This Hitachi monitor features IPS TFT, a pre-cursor to the latest Super-IPS technology used in the superb Eizo unit.

Huge capacity, but not very quiet or good value

Hitachi pioneered the concept of recording digital video direct to DVD . Now into its third generation of DVD cameras, a few competitors have appeared on the horizon with its first generation models

Inconsistent results kept the Hitachi's score low – especially as it was unable to provide decent real-world performance.

HITACHI PD32-A2100

Hitachi PCX-DT3141

At almost double the capacity of the other products in our roundup, this 400GB disk is big and fast, but unfortunately comes with an equally sized price tag.

The fundamental design of the hard drive remains unchanged since the 1960s, but smaller = better in the new age.

Good value and high capacity, but performance is average

How much capacity and how many drives do you need? We look at a selection of storage options

Although boasting the lowest average access time in the roundup at 12.2ms, looking at this drive's graphs, we notice a few more hiccups along the way than its big brother the 400GB Deskstar 7K400.

The evocatively named NF1500MAE from Hitachi is a surprisingly good screen for its low price.

Scoring stronger than both the more costly 17inch Panasonic and Hitachi, the Mitsubishi DV172B just misses out on a recommendation.

Offering 40GB of storage, the Iomega drive is very small for its capacity, measuring a mere 8.89 x 7.37 x 1.27cm. It weighs just over 99 grams, which means it's unnoticeable in your pocket. The internal drive is a 40GB Hitachi TravelStar C4K40 -- a new form-factor hard drive, measuring a mere 1.8 inches across (a normal notebook hard drive is 2.5in, a desktop drive 3.5) -- and only about 7mm thick.

A decent performer, but it struggles with small files

Monster storage; plus a choice of professional SAS or consumer SATA interfaces and reliability to boot.

Behemoth server and PC storage, with reliability features too.

BenQs FP882 is an example of the new influx of TFT screens that have recently hit the streets a quality screen offering plenty of real estate to play with. At 18in it dwarfs most 19in CRTs in viewable screen space, and offers both analog and DVI inputs, plus it has built in speakers.

We’ve seen products like Silicon Memory’s ClearLight range of portable hard drives before, yet the ClearLight has some of the most solid yet attractive plastic housing we’ve reviewed.

Two external hard drives in lego-esque cases. One of them is worthy of our recommended stamp.