S/V-293

If you've read the very low price at the top of this review and thought to yourself "it just can't be any good if they're giving it away at that price", then we're here to tell you that this monitor is indeed one of the best bargain buys.

For a low price, you get a screen that has both VGA and DVI inputs and one which also has a reasonable 21ms pixel response time and above average contrast and brightness ratings.

Additionally, this screen is manufactured using MVA technology, and we do rate the viewing angle of this monitor highly. There was only a slight colour loss when viewing from greater than 150 degrees. It has a 2cm thick bezel across the top and along the sides of the screen and also requires an external power supply

The brightness level of this monitor was superb in our testing. Likewise, its 800:1 contrast ratio made the screen a pleasure to use for viewing text, images and movies. While its quoted response time (21ms) is slow, it did do well in our motion blur tests. In particular, white text on black and grey backgrounds remained white and did not emit a noticeable trail as it scrolled across the screen, while black text emitted a very short trail and turned slightly grey on white backgrounds.

This screen is rated as being able to display 16.7 million colours and it did not disappoint us in DisplayMate. Banding was not noticeable in the colour blending tests nor in the 256-level colour intensity ramps, which displayed very smooth gradients. Its ability to display low levels of grey on a black background was very good, so dark movies or photographs will not be drowned out by the black.

An inexpensive price tag, coupled with great performance, makes this model a worthwhile pick-up.