Viewsonic's VX724 is, given the current pricing climate of the 17-inch TFT screen market, not likely to be a particularly strong impulse buy. With other displays starting at under £100, the VX724's price tag of more than double that seems initially excessive. But in fact it's a starting point for that old argument about quality or price.

Now let's be clear here. There are some budget, entry-level TFT screens that we really wouldn't mind having on our desks. But as soon as you do a side-by-side comparison with a unit such as Viewsonic's it's quickly clear what you pay the extra for. Immediately, the clarity of the display is obvious. The sharpness comes across particularly when dealing with text, and throughout the duration of our review, we used the VX724 without our eyes ever objecting.

Colours too are strong. Put a premium 17-inch TFT next to a budget unit, and whilst the difference may not be marked enough to swing some people's buying decision, there's nonetheless evidence there of the lower cost unit suffering. Digital inputs clearly help where display quality is concerned, and again, this is something that the VX724 supports but a lower cost screen may not.

And then there's gaming. This is where paying the extra for a top-spec TFT can really make the difference. The VX724 boasts a 4ms response time, and the upshot of that is that if you're playing a game, you won't even catch a minor trace of the ghosting that used to plague such screens barely a couple of years ago. We certainly didn't, and let us assure you we spent an awful lot of time trying. The same applies with DVD movies, which - aside from looking great - move without the merest hint of fuss.

Further icing is then added to the already rather tasty cake; the screen looks good and its viewing angle is generous. Less tasty were the problems we had with the driver CD (as usual, something not compulsory to use, but worth trying) which struggled with our test PC. But we suspect that's a one-off problem, and we did get it working after a bit of fiddling.

The display's settings are controlled by a series of buttons mounted on the front of the screen. The straightforward on-screen display takes you through the various adjustments available. Few surprises here, although the effectiveness of the auto image adjust feature is worth commending.

In all, there's little doubt that this is an exceptionally strong display, and thus we save the conundrum - and the key stumbling block - until last. Just how much is it worth paying for a 17-inch screen?

Certainly you're paying a premium for the quality of Viewsonic's display, and there are plenty of alternatives available at less than half the price. Truth be told, some of these are likely to suit you perfectly well if all you're looking to do is some occasional work, the odd bit of Web browsing and a smattering of office-related applications. But if you're regularly gaming, watching movies or using the display for long periods every day, then in our view it's worth paying for a really good monitor.

This is a superb 17-inch display that finds Viewsonic on top of its game. The price is the area that's likely to cause the most contention, but - here it comes! - you really do get what you pay for, especially for gaming and DVD movie playback.