ViewSonic VP171b review

The first thing we noticed after turning on the ViewSonic was how bright it was - a great start. We also found the OSD to be well designed - it's easy to find the setting you're after in the menu system, although buttons labelled '1' and '2' instead of 'menu' and 'select' may cause some hesitation.

The stand is generously featured. As well as the basic tilt function, it swivels 45 degrees left and right, has height adjustment and pivots to allow portrait working. The height adjustment alters the total height from 370mm to 450mm in landscape mode, and Pivot Pro from Portrait Displays handles the landscape-to-portrait conversion. Unlike the Eizo, this relies on a mouse click or keyboard shortcut to activate it.

But the bad news is the quality of the TFT panel. While it performed well for sharpness and resolution and most of the real-world tests, it had problems in the colour and greyscale tests. We also found the viewing angles to be too narrow - not surprising given ViewSonic only claims 140 degrees - and the DVD showed harsh transition between colours.

Banding in the colour and greyscale ramps also hampered the VP171b's chances. Although the actual range covered was good, there were noticeable vertical bands as the screen struggled to switch intensities.

If you're after a pivoting screen for as little as possible, the ViewSonic makes a case for your shortlist. However, the Philips costs £26 less and offers comparable quality along with a set of speakers.