Sony has swept the field again to walk away with the coveted Quality Award. Following the well worn path that its kindred have forged, the CPDG400 has ensured that for every monitor Labs that PC Authority has ever conducted, Sony remains the consistent Quality Award winner.

Design-wise, the Sony possesses an imposing no-frills presence, and yet is reasonably compact in dimension, enabling it to be used in small offices where space is a premium. The 18in viewable flat-screen display is pleasingly framed in a flat and straight edged bezel, with the OSD interface tucked away underneath the bottom edge of the monitor. The interface functions in a dial-like manner in order to call up and adjust the desired settings, and unfortunately can take a lot of fiddling around to get it right, although the OSD itself is easy to understand. Possessing a second D-Sub connector, the CPDG400 also features an input switch enabling the user to connect the monitor to two sources and swap from one input source to another.

However solid and functional the design is, the feature that really distinguishes the Sony from this months competitors is its exceptional image quality. The DisplayMate scores tell the story: topping all but one of the categories, the CPDG400 excels particularly in reproducing clear, crisp and bright colours, with near-flawless reproduction of greyscale and colour gradients, as well as excellent colour purity. At all resolutions, the image remains sharp, doing a top-notch job when it comes to image focus and resolution, consistent all the way to the edges and corners of the screen. This is due to the proven Trinitron flat-screen aperture-grill tube, of which the CPDG400 represents arguably the best implementation to date in the 19in class.
However, the Sony is not without a few issues. Despite topping the geometry and distortion section of DisplayMate testing, the CPDG400 did display some minor problems in that regard. Screen framing and aspect ratio appeared noticeably distorted, with circular objects possessing an elliptical shape, stretched horizontally across the screen. This is due to the angle at which the electron beam strikes the edges of the flat aperture-grill screen. That minor issue aside, the CPDG400 is quite simply a pleasure to use for those willing to pay for the luxury.