Product Reviews

Octigen's 236617LNOTG is the cheapest 22in widescreen monitor we've seen, costing just £159 including VAT. It isn't the most stylish, though; the frame and stand are sturdy enough, but the shiny black finish gives the monitor a rather cheap, portable TV look.

It looks like a smaller display, thanks to the thin 20mm bezel. However, the screen elevation is exceptionally low at just 65mm, and the stand isn't height adjustable. This means you will probably need to buy a stand to get the display to the correct height to avoid back and shoulder pain.

The basic onscreen display (OSD) has all the controls that most users will need. Pressing one of the seven control buttons when the OSD isn't active will bring up the volume controls or change the viewing modes. It's a shame that a couple of these buttons aren't dedicated to brightness and contrast, although these settings are changed depending on which of the four viewing modes you choose. We found that Normal was the best setting for most tasks, including watching videos. The Movie mode was overly bright, giving images a slightly washed-out look.

Despite

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the DVI label on the rear, there's only a D-sub input. A digital connection is best to get the most out of HD material, so if you plan to watch HD video from your PC, this may not be the monitor for you. We were impressed with the pin-sharp clarity of the Windows desktop at the native resolution of 1,680x1,050, though.

Our greyscale gradient test is particularly tricky for monitors, but the 236617LNOTG turned in a good performance and banding was barely noticeable. The 236617LNOTG has a contrast ratio of 1,000:1, which is above average for a monitor of this size.

Overall, images were crisp and sharp and the monitor managed to pick out even the smallest details in dark areas of our still images and movie clips. Whites are pure, too. The only slight gripe is that, when displaying a screen of solid black, there was some leakage from the 300cd/m2 backlight across the bottom of the screen. Skin tones also look a little ruddy compared to other displays, and colours were muted and a little murky, no matter how much we adjusted the controls.

The 236617LNOTG has surprisingly loud built-in 2W stereo speakers. However, they were also exceptionally tinny, and you won't want to use them for listening to music or playing games.

We were impressed with the viewing angles. Moving through 170° horizontally showed no dimming in brightness and we found we could lean a reasonable distance to the side before image quality started to deteriorate.

Octigen has done an excellent job at producing a good, budget monitor that is well suited to office tasks. However, for just £21 more you can get HannsG's HW223DP, which has more features, a digital connection and better all-round performance.