NEC MultiSync LCD2070NX

NEC's LCD2070NX gained our affection not only through its stylish looks but also thanks to solid image quality and a competitive price. There's a novel approach to menu navigation, with a mini-joystick to control the OSD. It's fiddly at first but you soon get used to it and it quickly becomes intuitive.

Thankfully, you retain control of brightness and contrast using the DVI input. However, once you've adjusted the red, green and blue levels settings for the colour presets, the presets retain the changes and their original title. The only way to return to the real preset colour temperatures is to perform a factory reset.

There are a few features that make up for this: a USB hub offers two ports at the back and two on the left side for quick access. Plus, the rear is neat and tidy, so it suits reception areas. There's no pivot support, but height is adjustable by over 100mm.

When it comes to quality, the NEC is a decent performer. It wasn't exceptional in any area: it achieved its four-star rating by being consistent across the board - no tests were failed at all. Viewing angles are fine: three people can comfortably look at photos close up with no discolouration off-axis.

We liked the even backlighting, but solid areas of colour were grainier than others on test. We saw a tiny amount of smearing in Far Cry too, but neither of these are problems that prevent us from recommending the NEC at this price. It's a fine alternative to the widescreen Philips.