ADI Microscan S500

Sleek looks and smooth performance offer real value.

Price: £229

Manufacturer: ADI

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Verdict

Pros:
Price; speaker; design; performance.

Cons:
No height adjustment; D-Sub/analogue only input.

Overall:
Good image quality at a tiny price make this monitor worthy of serious consideration. And it looks good, too.

Emilie Martin, Personal Computer World 14 Mar 2003

ADI has overhauled its product range for 2003, and the Microscan S500 is one of the newest models added to the line-up.

It's an attractive unit with something of the look and feel of an IBM panel about it, and is available in stealth grey, silver and black.

The front surface of the wide fascia is completely button-free, giving the panel a clean, uncluttered look.

Three function keys are mounted on the underside of the bezel. A menu/select button sits between a minus and a plus button, giving access to the on-screen menu, which is clear and easy to use.

At the back of the unit is a built-in video cable and 12v input and output sockets tucked away just below the hinge that attaches the screen to the arm.

Meanwhile, a headphone socket, audio line connector and further 12v DC input and output sockets nestle at the back of the base.

The S500 has one large speaker located on the front of the base with a dedicated mute button to the left and the volume control to the right.

In our tests the ADI produced a good image. We were particularly impressed by how smoothly it handled our grey gradation test, with virtually no evidence of banding whatsoever.

Images of solid colour viewed at full resolution were slightly lighter in the very corners of the screen, but were generally uniform and small objects in our test images were reproduced with good detail.

When we viewed a DVD on the ADI, skin tones were a little grey and shadows slightly grainy but on the whole this monitor offers good quality for the price.

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