Product Reviews

Many manufacturers opt for a thin bezel when making their LCD monitors more stylish. Philips' new 190X5 takes a step in the opposite direction with its big, bold case. Fortunately, it's gorgeous. The matt silver inlay contrasts with the shiny black main body to create a monitor that draws people's attention no matter what it's actually showing.

This 19" monitor has a native resolution of 1,280x1,024, which is the same as that of a 17" LCD. If you're looking at it in terms of size, it's a bit of a false economy. However, image quality is excellent. Digital photos come out very well. Many panels over-saturate colours and ruin images, but the 190X5 doesn't

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fall into this trap, displaying accurate and attractive colours.

The 190X5's bezel has two touch-sensitive areas. One turns the monitor on and off, while the other activates Philips' Light Frame image enhancement application. This has three settings: Internet, Video and Photo. If you're showing digital photos to a group of people, for example, you can use the Photo setting to make images more vibrant. Some look fantastic, but others suffer from unnatural, over-emphasised edges.

Philips bundles Light Frame Windows software that allows you to refine the settings and apply the enhancements selectively to areas of the screen. This is good if you're viewing photos on the web or watching video such as a movie trailer in a window but, again, performance varies depending on the source. Light Frame gave the 190X5 a boost when displaying DVDs. The Fellowship of the Ring looked very cinematic. The 190X5 has a fast response rating of 12ms, and no blur or ghosting interfered with our enjoyment of Lord of the Rings or any of the games we tried.

The 190X5's main drawbacks are that it lacks a DVI port and the stand's height isn't adjustable. It's an excellent monitor for watching movies and showing off photos, but £450 is a lot of money.