High Resolution, High Design: ThinkVision L220x
Lenovo has designed and sold numerous monitors, but we just released one that breaks the mold in a few different ways. Our previous ThinkVision monitors have always been well designed with valuable ergonomics and image quality in mind, but our latest offering takes this to a higher level.
Image quality is clearly at the forefront of the L220x’s accolades, including the industry’s first WUXGA (1920×1200) resolution in a 22″ panel. It also includes a four-port powered USB hub, and rotates between landscape and portrait mode. We’ve done the rotate trick before, but never with a monitor so large and with so many possible cables attached. Cables are the enemy of rotating a monitor from landscape to portrait, trust me we’ve wrestled with this one before.
Here we devised a clever rubberized clip that gathers the cables into one assembly and then gently loops them through the base. The loop is critical in making this all work. All the cables then neatly exit the stand through a mouse hole in the snap off rear cover. It’s this type of attention to detail that makes or break the experience.
Hopefully our customers will agree that these new features make for an enhanced view. You can see more photos here.
David Hill
Lenovo Meet the Modder Dean Liou
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 2
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 1
Lenovo H320 desktop
September 19th, 2007 1:38 pm
HDCP?
1:1 pixel mapping?
September 19th, 2007 1:42 pm
Awesome! Have always admired lenovo (and its Big Blue legacy) for innovation in whtever they create.
September 19th, 2007 1:42 pm
It’s the little things
September 19th, 2007 1:57 pm
Great! It comes at the best possible moment when I was thinking to upgrade both my trusty ThinkVision L200p and Thinkpad T42. Is Lenovo thinking of resurrecting flat-panel technology that was used in T210 and T220/221 displays and which is still unmatched today (2048×1536 in T210, 20.8-inch and 3840×2400 in T220, 22.2-inch)?
September 19th, 2007 6:29 pm
the design is really cool, I like it!
continue support the Thinkpad and ThinkCnetre design team!
expecting thinkpad T62 or T63!
September 19th, 2007 10:15 pm
Dell and HP have been doing this for a while with 610mm monitors. Your cabling solution is a lot better though.
When are we going to get 610mm (or even better 760mm) monitors from Lenovo that can do this?
September 19th, 2007 11:08 pm
Really liking the design and the fact that it’s the resolution / size combination that i’ve been wanting for some time now. The cable management system looks great too.
Really not liking that I just bought another brand’s 24″ LCD! Oh, and the gray shade on the upper part looks a bit light in the pictures, is it really that way?
Looking forward to reading some reviews of this thing. However, I am still looking beyond current LCD technology as even the best LCDs out there today still force major sacrifices for someone who uses their desktop for a large variety of activities.
September 19th, 2007 11:24 pm
Also,
What kind of panel does this monitor use? Hopefully it’s not a TN! I would also like to know what % of the NTSC color gamut is covered. Does it use a regular CCFL or something superior?
September 19th, 2007 11:35 pm
If it’s pivotable, it won’t be TN… remember when you rotate, what was vertical viewing angle now becomes horizontal angle, etc.
September 20th, 2007 12:04 am
My T60’s 14.1″ screen is 133 DPI. Why is 100 DPI at 22″ groundbreaking? I know it is better than the competition, but I’ve been expecting 150+ DPI screens to become (nearly) mainstream for the last couple of years. How far away are we from seeing a T220-level display?
I would like to see the buttons moved down to the bottom of the bezel and straightened out–they are too distracting. I like the no-nonsense ThinkPad aesthetics.
The shiny “Lenovo” logo is also distracting–can’t it be moved to the base, or made (flat) white and put next to the red logo?
I also think that the Lenovo designers are really underestimating the importance of symmetry. All four borders of the bezel should be the same width. On the T61, I can understand the problems that the antennas caused. But, there are no antennas here.
It is probably prohibitive from a cost standpoint, but it would be awesome to have an option for a steel base that evokes the hinges on ThinkPads.
September 20th, 2007 7:17 am
Looks great i love it!
September 20th, 2007 8:26 am
Because Desine matters:
I think the look is much better when the buttons are mounted on de side om the screen. The border width should be same on all the four sides. In that way it would look more like an photoframe.
September 20th, 2007 8:29 am
forgot to mention:
I like the foot, the way the screen can turn is nice. The cable collector is really good, gives a clean look. The boarder widht on the sides looks good.
September 20th, 2007 10:29 am
To answer some of my own questions and those that some of you may have:
* 22 inches wide Full HD
* 1920×1200 Resolution
* 103 dpi (dots per inch)
* 92% color gamut
* USB Hub (1 in, 4 out)
* Autorotation with Pivot
* Soft-OSM
* 16:10 Aspect Ratio
* Analog input (VGA) & Digital Input (DVI-D)
* HDCP Support
Screen Performance
* WUXGA
* Recommend Resolution: 1920×1200@60Hz
* Response time: 6 ms (G to G)
* Brightness: 300 cd/m2
* Viewing Angle: 178°/ 178°(H/V, @10:1 CR)
* Contrast Ratio: 1000:1 (typical)
Design
* Stand tilt/swivel/lift/pivot
* 100mm VESA mount
* Best engineer cable management
* lift range:610mm-760mm
* Interface cable length (Analog): 3M
* Interface cable length (Digital): 3M
* USB Cable length: 3M
* Power cable length:3M
I hate the fact that I just paid $500 for an LG L246. Hey Mr. Hill you want to do an exchange?
September 20th, 2007 3:48 pm
I was waiting for something like that 2 years ago…
September 20th, 2007 3:56 pm
Great designs will continue to propel Lenovo to the head of the pack. Keep up the great work!
September 21st, 2007 5:19 am
I understand that this is a PVA panel (like all Lenovo L series). Can someone confirm?
September 21st, 2007 11:28 am
dr_st: From the specs it seems like it might be S-PVA.
Brian / Frank: I agree that the border would look better if the width was the same on all sides. After all, theres no antenna here!
Not crazy about the excessive branding on the front bezel either.
Wonder what kind of dead pixel policy this will carry, especially since it probably won’t be available in most retailers.
September 24th, 2007 6:39 am
David, I’m glad there is finally a recent monitor from Lenovo I can use. The stand on this is the perfect stand for any monitor, the recent stands (such as the D221) have made the monitors almost unusable, even with the ThinkPad Monitor stand, they still needed something else to raise them up to eye level. This stand should be used on all your monitors, I think people would be willing to pay the difference for it if they have ever used it or the other recent stands.
And more USB ports – very nice!
Although I agree about the branding, its not a Lenovo thing (although the IBM logo looked a bit better) but I dont really see any need for the advertising – just stick a big logo on the back so I don’t need to look at it.
September 24th, 2007 8:00 am
The specs sounds really good.
But I hope, the big white Lenovo label can be removed. In this size, high contrast and center position, the label is too irritating e.g. in picture editing.
September 24th, 2007 9:05 am
Hi all. I’m part of the team who developed the L220x Wide. Thanks for your feedback. A brand new panel was created for this monitor. That’s the only way we could put the same number of pixels from a 24″ UXGA monitor into a size we think fits better on most desktops. And, yes, it is a PVA panel supporting 178 degree viewing angles from both the horizontal and vertical position. This is very nice when viewing in portrait mode.
The process technology required to produce panels with higher dot density are restricted to smaller sizes like iPhones and notebooks. Except, of course, IBM was WAY AHEAD of the industry when “Big Bertha” was introduced years ago.
HDCP is High Definition Content Protection. It’s a standard DVD content creators have standardized on to protect against copying. Only devices including HDCP can play full High Def (HD) media.
Oh, by the way, for you ThinkPad users looking for something to use in your home office, this is the very first 22″ wide monitor capable of playing full HD movies.
September 25th, 2007 12:09 am
[...] ????????ThinkVision L220x???????????Lenovo??Blog????????????????? [...]
September 25th, 2007 9:41 pm
Looks pretty nice!
Regarding the white Lenovo logo, this is what I think. Leave the logo, just change the color. Preferably have the Lenovo logo embossed on the bezel with the color the same as the background. If you must color the logo, then make it a slight offshade from the background. The white is too distracting.
September 26th, 2007 12:05 am
When can we buy it?
September 26th, 2007 5:45 am
I would doubt that logo is white – its probably silver, hightlighted by the camera
September 26th, 2007 2:11 pm
The logo is not white. In reality it is a fairly low contrast matte silver. It appears white in the photo due to lighting reflection. Great feedback on the design, thanks for commenting.
October 1st, 2007 11:57 pm
This should get the People’s Design Award for most ugly monitor of the year. Why Lenovo has such an aversion to good looking devices is a mystery to me.
October 2nd, 2007 11:18 am
This is beautiful. The long lasting beautiful instead of the shiny chic things like the iMac. If the front top white or silver mark could get removed it would be even better, but still OK with the mark. I like iMac and am going to buy one after they launch Leopard, and I’d like to buy one this to do some office work, it will match my can’t-live-without little keyboard the HHKB Pro 2 Black so very well… and I hope the brightness of this Lenovo could be well tuned to be low enough to do my Word work in almost darkness.
