Derrick
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While the L206WU boasts impressive core features and a variety of inputs, it seems to target a niche market. Failing to provide acceptable playback in USB mode, and towering over its non-USB competitors in terms of price, the L206WU falls just short of being a mainstream solution for those who require more than two monitors.
Since 2004, DisplayLink has been making steady advances in external display technologies.
Producing technologies ranging from external graphics cards to display adapters and (of course) USB video input, the company has teamed up with component manufacturers such as Lenovo and EVGA to rise to the top of the plug-and-play display market.
Using the LG L206WTQ as a launch pad, LG and DisplayLink have worked together to produce this, the L206WU: a 20-inch widescreen LCD with not just VGA and DVI inputs, but also USB. The advantages of a USB input are numerous: in-store displays, dumb terminals, low-end desktops and practically all notebooks could benefit from this technology that allows up to six displays to be connected via USB ports.
Unpacking the unit from its enormous box, one is greeted with the usual assortment of cables and manuals, but will likely be disappointed by the omission of a DVI cable (or even a DVI-to-VGA adapter) – the kind of addition you’d expect in a package like this, given the price.
Packaging woes aside, the rest of setting the unit up was as trouble-free and effortless as one could reasonably expect. When connected via USB (as would likely be the case with this monitor), the ‘LG USB Easy Connection’ driver is automatically installed. An autorun screen ensures that even the most technologically challenged person will manage to install this device with ease. Driver and management software was set up within a minute, but unfortunately required a restart to get everything up and running correctly.
From a technical point of view, it’s difficult to fault the screen itself. Even in USB mode, colours are vibrant thanks to the 5,000:1 contrast ratio and 300cd/m² brightness.
Of course, ghosting will occur when connected via USB, but when connected via DVI and VGA, the 2ms grey-to-grey response time provides excellent feedback in games and video. LG’s impressive fENGINE technology provides an easy and quick way to change display modes - depending on activity - and comes with two preset modes as well as one that is user configurable.
Of course, the real beauty of this device is not just the quality of the monitor itself, but the abbility to daisy chain monitors using the built-in two-port USB hub. Unfortunately, this luxury is not without its consequences, as each additional monitor puts strain on the easily maxed bandwidth of USB and takes its toll on the CPU.
This is perhaps the L206WU’s greatest weakness: the limitation of bandwidth available via USB. Even with each monitor running off its own port, we witnessed almost show-stopping lag in fullscreenvideo (although video up to a third of the screen size played back smoothly), and excessive ghosting while dragging windows round. While using three monitors on a Core 2 Duo E6600-based system, CPU usage jumped between 30% and 50% during simple operations on the screens and between 15% and 25% with just a single monitor (one can easily imagine how older or weaker CPUs could struggle with day-to-day use).
USB continues to be a headache when attempting anything accelerated by Direct3D or OpenGL. Right off the bat, games do not work on the L206WU unless they can be run in software mode.
Likewise, all 3D-accelerated modes we tested in Autodesk 3ds Max failed to work, forcing us to stick to the ugly software viewport rendering (which can severely hamper productivity) or confining the L206WU to display menus and nonaccelerated viewports only (which might work fine in some situations, but is less than ideal).
For those looking to explore a more elaborate, multi-monitor setup, you’ll be pleased to know that LG is catering for you - to an extent.
Thankfully, the L206WU has a removable stand and can be wall-mounted or even mounted using custom-built support frames.
The screen can also be rotated 90 degrees for use in portrait mode, which can quickly and easily be toggled via the driver’s handy tray icon. We were somewhat disappointed that vertical stacking is impossible straight out of the box, as it wouldn’t be too difficult to incorporate a willing system given the structure of the back-piece.
Ultimately, the L206WU’s appeal will be determined by your specific needs.
If you do have the need for additional monitors and aren’t in the mood for multi-display cards or are limited by your hardware, then the L206WU is an excellent choice if you plan on using it for office productivity tools and the like.
Since 2004, DisplayLink has been making steady advances in external display technologies.
Producing technologies ranging from external graphics cards to display adapters and (of course) USB video input, the company has teamed up with component manufacturers such as Lenovo and EVGA to rise to the top of the plug-and-play display market.
Using the LG L206WTQ as a launch pad, LG and DisplayLink have worked together to produce this, the L206WU: a 20-inch widescreen LCD with not just VGA and DVI inputs, but also USB. The advantages of a USB input are numerous: in-store displays, dumb terminals, low-end desktops and practically all notebooks could benefit from this technology that allows up to six displays to be connected via USB ports.
Unpacking the unit from its enormous box, one is greeted with the usual assortment of cables and manuals, but will likely be disappointed by the omission of a DVI cable (or even a DVI-to-VGA adapter) – the kind of addition you’d expect in a package like this, given the price.
Packaging woes aside, the rest of setting the unit up was as trouble-free and effortless as one could reasonably expect. When connected via USB (as would likely be the case with this monitor), the ‘LG USB Easy Connection’ driver is automatically installed. An autorun screen ensures that even the most technologically challenged person will manage to install this device with ease. Driver and management software was set up within a minute, but unfortunately required a restart to get everything up and running correctly.
From a technical point of view, it’s difficult to fault the screen itself. Even in USB mode, colours are vibrant thanks to the 5,000:1 contrast ratio and 300cd/m² brightness.
Of course, ghosting will occur when connected via USB, but when connected via DVI and VGA, the 2ms grey-to-grey response time provides excellent feedback in games and video. LG’s impressive fENGINE technology provides an easy and quick way to change display modes - depending on activity - and comes with two preset modes as well as one that is user configurable.
Of course, the real beauty of this device is not just the quality of the monitor itself, but the abbility to daisy chain monitors using the built-in two-port USB hub. Unfortunately, this luxury is not without its consequences, as each additional monitor puts strain on the easily maxed bandwidth of USB and takes its toll on the CPU.
This is perhaps the L206WU’s greatest weakness: the limitation of bandwidth available via USB. Even with each monitor running off its own port, we witnessed almost show-stopping lag in fullscreenvideo (although video up to a third of the screen size played back smoothly), and excessive ghosting while dragging windows round. While using three monitors on a Core 2 Duo E6600-based system, CPU usage jumped between 30% and 50% during simple operations on the screens and between 15% and 25% with just a single monitor (one can easily imagine how older or weaker CPUs could struggle with day-to-day use).
USB continues to be a headache when attempting anything accelerated by Direct3D or OpenGL. Right off the bat, games do not work on the L206WU unless they can be run in software mode.
Likewise, all 3D-accelerated modes we tested in Autodesk 3ds Max failed to work, forcing us to stick to the ugly software viewport rendering (which can severely hamper productivity) or confining the L206WU to display menus and nonaccelerated viewports only (which might work fine in some situations, but is less than ideal).
For those looking to explore a more elaborate, multi-monitor setup, you’ll be pleased to know that LG is catering for you - to an extent.
Thankfully, the L206WU has a removable stand and can be wall-mounted or even mounted using custom-built support frames.
The screen can also be rotated 90 degrees for use in portrait mode, which can quickly and easily be toggled via the driver’s handy tray icon. We were somewhat disappointed that vertical stacking is impossible straight out of the box, as it wouldn’t be too difficult to incorporate a willing system given the structure of the back-piece.
Ultimately, the L206WU’s appeal will be determined by your specific needs.
If you do have the need for additional monitors and aren’t in the mood for multi-display cards or are limited by your hardware, then the L206WU is an excellent choice if you plan on using it for office productivity tools and the like.