Shuttle XP17

Available from mid-September, Shuttle's 17in flat-screen monitor is designed to accompany its range of XPCs. The company's small form factor PCs are modern looking and increasingly being presented as media centres or gaming machines.

The XP17 follows the same trend; it's stylish and designed to be portable, with an aluminium handle and optional shoulder carry bag for easy transport. While you wouldn't want to lug it around for lengthy periods, its size and weight do make it easy to carry.

Although you can easily adjust the screen's angle, there's no swivel or height adjustment. The display can be set at 30, 45 and 60 degrees and viewed in landscape or portrait modes.

It's housed in tempered anti-glare glass and forgoes the usual plastic surround in favour of high-impact aluminium tubing, which helps set off the monitor's good looks. The same glass frames the viewing area, coloured either black or silver.

We were impressed by the overall image quality. The screen was bright and clear, the anti-glare was effective, and the 16ms response time coped well with a variety of moving images.

The monitor features VGA and DVI inputs, a native resolution of 1,280 x 1,024 and comes with the usual function buttons, which are located under the unit so can be a little awkward to use.

We liked this monitor; its picture quality is good and its stylish design pleasing to the eye. But at £450 it is expensive for what you get and there are good, cheaper alternatives. It's also not widescreen, has no in-built speakers and some might not like the lack of swivel or height adjustment.

Contact: Shuttle
http://eu.shuttle.com

Specifications:

• 17in tempered glass
• Anti-glare coating
• SXGA 1,280 x 1,024 75Hz
• 16ms response
• Analogue RGB, DVI, 140 deg vertical/horizontal viewing angle
• 450:1 contrast ratio
• 4.3kg, 422 x 434 x 64mm (w x h x d)
• 260cd/sq m