The 20-ms line has now been crossed. And with it, most of the afterglow problem common to flat panels is solved. For our fourth set of comparative tests of the best currently available 17" monitors, we had two questions to address: can you play games and edit images on them? To find out the answers, we brought in some new test tools to create colorimetric profiles optimized for each monitor we tested. Each of them can be downloaded free of charge, so go ahead and do it. If your monitor is in the selection, it will gain a lot in fidelity.

This test also looks at a series of additional questions:

• What real progress had been made this year?
• Why should 20-ms monitors be better than 16-ms ones?
• What are the important factors?
• How well do LCD monitors reproduce colors?
• Why should a monitor be calibrated?
• And, of course, which is the best monitor to buy?

We also have not forgotten another essential criterion, quite apart from a monitor's quality: the manufacturers' warranties. They differ greatly from one monitor to the next.

For this review, we tested the following monitors:

• Hyundai Q17, 20 ms
• Iiyama AS4314UTG, 20 ms
• NEC LCD1760V, 16 ms
• Proview PS-776D (PRO776), 16 ms
• Solarism LM-1730, 16 ms
• ViewSonic VG170m, 16 ms