HANNS-G 19-inch NW191DP review

There appears to be more manufacturers of monitors than of any other piece of computer hardware. Buy a PC today and you're likely to get it bundled with a screen from a company you've never heard of.

HANNS-G may fall into that class, but the build and image quality from this German firm is superior to many similarly priced Far Eastern models that we've seen recently. Yet it doesn't quite have the crispness of more expensive 19-inch widescreens and lacks features found in other models at this price point.

The NW191DP is typical of widescreen monitors today, decked in silver and black plastic with a central base stand that tilts forward and back. Start up Windows and adjust settings through the Auto mode. It's certainly bright, but may not show off all that your graphics card has to offer.

Sturdy base

Despite the 19-inch screen not taking up much space on the desktop, the base is quite bulky. This does, however, mean that the monitor is nice and sturdy in situ and makes tilting the screen easy with just one hand.

Unfortunately, the NW191DP offers just a basic tilt-only stand - there's no swivel option - and comes without management software or extras such as USB ports. This is something that even cheaper models can manage.

A pair of speakers is concealed behind the screen and the front is entirely button-free, giving the display very clean lines. On the downside, having the buttons concealed on the right-hand side is awkward because they're quite small and it's hard to tell what functions they perform unless you look closely at the dull labels.

Auto adjustment is very good and fits the screen edges perfectly; some cheaper models can easily get a few millimetres wrong. On the whole this is a reasonably priced no-frills monitor, but we expected some beefier features.