Almost all computer monitors and TVs use the same technology that first appeared in the 1940s: the CRT. How both consumers and manufacturers would love a viable flat panel display. LCDs dont make the grade: its too hard - and expensive - to produce LCDs larger than 20 inches diagonal.

If you're space conscious or limited when it comes to your PC set up then no doubt you've already looked at the TFT display option at some point. We've got three new TFT offerings from three companies in the Labs this month, which should give you a good idea of the state of play of the TFT market at the moment.

Atec is a new face on the Australian LCD scene but a big name in Korea, and this is the first display weve looked at from this manufacturer.

How many acronyms can a monitor have before it chokes on its own resolution? We have all come to expect CRTs, LCDs, TFTs and God knows what else but now Samsung has come up with a monitor with so many acronyms it will leave you gasping.

An impressive paperback replacement with a remarkable display: it’s only let down by the unintuitive software.

The Qosmio is the absolute pinnacle in multimedia notebooks. It brings everything you need for a good Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) system and squeezes it into a notebook form-factor. Albeit a large notebook form-factor. Yes the Qosmio is a huge and heavy notebook, but it's not nearly as heavy as it would have been if it was packed with desktop internals as many desknotes of this size usually are.

Stylish and bursting with features, Polyview deserves to take the 17in LCD market by the horns and turn it upside down as it did with the CMV1515 (June 2003). Another display to boast the 16ms pixel response time, the fast rise and fall rate of the pixels in this display make it ideal for gaming, even when playing first person shooters or watching video.

Receiving this model last month, we knew we were seeing innovation in action with the introduction of OLED technology and the ultra wide and bright 2.2-inch display. OLED allows for less power consumption while providing a noticeably brighter and clearer display than other technologies – perfect for direct sunlight and angular viewing.

It feels like I say this every time I write a TFT review, but by gum theyve come ahead in leaps and bounds in recent years, in terms of technology, price and sales.

There is something totally decadent about playing your favourite PC game on a 30-inch LCD monitor with stereo sound from two banks of speakers - one on each side.

On receiving this unit, we were impressed by the mammoth 15.4in widescreen display. Although sceptical of its ability to perform given its monster display size, we were proven wrong at every turn, with the 8600 performing similarly to the more expensive Toshiba Tecra S1 Notebook (July 2003 page 40). Absolutely bursting at the gills with features, this Notebook boasts an array of connectivity options including side mounted FireWire and IrDA, while on the rear of the unit we find two USB and legacy serial, parallel and S-Video ports.

Small screen, but it's packed with features, including DivX playback, slot loading DVD, HDMI, and a digital TV tuner.

2D graphics speed has been a non-issue for some years, and the demand for analog image quality is also waning in the move to digital TFTs, all of which means that Matrox's reputation for analog engineering is now a moot point for most users.

The iSTAR ID-17VSSBK is bright, sharp and clear and is housed in an attractive two tone glossy black and silver bezel which would match both the minimalist home or work environment.

They say that once you've used an LCD display on your desktop you dont ever want to go back to a CRT...

Mobile phones have become powerful and flexible office tools, but there's still one area that's dated - the screen. Trium's Eclipse aims to remedy this, by combining the usual spread of phone features with a 120 x143 pixel 256-colour screen. But do you really need it?

Excellent quality, but the high price and sheer size make it impractical for all but a few niche applications.

If you're after an ultra portable, this isn't the notebook for you. If you're after a large form factored portable desktop replacement, this could be the ticket. This behemoth of a notebook features a 17-inch widescreen display and a footprint to match.

The Compucon T750S took the trophy for the monitor with the biggest stand, but aside from that it’s quite an unassuming display.

Dell's 12.1in netbook could have been good, but you'd have to buy one in the US to realise its true potential