October 5th, 2007 6:26 am
JL, don’t confuse good design with good looks. I’d prefer not to have the branding or icons and for the stand and buttons to be more boxy but overall I like the looks of the monitor, an ‘all business’ black box to match my thinkpad.
However, it is where you compare the functionality and possible ergonomics of this monitor against a ‘good looking’ monitor like the Apple Cinema Display that you realise the good design of this monitor, and in particular, it’s stand. I’d choose functionality over form every time.
David, i’d still appreciate some response on your thoughts regarding other monitors like the D220 and how it contributes to ‘valuable ergonomics’
October 8th, 2007 11:22 am
I concur regarding the stand, probably the best stand I have seen on IBM/Lenovo monitors. It is the same one on the L201p – sturdy, easy to adjust, simple in appearance. I like it well enough that I discovered you can order the L201p stand from Parts, and attach it to the D221 VESA attachment point, overcoming my main complaint to it’s stand (no height adjustment). A little expensive but brings the D221 up to the “professional” designation.
October 10th, 2007 3:52 am
Ronald – thats exactly what i did, i didn’t order the stand but I took it off my old L201p and fitted it to the D221. The annoying this is, I even have the new ThinkPad Monitor stand and the D221 is still unusable on that because it is too low.
October 10th, 2007 8:57 am
Still using my L201p so I couldn’t use it’s stand, although it gave me the details for the idea. And I agree with you on the ThinkPad Monitor stand – good idea but no practical height setting. It is interesting to note that the majority of wide screen monitors (including Apple) do not have height adjustment, which means the L220x leads in this area.
October 26th, 2007 3:23 pm
the resolution, the pixel pitch, the landscape-portrait switch attract me. the response time is good enough, the color quality sounds great, and the viewing angle is great.
for 19″ and above, 170+ viewing angle is a must, i think. because i ever had a 19″ LG flatron with 160 vertical and 170 horizontal and can see clearly the effect of viewing angle, so i had to sit insome particular position.
i will get one next month.
October 26th, 2007 3:28 pm
i do a lot of computer programming, c++. i need a monitor with lots of pixels in the vertical direction. that kind of monitor will make debugging much easier and computer programming a fun. this is exactly something i want. the only concern is: in portrait mode, the image will automatically adjust; does this also apply to text editing?
October 31st, 2007 1:50 pm
This would absolutely be my dream display! True HD, not too big (24″ a bit too big for me), same height as my current Samsung PVA 19″ which means a 4:3 video on it would look almost the same on the L220x and a PVA panel… thanks Lenovo for reading my thoughts. Any chance of buying this in Europe at some point?
November 2nd, 2007 2:43 pm
I looked at the manual and I seems it does not support the control of the gamma value? Is this true?
Is it really missing?
November 4th, 2007 12:23 pm
In the manual there are no interpolation options.
Does it do aspect correct interpolation of 4:3 resolutions???
November 5th, 2007 8:10 am
the “typical power consumption” is specified with 90 watt, this is not economical. An EIZO 24″ needs only the half, 48 watt.
November 6th, 2007 6:27 pm
Hello Lenovo Blogs of Singapore,
I just placed an order (in advance of the worldwide release of this wonderful product) here in the U.S. … I did so on the shop.lenovo.com web site but before I realized it was an option to do so, I called Lenovo Sales in the U.S. and was directed to a U.S. sales rep whose first name is “Idy” (don’t know the last name) and there were two things of interest:
1.) Idy did not even know if this blog (lenovoblogs.com) was a legitimate blog operated by Lenovo (all I had to do was a “whois” on my MacBook’s command line and of course IANA gave me the info needed.
2.) Idy is supposed to be a Lenovo sales rep “guru” in the U.S. but he didn’t even know about the L220x monitor. In fact I (as the potential customer) had to inform him about this. I realize that all big businesses have bureaucracy to contend with, but this is rather embarrassing (I wouldn’t want one of my sales reps to not be aware of such a gorgeous new monitor about to be unleashed in a week or so). Anyway, I’m not trying to get Idy in trouble but I thought it might be worthwhile to provide you guys with some feedback on this blog (rather than filling out some sort of XHTML web form that gets dumped into some stupid CRM queue and never reaches the right people in the organization)! Anyway, I can’t wait to have my hands on this new monitor. Thank you for creating a new panel for it. I was seriously on the edge of nabbing an Apple Cinema Display but not even the wizard, Steve Jobs, could come up with L220x! So how cool, I am going to have the L220x attached as a second display off of the mini-DVI port coming from the 24″ iMac. Woot! This is a great world we live in, the world of democratic capitalism and choice — I can mix and match Apple and Lenovo. This is nirvana, and I don’t have to be told what to do by Bill Gates!!!
November 11th, 2007 11:40 am
Can someone from Lenovo please tell us when this monitor will be available for purchase in the UK. Lots of press about this monitor but no release date! I need a monitor now but will have to get something else if it doesn’t become available in the next couple of weeks. Thanks.
November 12th, 2007 10:08 pm
it is available in Japan now
http://www-06.ibm.com/jp/pc/mo.....3hb2.shtml
November 13th, 2007 3:18 pm
Max,
We actually began accepting orders for the L220x on October 24th, however initial demand has exceeded our available supply. The best data at the moment indicates delivery of new supply in January. We appreciate your patience while we expand our manufacturing capacity to meet the demand of this monitor.
November 14th, 2007 3:03 pm
Does anybody know how accurate colors this display has? Having 92% color gamut is pointless unless the color reproduction is accurate.
November 15th, 2007 1:25 pm
Does anyone know how performant the display is? Are there any reviews planned or available already? How does it compare with BenQ FP241W Z or with Samsung SyncMaster 245T?
November 17th, 2007 2:20 am
According to the manual and technical support reps, this monitor doesn’t appear to support 1:1 scaling as other Lenovo widescreen monitors do (e.g. L194). This is the monitor I want for my business because of the small size coupled with WUXGA support. Unfortunately, I also need support for legacy products that run in a 4:3 environment. I know there are other businesses like mine (engineering) that need legacy 4:3 support, so I hope Lenovo applies a 1:1: scaling option to future models.
If I’m wrong about the 1:1 scaling, please let me know because this monitor almost perfect for my requirements.
November 26th, 2007 10:29 am
Jason,
I asked our product teams about this and this is the answer I received:
“L220x does not support retention of 1:1 scaling for 4:3 aspect ratio (or any other aspect ratios other than 16:10), i.e. there will be scaling involved(“stretching” to force fit the display screen).
In addition, I also checked the L194 wide. R&D confirmed that this does not support 1:1 scaling for 4:3 aspect ratio either.”
I’m sorry this doesn’t fit your needs, but hope the information helps.
November 28th, 2007 1:31 pm
HI,
I was wondering if the L220x will be completely compatible with the Xbox 360.
What I know Xbox 360 only displays at 1080p (1900×1080) at it’s highest. Will this result
in the picture being stretched a little? Since the L220x seems to be stuck at the 16:10 aspect ratio.
“L220x does not support retention of 1:1 scaling for 4:3 aspect ratio (or any other aspect ratios other than 16:10), i.e. there will be scaling involved(”stretching” to force fit the display screen).” [Tim Supples]
November 28th, 2007 3:22 pm
Aramil – if your Xbox 360 will output via DVI or VGA at 1920×1080 (1080p), then the resulting signal will be stretched. It will still be 1920×1080 pixels, just stretched out a bit more to fill out the 1920×1200 pixels of space the L220x supports. Honestly it sounds like a small amount of stretch to me, but I’ve not seen it visually before.
1080p is a 16:9 ratio and the L220x only supports 16:10, so any other ratios will be stretched from the information I’ve received.
November 28th, 2007 4:41 pm
Tim, thanks for responding to questions here. That is too bad about the stretching issue both for the consoles and for pc-gamers. A lot of games, especially older games, only support 4:3 ratio’s(some consider it cheating to go wider as you can see more on the screen). I would personally rather have the choice of having black bars and a non-stretched image. A question for you, why does this site say the DVI cable is attached: http://www-01.ibm.com/common/s.....anguage=en
The pictures here don’t seem to show it as being attached.
Still, this is the only 22 inch screen I’ve seen that can do this resolution and with the S-PVA panel type and a good price, it is a tempting purchase.
November 30th, 2007 4:34 am
Tim, thanks for looking into the scaling information for me. I want to mention that the L194 user’s guide (available from ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/.....80eng.pdf) shows 1:1 and full screen scaling options on page 2-4. The hardware announcement from Oct 9 (available from http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/.....07586.PDF) also indicates scaling options in the OSD menu. I almost bought some of these as a temporary solution, but I’m glad I found out about the missing feature before making a purchase.
Along the same lines, page 5 of the hardware announcement for the L220X (dated Oct 23 and available from http://www-01.ibm.com/common/s.....07646.PDF) shows scaling options available on the OSD menu.
It’s unfortunate a 1:1 scaling option isn’t available for either wide display, and it’s more unfortunate customers can’t rely available Lenovo documentation to make decisions about purchases. If I had purchased displays such as the L194 and found the documented scaling feature wasn’t available, would I have been able to return the displays quickly and with full refund?
December 6th, 2007 8:45 pm
This really is a wonderful product! Excellent features for its price. Just waiting for hands-on reviews to surface in order to get a confirmation on follow-through for quality as well.
