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.

Featuring 17 inches of display space, the DV175 has a nice native resolution of 1,280 x 1,024. This is complemented by a decent 450:1 contrast ratio, but is sadly let down by a meagre 250cd/m² brightness ratio, which meant that the images appeared dulled at times and required some fiddling with the contrast and colour controls to artificially enhance the screen.

This model also featured a 20ms response time, but Mitsubishi have informed us that this will be phased out as models transition to 16ms. For our money, make sure you get one of the 16ms models. While the display rates aren’t always apparent, if you’re going to play games or watch movies on the screen that extra 4ms certainly makes a difference. For office applications though you won’t notice a thing.

The DV175 comes with both analog RGB D-Sub and digital DVI connectors, and is fully Windows Plug-and-Play compliant. An added bonus if you’re looking at this model is the built-in speakers. These are tiny little things but capable of crystal clear audio -- something not normally associated with monitor speakers.

The upcoming enhancement to response time is welcome, as would be an increase to the brightness levels, but all in all, the DV175 is a good monitor.