Review: LG Touch 10 ET83 Multi-touch Monitor

When it comes to monitors, folks tend to be incredibly picky or don’t really care. You’re either in the crowd that asks for IPS and HDMI ports, or you’re just looking for something “that looks really good” to use for video games and the like. It’s pretty rare for people to be somewhere between the two extremes, but it’s not impossible. If you’re more of the former than the latter, the LG Touch 10 ET83 Multi-touch monitor is probably for you.

As the name implies, the monitor’s all about touching. It’s also optimized for Windows 8, but I’m still stuck in the age of Windows 7, so there’s a few odds and ends that I missed out on during my review. I’m supposed to have a Win 8 machine within a couple weeks — not sure how I feel about this — so perhaps I’ll revisit the LG Touch 10 ET83 Multi-touch at a later date.

Even with the pitfalls of Win 7, the touch interface works well. My computer’s a little sluggish, which is a hazard of desperately needing to upgrade, but my keystrokes with the on-screen keyboard always registered accurately. There was some fumbling when trying to click on links and bookmarks and such, but that’s user error more than the fault of the monitor. I’ve only ever owned one touchscreen computer previously, and it’s actually not like riding a bike that way.

One major problem I’ve always had with touchscreens, and humanity likely always will, is the smudges left from my fingers. The only real solution seems to be wiping them off periodically, but the LG Touch 10 ET83 Multi-touch doesn’t make them horribly apparent during use. Assuming you’re not trying to position it at a bunch of awkward angles, the smudges aren’t really visible until it’s powered down. Even then, it’s just a matter of running a cloth across it, and that’s if you really care about that sort of thing.

If that really bothers you, don’t use the touch functionality. It’s as simple as that. It’s still a perfectly capable monitor without it.

The monitor’s 23″ screen is perfect for regular use watching video, playing games, or just surfing the Internet. IPS is a welcome addition, and there were no real issues had with anything like ghosting during the course of my review. The monitor I use on the regular is a Dell from something like 2009, so my time spent with the LG Touch 10 ET83 Multi-touch felt a little bit like a dream.

Thanks to the inclusion of two HDMI ports, and the ease with which the monitor switches through different inputs, using anything else with an HDMI out is a breeze. As a test, I plugged in my Xbox 360 to the back, expecting to have to fight with it somehow in order to get it working correctly. Nope. It immediately recognized that I’d plugged the console in, and Castle Crashers has honestly never looked better.

If you’re someone that’s really into touchscreens, and you’ve got Windows 8, I’d say it’s hard to go wrong with the LG Touch 10 ET83 Multi-touch monitor. If, on the other hand, you’re just looking for a nice monitor to surf the web with your keyboard and mouse, this particular monitor won’t steer you wrong, but you also might be better off looking for a cheaper alternative that maybe doesn’t have as many bells and whistles.

You can check out the full technical specs here, if that’s your kind of thing. List price sits at $549.99 currently, but it looks like most places, including Amazon, are selling it for $499.99.

In the interest of full disclosure: The LG Touch 10 ET83 Multi-touch monitor was provided for review by LG Electronics through Ogilvy Public Relations. The views and opinions expressed above are that of the reviewer, and neither LG nor Ogilvy has had any say in the matter.