Rating: 
Summary: Buy one!
Review: GREAT monitor! It's the envy of the office at work. Bright, sharp picture, dual video inputs sync'd with dual audio inputs (I switch between a custom-built Athlon WinXP RC2 workstation and a Sun Blade 100), very well designed. The (weak) stereo speakers, headphone jack override (woo-hoo!), and on-screen volume control are very nice touches. You WILL need either a DVI video card or an analog card that puts out a clean signal at 1280x1024 res, ie, ATI or Matrox, and definitely NOT a nVidia-based card (like the Viper V770 another poster mentioned, or the current GeForce series, all of which blow chunks in terms of signal integrity). My ATI Radeon VE does the trick, and it should look slightly nicer when I get a DVI cable. (Note that the VE has a somewhat crippled 3D engine compared to the other Radeons, but I bought it for work and it's cheap; the Radeon II series is due later this year and should have many more DVI options.) WinXP's upgraded font rendering engine doesn't hurt either (don't forget to enable font antialiasing, it's not on by default). I bought the black version (M81/B). Hunt down a DVI-to-DVI video cable and, for the second analog-only input, a male-to-male VGA cable and a second audio cable (headphone-style jacks on each end). Keep the cables as short as possible, no more than 6ft.
Rating:
Summary: Buy one!
Review: GREAT monitor! It's the envy of the office at work. Bright, sharp picture, dual video inputs sync'd with dual audio inputs (I switch between a custom-built Athlon WinXP RC2 workstation and a Sun Blade 100), very well designed. The (weak) stereo speakers, headphone jack override (woo-hoo!), and on-screen volume control are very nice touches. You WILL need either a DVI video card or an analog card that puts out a clean signal at 1280x1024 res, ie, ATI or Matrox, and definitely NOT a nVidia-based card (like the Viper V770 another poster mentioned, or the current GeForce series, all of which blow chunks in terms of signal integrity). My ATI Radeon VE does the trick, and it should look slightly nicer when I get a DVI cable. (Note that the VE has a somewhat crippled 3D engine compared to the other Radeons, but I bought it for work and it's cheap; the Radeon II series is due later this year and should have many more DVI options.) WinXP's upgraded font rendering engine doesn't hurt either (don't forget to enable font antialiasing, it's not on by default). I bought the black version (M81/B). Hunt down a DVI-to-DVI video cable and, for the second analog-only input, a male-to-male VGA cable and a second audio cable (headphone-style jacks on each end). Keep the cables as short as possible, no more than 6ft.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Nice
Review: Have been using for a month now. Bright and sharp (at 1280 x 1084) with an analog connection. Have not used with digital. Stand adjusts easily. Speakers are weak so you will need a stand alone set. Very happy with it.
Rating:
Summary: Very Nice
Review: Have been using for a month now. Bright and sharp (at 1280 x 1084) with an analog connection. Have not used with digital. Stand adjusts easily. Speakers are weak so you will need a stand alone set. Very happy with it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Performer
Review: Have had this monitor for about a month now. For the first week it was fed an analog signal via a Diamond v770 graphics card and images were very good but some text was slightly smeared/faded. Color was excellent as was contrast. Backlight was factory defaulted at 100%. Way to bright for me. Easily set to user liking. So, after the first week I decided it was time to upgrade my video card. My decision was ATI's All in Wonder Radeon AGP card which has the DVI output. Tracking down a DVI cable was a pain but finally found it online... This monitor thrives on a digital feed. The difference between the analog signal is quite noticable. Right of the bat the text smear is nowhere to be seen and the color rendering is greatly improved. This is especially notable viewing Photo images and the like. Computer game images are fantastic. This monitor has absolutely zero flicker. Zero! It has three color temperature ICC profiles for color management. If you are into photo imaging as I am it is essential for Photoshop 6.0 or whatever imaging software that uses color profiles. You also have the ability to custom tailor a profile based on Gamma with full RGB control (MY personal Choice). My conclusion is if you are seriously considering a LCD Flat panel monitor, the Sony SDM via the DVI connection can't be beat in it's price range. Chances are when you go to your local computer store it will be hooked-up via analog and you won't see what it's capable of. It is worthy!! As a side note, realize that if you want to upgrade your computer to a DVI graphics card it must have an AGP 2.0 compliant slot on the motherboard. AGP 1.0 slots will not work (not enough power) and can't be BIOS upgraded.
