Verdict: Super-bright, but it lacks features

The Iiyama E435S is so new that it will barely be on the shelves at Komplett by the time you read this. What it brings to the party is the fastest pixel response time around: 10ms. However, you can't rely on this figure to guarantee quality.

Scrutinising scenes in 'The Fast and The Furious' and Doom 3, the Iiyama had marginally less lag than the 16ms TFTs on test, but we doubt that you or your movie-watching friends will be able to see the difference.

The other thing the Iiyama can boast about is its 350cd/m2 brightness. It's easily the brightest monitor on test, even beating the Sony. This is good news, as TFTs lose brightness over time, so it's best to start with as bright a TFT as possible.

The OPQ button lets you change between PCT, TXT, ECO1 and ECO2 modes. PCT is the best for games, movies and editing photos, where colours (especially skin tones) are very realistic. The only trouble is that the high level of brightness exposes purple rather than black bars in widescreen movies. And if we're being picky, we did notice a few artefacts and a slight graininess during movie playback, even when using the DVI interface. Plus, the viewing angles aren't great.

If your graphics card lacks a digital output there's also a D-SUB interface. Iiyama has added a pair of stereo speakers, although they're only really good for Windows sounds and you wouldn't want to listen to music through them. Speakers are usually partnered with a headphone jack, but Iiyama has oddly omitted one.

There's nothing to hide the cables and connections at the rear either, and the external power supply - the only one in this Labs test - adds to the untidiness.

Another reason the Iiyama doesn't score higher is its looks. It simply doesn't ooze the kind of quality that the Sharp does. The stand also looks very basic and you can't adjust its height.

Although £248 sounds like a great deal, the Iiyama can't compete with the LG and Sharp in the design stakes. Spending just £19 more willget you a better monitor.

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