertical array of control buttons for power, auto-adjustment, the intuitive on-screen display (OSD), and a backlight-dimming economy mode.

The OSD carries all the usual settings for contrast, brightness, phase, pitch, picture position and colour temperature, along with three gamma settings and a zoom facility.

A 1,280 x 1,024 native resolution gives you plenty of desktop space and we found the screen very bright and sharp.

It also performed well resolving highlight detail in colour and tint graduation scales. The vertical viewing angle was close to the quoted 170 degrees, but not as wide horizontally.

It's pricey, but if you want a no-frills, well-designed LCD with good picture quality and a corporate look, the SDM-P82 is the best LCD in its price range.

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