Labs

While it may seem a bit of a backward step to be giving the top award to one of just two 20in monitors in this group, the LG L206WU is thoroughly deserving of it. Odd black-and-white design aside, it's hugely well featured, offers the sharpness of picture that only a denser pixel pitch can, and does so at a price that's not at all unreasonable.

That pixel pitch is of course due to the fact that the 20in panel squeezes the same 1,680 x 1,050 resolution into less space than its 22in rivals, and it makes for a superbly crisp desktop. The 1,000:1 basic contrast produces good results, but the 5,000:1 dynamic mode worked even better; to put it in perspective, there aren't many such modes that we don't disable within minutes. This one we'd be happy to leave switched on.

The black level is wonderfully deep, yet

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the white level also manages to hold its own against the superbly bright Samsung. Our gradient ramps showed perfect blending and a good contrast between lower and higher intensity colours, while the tracking test was produced with impressively neutral tones. We opted for the 6,500K colour temperature as sRGB lacked brightness by comparison, and the OSD was fairly simple to navigate and make changes.

Games and movies were also wonderfully vivid, yet colours remained accurate, and only in the most erratic of scenes did we notice the dynamic contrast actively swinging up and down to suit the lighting.

Around the back of the monitor sit the usual DVI and VGA ports, and you also get a pair of USB ports for connecting up further TFTs via DisplayLink. The stand, however, is a marvel, lifting through an elastic 13cm, as well as swivelling practically a full circle, tilting and even pivoting to portrait mode for tall documents. The side bezel is just 17mm thick, so tiling is an option, and the smaller size makes this a more realistic prospect than with a pair of 22in TFTs.

At just £166 for such a well-featured TFT, the LG is great value and while you can buy a 22in model for less, you'll not get one of this quality. The only question is whether you'd rather spend £24 more on the stylish and larger, but a little less versatile, Samsung. The decision was tight but, for us, the LG just edges it.