Introduction

Many people might recognize Albatron as a leading manufacturer of video cards and motherboards, but where did they come from?  Incredibly, even though Albatron was founded in 1984, they did not make a single motherboard or video card until March 2002!  Albatron Technology’s roots actually started making presentation TV’s, Plasma screen and rear projection displays.  In January of 2002 they began to expand their operation into motherboards, video cards, rack mount servers and LCD’s.  Jack Ko, the former Gigabyte co-founder is the leading push behind Albatron’s newfound glory.

Several weeks ago, we reviewed the S-18 by seasoned LCD veteran AG Neovo.  Before that we took a look at another experienced manufacturer or LCD’s, Samsung.  To kick off our third LCD review ever, we are very pleased to take a look at the 17” Albatron L17AT LCD!  We received this product the same day of its announcement press release and we were very eager to start reviewing! 

With Albatron’s expansive knowledge in the world of display industry, we would only expect an innovative and well thought out LCD.  Does their debut LCD display live up to this expectation?  Let us find out in this week’s LCD Review!

Construction

There were several key features we noticed right away on the L17AT.  First and foremost, the L17AT did not look like any LCD we’ve seen before.  The base of the monitor rests on a slightly arched, four pointed pod.  This pod is actually fairly unique because while the top of the base is constructed of the same plastic as the bezel, the bottom of the base is weighted with steel for extra stability.  This added weight of the steel also gives the L17AT a very low center of gravity, much lower than any LCD we have seen to date.

The bezel of the monitor was slightly more than an inch in each direction.  Our particular model came in dull silver, similar to the color of the Samsung 191T.  The bottom corners of the bezel actually house two (very small) speakers.  Even though our Albatron has several excellent multimedia features, we would not particularly recommend these speakers for everyday usage.  We will get into detail about the audio features of the L17AT later in this review.

We found the TFT display itself to be of very good quality.  The response time of 25ms is about typical of most 17” LCD monitors on the market right now.  We have seen several monitors with faster response times, but usually they do not come with the same features of the L17AT.  For those who are new to LCD displays, the response time is the time it takes for a pixel to illuminate or turn off.  Sometimes, these are two different values (rising and falling).  In the case of the L17AT, both the rising and falling response time are the same.  A faster response time will give video crisper, more fluid motion.

The L17AT boasts a fairly good viewing angle of 160 degrees (80 degrees in each direction), both horizontally and vertically.  Even though the base of this LCD is constructed of steel, the L17AT is actually fairly light, weighing in at 6Kg.  The light weight makes the monitor ideal for transporting. The Albatron has a working power consumption of 48 Watts.  This is roughly half the power consumption of a CRT monitor.  Aside from the obvious energy saving bonus, the L17AT emits almost zero heat.  This is especially appealing to anyone who has a cramped cubicle or dorm room, where a CRT monitor usually doubles as a space heater.

Features

As we mentioned earlier, we certainly have not seen another LCD based on the same design as the Albatron L17AT.   True to Albatron’s roots, the L17AT is designed from the ground up with for the purpose of multimedia presentation.  The monitor came standard with a total of 4 inputs; CAT/TV, S-Video, RCA Video and 14 Pin D-sub.  We were somewhat disappointed in the lack of a DVI input.  The nicer model L17ATD comes with a DVI port, but our model unfortunately did not.  As our readers who have been following our other LCD reviews know, LCDs running on VGA connections are extremely prone to streaking problems.  We have come to expect DVI on every new LCD manufactured. 

The sound features of the monitor drew divided impressions at the lab.  We mentioned earlier the 2 x 2Watt speakers were of simply mediocre quality.  Even though the speakers did not put out any bass, they did provide enough functionality for everyday use.  Power users who use their computer to play CD’s (MP3’s) and games should not rely on speakers found packaged with a computer monitor anyway; they simply cannot perform as well as 3^rd party solutions.  On the other hand, users who do text processing and minimal multimedia features would not notice any difference between the onboard speakers and a hi-fidelity set.  Even though the onboard speakers are fairly weak, this should not discourage potential buyers who value their audio! 

