Envision EN7410 - 17 LCD Monitor review: Envision EN7410 - 17 LCD Monitor

Envision EN7410
The Envision EN7410 is one of the most stripped-down, basic 17-inch LCDs we've seen, and it's also one of the most affordable. But this is a case of getting what you pay for. While other low-cost 17-inch LCDs, such as the BenQ FP767-12, have at least one special feature, for example, built-in speakers, the EN7410 relies completely on the twin pillars of simplicity and affordability. This approach will be satisfactory only for shoppers with a low bottom line who can live with some image-quality problems and no extra features.

The Envision EN7410's neat, uncluttered appearance makes for a nice-looking design. Unfortunately, its elliptical base is a bit wobbly. The display's bezel has a narrow 0.75-inch band of silver plastic on the top and the sides and is about 1.5 inches wide at the bottom to accommodate the row of seven, tiny bar-style buttons. The bottom of the panel stands 4 inches above the desktop, making the EN7410 on the tall side, but it can't be raised or lowered. Unlike its sibling, the EN7220, the EN7410 doesn't swivel or pivot, though it slides easily on the rubber pads underneath the base, as long as your desktop is slick. You can tilt the panel forward 5 degrees and back 20 degrees. The EN7410 is also VESA-compatible.

A solitary analog signal port keeps the power port company at the back of the display (and both cables are included). With all the empty space, you'd think it would be easy to connect the analog signal cord, but it's not--you have to tilt the panel way over (or place it face down on a desk) to get the head of the connector into the port securely. There isn't a cable management system to speak of, although with only two cords, clutter is minimal. The display comes with a user manual on CD-ROM and one of the smallest setup guides we've ever seen, which is fitting, because once you get the cables connected, it's ready to go. The buttons on the bezel include an autoadjust for the image, but if you'd rather make changes manually, the buttons are clearly labeled and the onscreen menus are easy to navigate.

Tested at its native resolution of 1,280x1,024 pixels, no amount of menu tweaking could raise the EN7410's performance level up from just fair in CNET Labs' DisplayMate-based test suite. While text looks good for the most part, it does lack a certain sharpness seen in other LCDs. There also is compression in the grayscale and color scales, which are mostly at midlevels. One of the main problems we found was that the EN7410's screen was not uniformly lit; it was darker at the top than at the bottom. This unevenness could be adjusted slightly by tilting the screen forward, but the fact that moving the screen had any effect on its uniformity points to another of the EN7410's flaws: limited viewing angles. Even very slight adjustments to the screen's tilt angle changed its appearance, sometimes drastically. To its credit (and our surprise), the EN7410 did better than we expected on our DVD playback test, rendering colors vividly and displaying details well, even in darker areas of scenes.

Envision covers the panel for one year and the rest of the display for three years. You can upgrade the warranty to cover the panel for three years for $39.99 or five years for $59.99. Toll-free technical support is available for the life of the display from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday. You can also e-mail or fax Envision, which promises to respond with 24 hours. E-mail links and company fax number are available on Envision's Web site, as are product descriptions, manuals, and drivers.