Hasn’t this been out for a while already? How come no professional reviews have been published yet?
December 7th, 2007 12:16 pm
Lenovo seems to marketing this as a business monitor more than for home use. I want to use this for gaming. Any idea what the input lag for this monitor is? (Note that input lag is not related to response time.) Wikipedia says input lag is the worst for S-PVA panels so I’m worried that it won’t be usable for gaming.
December 8th, 2007 2:49 am
I couldn’t help myself and had to order one (couldn’t pass up the price on EPP). Probably worth noting that the ship date is 1/4/08 though. Hopefully this will go nicely with my x61s (excellent business machine btw, great work lenovo, just wish you’d give me a DVI port on my ultrabase).
If there aren’t any reviews out by the time I get mine, i’ll do my best to get something out there. If it meets my liking i’m planning on buying a second and doing a dual setup with an Ergotron stand.
December 8th, 2007 12:21 pm
I’m glad someone finally squeezed a 1920×1200 resolution into a 22″ screen. Of course, it’s nothing compared to the IBM T221, which has four times as many pixels in about the same size, but it is an important step forward in making monitors with a decent pixel density available to the average consumer.
For years I used a Sony GDM-FW900, a CRT that can do 2304×1440 in a 24″ size (although I always had to add this as a custom resolution in the graphics card driver). It also scales to non-native resolutions better than LCDs, and doesn’t have the light seepage or viewing angle problems of LCDs. However, I now use a Dell 3007WFP, which does 2560×1600 in a 30″ size. Text looks sharper on it than on the old Sony (especially at higher resolutions). Unfortunately, non-native (stretched) resolutions look blurry on it, and its bright backlight is annoying, especially in the corners when displaying a dark screen. It makes games with dark cave or night settings almost unplayable.
I am definitely intrigued by the L220x, which is relatively inexpensive, as high-end monitors go. I just don’t know if I could go back to 1920×1200 after being used to resolutions like 2304×1440 and 2560×1600. Its 92% color gamut is superior to my Dell 3007WFP, but I’d like to know how well it handles the light seepage issue, as that is one of the most annoying things about LCDs. Also, I would like to see if stretched resolutions look as blurry on the L220x as they do on the Dell 3007WFP.
December 11th, 2007 6:21 pm
Hi. I was wondering if it will be possible to hang the L220x on the wall? For example by removing its foot and using a special wall hanging part made for the L220x.
I’m also very interested in knowing whether this will be a very good gaming monitor or not. I’m especially thinking about what “James” said about the S-PVA panels ( Wikipedia says input lag is the worst for S-PVA panels [James]). This concerns me a lot since I’m mainly going to use this monitor for gaming.
December 12th, 2007 8:33 am
Ok. Thanks for the info.
I must say it is very unfortunate since stretching the picture, even the slightest, could result in serious quality losses. But I have read a lot of specs and info from Lenovo about the L220x and they seem to imply it is very good and compatible for 1080p video and such. Could this mean it won’t be stretched after all?
December 12th, 2007 4:06 pm
Is this model available in any retail stores ? would rather see it by myself before to buy it.
December 12th, 2007 7:37 pm
This monitor looks very attractive. The panel type, color gamut, size and resolution are all very promising. However, without the option to change the scaling on this monitor I would wait until someone else uses the same panel and offers this feature.
December 14th, 2007 1:16 am
i’ve posted a brief review of the L220x on forums.lenovo.com.
http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/b.....hread.id=2
i’ll expand on the details as i get more time behind the display.
December 14th, 2007 8:37 am
Thx, for the answer Erik.
But have you tested it for 1080p (1900×1080 NOT 1900×1200) material? What I really want to know is whether the picture will be stretched to a 16:10 aspect ratio or if it will be displayed in its original 16:9 aspect ratio. I am also very interested to know how gaming will work on the L220x. Will the input lag be high?
If I get positive answers to these two questions I will buy the L220x as soon as it is available for me.
December 14th, 2007 6:51 pm
Erik, thanks for the review! I feel much more assured that i’ll be getting a winner on Jan 4th.
December 24th, 2007 4:03 am
Just purchased one of these after reading this blog and other sites (engadget etc.) shilling for Lenovo. The screen looks awful and is grainy and sparkly. It makes my eyes cross to look at it, since the eye tends to try to focus on the sparkly overcoat of the screen instead of the pixels beneath. Color preset modes are also awful in comparison to my T60p’s screen… this thing looks garish by comparison. Yes I have tried every preset as well as playing with the custom preset mode (adjusting red green blue independently) and it still looks bad. I bought it for dual use as a monitor for my laptop (which I cannot use it for as it hurts my eyes if I try to read text etc on it) and as a display for my Playstation 3 game console (for which the l200x is passable… since I tend to sit 5-6 feet away when gaming). I feel as though I were ripped off and am not happy with my purchase. How can you all not have noticed the awful 3D effect of the non-glare overcoat? It is distracting and painful to look at.
December 29th, 2007 12:09 pm
Thanks, R. Ipoff. It’s amazing how sometimes just one timely review can sway a purchasing decision. I’ve had my eye on this blog for a while, and was sure that this was the monitor I wanted. It only had two marks against (for me): availability here in Canada and the fact that it does not support 1:1 scaling. I was expecting this monitor to be beautiful and worth the wait. Now, I’ve decided to search the 20-21 inch monitors as there does not seem to be any non-TN monitors in the 22″ other than this one. I’m thinking Samsung 215TW or Dell 2007WFP. Does anyone know if the stand on the L220X will fit on either of these monitors?
January 1st, 2008 9:28 pm
I’ve had my L220x for two weeks now (shipment date got pushed up) and i’m liking it. Like R. Ipoff (interesting name) says, there is a slight ‘3D Effect’ when compared with my 20″ Apple Cinema Display. It doesn’t really bother me at all, R. Ipoff’s problem may be that the screen is too bright for his liking. My eyes were really feeling the pain until I toned the brightness down a bit (if you read Erik’s review, you’ll notice that he did the same).
That said, this monitor is incredible. The resolution for that size screen is absolutely amazing and the thing puts my ACD to shame. The colors are also crisp & clear and the black levels have to be seen to be believed. I haven’t tried gaming with it yet as I am using it solely for business use with my x61s.
There are some things that some would view as downers. I would say that the thickness of the monitor may turn some people off. It truly is thick, but the price paid for an amazing screen is worth it. There is also an interesting problem I’m having getting my ThinkVantage software to recognize the monitor as 1920×1080 (it thinks that it’s a projector with 1024×768 resolution), I’m not sure if i’m doing anything wrong, but it’s slightly disappointing to me that Lenovo software isn’t gelling with Lenovo hardware like it should be. I booted up my Ubuntu partition on my x61s and it adjusted the screen’s size to 1920×1080 immediately.
I am strongly considering buying a second one to hook into my Macbook Pro, but I will first see how gaming handles on this.
If I had to score this product. I’d give it an 8.7 out of 10. The only potential downers being the size for a Flat Panel Display, the odd 3d effect that isn’t as much of a big deal as Dr Ipoff suggests, and the odd problems i had with ThinkVantage software. Others may complain about 1:1 pixel mapping and the lack of inputs (VGA and DVI only), but this is a monitor intended for business use, so to me it is unfair to judge it on any more than that.
January 3rd, 2008 12:06 pm
I just bought one in UK and connected with my macbook pro. But the font and image aren’t very clear as using in Windows xp. wired. It’s in the right resolution of 1920*1200.
January 8th, 2008 6:17 pm
Thanks everyone for your input, especially to erik for the excellent, thorough review. I’m wondering if Andrew could test gaming performance on this screen with his MacBook Pro, as I also intend to buy one for my MBP but have some concerns related to scaling and ghosting. Also, if indeed the fonts and images appear fuzzy in Windows XP on a MBP as Frank Z tells us, it would not suit my needs very well.
I’d be much obliged.
January 8th, 2008 9:48 pm
I have returned the monitor to lenovo reseller. Not suitable for mac at all. Colour looks awful with mac and hard to calibrate even with spyder 2 pro. I’ve now got a eizo s2111w which is perfect for work and game also support 1:1 pixel mapping.
January 11th, 2008 3:15 pm
FWIW: This monitor was reviewed a few days ago on computerworld.com
January 13th, 2008 2:32 am
Did Lenovo stop selling this model? It’s not on their website anymore.
January 14th, 2008 11:05 pm
Macandron, I just logged into WoW on my MBP for the first time in a bit. The refresh rate isn’t the best so it’s a little choppy on turns and fast motions, not enough to bother me, and i suppose it will suffice for casual gaming. If you are into FPS i wouldn’t recommend this monitor…but like i’ve said, i’m using this for business use and i’m sure this is the target market.
I’m not sure if Frank has more sensitive eyes then me, but I am perfectly satisfied with the way my Macbook Pro looks with my monitor. I am using the Color Profile that the Mac assigned to it and it looks just fine. It isn’t quite as crisp as Windows Vista, but it still looks great.
February 12th, 2008 6:40 am
This monitor in not available in any UK retailer. Anyone if there is there a problem of some sort. Is it withdrawn from the market? Thanks.
