BenQ G2222HDL, our new A-List 22in monitor

Its unassuming looks don't give much away. The gloss-black bezel is a relatively slim 16mm, only bulging out on the bottom-right corner to make room for the six buttons mounted underneath. Both the onscreen display and its accompanying controls make sense and are unfiddly in use.

The BenQ is smartly attired for the money. The clean design tapers into a slim, curvaceous rear, and it's only once you peer at the connections on offer that the G2222HDL reveals its budget roots. With just D-SUB and DVI sockets and no integrated speakers, the BenQ is a decidedly frugal affair, and the stand allows for a limited amount of front-to-back tilting but nothing more.

It's a capable monitor when it comes to its screen, though. The bog-standard TN panel with 1080p resolution passed our technical tests with aplomb. Smooth greyscale ramps displayed only the faintest amount of banding, and upping the ante with tricky colour gradients didn't faze it in the slightest. Brightness isn't lacking either, and thanks to the even LED backlighting the BenQ is entirely free from backlight bleed around its edges.

Our suite of test images and HD movies produced impressive results. In dark scenes, the panel struggled to differentiate accurately between the darkest shades, and a yellow tinge left skintones looking less realistic than those from Eizo or NEC. But the overall quality is far better than it has any right to be for this money, with punchy colours and good contrast going a long way towards making amends for any minor technical weaknesses.

If you can't live without an HDMI input, the Asus is a similar price, even if the image quality isn't as good as the BenQ. But if DVI and a fixed stand will do, we can't see any reason to look further than BenQ's G2222HDL. It's an excellent budget buy.