There's not much to look at, as far as the lengthily named LCD175VXM+ is concerned. It comes in a pure white colour, with a round, tilting base, and VGA, DVI and audio input connections.

However, it shines once it's switched on – literally. This screen is very bright, and at its native resolution of 1280x1024 pixels, both text and images are clear and pin-sharp.

Colour reproduction is good, as is the screen's contrast. The brightness makes it especially suitable for those who find some LCD monitors too dark, or who are constantly turning up the brightness on other monitors.

At £150, the NEC Multisync LCD175VXM+ isn't especially cheap given current prices of other 17in monitors, but it's certainly worth paying the premium for a display of this quality.

The on-screen controls aren't particularly nice to look at, or easy to work with, but the Multisync LCD175VXM+ monitor comes with a CD containing some software for changing the settings from within Windows. That makes things much easier, and is a pleasure to use, although the installation procedure for the software could have been clearer.

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