February 12th, 2008 1:20 pm
It’s not available here in Sweden either.. est delivery date is 2008-04-01 :/
February 15th, 2008 1:26 pm
Folks,
If you’ve been following tech industry news, you may have noticed reports of a fire at an LCD manufacturing plant. We’ve also seen high demand for this product across the world, so availability certainly is low right now. However we plan on continuing to offer the L220x and it will be available for purchase once we have reliable stock levels once again. Unfortunately I don’t have a timeline for that right now. Thanks for bearing with us.
February 16th, 2008 6:27 am
“Plan on continuing” doesn’t sound to reassuring
Lets hope I’m wrong 
February 16th, 2008 5:14 pm
Henrik – I’m not trying to imply anything with the statement other than the fact that I don’t have a lot of information at this time. This LCD has sold well and I don’t see why we would stop selling it, but things change very quickly in the technology industry and I just don’t want to promise something I can’t guarantee.
February 17th, 2008 1:16 am
Tim – It would be nice that lenovo starts even selling here in Europe. For me in Germany it was not in stock in November,December,January and February (that could be explained by the fire), that is a wait of 4 months for an announced product with worldwide availability from November 16th 2007…
February 17th, 2008 2:33 pm
Tim – thanks for the reply! I’m just worried that I will not be able to buy one of these as its pretty much my dream screen (with the exception of no 1:1 pixel mapping)
What worries me is this screen has been getting rave reviews, is pretty much backordered at every single retailer (worldwide!?) with pre-orders in massive numbers… yet there are no guarantees that you will continue selling it. Unless the manufacturing cost for the screen is too high.. this makes very little sense – what company makes a decision to ditch a product with a massive demand? Obviously a product can be withdrawn or replaced.. I just dont see the logic in this happening with a product that basically just appeared and with a great demand for.
February 18th, 2008 7:59 pm
is the screen removable for desk mounting with lcd arms?
February 20th, 2008 4:06 pm
Lenovo’s supplier of the LCD screen – Lite-On, plant got damaged from a fire and Lonovo has to find a new supplier. They say that in 30 days or so; the L220X will be available again. There is a big backorder – especially from big 100 companies so it might take away for them to fill it; so the individual can purchase it! They only produce 20K a month so it might take a quarter or more to have supply available for resellers and retailers.
Also, there may be a price increase too!
Refurbs are going for over reselling price now! Last one I saw was $625.00.
February 21st, 2008 4:47 pm
75. Tim Supples
“This LCD has sold well and I don’t see why we would stop selling it.”
Corporate bigshots hitting their heads together and deciding to replace yet another VA-display with yet another TN crap like nearly everyone are doing?
http://www.cmo.com.tw/opencms/....._locale=en
But would be definitely nice if that stocking starts evenly around the world instead of first dumping US markets full like happens with way too many products.
I’ve been waiting fair three weeks and can’t say how long current CRT survives until it gives out “the magic smoke”. (or completely blows up electrolyte capacitors)
77. Henrik:
Nvidia graphic cards can do various scalings of lower/different aspect ratio resolutions instead of display. (and I suspect with smaller lag)
http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_7.html
78. Tommy:
Now why would you want to remove screen instead of keeping it and removing stand?
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/.....174eng.pdf
64. Andrew Tolbert
“I would say that the thickness of the monitor may turn some people off. It truly is thick, but the price paid for an amazing screen is worth it.”
Thickness of frame is more important because few centimers bigger depth won’t be a problem unlike unnecessary use of desk space.
And I would actually prefer thicker than thinner depth of panel housing because that gives more space for cooling airflow which is always good thing.
So good work in keeping functionality over form.
February 22nd, 2008 10:24 am
I was under the impression that the situation was pretty much the same even before the fire (no units in stock and quite alot of backorders). I’m really not happy to hear they are trying to find a new supplier of panels… I’m not even aware of any other company with a 22″ panel with the same specs. Panel change along with a price increase is pretty much all I need to move away from this monitor… Anyone got any more info regarding this matter?
February 22nd, 2008 11:06 am
tommy – yes, the L220x has a standard 4-screw VESA mount on the back.
February 22nd, 2008 11:53 am
Lite-On assembles LCD monitors, but they do not make the panels themselves, as far as I know. I don’t see any reason for Lenovo to make major spec changes, especially since doing so would destroy the main selling point of the L220X.
I wouldn’t mind a minor price increase, if it meant that I could get to buy one.
February 22nd, 2008 5:30 pm
Well, I just received my L220x from Compusmart.com (I’m in Canada). Hopefully, the panel is up to scratch with the new supplier…
This is my first LCD and being a graphic designer, I do have some worries about colour accuracy. I’ll see once I buy myself a new video card and install my new display!
February 22nd, 2008 7:05 pm
Yep, haven’t seen L220x really available in Europe, here in Finland shipments importer got about month ago were practically samples with just few monitors.
There aren’t yet good reviews for Dell 2408WFP but I guess I have to ask them how fast they can have monitors in Finland before Samsung CRT decides to “resign” from its job.
PVA/S-PVA is Samsung’s proprietary technology so there aren’t different manufacturers making S-PVA liquid crystal matrices, unlike in case of TNs.
martine, remember to change monitor to sRGB mode if that’s what you use. Also here’s more about colours with wide gamut display:
http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/b.....hread.id=2
February 23rd, 2008 5:22 am
Eek, sorry to hear about the shortage! I’ve had one of these for under 2 months and I’m still enjoying my L220X. I was considering ordering another to get a dual screen setup going, but I think I will wait a bit.
February 23rd, 2008 6:55 am
I’ve found a few sites (linked below) listing the viewing angles as 160/160. I hope these sites are mistaken and that this is not indicative of a panel swap.
http://www.buy.com/prod/22in-l.....25060.html
http://www.cendirect.com/main_.....6929H.html
http://www.upgradenation.com/L.....66481.html
Can anyone from Lenovo confirm that the monitors are still using the same panels?
February 23rd, 2008 11:05 am
The fact that Lenovo is going to sell the next L220X with different panels than the first wave is just a theory or there’s been some “official” information on the subject?
The use of a different panel would be very worrying for me, especially considering that there have not been too many reviews of the “first wave” model either and therefore chances to see tests of an hypothetically different second wave would be quite slim.
Here in Italy, prices in online shops and on official Lenovo site have been continuously dropping in the last few weeks, even if no online shop has it available (a couple of them had it listed as being available on February 22, now they say March, 5), so I’m wondering if those changes in price are only related to the natural evolution of the market or may suggest a switch to a more economic type of panel.
February 23rd, 2008 1:00 pm
Pixel pitch all wrong in those shops. Also all TNs are advertised with 5ms or 2ms response time so making any conclusions from specs of those shops aren’t consistent at all.
As for price… Isn’t it now at level where it should be considering EUR/USD exchange rate + tax?
Some brands are clearly ripping off Europeans when it comes to pricing.
February 23rd, 2008 2:51 pm
Shouldn’t write and answer questions from background at the same time… human brains just aren’t that good in multitasking!
Here are some reviews more beside Erik’s review:
http://www.computerworld.com/a.....geNumber=2
http://www.notebookreview.com/.....ewsID=4241
http://www.associatedcontent.c.....l220x.html
http://computershopper.com/rev.....tor-review
Just have to strongly disagree with that last one putting lack of HDMI as that kind minus: it doesn’t offer anything except licensing costs and there are adapters if some game console player happened to stray from TNs to this serious monitor.
As for lack of reviews in bigger monitor review sites it’s probably because 24″ is now “sexiest” size and because L220x is much more expensive than general 22″ TN junks and even more expensive than 24″ TNs. (+bad availability)
February 24th, 2008 6:33 am
Well I been shopping for a L220x and all the online retailers seem to feel they will get it back in stock at the end of March. That the time that Lenovo will also have it on their online and telephone sales.
I place my order at BestBuyforBusiness.com. They indicated that their distributor has some coming in on the 26th of this month; so I went with it!
Cannot wait to see it!
Maybe given the delay; they added the HDMI and HSCP compliances too! Never know!
February 24th, 2008 3:56 pm
I thought the L220x is a PVA panel, not TN.
February 25th, 2008 6:02 pm
It is S-PVA.
That’s exactly why it costs more than even 24″ TNs.
(L220x and “standard” 1680×1050 resolution Eizo S2231W are only non TN 22″)
You can recognise TN monitors by looking them from downward angle, even small movement downwards distords colours starting from the upper edge:
http://www.behardware.com/arti.....-wave.html
Darkening of upper edge is evident even when looking directly from center:
http://www.behardware.com/arti.....fp-hc.html
February 27th, 2008 6:53 am
Could anyone from Lenovo confirm that they still use the same panel, or that it’s still S-PVA?
February 28th, 2008 9:10 pm
I have been waiting 3 months for my monitor…
All my emails to customer support have been ignored
All my calls result in hour-long wait festivals
It’s almost march now… are there any updates? I don’t WANT to feel furious, but I sort of am.
February 29th, 2008 10:04 am
Andy,
Sorry you are having problems. Please contact David Churbuck, our VP of Web Marketing at dchurbuck@lenovo.com and he will take care of the problem.
