Viewsonic VX924

This is a 19in flat screen designed for games and multimedia. The big problem some TFT displays have, compared with old-fashioned CRT monitors, is that they are relatively slow to respond to moving images.

If an image is moving on the screen, a CRT will be able to draw it faster than the LCD, which can be a problem for those who use flat-panel monitors to play games or to watch films.

This manifests itself as ghosting, where a ghost of an image appears to follow an image around the screen, and in mouse trails, where the mouse pointer appears to leave a slight trail as it is moved around the screen.

It's fair to say that this is not a problem with the VX924. Viewsonic boasts that its monitor has a world-record response time of three milliseconds, which is fast enough for users not to be able to notice motion on the screen.

There are certainly no mouse trails in Windows, and when playing games and video, the response from the screen was likewise impressive, certainly comparable to that from a CRT monitor.

While this might seem like an academic difference, and it is, largely, for those who will be sticking to office applications and web browsing, it does make a difference when using the PC for entertainment.

Colour reproduction is good as well, although it does have some idiosyncrasies; in complex shaded scenes some colours looked slightly off.

The back of the screen has both DVI and VGA ports for connecting to computers. Unlike some flat screens, the VX924 has an internal power supply, meaning that a standard three-pin mains cable can be plugged into the back, avoiding the need for an ugly power brick.

The screen's design is quite impressive, maximising its use of space. The bezel (the area of plastic around the screen) is kept to a minimum, and it is set in a tasteful silver and black colour scheme to fit in with the majority of PCs.

The stand cannot be adjusted, however; the only motion possible is to tilt the screen back and forth. The front panel controls and onscreen menus are also easy to use and it comes with all the necessary connection cables.

The main sticking point is the price. Anything above £300 is a lot of money for a PC-only screen, but this is certainly worth considering for anyone looking for an excellent computer entertainment screen.