Rating: 
Summary: Sony lost my business on this one
Review: How can such a large company as Sony that makes such great LCD displays, NOT make them VESA standard wall or arm mountable?!?. Try finding a wall mount kit for this display. You CAN'T!. Sony doesn't make one, nor do third party mfg's. I spent an hour trying to find one! If Sony wants to make the mounting configuration proprietary then they should AT LEAST step up to the plate and actually MAKE a wall mount kit. Sorry Sony, you lost my money on this one. I'll have to go with the 3 little colorful birds brand.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Monitor - Great Value
Review: I've had this monitor for 3+ months and will never look back. I've used the best Barco calibrated monitors for color retouching and this blows them all away! The trick if you are using the analog hookup (as I did for the first month) is to use the configuration utility on the provided CD. The Utility will help you get rid of "Waviness" and uneven color in a matter of seconds... But, if you are going to pay...for a monitor - a Good Digital Video Card (ATI Radeon 7500/8500) is the way to go! Solid as a rock and sharp as anything!!! A great buy!!!
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: If you're looking to treat yourself to a new monitor, you won't be disappointed with the SDM-81. At 18" you'll have plenty of bright, crisp display room. Also, with both digital and analog connections you won't be forced to upgrade your video card to enjoy this display. The response rate is between 20 and 30 ms (according to Sony's site), allowing for good picture quality even during fast screen changes. I was a bit worried about this aspect of LCD monitors since I play fast moving games, but haven't noticed any blur or distortion. Setting up the display is as simple as dropping it on your desk and hooking up the standard connections (oh yes, it is at this pont that you will truly appreciate the space savings :). Cables are inserted into vertical connectors on the back of the display and are neatly concealed by the rear panel and cable guides. Once you get it running you'll probably want to make some adjustments, especially if you're using an analog connection. The instruction manual does a good job at guiding you through the process. Personally I found I needed to adjust the phase and pitch as well as the color temperature (the default setting is much too blue) to get the best picture. So, why only 4 stars? Well, nothing's perfect .. :) I have noticed that color can be uneven across the screen. Also, when the screen is predominantly black you can see places where the backlighting is uneven (mostly near the edges). Finally, the screen seems to have a bit of "sheen" to it. It isn't glare, but almost seems like the screen itself has a shiny quality. In all fairness, I don't notice this very much. Overall, I love this monitor and although it has a few flaws I wouldn't think twice about owning it.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: If you're looking to treat yourself to a new monitor, you won't be disappointed with the SDM-81. At 18" you'll have plenty of bright, crisp display room. Also, with both digital and analog connections you won't be forced to upgrade your video card to enjoy this display. The response rate is between 20 and 30 ms (according to Sony's site), allowing for good picture quality even during fast screen changes. I was a bit worried about this aspect of LCD monitors since I play fast moving games, but haven't noticed any blur or distortion. Setting up the display is as simple as dropping it on your desk and hooking up the standard connections (oh yes, it is at this pont that you will truly appreciate the space savings :). Cables are inserted into vertical connectors on the back of the display and are neatly concealed by the rear panel and cable guides. Once you get it running you'll probably want to make some adjustments, especially if you're using an analog connection. The instruction manual does a good job at guiding you through the process. Personally I found I needed to adjust the phase and pitch as well as the color temperature (the default setting is much too blue) to get the best picture. So, why only 4 stars? Well, nothing's perfect .. :) I have noticed that color can be uneven across the screen. Also, when the screen is predominantly black you can see places where the backlighting is uneven (mostly near the edges). Finally, the screen seems to have a bit of "sheen" to it. It isn't glare, but almost seems like the screen itself has a shiny quality. In all fairness, I don't notice this very much. Overall, I love this monitor and although it has a few flaws I wouldn't think twice about owning it.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: If you're looking to treat yourself to a new monitor, you won't be disappointed with the SDM-81. At 18" you'll have plenty of bright, crisp display room. Also, with both digital and analog connections you won't be forced to upgrade your video card to enjoy this display. The response rate is between 20 and 30 ms (according to Sony's site), allowing for good picture quality even during fast screen changes. I was a bit worried about this aspect of LCD monitors since I play fast moving games, but haven't noticed any blur or distortion. Setting up the display is as simple as dropping it on your desk and hooking up the standard connections (oh yes, it is at this pont that you will truly appreciate the space savings :). Cables are inserted into vertical connectors on the back of the display and are neatly concealed by the rear panel and cable guides. Once you get it running you'll probably want to make some adjustments, especially if you're using an analog connection. The instruction manual does a good job at guiding you through the process. Personally I found I needed to adjust the phase and pitch as well as the color temperature (the default setting is much too blue) to get the best picture. So, why only 4 stars? Well, nothing's perfect .. :) I have noticed that color can be uneven across the screen. Also, when the screen is predominantly black you can see places where the backlighting is uneven (mostly near the edges). Finally, the screen seems to have a bit of "sheen" to it. It isn't glare, but almost seems like the screen itself has a shiny quality. In all fairness, I don't notice this very much. Overall, I love this monitor and although it has a few flaws I wouldn't think twice about owning it.
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