I currently own the Planar CT1744NU 17.4" LCD Multimedia monitor. The specs and info can be found on Planar's website via this link:
http://www.planar.com/monitors/CT1744NU.asp
I have had this monitor for quite some time as I got a GREAT deal on it 4 months ago ($800!!!) from Dell. I have the clear one but I regret not getting the red one. Which by the way makes this company unique because you can get it in different colors - Red, Clear, or Blue (they used to have Black but I am not sure if that was a Dell exclusive).
Four months later I can now say, that this monitor really is worth every penny. You get both analog and DVI inputs, and a built in USB hub (4in1). The monitor also has built in stereo speakers but @ 1 Watt per channel (yes, ONE)... they are worthless to me compared with my Dolby 5.1 setup. But nevertheless you cannot say that any other manufacturer has these features plus a 25ms 160 degree viewable 17.4" screen @ 400:1 contrast.
As far as image quality goes, I can only compare it to the CRT that it replaced (21" Sony Trinitron). Just the space saved on my desk makes up for a lot of the shortcomings that Vincent mentions in his article about LCDs. However as an added bonus, recently I bought the optional wall mounting bracket and now I only have my keyboard and my mouse on my desk. Which brings up another advantage that this monitor has - the stand is detachable and the unit can hang on the wall. To me it looks like the poorman's HDTV Plasma screen... although I do wish it was (but you can lie to all your friends like I do...)
I run it at it's max resolution of 1280x1024x32bit without any problems. I do have one bad pixel but since it's in the lower right hand corner it's only noticeable if I look at the taskbar time display area. Otherwise I am able to play all my FPS and of course the standard apps without any real discernable difference with my CRT (other than the ones mentioned in Vincent's review). I should mention that I have used notebooks in the past where fast movement would be blurry but this LCD can display everything quite nicely (I sometimes use it to watch DVDs).
As far as image quality and colors go... the colors are rich but somewhat dull. The backlight is bright and even. The image is sharp but not too grainy. However, I am not a monitor expert so these are just my opinions based on my old CRT vs the Planar.
The multilanguage on-screen controls are kinda awkward but they do their job. You have control over brightness, contrast, volume (for the speakers), positioning, auto-adjust (monitor automatically adjusts to the signal... so you don't have to calibrate position), DVI/analog selection (great feature if you use both ports on the monitor at the same time), various color adjustments (gamma, temperature), and reset.
Finally, I would just like to add that Planar offers a 3-year warranty that also covers 2-day shipping. This to me was the final selling point of this awesome flat panel. To this day, I still can't find any other flat panel in its size that compares... and given that you can buy it for around $680 (Dell has them real cheap and if you can find a coupon deal...) makes the package more worth it.
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