Labs

The 19in AOC LM919 has an impressive feature set for such a competitively priced monitor. It has both DVI-D and VGA inputs, a USB 2 hub with four downstream ports and built-in speakers with a headphone socket. The power button, menu controls and quick access to the brightness and contrast settings are available via a bank of five buttons on the right edge of the screen. The speakers and a roll-wheel volume control are mounted in the stand. As we expected, the sound from these tiny speakers lacked any depth; the headphone socket is possibly more useful.

The case has a plasticky feel, and the bevel and stand look incredibly cheap. Even the cable mask on the rear of the monitor feels flimsy, although it does its job fine.

The AOC doesn't pivot but it can tilt. However, the tilt capability of our

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test unit was tempered somewhat by the sheer force needed to use it: the whole monitor lurched towards us if we didn't anchor the base with a steady hand.

If you're not satisfied with the automatic monitor settings, there's a range of manual controls. With the DVI port in use the on-screen display offers a warm or cool colour temperature setting. Red, green and blue levels can be set through the same menu as brightness and contrast. Bizarrely, when the brightness was set to its maximum of 100, the display was only marginally brighter than when set to zero; it was a similar story with the contrast settings. Attaching a VGA cable offers the same menu options as DVI, with the addition of focus, H and V position, and clock settings.

Despite a limited range of the brightness and contrast controls, screen quality was acceptable: text was clear, although not pin-sharp, and colours were accurately represented. DVD playback was good, with fast action sequences showing just a little smearing. Colours on video sequences were accurately reproduced, but compared with the other monitors on test, the AOC lacked a little punch. The panel coped well at non-native resolutions and would suit most of the applications likely to be thrown at it.

The AOC LM919 monitor isn't exactly easy on the eye but it's priced well, has a good specification and performs admirably - it's just a little dull.