March 3rd, 2008 6:43 am
Hello, I want to ask, if anybody may compare this monitor with Lenovo D221. I’ve been working whith D221, and it will be useful to see pros an cons regards to D221. Thank you
March 3rd, 2008 10:52 am
Matej, does D221’s picture (especially darker colours) go “black” starting from top when looked from below center?
All information I can find hints that D221 is TN panel and in that case there really wouldn’t be anything to compare. And adjustability of L220x’s stand seems to be about light year ahead.
Only area where some TN monitors could have advantage is response time and input lag, both of which matter pretty much only to hardcore gamers.
March 4th, 2008 4:49 am
Esa, yes D221 is TN panel, but it has a pretty good color for TN panel (in my opinion), I know that viewing angels and response time are realy different , bud I’m wondering about colors and backlight.
March 5th, 2008 10:42 pm
I just unpacked the L220X and am type my review of this monitor while I am looking at it!
The thing I notice placing it on my desk is that it takes a lot of desk space width wise. The column extends about 3 inches in back past the stand itself and the monitor is setup so that the column is about 1 1/2″ in front of the column. So the length from back to the front of the screen is around 11 1/2″.
I am really disappointed at the depth that the stand and the placement of the monitor. I have a 30″ deep desk and it is very close up to me about 10″ from the keyboard which is another 8″ in width with the extended hand guard which is another 3″ which is a the edge of my desk.
You can easily tuck the keyboard under the monitor which is nice to do paperwork.
I may return this monitor because it takes so much desk space. I extends an extra 8″ more then my 17″ monitor. It is just shocking. I will think about trying to extend my desktop to 36″ but it will be hard since it is against a wall. It suppose to be an executive desk too!
I might turn a under the desktop keyboard draw; but I would have to get rid of my front desktop draw and so it would look crappy!
I am disappointed!
The L220X is very nice monitor; very clear and very bright. I turn the brightness down. No other adjustment made.
What Lenovo should have donw was have a way to re-adjust the screen so it could go move backwards.
It can only move up and down and swivel.
You cannot lean forward at all or you will be very close to the monitor. I type leaning forward and so it is a little close quarters.
March 6th, 2008 3:25 am
how are you people getting this already? it doesnt even have the add to cart button yet and says ships in 4 weeks.
March 6th, 2008 9:32 am
Ahoy. One L220x just landed on my desk. And will go back to reseller ASAP. They should ship some glasses with it. If you go other than native resolution , it’s all blurry. And it looked that great on the paper…on the Net. ;o)
March 6th, 2008 1:03 pm
Just received two of these yesterday (ordered 31 DEC) on EPP. The display is fabulous. The OnScreen Manager software is rather disappointing. There is no HELP associated with it and the monitor’s manual provides no information as to whether both the digital and analogue cables should be connected simultaneously or whether only the digital cable should be used. The manual and the large instruction sheet both say to connect both cables.
I have attached the monitor to a new T61 with NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M adapter, but I cannot find a way to activate auto-rotation. The button on OSM to activate it is dimmed. I can only switch the display from landscape to portrait manually using the commands or keyboard shortcuts within OSM. I wish this feature could be made to work properly.
March 8th, 2008 6:16 am
My question about non-max resolution: how this monitor show text (in example, on web-site) at 1680×1080? Is text stay clear and useful for reading? (My eyes about -3 dyoptries and I have problem with lowerest text)
March 8th, 2008 4:18 pm
Any knowledge when L220x becomes available in Europe/Finland?
Current CRT is dropping image all the time lower and needs couple minute warming time for task bar to rise well visible so I can’t continue waiting for other month and half with also other failing signs increasing.
So if you’re not happy Ivo, just sent it here and I’ll give it good home.
And I’ll prefer using Nvidia graphic card’s lower resolution scaling options instead of monitor with huge input lag.
Yuri: Real web browsers have option for increasing text size/zooming page. (don’t know about M$ malware downloader)
100. Harry Says: “You cannot lean forward at all or you will be very close to the monitor. I type leaning forward and so it is a little close quarters.”
To that your doctor would say you need to improve your working posture to one more ergonomic.
And nothing forces you to use default mount:
http://www.ergotron.com/tabid/.....fault.aspx
March 8th, 2008 5:27 pm
We have one ordered and availability is May.
March 8th, 2008 9:16 pm
I finally installed my L220x and am already having some issues that perhaps someone could shed some light on.
1. My DVI connection will not happen. Only the VGA input works. My computer technician that just put together my new CPU said that the new graphics card worked at his office. He will come back next week to try a new card. All we get when we try switching inputs is “power saving mode” screen message.
2. None of the USB ports on the monitor seem to work. I tried installing my colour calibrator (Huey Pro) and had to plug into my CPU USB.
3. I cannot seem to adjust my monitor with the Huey. The steps it asks me to do to set the white and black points are seemingly unachievable.
I did try calling Lenovo but it seems like unless you are positive that it is a warranty issue, they cannot offer any tech support.
My monitor menu was locked. I called asking how to unlock and Lenovo had no clue. The info they had on the monitor is what I received with the monitor. No help there. All my Apple friends are laughing at the lack of tech support.
Anyway, if anyone’s menu is locked, just hold down the menu button for a minimum of 5 seconds and it will unlock (same thing to lock it I guess – no idea how I locked it and I am not about to try).
Anyway, any idea with the DVI and USB issues? Do folks think I need to return it?
Also, need more tips for calibrating… I am getting a headache… it is still much too bright.
March 11th, 2008 12:11 am
Hi,
I use a PowerPC G5 Mac with a Geforce 6600 graphics card.
I’m thinking of transitioning finally from my CRT to LCDs. After going crazy over a lot of research, I think I may go in for this monitor. My question is, will it be compatible with my mac?
What is Lenovo’s return policy? I may prefer to buy directly because some of the purchase stores have difficult return policies and I don’t want to deal with that.
Thanks,
Allie
March 12th, 2008 2:14 pm
After 3 months of waiting I finally cancelled my L220x order…
It’s been so long that the entire industry moved on and I was able to buy a 26″ PVA monitor for the same price!
The rumours of Lenovo swapping out the panel types on the post-fire models is what finally pushed me over the edge.
March 12th, 2008 3:19 pm
andy, i’m sorry to hear that you canceled your order. several L220x shipments have been received by customers recently and no one has reported a change in panel design.
March 13th, 2008 10:38 pm
Dear Martin,
From your questions, I must say, it is clear that you don’t know how to setup your hardware (nor does your “computer technician” by that matter). In that respect, the form of your message could project a very negative conclusion to the wider public. That could in the end make someone reject this very nice piece of display (at very affordable price) as an option, leaving him in belief that this display is low quality. That, ofkors, is very, very untrue.
About the “issues”:
1. Find someone who knows how to connect and setup your vga and display. Find a trained professional or engieneer with at least 15 years of experience in hardware and software.
2. Ask the same trained professional or engieneer to connect the standard A-B usb cable from your pc to display.
3. Give your Huey to the same trained professional or engieneer as a reaward, or to someone who knows how to solve your first two braincracking issues. I’m convinced it does’t have any meaningful purpouse in your hands.
Lenovo ThinkVision L220X is not the best LCD display on the market but it is by far superior in image quality ond color reproduction in it’s price class. Choose sRGB in your color setup on your display and make sure that you’re using monitor’s supplied color profile. You won’t believe how accurate this setup will be. You could calibrate and mess with profiles but you won’t get much better results, maybe even worse. This is sufficient for most professional work. If you want to go beyond that, prepare yourself for some hard homework about gamma, gamut, luminance, color spaces, color managment, etc…
No hard feelings. And do Google, please – “The truth is out there …”
March 15th, 2008 10:48 am
I just found one at cost central –
http://www.costcentral.com/pro.....B2/N56403/
March 15th, 2008 5:44 pm
I have just received (yesterday) my L220x ordered from LambdaTek in the UK. I am disappointed that the screen dims/varies significantly as I move around it more than I was led to believe would be the case for an S-PVA panel, and definitely dims at top/bottom edges as you move of axis up and down. There are also also noticeable brightness variations at the screen extreme left and right edges when sitting close to the monitor (brighter than the centre). With white on the screen, this takes on yellow shading when moving head from left to right by about 45 degrees. I have previously avoided buying an LCD screen until now as these attributes are exactly what I was hoping would be entirely absent in the S-PVA panel, and the initial reviews of the first (pre-factory fire) seemed to confirm an excellent monitor. These noticeable attributes together with spec changes on the supplier websites and rumours of panel swap to TN elsewhere on web forums is getting me worried that I’ve waited for months for a S-PVA panel, paid top price for S-PVA but have now ended up with a TN panel after all that. I am further worried this may be the case as monitor delivery date was stated as put back to 20th April and now a load have suddenly appeared a lot earlier. I notice that nobody from Lenovo has responded to the question about panel swaps. Can anyone at Lenovo confirm or deny that these monitors now have TN panel due to supplier swap? Come on Lenovo. Let’s hear from you to categorically confirm or deny.
March 17th, 2008 9:38 am
Finally decided to cancel my order after months of waiting. Bought an EIZO Flexscan S2431WSEK instead..
