EVGA InterView 1700 Dual Monitor System – For business purposes only

Pros:

• Attractive looks
• Dual screen feature lets you multi task

Cons:

• Good only for business users
• Awful quality in games and movies.
• Expensive

Bottom Line:

The EVGA InterView 1700 Dual Monitor System is too costly and doesn’t offer value for money with its features. We wouldn’t recommend this system for even business users.

Specifications:

EVGA InterView 1700 Dual Monitor System is a two monitor setup, each screen is 17 inches big and has a resolution of 1440×900 pixels. Dot Pitch / Pixel Pitch is 0.255 mm. Brightness 220 cd/m2 and image contrast ratio is 500:1. The unit is 34.3 inches wide, 7.5 inches deep and 15.8 inches high. Net weight is 7.492 kgs, gross 10.86 kg. Dimensions/Weight is 34.27″ x 15.8″ x 7.5″ with the bezel open, 15.39″ x 16.67″ x 19.39″ with the bezel closed. The monitor has a 1.3 mp Webcam, 3 USB 2.0 ports, and a microphone.

Design:

The EVGA InterView 1700 has a matte, smooth, black finish. Both the screens are quite glossy and they attract fingerprints easily. The displays are 5.5 inches from the desk. The unit looks attractive with the two monitors held together by a single stand.

Inside Dope:

The EVGA InterView costs $650 and basically speaking, it is just two separate monitors brought together. It comes with some goodies like built-in microphone, three USB ports and a Webcam that can be adjusted ergonomically. When on desk, it looks like a computer display on steroids. You might think this is a great quality monitor due to its intimidating looks but once you plug it in, you will realize that is awful in movies and games. But we think the manufacturer didn’t intend to make this for gamming and movies. But a dual screen monitor comes with some advantages; you get more real estate on the display to work on. Two screens also let you multitask on the monitor. The screen can flip back by 180 degrees making it ideal for business meetings. But we wouldn’t recommend this monitor for casual office and home tasks, it comes with a high price tag, and the performance is passable. Even for business purposes, we recommend going for two separate monitors instead of this unit.

Footstand and ergonomic options rating (9/10)

The footstand is 7.25 inches deep and 15.25 inches wide and 1 inch high. The footstand is wide and this it holds the monitor steady. But when the monitors are closed, the stand comes under a bit of pressure and may topple over easily. The EVGA InterView 1700 is made up of two screens and each of them is attached to a 14.5 inch stand. You can also flip the display back by 180 degrees for business meetings. The monitor automatically adjusts the image and the picture doesn’t look upside down you turn it over. You can also close the two monitor set like a book.

Connectivity options rating (7/10)

On the footstand of the EVGA InterView 1700 there are a couple of USB ports. On the back, there is one more USB port for Webcam. The back has DMS video port, AC power port and microphone port. The Webcam is located in between the two monitor and it is placed on a rocker like switch. You can push it down or up. The EVGA InterView 1700 Dual Monitor comes with a dual DVI-I-to-DMS cable and both DVI-D-to-DVI-D and VGA-to-DVI-I adapter. You need a video card with two DVI ports to work on both the screens.

OSD – On screen display rating (3/10)

The OSD buttons are located on footstand instead of the bezel of the monitor. You get only brightness control for the two screens, there is no contrast and color control. There are up and down buttons to control the brightness.

Brightness rating (6/10)

EVGA rates the brightness of this display at 220 cd/m2 but in our tests, we found it to be just 188 cd/m2.

Performance rating (6/10)

We tested the EVGA InterView 1700 on its DMS-to-DVI-I connection. The monitor scored well in our grayscale, color and sharpness tests but there is backlight bleed through/clouding on all sides of the screen. The panel also scored poorly in our Ghosting and High-Contrast Streaking tests. Trailing effect was clear on both the screens.

Video tests rating (2/10)

For video tests, we played Kill Bill Vol. 1 on DVD and also took a look at some HD videos. The colors looked washed out on the EVGA InterView 1700 and there weren’t as vibrant as other monitors. For game tests, we played Unreal Tournament 3 at the native resolution of 1440×900. The colors looked muddled and image for blurry at times. We wouldn’t recommend this monitor to you if you were a gaming enthusiast.

Viewing angle rating (8/10)

Monitors are mostly made to be viewed from the front. This is called optimal angle and at this position, you are viewing gamma correction and colors as intended by the manufacturer. EVGA InterView 1700 uses a TN panel which means that when you view it from above, below or sides, the picture quality will dip. When we viewed the screen from nonoptimal angles, the display got overly bright or dark. On the bright side, the text was readable from the sides. When we viewed the panel from optimal angles, there were no problems.

Power consumption (10/10)

In our tests for power consumption, the EVGA InterView 1700 took in 30.13 watts as compared to the 160.36 watts of Gateway XHD3000 and 142.14 watts of Dell 3007WFP. In the standby mode, this monitor ate just 3.1 watts as compared to 17.01 watts of Gateway and 1.41 watts of Dell. The EVGA dual monitor will take you back by $11.31 a year as compared to 43.38 of Dell and $59.67 of Gateway.

Support/Service rating (10/10)

EVGA InterView 1700 comes with a three year warranty which covers backlight, labor and parts of the product. The warranty is provided only if you register the unit within thirty days of purchase. EVGA also gives you a toll free 24-7 technical support and e-mail support. We also went through the manufacturers Website, locating the driver downloads and manuals was very easy.