I upgraded from a 6yr old 19inch widescreen Samsung. I never saw the need to upgrade but after buying this I wish I'd done so sooner!
I've hooked this up via. DVI-D to a Radeon HD GPU. The contrast and sharpness is beyond belief. Photos have been given a whole new edge - even my desktop background jumps out at me.
The black levels are deep and inky and the brightness of the screen is perfectly even end to end.
The build quality is great. It is a typically thin and light LED panel with a slight dark grey brushed metal effect on the front facia. Not flamboyant though and only noticeable if you are checking out the monitor.
It has IPS technology. I have no idea what this really means but I provide IT Support at work to a number of departments including digital photographers. They look for IPS as a bare minimum. This monitor has vast advanced calibrating options. For me this was perfect out the box but if you needed to calibrate - the option is there. The quality of this monitor for the average eye like mine isn't far off the quality of 1000 pound EIZO ColourEdge professioal monitors (just less calibration options).
My only gripe (and it is very minor) is that the power button isn't very tactile. It requires a hard press to activate power. This is sometimes annoying as I'll power down my PC then stand up to turn off the monitor only to find upon walking away that the power is still on. It requires a very firm and square press and as it is located under the panel it often causes the monitor to shake around. As I said it is minor but considering the quality of the rest I would have liked maybe a touch sensitive button or one that is a bit nicer to press.
It is typical of the LG brand quality - An amazing solidly designed display, which servces its purpose beyond expectations and has excellent features.