Philips 200CW review

The Philips 220CW is one of only two 20in TFTs in this month's Labs, and in terms of features it's about as bare as can be. The design doesn't particularly stand out from the crowd either, with a plain black, curvy bezel (which at 23mm thick isn't ideal for tiling) and a basic stand that can only tilt to match your eye level.

Inputs consist of the expected DVI and VGA, and there's no DVI cable in the box. The only nod to ease of use is the single USB port around the back, but its location means it's not that much more convenient than just reaching for your PC case.

But, vanilla design apart, the Philips did pretty well in our tests. The 3,200:1 dynamic contrast produced impressive results in both our black and white test screens, while our gradient ramps and colour tracking tests were handled with ease. The dynamic contrast mode didn't fare so well during video, noticeably swinging the backlight up and down as the lighting changed, but for work with static images it's well worth keeping on.

If we do have a complaint it's that we couldn't get a neutral grey out of the 200CW, with colours tending towards yellow a little too much. In addition, the viewing angles on both axes are quite poor, while the overall dynamic range is on the low side, which makes it hard to see the top few shades of grey on a white background.

It's not ideal for entertainment, but for static images the Philips is perfectly usable. And at this low price we can almost forgive the lack of any extras, but there's just not enough elsewhere to offset the lack of inches.

Author: David Bayon