Since Albatron has a strong background in multimedia presentation we expected a little more from their speaker set.  Thankfully, the downfalls of the speakers were made up for by the other audio features.  We should give the L17AT credit for providing an audio out function.  One cannot use the audio out and onboard speakers at the same time, so do not expect the Albatron 2Watt speakers to degrade the quality of your Klipsch 6-piece surround sound.  This concept works very well, considering one can plug speakers in the audio out, use the L17AT to watch TV and then switch back to a computing environment, all on the same set of speakers.  The volume control on the monitor can be used to control the volume on the line out as well.  However, there was one feature about the sound we simply could not decide either way on.  Apparently, as the LCD goes on standby (or off), the Audio-Out goes into standby as well.  Since the standby idle timeout cannot be changed, do not expect to use the monitor’s audio patch-through if you want a playlist of MP3’s to play when the monitor is unattended. 

Unique to see was the amount of flexibility in the L17AT!  We mentioned how the monitor had a low center of gravity, and it’s certainly a necessity with this LCD.  This is the first monitor we have seen on the market that swivels 165 degrees left and right.  Albatron clearly targeted this feature to appeal to the corporate world.  Rather than asking a co-worker to come over and look at something on the computer, the LCD simply rotates.  Considering the lack of flexibility in our Samsung 191T (a monitor that was supposed to rotate 90 degrees clockwise), this was certainly a welcomed surprise.  In order to achieve this type of flexibility, the cables are run down a shaft in the base of the monitor and then out to the computer.  The monitor also has a tilt angle of 20 degrees back, and another 5 degrees forward.  Albatron also has an option to sacrifice the flexibility of the LCD in favor of a wall kit. 

Multiple Inputs

We mentioned earlier that the monitor did not come with a DVI input.  While this was definitely a blow to the monitors feature category, there is a higher Albatron model L17ATD that does support DVI input.  DVI aside, there were some very nice input features on the monitor.   First and most noticeable was the presence of a coaxial cable input (far right on the above picture).  At first, the practicality of a TV input seems fairly limited on a 17” monitor.  However, after about 20 min we were totally hooked on the idea.  During a severe case of writers block, we simply tapped 2 buttons on the remote and we were watching full screen Simpsons.  Even more entertaining was the soon discovered Picture-In-Picture (PIP)!  Considering a number of TVs out there don’t even support PIP, we were definitely in for a shock when we found out this LCD did.  Is it practical?  … Yes and no… Obviously, writing important work documents while watching a cable TV feed of the Sopranos or Simpsons is not always the healthiest environment for production.  Keep in mind though; the PIP and Full Screen Video apply to any input on the device, which include Video RCA and S-Video.  Just browsing the web and watching a little TV is incredibly relaxing sometimes! 

The TV tuner gives a real killer advantage over a conventional LCD.   Rather than buying a separate TV tuner, the TV tuner integrated into the L17AT provides similar functionality, with the advantage of a remote control, picture-in-picture and adjustable presets. Unfortunately, you cannot record off the TV tuner feed on the L17AT.  The other disadvantage the integrated TV tuner has is that it will not function as a DSS or Digital Cable decoder.  If you plan on hooking one of these up to the monitor, you will have to change the channels via the decoder box rather than the monitor’s remote.

In small environments with no TV, the L17AT becomes a portable powerhouse.  For presentations the L17AT is perfect; Video can be prepared on a portable DVD-player, VCR, DV-Camera, and played back without the need for a computer!  While we can think of hundreds of uses for this type of versatility, maybe the L17AT is perfect for that one particular use your company or residence might have.

OSD and controls

The On Screen Display provided us with all the functionality needed.  Our primary of impression of the OSD was slightly awkward, but generally practical.  The interface itself is very Spartan; don’t expect to see any neat graphics on the OSD.  Even though there is no set standard for the text on an OSD, we were a little surprised to see some deviant of “Times New Roman.”  Even more curious was the inconsistency of this font.  Occasionally one letter would appear a little lighter than another.  Even though Albatron’s choice of wording gets the message across, it is also sometimes a little strange.  Depressing the “Auto” button pops up a window with the text “doing.”  Certainly, none of these little oddities hurt the performance of the monitor, but they do demonstrate Albatron’s youth in this sort of manufacturing.

