Product Reviews

The low-end LCD market is increasingly saturated. There's so much competition that it can be difficult to tell one monitor from another. This influx of models has required manufacturers to try and differentiate their offerings from the rest of the crowd.

This is evident in the latest offering from Hannspree. The 19in XM model from its New York range has an HD ready, 1440 x 900 pixel resolution, built-in speakers, 5ms response time and both DVI and VGA inputs. Admittedly there's not much in the base specifications to make the monitor stand out from the bunch but the design of the casing and stand are clearly different from much of what's available and the price is impressive at just £129 inc VAT.

The New York has a matt black finish to its bezel and the buttons are shiny silver that adds a visual value to the monitor, if nothing else. Six heavy-duty bolts hold the plastics together and the heads of these are left exposed at the edges of the screen, giving the monitor a retro and solid appearance. It's the tiniest of design flourishes but it does add to the perceived value of the monitor.

The speakers are 'as usual' tinny and lacking in any bass, but they're not as obnoxious as some we've encountered. The onscreen display is a basic affair with not much to offer the habitual tweaker. There are three pre-set colour temperatures and you can edit the settings to your own preference. There are also brightness, contrast and sharpness settings but that's all the manual control available.

The panel can be tilted back and forth, and swivelled

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from side to side for improved viewing angles. You can raise and lower the screen but it's not the speediest of operations. You have to unscrew the panel from the pole that attaches it to the central shaft of the stand. Even after you've done this the height advantage is minimal - a couple of inches at most. That said, the stand is a solid, sturdy affair that matches the design of the monitor. You can also wall-mount the New York with an industry-standard Vesa system should the stand not suit your needs.

The panel itself is impressive, with a bright and consistent appearance. Our gradient test showed some deficiencies between green and blue shades but you really had to look closely to see them. What really impressed us for such a cheap monitor was the consistency of the colour reproduction. From top to bottom the colour retained a similar hue and brightness. Movies were a strong point for the New York, with excellent brightness and colour balance. Action sequences were smooth and flowed across the panel with no distracting smearing. Even basic use such as word processing and page layout applications was well handled by the monitor. Our only gripe was a slight pink tint to the screen, visible when the panel was filled with solid white. You're not likely to be using it just to display a white screen much though, so we let this pass.

The overall results from the New York were very favourable. The design is sturdy and stylish and would look good in the home or indeed on display in some customer-facing type of role. The stand, although solid, doesn't offer much height adjustment. The tilt and swivel do give you some movement, so you could always raise the monitor with a few back copies of MacUser or similar.

The controls are minimal but they do allow you to manage the colour to a small degree. The speakers aren't great but we've heard worse, though we still wouldn't use them in anything but an emergency. The panel performance itself is great as it covered all the bases with aplomb. Basic everyday stuff looked good but so did movies and for this the New York is to be commended. At just £129, it's a great monitor that performs well.