Why bother buying a big screen that takes up part of your wall, when you can buy a cheap projector and take up the entire wall?

LCD technology takes a small step forward with the advent of superfast 8ms. Darren Ellis looks at why your next screen will be LCD.

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.

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.

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.

Although the Tablet PC was launched with much hype and fanfare, many media outlets have been sceptical as to the validity of the technology. However, the experience delivered by using a Tablet PC firsthand, for any length of time cannot help but impress. I myself went from cynical observer to total convert after trialling three tablets.

This is the first display in a fresh new line of TFT monitors to come from Mitsubishi this year, and from this early glimpse things are looking good. The unit we received was a very early pre-production model -- it had missing panels, the occasional loose wire and a completely different colour scheme (the TFT pictured is the final shipping version), but as a look to where Mitsubishi is headed it was perfect for our needs.

The Viewsonic airPanel V110 is the first of its kind – a wireless, portable display that unfetters you from your PC and allows you to work around the home and office while your PC sits in another room. It runs Windows CE for Smart Panels which is like a pared-down version of Windows XP, and mimics your system desktop allowing you to access files and programs without needing to be next to your PC.

TFT screens are notoriously expensive to manufacture and even more expensive to purchase in comparison to their conventional CRT counterparts.

I've predicted 2003 will be the year of the TFT, with massive price cuts on the way that will give CRTs a run for their money. The year is already looking good with these three models entering our testing Labs.

Another display that performed consistently throughout the testing, the B17SM returned fair results with a price to match.

The new Nokia Communicator  unfortunately evokes early '90s mobile phones: it has a long body, small display and is not something you could slip into a pocket. Closed, the 9500 is monstrous, but when you open its sideways clamshell design the 9500 comes into its own.

Bursting at the seams with inputs, this model has it all. Integration of a TV-tuner makes this more than just a PC display - rather, it's a multimedia powerhouse, perfect for game consoles, DVD viewing and TV watching.

The PE5120 from BenQ is a native widescreen projector, and while it’s happiest displaying DVDs and home theatre inputs it also performed well with desktop and text projection.

The new Sony Ericsson P910i is the only true phone/PDA hybrid on review in this roundup so aesthetically it marries some of the largeness of a PDA with the slimness of a phone to end up with a unit that's just right: it's not too big and not too small.

High contrast and fine focal abilities make this display perfectly suited for business or student users doing a lot of reading. Impressive sharpness and resolution scores make it a great companion to those doing desktop publishing or graphic manipulation.

CTX has put together a very sturdy display that is a real all-round performer. The solid steel base is heavy and encased in black ABS plastic, great for occasional knocks on your desk.

Acer has come to the party with an affordable well performing flat display that features an internal power supply, better than average 20ms pixel response time, crisp colour and good greyscale results.

The HP PhotoSmart 850 has a huge protruding lens, and a fairly fast-responding display and a clever feature that turns off either the viewfinder or the LCD if not required (depending on which one you're using at the time).

Featuring generous tilt, and incredible viewing angle, Samsung is on to a winner with this well-designed multi-purpose display.