Verdict: Cheap but not cheerful

The SyncMaster 913N is the plain Jane of our 19in TFT beauty contest. Its simple silver frame and matching stand shows there's a fine line between understatement and no statement at all. However, if the looks say 'office' then the specification says otherwise.

The 913N has an impressive 300 cd/m2 luminance rating, a brilliant 700:1 contrast ratio and the same speedy 8ms response time as the LG Flatron L1980Q.

However, the 913N is D-SUB only, with no DVI input for a digital signal. As a secondary consideration, the 913N is one of the least adjustable 19in models on test, with a fixed height and a limited tilt range. However, the 913N's speedy auto-setup routine makes quick work of the geometry, timing and brightness configurations.

The 913N includes a wide range of adjustment controls, enabling you to set up brightness and contrast, choose between cool, normal, warm and custom colour settings, and adjust the sharpness of the monitor to a high degree. It also features three modes under the heading of 'MagicBright', enabling you to choose between Text, Internet, Entertain and Custom settings at the touch of a button. The OSD is sensibly laid out, making this an easy display to configure.

Sadly, it needs to be. The 913N's performance in many of our tests was underwhelming, with white saturation - the ability to distinguish between light tints and white - a real weakness. Luckily, the 913N is much happier at the lower end, with its strong contrast levels evident in its ability to distinguish very dark colours from black.

Despite the low response time, the 913N actually fares worse than the theoretically slower NEC and Sony monitors when it comes to moving images. Blurring doesn't appear to be a problem, but the 913N seems to fudge some of the detail, and it lacks the Sony's superb colour handling.

Considering its price tag, the 913N puts in a good show, but if your budget is limited then you might be better off with a top-notch 17in instead of this bargain-basement 19in.

• 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