March 18th, 2008 4:22 pm
So can we confirm that the panel is in the monitors after the fire is still PVA but NOT TN? This place has 34 monitor in stock but i cannot be sure what panels i am getting:
http://www.compusmart.com/Prod.....tNo=781028
March 19th, 2008 6:49 am
Jay,The L220x Wide includes PVA technology. There have been no changes in product definition since it’s introduction
March 19th, 2008 3:35 pm
Fire in Lite-on’s assembly plant had zero effect to availability of S-PVA LCD panel used in L220x because those are made by Samsung. (if anything there would be more panels in stock because of fire disturbing assembly of monitors)
Max, only expensive IPS panels have wide viewing angles remotely comparable to CRT without much colour/brightness shift until looked nearly from side and reviewers know that.
Colour cast when looked from 45 degree angle is normal and all VA (vertical alignment) LCD matrixes have gamma shift (in this case brightening) of dark colours when looked from bigger horizontal angle. TN panel is worse and very easy to recognize by complete “black out” of image first showing on top when you look it from below center.
Besides there can be huge differences in quality of LCD panel and components even if all specs are same:
http://www.behardware.com/arti.....morts.html
That’s how there are some very cheap 24 and 26 inch VA-paneled (or even IPS) monitors. You might get lucky and get good sample, or bad one or one which fails very fast, with El Cheapos you’re much more probably bound to get later ones.
From 24″ size Eizos and NECs might well be cheapest ones without lower quality.
March 20th, 2008 7:53 pm
With ref to my earlier (worried) comments, I can confirm that the panel is viewable from very wide angles in any direction. I have compared with TN panel on my Dell laptop. It is of course true that this blacks out completely when viewed from almost any angle below centre of screen. This does not happen at all on the L220x so I guess that confirms it is S-PVA definitely. I’ve used LCD panels at work but never owned one and am very fussy about image quality, so probably expecting a little too much of the current technology. Overall the monitor is excellent. The brightness is awe inspiring (far too bright on max setting) and resolution near perfect for compromise between desktop size and font readability. I have read comments about the colour gamut and would say that many images (especially graphics) appear over saturated. It would be nice to have some sort of saturation control and I have yet to discover how one might reduce saturation (it is not adjustable directly on my Nvidia graphics card). Anyone know if it is possible to easily make an ICC monitor profile for digital/LCD monitors? I have not found a simple answer to this despite extensive searching. The only thing I am rather disappointed about is a visible grain on the screen, more visible on some images than others, but something you of course never see on a CRT. I would be interested to know if this is a feature of all LCDs (I think it probably is). Other than this I really have no complaint and the monitor is without doubt excellent value (just not quite perfect!)
March 22nd, 2008 6:54 am
I am considering to buy this monitor and wanted to ask if anyone knows the difference in manufacturer models: T33HNEU and T33HBEU? The T33HNEU is cheaper by ~100 euro but they have the same specs. It bugs me a lot as I can’t find info on that anywhere. There are many who state that the panel was not changed to a TN. Can it be the case that is described in the article posted by “Esa T”? If anyone could enlighten me on this matter I would greatly appreciate that…
March 23rd, 2008 2:05 pm
Hi David and everyone on the design team…I just received this monitor and it is absolutely amazing! Thanks guys for your hard work!
I love the professional dark look of this monitor compared to the flashy and curvy “kid” look of many other monitors out there!
March 24th, 2008 10:29 am
I’ve been explained the the B/N difference is just marketing. I don’t get it, but just buy the cheapest one. You get the same monitor.
March 24th, 2008 11:05 am
max, you might want to look into calibration or a specified color management setup. the last few pages of my L220x review have some info on this.
March 25th, 2008 1:09 pm
Hi!
I´we been thinking about ordering the L220x any day no but it think it´s really strange that T33HNEU is 418€ and the T33HBEU is 638€ in the webshop i´m buying from. That is 220 euros difference. There have to be a reason for this.
March 26th, 2008 9:48 am
I agree with sam on that one; I’ve also ordered the cheaper (TH33HNEU), but I’d definitely appreciate some information on why the B version is more expensive, and if it’s worth the added cost? Better panel? (S-IPS instead of the S-PVA in the N?)
March 26th, 2008 3:54 pm
Did anyone buy the cheaper european model (TH33HNEU)? Can anyone confirm that the panel was not replaced to a TN. In the forum a link popped up:
http://www.buy.com/prod/22in-l.....25060.html
in there it is stated that the viewing angles are 160. But this just might be a mistake on the part of the online shop. It is hard to believe that a manufacturer made a discount of 200euro just for marketing purposes. I hate a lottery that I don’t sing up to. Too many times have the manufacturers played on successful products just for temporary gain…
March 28th, 2008 6:18 pm
So, I had a faulty graphics card and the DVI now works. I missed the USB cable so now my ports work.
Am I happy with this monitor… not sure.
For print-related graphic design, the colour calibration is by far not accurate enough – again I state for print-related goods. My CRT was by far superiour.
I am sure for web related work or office work or just having fun, this monitor is great.
Am thinking about selling or seeing if the store I purchased it from will exchnage for an Apple Cinema.
I still think support from Lenovo completely sucks though.
March 31st, 2008 4:01 am
125. prejudiced:
“Did anyone buy the cheaper european model (TH33HNEU)? Can anyone confirm that the panel was not replaced to a TN.”
What I’ve heard guesses difference might be that HNEU is retail product code and other is for bigger corporate sales.
And I have now one in front of me. (possibly made in 13th of March)
Definitely worth of its price, especially considering this is “full-HD” capable (1920×1200) monitor there just aren’t any competition.
Also it takes only little more space than 19″ CRT unlike other WUXGA LCD monitors.
April 2nd, 2008 2:04 am
Just on the 1st of April the price for the TH33HBEU was reduced to that of TH33HNEU. And I have ordered my on the same day. Too bad the place I ordered from also increased the price by 35euro… would have gotten it cheaper if I ordered a day earlier.
April 9th, 2008 11:59 am
I’ve had my L220X monitor for a few weeks already and am very happy with it. Colors seemed good out of the box. I calibrated with Huey Pro, and nothing much changed. The monitor is very bright, which I like–I had purchased a Sony Vaio FZ laptop with Hi-Bright screen, because the monitor was brighter than other laptop monitors, and this lenovo monitor is significantly brighter. Have had no problems with noise or heat. And I was relieved to find that it was a S-PVA panel (after all the confusion because of the panal factory fire).
April 15th, 2008 5:32 pm
One word – Sparkly. This monitor is very, very sparkly. I’ve never had a PVA before, so I didn’t realize this was one the inherent characteristics of this panel. Now that I’ve had a TN, IPS, and PVA panel, I realize what everyone says is correct – IPS is the best.
All in all, I love the resolution on this monitor, and the viewing angles are great. The black is also pitch black.
April 17th, 2008 3:03 am
I recently purchased two l220x screens to replace my single Apple Cinema HD 23″.
Sorry to say that I was very disappointed with the picture clarity of l220x. For instance unantialiased text on the l220x has a notable gray veil witch makes the text look very blurry in comparison to the Cinema HD 23″.
The high DPI in l220x is rendered useless because of this.
This is very sad because everything else on the l220x is brilliant.
Can anyone else confirm this?
April 17th, 2008 6:21 pm
Juhamatti, I’m not sure exactly what you’re talking about, but I do find text in general hard to read on this monitor. The combination of sparkle/grain on this panel doesn’t help.
April 22nd, 2008 9:35 am
131. Juhamatti Rintaluoma Says: … l220x has a notable gray veil witch makes the text look very blurry… Can anyone else confirm this?
Hi, I can confirm. More exactly – it seems that one series of l220x (manufactured from 1/1/2008 till ?/?/2008) has a problem with depicting of text. More detailed: there is a gray veil on upper border of text, between the dark text and white background. You can see it clearly here (focus on upper part of letters P,o,n,e):
http://img214.imagevenue.com/v....._184lo.JPG
I know 3 people (from the Czech Republic) who can confirm that. LCDs manufactured in 2007 appear not to have this problem.
Other characteristics of display are great, but this is a problem…
April 22nd, 2008 11:26 am
what do you guys mean by text?
April 23rd, 2008 11:56 am
Nice to know I’m not the only one noticing this problem. My displays appear to be manufactured 2008-01-29.
StanleyCZ: Is that image link correct?
Has anyone contacted Lenovo regarding this problem? Are they willing to repair or exchange monitors?
April 24th, 2008 4:05 am
I called Lenovo today and they were not aware of the problem nor were they willing to replace my displays.
Here is a comparison photo to my MacBooks 13.3″ display. Photo was taken with a Canon 350D DSLR, 50mm lens. Aperture and shutter were exactly the same on both photos.
http://www.juhis.net/images/l220x_blurry_text.jpg (1.2MB)
April 25th, 2008 8:42 pm
very hard to get this monitor as it is on backorder everywhere!
April 25th, 2008 9:15 pm
I have a l220x manufactured in Jan 08 I can also attest to blurry text. The description of a grey veil around text describes the problem well, and Juhamatti’s image is exactly what I’m seeing.
Fiddling with color settings helps a little though the problem still remains. There’s something not quite right about the image being displayed.
April 26th, 2008 12:11 am
tommy, in which country are you located? the L220x appears to be in stock on lenovo.com and says it ships within 1-2 business days.
