LG M2450D 24 inch Widescreen 1080p Full HD LED TV Monitor - Black Glossy

Having been an Amazon customer for many years this is my first review, written because this is a good product but the description is pretty inadequate. First thing, this is a TV with built in tuner (analogue and digital) that in common with many TVs these days can double as a monitor and unlike one of the other reviewers what I got looks exactly like the illustration. The screen is an LCD / LED backlight TFT commonly just called LED. This makes it very thin, only 20mm thick, diagonally the screen measures only a fraction under the stated 24 inches and the whole thing weighs just over 5kg.

I found setting it up pretty straightforward, the menus are well laid out and easy to work through. The picture colours are good and so is the sound. Small TVs have small speakers meaning the bass is not going to be deep and booming, so if that's what you like you may be a little disappointed, however I found the sound excellent and the volume which can be poor with the smaller screen sizes is almost the same as my 32in Sony. At 1920 x 1080 the definition is as good as it gets, but you will need to plug in a Blu-ray to really see that. At 5ms the screen response is pretty fast giving smooth motion, the horizontal and vertical frequency does slow down as the picture resolution increases but at maximum resolution the slowest refresh rate is 30Hz or 30 times per second, which is about the same as the frame rate of standard video footage meaning its pretty smooth even at the highest definition. So it may not be the fastest screen on the market but fast enough to mean it should still perform well as a gaming monitor.

In terms of inputs it has all the types you might need - HDMI, Scart, Hi-Speed USB, VGA (PC) and component in (to connect a camcorder or iPod) but be aware that it only has one of each. The stand has tilt, alternatively there is a VESA mounting, 200mm x 100mm (takes M4 bolts). According to the manual the power consumption is typically 40W (0.5W on standby). Unlike a normal TV the unit is powered via a DC Adaptor such as you would usually find on a monitor or laptop. The lead from the adaptor to the TV is just over 1m which you may need to think about if you are wall mounting. The power lead from the plug to the adaptor is under 1m and unlike a kettle uses a C5 (Clover Leaf) type connector. When I wall-mounted mine I needed to locate the adaptor behind the TV and found a 3m version of the power lead on ebay for £5 delivered which then ran back from the adaptor to the plug.

So as a combined TV and monitor this a well specified product that I am very pleased with. What I particularly like about using a TV such as this as a monitor is the ability to adjust the screen brightness, contrast and colour balance as well as tailor the sound, all through well structured menus using the remote, a great improvement on the standard monitor. Finally at the Amazon price of £170 it was extremely good value, comparing very favourably with the 27 inch Samsung LED that cost me £350 only 6 months ago.

Addendum: Having seen that someone had problems using this product as a monitor with the pointer disappearing off the screen I have tried mine and can say it works fine. The fact that the pointer stops at the edge of the screen is something handled internally by the pc and not the TV, so it might have been a pc problem. More likely is that unlike a monitor, a TV such as this one has a `zoom' viewing mode. As it suggests, this allows you `zoom in' so you are only watching part of the available image. If this is selected when you are using it as a monitor then the pointer may well disappear off the edge of the visible area. Select menu, then picture, then aspect ratio and the bottom two options are the zoom ones. When using this as a monitor the aspect ratio should be set to 16:9 and never zoom.

Being my first HD television and as a student I couldn't afford anything too pricey therefore when I came across this full HD television for £170 (price as it was 2 weeks before this review was posted) and at 24 inches it seemed like a really good deal. For the price I wasn't expecting anything too impressive. How wrong was I.

I bought it primarily for gaming on my XBOX 360 (and therefore it was up against the likes of Samsung, but they didn't measure up) and the picture quality is stunning. Finally being able to see my XBOX in full HD makes the games so different and I can appreciate the graphics a whole lot more. The colours the TV produces in general are very vivid and defined, blacks look very dark while you are in danger of blinding yourself with the whites. The 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio really makes a difference here with the colours and the TV is good at displaying very fine details, I'm even seeing detail I never knew existed. The TV shows no lag at all when gaming unlike some other TVs, even when in Vivid picture mode rather than Game Mode, so this is well suited for its purpose

Design-wise the TV is about 1.5 to 2cm thick which makes it very slim and appealing and the gloss finish adds to the expensive look. The touch sensitive buttons are very responsive and make the TV look cleaner than if it were to have physical buttons and were a very welcome touch. It was very easy to set up with a clear menu system that I was able to navigate through, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it features a Game Mode picture setting as I mentioned earlier (although games already run buttery smooth on it). It's lightweight and solidly built which makes moving it easy and the connecting of the base was also easy too. The TV's stand is see through which is a nice touch, but I would have preferred it if this was made part of the base unit rather than the TV as when the TV is wall mounted it will look rather awkward.

All the necessary ports are present; HDMI, VGA, Composite/Component, Scart and one port whose use I can not figure out. The inclusion of a USB port is also a welcome addition although I haven't tested this out yet. I would have preferred it, however, if the TV had 2 HDMI ports and 1 VGA port rather than the other way round. It also works well as a computer monitor and contrary to what the other reviewer it can fit your entirely computer display on screen, all you have to do when you connect your laptop/PC by HDMI is select Yes when it asks is this input (may say output, not sure) connected to your PC and it will resize the screen so it fits properly and adjust other picture settings. Without doing that, then the picture will run off screen.

I have noticed when gaming that if you use Vivid picture mode the TV will heat up in one area (I don't know if this is my one only or if they all do), but putting it in Game Mode instantly fixes the problem, so presumably the heat is from extra processing or something.

All in all a great TV, couldn't ask for a better one. I cannot comment on the sound though as I have it running through a st of speakers all the time.

This TV is well worth the price I paid for it, do not hesitate to buy!

Very easy to set up, really good picture and sound. I am very pleased with this TV, excellent value for money. Would recommend!