Verdict: We like the price, but the panel is less pleasing

It's cheap as chips time in the 20in-plus category. When you think about it, £225 for a 20.1in widescreen monitor is pretty amazing - we paid more for a decent 19in 4:3 model a year ago. Nor is it obvious from the looks of the BenQ that it was built to a price; the unit feels tough, the minimalist black frame is appealing, and you still get a DVI input - the first thing that often goes when corners are cut.

If you're wondering about the controls, they're hidden away on the side of the right-hand bezel, which would have been a good idea if a) the buttons weren't so small, and b) you didn't have to turn the monitor around every time you wanted to adjust something. While the OSD menu system itself is quite straightforward, these two flaws turns its operation into an exercise in trial and error.

And if ever a screen was in need of adjustment, it's this one. 300cd/m2 luminance is the norm for this category, but the BenQ still compares badly both in terms of brightness and clarity. While it performed well in the grey-level saturation tests, it can't distinguish near-white tints, and the colour and greyscale ramp tests both suffered from a lot of banding.

In real-world usage, the screen just lacks punch. The magic was knocked out of 'Harry Potter', with drab colours and fuzzy detail, while HD tests left us asking the question, why bother when it looks like standard-definition footage? We'd want a sharper image for everyday applications and web browsing too, and the lifeless presentation is hardly ideal for photo editing. The nearest the BenQ comes to a saving grace is in games. In Prey, the screen's low-end contrast helped to resolve detail normally hidden in the shadows, although whether this is worth the loss of vibrant colour is questionable. Need for Speed: Most Wanted looked better, but the daylight lacked the required dazzle to impress.

If your budget is limited, the BenQ isn't a disaster, but it's worth either looking at a better 17in display, or finding another £50 for the Belinea.

• Cases - 21st November 2008
• Motherboards - 24th October 2008
• Gaming Headsets - 26th September 2008
• Dream PCs - 24th September 2008
• Headphones - 12th September 2008
• Media PC components - 22nd August 2008
• PSUs - 14th July 2008

• OCZ Core Series 30GB - Hard disks / storage
• Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB - Hard disks / storage
• Asus EAH4870 TOP - Graphics cards
• Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Sound cards
• Multiwinia - Games
• Zotac GeForce GTX 260² - Graphics cards
• Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 - Graphics cards