April 26th, 2008 4:22 am
Erik, you can’t add it to your cart, though. No button to do so anywhere.
Yesterday I ordered one from Buy.com for 469 with free shipping (USA). Sometimes they get a bunch in. Get on a few stock alert requests. Costcentral has been getting some in lately, too.
April 26th, 2008 7:37 am
For what it’s worth, it seems to finally be available in Denmark (if one cares to navigate the confusing world of Lenovo part numbers, as the L220x seems to have four different part numbers in Denmark, which vary widely in price and availability).
I bought one last week and have had no problems with blurry text (manufacture date: 2008-02-27). If only it had HDMI input it would be the perfect monitor for my needs.
April 26th, 2008 5:45 pm
Simon,
Can you tell if it has a PVA panel?
You can buy HDMI-DVI converters. Of course, this does not help if you want to connect two sources.
April 27th, 2008 9:50 am
vance, you’re right–the cart button is gone. i guess buyers will have to dust off their telephones and order the old fashioned way.
April 27th, 2008 6:22 pm
131. Juhamatti Rintaluoma
(and 133. StanleyCZ)
Such “gray veil” sounds a bit weird to be the fault of the display (unless using VGA instead of DVI), yet not impossible of course. However, judging from the MacBook vs. L220x text comparison picture (where string and keyword colors seem to be almost totally different between displays), it is not so much a gray effect I’d be worried, but a color shift to almost any color at the sides of letters..
…Which happens to be also very much the effect of using sub-pixel positioning and/or antialiasing. Or lens+camera color aberrations.
Double-check your settings in all relevant places (windows has overall setting, but you can’t get to it without certain extra application (adds ClearType tuning into control panel, iirc one of the “PowerToys”, but might remember wrong, too); IE has access to it; adobe reader has own version of it, etc. etc. I have no idea where/if Mac’s would have it. I know linux/X/KDE/whatnot does.)
On some laptop displays pixels (and subpixels of course) are so small that the subpixel stuff is less apparent..
Also, if subpixel stuff is enabled, different panel types might show slightly different effects due to it.
Also, seems that color abberations of your lens+camera combo are playing havoc with the images, too. Looking at the first and last “at” words on the first line, notice how the first one has plenty blue edges on the left of all dark stuff, while the last one has almost none, indicating either typical color aberrations, or effect of taking the image so close that angle varies too much.. Usual fix would be to use large focal length (zoom in a lot and take the photo from further away) and keep the interesting part of the display at the center of the taken image (and crop to the center for further use).
Nevertheless, looking at the comparison image further away (and it being such well zoomed and both parts of it shown on the same display this should be somewhat valid comparison), the upper one looks fuzzier… but which one was which?
(Personally, i have one laptop with “smooth” surface 17″ 1680×1050, a 19″ 1600×1200 with anti-reflect surface, and 21″ CRT at 1800xwhatever iirc).
April 29th, 2008 4:13 am
I have a problem with color at the given monitor. There is no uniform grey and white color. At the left there is a yellow shade, on the right pink. Somebody has such problem?
Problem is the same as dell 2408 – http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/re.....408wfp.htm (Red and Green Tinting)
April 29th, 2008 6:45 am
This is some monitor photos with my problem:
http://i022.radikal.ru/0804/6e/52e1604a8cc0.jpg
http://i015.radikal.ru/0804/8c/2a716334bcfe.jpg
April 29th, 2008 8:52 am
Oops, slight mistake, the second LCD display I have isn’t quite as exotic as I wrote above; it is 20″, not 19.
April 29th, 2008 2:02 pm
144. Markku:
The comparison picture does indeed contain a certain degree of color aberration added by the camera and lens but not to an extent that would render the comparison shot useless. Both pictures were shot in identical lighting conditions with identical settings. I’ll attempt to take another comparison photo to further illustrate the problem.
The color difference between keywords is simply due to the much wider gamut in the l220x.
Picture was taken from unantialised text without any sub-pixel positioning (on Mac OS X).
OS X does provide four levels of sub-pixel smoothing (Standard(grayscale smoothing), Light, Medium(RGB smoothing), Strong). Overall the “Light” setting provides the best clarity but still not clear enough. There is also a setting to disable smoothing from fonts below a given size.
Your description of the problem being more like color shifts on the sides of letters is actually quite accurate. Viewing the image closely reveals that the right side of each letter is glowing red and the left side is glowing green. It looks very similar to a CRT display with incorrectly set convergence setting.
April 30th, 2008 2:00 am
i just installed this monitor and was wondering how to remove the dvi cable from the cradle? am i missing the manual? it only came with the caution catalog and accessories.
April 30th, 2008 3:51 am
looks like i’ll have to return it. no display.
May 4th, 2008 4:27 am
Hi, one question: All Lenovo “L” Series uses a S-PVA Panel? The Lenovo L194 uses a S-PVA Panel or a TN Panel?
May 6th, 2008 11:43 am
It’s really nice piece of hardware with astonishing colors and good functionality for its price, but I also have that unpleasant feeling about character edges glowing red and blue.
It seems that light from under “dimmed” pixel is glowing through its edges – rendering nearest subpixels too bright. I mean, that blue or red subpixel which is placed next to the black one and should generate white background seems to glow a bit more than those subpixels which are placed anywhere inside the white field.
May 8th, 2008 10:09 pm
new replacement works fine. no bleeding and really sharp and clear. only problem is when external hdd is hooked up to the usb hub it seems to run really slow usb 1.1?
May 14th, 2008 9:26 am
153. tommy:
.. or USB 2.0 without hi-speed support (only low and “full” speed). People really need to learn that USB 2.0 support does not necessarily mean it has the fastest “hi-speed” support, too. In fact, vast majority of USB 2.0 compliant devices on the market do _not_ have the hi-speed support. Note that as long as you do not need the hi-speed feature (e.g. mouses/joysticks/whatnot things not needing the high data rates) and “full speed” is enough, any combination of USB1.1 and USB2.0 of host and device will (or should) work. The only case where the version matters is if you need that hi-speed, in which case both host and device need to be USB2.0 and both with hi-speed support.
Some USB device manufacturers of course use this lack of knowledge to mislead people to buy a device, letting customers think that “USB2.0″ means its really fast, and then it ends up being about order of magnitude slower than expected.
I could not find definite specifications for L220x’s hub in the net, so if someone has been luckier in his searches, or knows the facts, feel free to fill in…
May 19th, 2008 2:24 am
Its still not clear for me that the T33HNEU model uses TN or PVA panel. Can anyone say it FOR SURE that this is not with TN panel??
May 19th, 2008 12:22 pm
I have not seen the -NEU model (I have a -BEU), but all credible sources (incl. Lenovo insiders) say the L220x is built exclusively with a PVA panel.
May 20th, 2008 1:01 am
It’s still not a sure, a trustable information I think. But anyway thank you for that.L220x can mean only the BEU, so this can be tricky, i seriously need an exact information about this, and i think it’s not only me who need this. I’m waiting for other informations. És szia edk!
May 20th, 2008 4:17 pm
WAMozart – have you found definitive evidence showing that the L220x was ever sold with a TN panel? everything i’ve found in searching google for “L220x TN” either points to this blog or an article saying the L220x is the first non-TN 22″ WUXGA display available. perhaps instead of believing an unfounded rumor you should consider the statistics.
May 21st, 2008 2:17 am
There are a lot of shops where there is this spec about this monitor(T33HNEU) : 160/160, and this would mean for sure that this is not a VA panel. Is this only a wrong information about this? And if the type of the panel is not different in T33Hneu then what is the difference, because there is a big difference between the prices of T33HNEU and T33HBEU. Thank you for the answer!
May 21st, 2008 11:11 am
as was said above, T33HNEU and T33HBEU are the same monitor — one is a topseller model and the other is at regular price. i don’t know why lenovo did this with the L220x as it has clearly been a cause for confusion.
any reseller listing the display at less than 178°/178° viewing angles is incorrect. correct specs can be found on this page.
May 21st, 2008 12:49 pm
Alright. Thank you very much!!!!
May 22nd, 2008 9:17 am
no problem.
May 22nd, 2008 9:37 am
Is good games???
May 23rd, 2008 9:23 am
I’ve been waiting for these to arrive here. A friend just pointed me to a online store in denmark from where I can buy one. But… now I’m confused. I am looking at the T33HNEU, T33HBEU and the T33HBUK which are all available on this site.
The difference in price is massive. If the “N” item is so-called topseller (whatever that means), then it would mean the “B” is much more expensive. Thing is, the T33HBUK is quite a bit cheaper than the T33HBEU. Why?
If I’m going to ship a monitor halfway across the planet, I don’t want to wind up with something that is not as advertised. I have been wanting the L220x because of the panel and resolution.
Really, marketing cannot be deciding such a big price difference for the very same monitor if they are all identical.
I think we need a much clearer answer on these price differences for the same thing. And a guarantee that they will all be identical units.
May 25th, 2008 3:49 pm
I just spotted some information:
T33HNEU : 75 Hz x 94 kHz
T33HBEU : 85 Hz x 94 kHz
T33HNEU : 8 kg
T33HBEU : 7.7 kg
T33HNEU : ThinkVantage, HDCP, HD Ready
T33HBEU : Sync-on-Green, ThinkVantage, HDCP, HD Ready
Very confused about the difference even though people are saying it is just marketing.
