Viewsonic VX712

If your computer has a digital output then you’ll probably want to plug that into your new monitor. Despite most modern monitors coming with this as an option, few bother to supply the required cable, which is actually quite pricey and could set you back another twenty quid or so. So it was good to see one supplied in the ViewSonic box.

Like its rival monitors we tested, the screen has a response time of 8ms (so doesn’t have any problems playing video or super-fast games) and works at a screen resolution of 1,280 by 1,024 pixels. It has stereo speakers built in, but they’ll more than likely be dwarfed by the speakers you already have connected to your computer.

In our tests the screen performed well, with good contrast and razor-sharpness. The most disappointing element is the buttons you use for setting up the screen, which were fiddly to use, though this isn’t the end of the world as the automatic settings did a good job of getting the screen into a worthy state. Also, once you’ve got it set up, you shouldn’t need to fiddle with it too much on a day-to-day basis.