Verdict: A real beauty, but tough on the wallet

Even if you're already put off by the ViewSonic's high price, don't dismiss it just yet, as the price reflects its huge number of features. There are two D-SUB sockets and a DVI socket (for connecting up to three systems at once), and the ViewSonic also pivots into portrait mode.

The other trick up its sleeve is height adjustment. You can raise the top of the screen from 330mm above the desk to 440mm - a far greater range than either the Sharp or the LG. But there's no way of fixing the panel at a specific height, so the spring is left to take the strain, and as a result the whole panel moves if you knock the desk.

This is a minor issue, though, and the great image quality makes up for it. Movies play very well and the ViewSonic managed to reproduce the reflections in the paint on the cars in 'The Fast and The Furious' far better than the Sharp did. Colours were vivid and evenly balanced, making skin tones - and everything else - look very realistic.

Our only gripe was the slightly poorer contrast compared with that of the Sharp, which makes blacks appear with a faint purple tinge.

Generally though, the ViewSonic is a pleasure to use. Digital photos, web pages and more mundane office tasks all appeared sharp and bright, with no uneven backlighting.

However, the menu system is fairly basic. It doesn't have gamma correction or smoothing/sharpness options, and there are no preset modes, although you probably won't mourn their absence.

The ViewSonic isn't the newest TFT on test, so the horizontal viewing angles mean that realistically you can only cram about four mates around the screen to look at your holiday snaps.

The thin bezel means the ViewSonic looks good, but the high price makes it terrible value. If you want a pivoting TFT, then buy the LG. The only reason to consider the ViewSonic is if you really need three inputs.

Looking for Viewsonic VP171B ? Stop and Look Here

We have reviewed and sorted 864 odd links for viewsonic vp171b , the top 10 list is presented here.

www.ForSoho.co.uk

• 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

• 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
• Scan 3XS X58 Core i7 - Desktop PCs