May 26th, 2008 9:52 am
straight from the source:
T33HNEU
T33HBEU
specs look exactly the same aside from one being a topseller and the other being retail.
June 3rd, 2008 5:18 pm
I’ve been looking around at some various screens the last couple of days, and I must say that this one is very interesting. The model numbers are confusing though…
What worries me most is the comment about the ridiculous space reqirements back to front. I considered a Benq g2400w and an Ergotron stand before (I still do), and it seems to me that I might want the Ergotron stand for this one too (30 cm back to front would mean that this 22″ would end up some 20 cm closer than I currently have a 17″ screen – I don’t like the thought of that), but that just seems like a waste of a perfectly good stand, and money. But still… I’m sort of in love with the Ergotron stand too – I guess the better image quality is worth the premium alone.
One thing is for sure though, at first I looked at the Samsung 2493HM which had the advantage over the Benq of having better ergonomics – but the Benq together with the Ergotron seemed a much better proposition.
Another problem with the Samsung is the lack of 1:1 pixelmapping. Since I planned to connect my Xbox 360 to the screen, this was pretty much a deal-breaker, as well as playing legacy games.
Yes, the Lenovo has this problem too. But as far as 4:3 PC games goes, I’ve done some resarch now research, and both ATI and nVidia has GPU legacy scaling. So I guess I’ll just have to trust that they work (in my case ATI) should I get the L220x.
As for the Xbox… Well, I might sacrifice it for the better panel.
June 4th, 2008 7:30 am
Why do you think you need this stand? The Lenovo display is very well adjustable (tilt, swivel, height).
June 11th, 2008 8:31 am
Just received mine. I don’t want to jinx it but first impression is very good. I’ve never been happy with a monitor from the start. This time I am. At least so far.
My previous monitor was a Viewsonic VP2030b 1600×1200 VA-panel. I had to exchange that one 2 times before I recived a perfect sample (backlight problems both of the times). The rendering on the VP2030b was excellent though so I am very picky now.
Lets hope the good impression with this ThinkVision continues. sRGB was to red. I adjusted the color a little bit, toned down red 2 notches and lower the contrast a little bit, now it’s almost perfect.
No problem with text being blurry or anything. The scaling in the monitor sux but I just changed to scaling in videocard instead, which nowadays is very good.
9/10 so far.
Bengt Nilsson
June 22nd, 2008 2:10 pm
Wonderful monitor……..working with it for a week and I’m so impressed. Did have to be calibrated.
Question…….suggestions for clean the monitor surface.
Thanks in advance.
June 25th, 2008 2:59 am
excellent display with excellent panel. Resolution is amazing. Simple design with straight lines also really nice. Read alot about this display..ordered one, waitin’ for it.
July 9th, 2008 5:25 pm
Could someone from Lenovo please help? I purchased my second L220x in America a few days ago (the first one I purchased as soon as the L220x was first available in November 2007). I noticed that the first one I purchased, its information in the display’s on-screen settings has a Microcode value of “M05″. The second display I purchased this week has a Microcode value of “M06″. Lenovo / IBM U.S.A. tech support in Atlanta, GA was unable to tell me what the Microcode means (they didn’t have an L220x in their lab in Atlanta). The reason I ask is that I’m having a hard time calibrating the new display with Microcode M06 to be the same as the first display (even though: 1.) they’re both connected to the same video card which resides inside my MacPro 2008 tower desktop machine and 2.) they are both using the same color calibration profile that I created with Mac OS X Leopard). The second display has more of a bluish tint whereas the first one has more of a reddish tint (I prefer the reddish). I re-set the second display to Factory Defaults and then enabled the same color calibration profile that is used by the first display — no luck in getting them to match. This is the first time I’ve ever had two displays attached to the same machine, thus my first time attempting to sync two monitors with the same color calibration profile. I love the L220x displays! Thank you to anyone who has any recommendations / insights!
Cheers,
Eddie
July 9th, 2008 5:57 pm
Wishes for the next edition, L220y
:
– Allow lower brightness
– Better connectivity, add Display-Port
– Lower power consumption
August 31st, 2008 7:39 pm
I’m kinda disappointed with my Lenovo L220x…
The image is really sharp, and there’s not a single dead pixel.
However, as time goes by, it seems the screen gets yellower and yellower… I currently have to set R-48, G-46 and B-76 to get a more-or-less neutral white. About 4 days ago, B-50 was enough. I don’t know why the screen builds up this strange yellow-green cast.
Also, the contrast setting was “usable” from 0 to 74 – beyond that value, an intense yellow cast builded up. Now, I have to set it at 70 to get a neutral white.
The screen it “more pink” on the right side, and “more yellow/green” on the left side, due to the RGB dots matrix I guess.
If the problem persists (and gets worse), I’ll end up setting B-100…and, after that, will have to return the monitor.
December 25th, 2008 7:17 pm
Hi all,
I have 2 of L220x. Image and brigntness are great. I can say all the best about them.
As I work on both of them I see some differences that people who has only one display can’t notice:
1st issue) First one is manufactured week 12 and second one week 17 of 2008. One has redish default colors and newer one has more neutral colors. I can tune them to look the same, but it becomes difficult to create profiles for day and night as changing brightness is not sufficient.
2st issue) I miss feature of profiles in osd to take care of above tuning and get these settings saved for night and day work.
I heard they are using different backing light, upgrading firmware won’t help (M10->M11) and firmw. is not available anyway.
Besides this problem above panels are perfect. The best panel I have ever had (=colors, contrast, games, dvd). Powered USB hub excellent idea! Pivot great (ATI drivers are bit painfull, works better on nVidia).
So, I do highly recommend this panel, but if buying more than one, agree with the store to check if they are manufactured in the same week. This applies to all manufacturers, I had exactly the same problem with Samsung, it was even worse as image was sharper on left one. At least Lenovo is consistent with sharpness, etc.
I hope I will get one or two additional.
December 25th, 2008 8:09 pm
I just have installed new drivers to fix problem with ATI and pivot. And miracle happened….
Above problem with different colors on each has disappeared. Now colors are identical, text is absolutely clear, pivot working on this release of ATI. Miracle.
If Jim can contact me on bluepages would be nice to have a contact.
Maybe moderator can delete previous post to clear confusion ?
January 7th, 2009 10:58 am
Any updates regarding the blurry text issue? I just bought an L220x and only read about the issue after ordering.
Some people have reported reducing the red levels helps?
January 12th, 2009 8:15 pm
Sure wish this monitor was still being produced. The L222 is a TN-film unit, so I’m boned again looking for a 22″ with true color in the sub-$500 range.
Why do manufacturers dump their products after such a short time to market?
February 12th, 2009 6:34 am
177. perplex:
My company bought some L220x in January 2009, and all are faulty. After reading a lot of promising reviews, I was disappointed by missing sharpness in the text. I took a photo of it, and another one of my Eizo at home:
http://tikei.de/lenovo.jpg
http://tikei.de/eizo.jpg
As you can see, the Lenovo display has the same problem with a grey veil at least on the upper boarders of the characters as described in comment 133. Of cause, all displays are connected via DVI. Lenovo Support says they can’t help because I use Linux. What a dumb statement. I’ll never buy anything from Lenovo again (and I’ve used several ThinkPads for nearly 10 years now).
March 10th, 2009 9:19 am
What is up with the Lenovo L220x, has the model been discontinued as it is no longer listed on the Lenovo website? Or will there be a successor also with an S-PVA panel?
The new Lenovo displays with TN+ panels are surely no proper alternative for demanding customers.
April 23rd, 2009 9:45 pm
Posting in hopes of a future update on an S-PVA or S-IPS type LED-backlit monitor. The L220X was a great monitor, and I was very excited for the L2440X until I learned it uses a TN panel.
The consumer level needs more LED-backlit monitors, right now there are only $1200+ professional displays and Apple’s $850 aluminum displayport-only creation.
July 26th, 2009 1:52 am
I think 22″ WUXGA makes a whole lot of sense and I’m surprised that Lenovo stopped doing it. I would love to see this product continue on with a LED backlight.
October 6th, 2009 9:42 pm
I have an extra L220x that has not had much use (because I bought two of them) that I’m interested in selling (I may be willing to part with both of them — great monitors but I’ve switched to a high end laptop from Apple and after working with the MacBook Pro 17″ LED screen, I’m tipping toward buying into Apple’s 24″ Cinema display). Contact me if interested => hydrometeor at gmail dot com
December 11th, 2009 9:55 am
I’m looking for a second L220X, surprised they are no longer available. If there’s anyone who’s willing to sell one in Europe (perhaps moving up to the 2440X or similar), please get in touch: s o n d e r l i c h AAATTT g m a i l DDDOOOTTT c o m. Cheers!
March 23rd, 2010 11:58 pm
Lenovo abandoned the 1920×1200 22″ S-PVA market and now focuses on low end TN displays with low profit margins.
Now EIZO is in business instead (S2243 model series) with no competition.
What is the reason for this decision by Lenovo?