Iiyama ProLite E1908WSV review

Most of the monitors we see supplied with PCs are currently 22 inch widescreen units with a resolution of 1680x1050.

They offer plenty of space, but are correspondingly bulky, and cheaper ones can be disappointing. Iiyama is shaking things up with a 19 inch TFT that crams in the same number of pixels, instead of the 1440x900 you'd expect. And it costs just £100.

The difference this extra resolution makes is far more noticeable than we imagined. Windows looks really sharp, and the extra space makes a huge difference compared to other 19 inch screens when you have a few windows open. Details in HD video clips suddenly stand out, although there still aren't quite enough pixels for full 1080p playback.

The Iiyama passed our technical tests with flying colours. Gradients were smooth, greys were as close to neutral as we'd expect at this price, and the 5000:1 dynamic contrast feature works better than most: the backlight swings up and down a little during movie scenes with variable lighting, but it's among the least distracting we've seen. It's great in games and videos, with accurate colours let down only slightly by a small amount of light bleeding through the bottom edge in dark scenes.

What's interesting is that the ProLite manages all this over a VGA connection. The all-digital DVI interface is normally much better, and a significant omission on budget screens, but somehow the Iiyama gets away with it. Pixel jitter was non-existent, and auto-setup fitted the image perfectly to the edges of the screen. Just as well we didn't have to change anything, as the menu system is awful.

The stand isn't adjustable, and the design is as bland as any low-cost LCD. The integrated speakers are OK for YouTube but little more. But when you're getting a good quality panel with a high resolution for a hundred quid, nothing distracts from the fact that the Iiyama is a bit of a bargain.