Sharp LL-T15G3-B 15

WHAT'S HOT: The LL-T15G3 strikes a nice balance between price and performance. It has the lowest price on our September 2003 issue's Top 10 chart ($280 at the time of our review), and in our graphics tests it was among the top-scoring models. Our judges gave it especially high scores for its rendering of Microsoft Word and Excel screens.

WHAT'S NOT: You don't get stylish industrial design at this low price: The basic white monitor's panel sits low on a blocky stand that provides only simple tilt adjustment. The display's graphics quality wasn't stunning either; judges gave low marks for two photo screens in particular, which showed faded colors.

WHAT ELSE: This Sharp's on-screen controls are straightforward. Pressing the Menu button allows you to switch through four basic screens. A Mode button on the bezel lets you toggle among three color presets: standard, vivid (high contrast), and sRGB (for syncing on-screen colors to those on an sRGB-compliant printer). Unlike most monitors, the LL-T15G3 comes with a nice, thick paper manual, but the documentation doesn't contain as much detail as the Portable Document Format and HTML manuals that many other vendors supply on CD-ROMs.