Philips is no slouch when it comes to the monitor game, and the proof is in the outstanding Philips Brilliance 109P10 (Recommended Award issue 33, p86) flat-screen 19in monitor, which may well have rained on Sonys parade if it had been submitted for this Labs. While the 109P is the professional incarnation of the Philips 109 range, the 109S is the cheaper, standard version.

At first glance, you could be mistaken for thinking the 109S is a 17in monitor, given the extremely compact design, though it still boasts an impressive 18in viewable screen. Occupying possibly the smallest footprint out of any 19in monitor on the market is certainly a selling point; with a depth of 440mm it is not as short-necked as the Panasonic PanaFlat PF90, though the neck itself occupies far less space. The front fascia curves back gently and stylishly in a similar fashion to the screen, the bezel being relatively narrow and raised slightly from the screen surface. On one hand, it seems to emphasise the curve of the screen, and on the other presents the screen in an attractive frame. Philipss range of monitors has one of the simplest OSD interfaces to operate featuring five buttons and the OSD itself offers the standard set of controls.
The display is slightly marred by moire interference patterns at all resolutions that were notoriously difficult to get rid of despite considerable tweaking. On the whole, DisplayMate scores were about average for this Labs, although above average when it comes to the shadow mask offerings. The 109S did have some problems with white-level saturation and moire, as well as screen framing and aspect ratio, although they were not critical.

One excellent feature that sets the 109S apart from a standard monitor is Philipss new LightFrame technology, marketed to offer greater viewing of Internet images. Once installed, LightFrame allows the user to highlight images on screen, boosting the brightness and sharpness of the monitors video signal in the given area. For this purpose, LightFrame works a treat, though significant ghosting and blurring of the text and icons occured when using it on the desktop. The Philips 109S makes a great package, but for only $20 more you can get the Value Award winning Acer flat-CRT monitor. If space is a primary concern however, the Philips is well worth a look.