Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony X-Brite SDM-HS74P/B 17" LCD Monitor (Black)

My work was kind enough to splurge and buy me this monitor to slave writing code in front of 8+ hours a day. I have to say that I am very pleased with it. The picture quality is phenomenal and consistent from the moment the monitor powers up. It also has a "power saver" mode that kicks in as soon as the machine is idle or if the video signal is disconnected.

It comes with 3 factory-preset brightness levels, the brightest being able to work comfortably in the dark. You can also manually set the brightness to a custom level which the monitor will remember.

Physically, the footprint of this monitor is quite small. It is a flat panel, with a roughly 8" silver-grey metal base that is itself flat. This allows me to put papers or my keyboard over it without any difficulty.

The monitor's angle adjusts roughly 85 degrees to 100 degrees (from the horizontal), which is excellent if different people will be using the monitor.

My only caveat is that the top emits quite a bit of concentrated heat, so the monitor should not be placed in an enclosed space.

I was getting eye strain from my old but high end Mitsubishi CRT 19 inch. I perform web design and am on the 'net sometimes 12+ hrs a day. I'm not sure why I waited so long to get an LCD. After visiting my friend's house and being on his LCD a while with no eye strain I decided to get one.

I didn't want to spend too much on my 1st LCD, but I still wanted something good for graphics.

I did research here and had pcmag dot com and pcworld dot com open as I searched for what I wanted.

I was about to get the Dell 17 inch LCD, but as I read it seemed this monitor was better for me.

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Now running 1280x1024 with no eye strain and super sharp images and text along with vibrant color.

I run WinXP Pro with Dreamweaver and Fireworks MX and find this monitor to be excellent with a few simple adjustments out of the box.

I keep looking at the 'hulk' monitor on the floor and this little guy in amazement. It looks cool and more importantly, for those of us who work on a computer many hours at a time- it's a godsend.

I only wish I had gotten an LCD a bit sooner.

You really cannot go wrong in getting this monitor IMO. Your eyes deserve it!

This is a marvelous LCD. The images are clear, clean, sharp, and BRIGHT. There is NO OVERSCAN - ALL inches ARE displayed. I waited awhile before stepping away from CRT as they generally are capable of producing excellent images (especially Sony's Trinitron), but the wait has been worth it, especially with Sony's "XBRITE" technology. This is a perfect monitor.

Once you look at this monitor, nothing else will do. I was looking for a monitor and I looked at 30-40 17" LCD side by side. This one stands out. Then when you start gaming it will blow you away. It is also excellent at pictures and text. 19" model probably better for pictures. If your going to buy a 17" you have to check this one out. Even at $100 more it is worth it. Has one of the highest Luminance @ 400 cd/m2, excellent contrast ratio of 500:1, and 16 ms response time. Show me another monitor that has all three at these levels.

Unbelievable picture. Bold, sharp, bright, clear...blows every other LCD away.

Fast response time, xbrite technology, DVI/Analog inputs, everything you need. I'm using DVI right now and it's absolutely beautiful. I never thought DVDs and anime would look so good on this. It was so good that I bought another for dual setup.