Packed with a satisfying bundle of features, CTX's PV722E is a 17-inch flat panel monitor, and a good one at that. However, it's the extra feature set that helps move it significantly up the shopping list.

Let's start with the basics, though. The screen itself is a breeze to set up, with welcome connections for both DVI and VGA input. Its display is crisp, with even games and DVDs running without many of the problems sometimes associated with TFTs, such as blurring of movement. The display works at extensive viewing angles too. CTX quotes that it should be able to handle angles of 170 degrees either way, and that's not a claim we can refute.

You can also pivot the screen round 90 degrees to view it in portrait, rather than landscape. A piece of bundled software tells your PC what's going on, and it thus alters its display accordingly; a useful tool if you do a lot of writing or page design. It doesn't let you alter its height though, which would have added a few plump cherries to an already appealing cake.

Also included are some speakers, which aren't attached to the unit when you first take it out of the box. Instead, it's a simple job to affix the speaker add-on should you want to use it. As monitor speakers go, they're not too bad, avoiding that infamous tinny sound that your eardrums usually have to deal with. That said, they're going nowhere near the PC of someone who is even halfway serious about their sound.

A four port USB 2.0 hub (which naturally enough is backwards compatible to USB 1.1) is also built-in. While it would have been more ideal to have the ports a little easier to access (they live at the back of the unit) it's still far more useful than having to grope around the back of your PC every time you want to plug in something new.

These additions are, of course, the frills of the package. The substance is the display itself. With a native resolution of 1,280 x 1,024 pixels, the quality of the PV722E's output is excellent. Colours come across vividly and text in particular is very sharp. Our prolonged use of the screen had us staring at it for the best part of three hours at one point, and our eyes didn't object once.

It's easy to configure the image, via an on-screen display controlled by buttons mounted to the right of the panel. And the whole unit is finished off with a stylish metallic silver look. On the downside, it's quite pricey, but you do get a solid piece of kit for your money.

Speakers aside, the CTX PV722E is a professional, high quality screen that's a stylish addition to any PC system. The USB hub and pivoting feature are handy extras, but this is one of the more pricey 17-inch LCD monitors on the market.