Amid all this talk of blistering response times, it's easy to forget that not everyone is looking for the ultimate gaming display. If technical excellence in the form of image quality and the ability to reproduce fine colour shades is important to you, without forgoing your 8ms requirements, then the 17in IBM should certainly make your short list.

This monitor aced many of our image quality tests, handling fine colour transitions with ease and producing sharp images and text even at very small font sizes. It also produces one of the darkest all black screens of the bunch, helping it greatly in the DVD playback stakes which benefit from the black background. It's not the world's most attractive monitor -- black isn't the new black anymore -- and it would look more at home on a work desk than sitting next to your gaming rig.

The display can rotate to portrait mode, swivel 45-degree left or right and even be raised 110mm. It also has by far the thinnest bezel (the frame around the display), making it well suited to multi-monitor environments. Those who know their monitors will be disappointed with the options of 'redish' and 'blueish' colour adjustments rather than predefined Kelvin temperatures.

Disappointingly it is the only digital monitor not to come with a DVI cable, which seems stingy considering the price. Were it not for its less-than-perfect gaming and DVD playback scores, this monitor would have pipped the ViewSonic to take the title of best display quality. However, with 19 inch prices plummeting and quality rocketing, the 17 inch market is fast becoming the LCD budget market. With this in mind, while the Polyview just edges ahead of the IBM in the value stakes, the excellent quality of the L171P will still attract many.