Viewmaster's 17in LCD is decidedly average in price, but it still manages to deliver quite an impact with good features and a quality Acer TFT screen.
Testing using DisplayMate shows that our test model has good colour vibrancy, handling contrasting colours with great gusto and very little distortion.
Magenta text on a dark grey background a combination that can warp on many LCDs and CRTs (including the 920DVi above) was clear and well defined on the Viewmaster.

On the downside, it was sometimes difficult to distinguish between light colours of a similar hue, such as cream and white. There was also a very slight (and vaguely annoying) yellow-pink tinge over the whole screen, that could be minimised but never entirely eradicated.

The MC870 gains points for its well-designed and full-featured screen tweaking tools, and tiny but decent speakers, but it loses them again for its lack of inputs. Given that most mid to high-end cards these days have DVI outputs, it's a little disappointing to find that the Viewmaster lacks digital input. On the other hand, there was almost no discernable difference between the quality of the Hercules screen when using DVI and the MC870 when using standard VGA.

The Viewmaster was also inconsistent with it's backlighting the edges of the screen are a slightly darker hue than the centre. Most of the time this isn't that noticeable, but it eliminates it as an option for graphics professionals.

Despite the sticker price of $1,699, the MC870 can be had for much cheaper just by shopping around, making it a great choice for people seeking a quality LCD on a budget.