Philips 170B2T

The 170B2T uses a 17in panel described by Philips as a R.G.B. Vertical Stripe TFT, although to us it looks suspiciously like IPS. This gives it official viewing angle figures of 160 degrees, both horizontally and vertically, along with a contrast ratio of 400:1 and a brightness of 250cd/m2.

In the image quality tests, the Philips did well in the colour and greyscale section. It almost managed to match the Eizo's score, despite failing the white-level saturation and grey-scale intensity ramp tests. In the latter, the progression of greys from light to dark wasn't uniform. It gained two distinctions for white colour purity and colour combinations, though, and these pushed the score up.

The 107B2T easily passed the sharpness and resolution tests thanks to the DVI input, but the real-world tests were more disappointing. With only half the available marks from both viewing angle tests and the DVD movie, the Philips lagged behind the top performers. A distinction for general Desktop clarity couldn't rescue it.

The dark grey bezel proscribes the Philips from TCO 99 ergonomic certification, as the fascia reflects more light than a beige one. This isn't a big problem, as the screen itself is reflection free. Of more concern, given the price, is the lack of features - there's no USB hub, no speakers and no advanced OSD options.

The 107B2T has good image quality, but a poor feature set. When you can buy the Eizo for the same price, the Philips can't be recommended.