Acer AL1751

If you walk into a shop and look at a collection of flat screens on display, you’ll notice that no matter how bright they are, most of them will have a matt surface. This Acer model is very different because it uses Acer’s CrystalBrite technology, which makes it look like it has a layer of glass placed over the top. In a nutshell, this gives the screen a remarkable depth of colour that makes blacks appear even darker and whites far brighter than standard flat screens. The colour on this model is so vibrant it’ll make you feel like it’s going to jump out at you.

It’ll take inputs from digital (DVI) or analogue (VGA) outputs on your computer and works at a resolution of 1,280 by 1,024 pixels. Our tests showed it to have excellent contrast range thanks to its extraordinary colour depth, and a good viewing angle (how far around the side of the screen you have to go before you can’t see anything), though those snow-like whites start to darken if you have to move too far from a perfect head-on angle. The only disappointing element is its built-in speakers, though we suspect most people will simply ignore their existence and carry on with whatever devices they already output sound through.