Which monitor is right for you?  You can read all of our tests in our ongoing Product Survey: 23'' to 28'' LCD Monitors, or get straight to business, by looking at our selection of the best monitors at the moment.

Note that there is also our Product Survey: 22'' LCD Monitors and our picks in the Buyer's Guide for the same product category.

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All the 23'' to 28'' monitors that we've tested meet the Full HD standard.  That still leaves a choice between screens in the 16:9 aspect ratio (1920 x 1080 pixels) and others in the 16:10 format (1920 x 1200 pixels).  The latter are better-suited for office use, as documents and websites are often longer than they are wide.  That said, 16:9 screens remain popular because of their lower price.

Here's a general list of criteria we've used to pick out the screens below:

• Hardware: video inputs (VGA, DVI, HDMI), how versatile is the stand?
• Viewing Angles: almost all 22'' screens have a TN panel, which look black when you look at them from below.  We prefer IPS or VA (MVA or PVA) panels with much wider viewing angles, but, unfortunately, heftier price tags.
• Responsiveness: a screen can be more or less responsive.  The higher its response time, the more likely moving objects are to appear blurry.
• Colours: these can range from entirely off the mark to a prefect reproduction of the colours sent by the graphics card.  It's something we check in all of our tests.

Budget option and value for money
mixed use: office, games, photos

LG W2361V Find the best price

This is the only 23'' monitor to make it into our selection which mostly contains 24'' screens.  It's only 1080 pixels high, rather than 1200 for our three other favourites.  We approved of its overall performance, especially for a price than a lot of average 22'' models. Samsung's response is the P2370, which has more honest colours, but has fewer hardware options and is a little more expensive.

Excellence for a reasonable price
a true all-rounder: photo retouching, films, office, games, photos

Samsung SyncMaster F2380 Find the best price

The F2380 didn't make the famous five stars, but it's still one of our favourite screens.  It's on a height-adjustable stand that rotates and allows you to benefit from its very wide viewing angles.  It has excellent contrast and, although its response time doesn't match a 2 ms TN screen, it's good enough for most tasks.  It's a great all-rounder and affordable to boot, making it a great choice for home and office alike.

Monitor and TV combined
films and TV shows using the digital tuner, office use, photos

Samsung T240HD Find the best price

Updated in June 2009, the T240HD now includes a HD digital TV tuner.  Apart from that, it's on of the few monitors to include a dedicated circuit to upscale and correct video feeds.  The other monitor with this capacity, the LaCie 324 (the last one in our selection) is a better choice overall but is more expensive.

The professional choice ... at a less reasonable price
photo and video editing, video, graphic design

LaCie 324     Pixmania.co.uk 729.00 Amazon Marketplace UK 802.70 Warehouse Express 889.00 Compare prices

A lot of people think of Dell when it's time to look for a high-end 24'' monitor.  Like Dell's screens, the LaCie 324 includes a PVA panel but its electronic circuits and settings are a lot better. The Faroudja image correction chip won us over and is as good as some we found in TVs just a few years ago, although the very latest models are now even better at correcting blurriness.