ViewSonic VA1916w

ViewSonic monitors have performed solidly in recent PC Pro Labs, and the VA1916w is no exception. It shares the usual ViewSonic styling, with a curved black body and a silver strip running along the bottom edge, and this model has an odd, stepped stand that catches the eye.

The control buttons are sensibly placed front-centre, and if only ViewSonic moved to more meaningful labels than the rather confusing "1" and "2" we'd have no complaints with its usability at all.

Image quality is pretty much as we've come to expect from ViewSonic, with smooth gradients, almost perfectly neutral greys and decent contrast. The dynamic ratio of 2,000:1 makes for plenty of detail in movies and games, too, provided you don't mind the dynamic range swinging up and down when the colour composition of the on-screen image shifts dramatically.

Colours are accurate, although a little washed out and muted for our tastes - others offer more saturated colours that we found better suited to gaming. But the black level on our test screen was excellent, and this didn't come at the expense of detail or brightness. Gradient ramps showed even distribution and we could make out the lightest greys on a white background.

You don't get any integrated speakers and it's a VGA-only monitor, which is why it lags a little behind some of the others this month in its features rating. But at £94 (exc VAT) this is a good all- round screen and a decent alternative to the award winners.

Author: David Bayon