The SyncMaster 172X from Samsung was a bit of a powerhouse in our tests, scoring highly in all regards except one: surprisingly the monitor was a little over-saturated, meaning whites looked a little washed out, and this would not change regardless of how we tweaked and fiddled with the screen’s settings. However in day-to-day usage you’d barely notice this.

A different screen to the rest on review in this category, the Samsung SyncMaster 172W doesn't have a 4:3 aspect ratio, but is instead a widescreen format display.

We made the decision to test this model as the representative of the leading monitor vendor by volume shipped, having already had the monitor available in the Labs from the Peripherals Plus Athlon in our 600MHz PC Labs (see page 54).The monitor itself is a fairly nondescript piece of equipment.

The lightest TFT in our roundup, the Samsung SyncMaster 152T is the priciest screen for under a thousand dollars.

Samsungs Graphix Pro Series hosts its 19in and 21in monitor range, including this months entry: the SyncMaster 955DF.

We’re no stranger to BenQ and its high-quality monitors at PC Authority: in our last roundup of 15, 17 and 18in+ monitors BenQ managed to score two awards including Labs Winner for its 15in model.