All of the controls on the OSD were provided through five buttons inconveniently located on the bottom of the bezel.  When the OSD is not on, the middle two buttons also function as the volume control for the onboard speakers and the speaker output.  The four basic buttons were “auto”, “up”, “down” and “menu” and “power”.  A single multicolor LED provides signal status (red for no signal, green for signal ok). 

Typically poor placement of OSD controls drastically hurt our impression of a monitor.  When we put a keyboard in front of the LCD, it was very difficult to press any of the buttons.  Fortunately, the L17AT’s saving grace comes in the form of a 3” remote control.  There are not many monitors on the market that come with a remote, so this new feature caught us a little off guard.  The remote provided the same 5 buttons located underneath the monitor, plus several others including Volume, Channel and Input functions.  The remote was a huge improvement over adjusting the menu options by hand.  The buttons on the remote were just a little difficult to depress sometimes though.  A higher quality remote might have gone a long way on our impression of the L17AT. 

Benchmark

For comparison purposes, we ran a combination of CheckScreen and DisplayMate on the Albatron L17AT 17” LCD against the previously reviewed Samsung 191T LCD. Below is a table with the tests performed and notes we made during testing.  Our test machine is composed of an Inno3D GeForce4 4200 using the VGA 15 Pin D-sub, remember there is no DVI on this model.  Albatron’s L17ATD does have DVI in.  We ran all of the tests at 1280x1024 pixels with a refresh rate of 60Hz.  Before the final benchmark, we calibrated the monitor as per the instructions included with DisplayMate; any changes to the LCD during the initial calibration run are noted in the observations.

Right off the bat we expected mid range streaking.  The importance of DVI becomes incredibly apparent when we ran our custom benchmark suite against the L17AT.  While this is discouraging, the real disappointment was in the edges of the screen.  During our tests, the bottom few millimeters were slightly darker than the rest of the screen.  Furthermore, the left and right sides of the LCD were incredibly bright as well.  Most likely, this is due to feedback on the analog 15 pin D-sub connection.  Graphic designers may want to stay away from this LCD.

Conclusions

All in all, the L17AT demonstrated several new features we had yet to see in a monitor until today.  The features were simply outstanding.  Even though the LCD clearly has elements that would function well in a work environment, we think a college student might greatly benefit from a monitor like the L17AT.  When space is limited, like in a dorm room, a student can combine the function of a TV and compact reliable monitor.   Equally important, a corporate setting can benefit from the presentation-style features included in the monitor (remote control, 330 degree swivel).  The L17AT was definitely designed with the possibility of demonstrating a PowerPoint presentation, and then with 3 clicks on the remote switching over to a video feed.

Our overall impression of the L17AT was favorable, although the poor benchmark performance of the monitor concerned us.  Evidently, since this is Albatron’s first LCD ever, there were a few “gotchas” here and there, particularly in the OSD.  Very rarely is it easy for a company to get everything right on their first try.  We have seen Albatron work hard and deliver in the motherboard and video card race, and we fully expect them to perform similarly as well in their LCD department.  Even though their first LCD has made an impressive debut, we expect their next generation of LCD monitors to take the lessons learned from the L17 series and improve on them.

The performance of the L17AT is not quite at par with the Samsung 191T or the AG Neovo S-18 but for a midrange monitor loaded with features, the L17AT shines as a very attractive all-around monitor.  At 699 USD List price (closer to 600 USD online), the monitor is not too expensive.  If the DVI connection is not very important, the L17AT is an excellent buy.  Graphic designers and others concerned with computer image quality and clarity, however, may want to opt for the DVI enabled L17ATD instead, which costs approximately 50USD more.  The image problems we had with the L17AT are typically associated with interference over the analog cable.  A worthy investment for anyone buying an L17AT would be to buy a higher quality 15-Pin D-Sub VGA cable.

While there were dozens of things we liked about this monitor, the image quality concerned us a bit.  Although the L17AT functions great as an entertainment center, its primary functionality of an LCD monitor disappointed us.  If you are in the market for this LCD, head our warnings and spend the extra money for the DVI connection.  In the upcoming weeks we have several other 17” LCD’s on the way.  Can they pack the same punch as the L17AT without the same DVI problems?