AOC LM919

If you thought 19in TFTs were prohibitively expensive, think again. AOC's LM919 is available for just a shade under £400. We're the first to admit this can't really be considered cheap, but when you think that most TFTs this size cost more than £600, the AOC is remarkably good value.

In many cases such a price would mean corners have been cut, but the LM919 is very well specified. Its thin silver chassis and black stand will look great on any desk, and the latter is home to a four-port USB2 hub and a set of stereo speakers. At 2w they hardly shake the room, but are more than adequate for the odd beep from Windows. There's also a headphone port, so you can plug in a pair without having to scrabble around the back of your PC.

Surprisingly for such a low-cost product, the LM919 ships with both D-Sub and DVI interfaces. You get the cabling for both types, so everything you need is in the box.

The real proof of a TFT lies in its picture quality and we have no real bones to pick here either. With a native resolution of 1,280 x 1,024 and a response time of 25ms, our tests showed that the LM919 was a good monitor. It's not quite perfect but it's better than average. Colour distribution is fairly even and images are reproduced faithfully on screen. Movie tests showed the LM919 can cope without the tearing associated with LCD monitors with a lower screen update.

The only real problem with this TFT is the odd control system where buttons are reversed. For example, pressing the up button to adjust the contrast lowers the setting and vice versa.

This might not be as good as a £600 monitor, but it strikes an excellent balance between quality and value for money.

Contact: pcnextday (for web orders only)
www.pcnextday.co.uk

Specifications:

• 19in diagonal
• 1,280 x 1,024 resolution
• D-Sub, DVI
• 6.9kg
• 422 x 429 x 168mm (w x d x h)
• 600:1 contrast ratio
• 170 degrees horizontal and vertical viewing angle
• Four-port USB2 hub