Samsung SyncMaster 173MW

94% of the reviews on Amazon.com give this product a positive rating.

Versatile multimedia for the desktop. Handy remote control. Extra AV connectors and headphone jack on side.

Moderate smearing on moving images. Weak documentation. No mute button on front panel.

This dual-function 17-inch widescreen monitor/TV knows that all work and no play makes for a dull monitor. Designed for business, its picture-in-picture (PiP) feature lets news junkies keep current while working on office applications. It has a lot of att

Crisp text and appealing audio features don't make the most of the wide-screen format; other monitors provide better graphics.

Three brightness settings (entertainment, Internet, and text) and four color settings (cool, normal, warm, and SRGB) are preprogrammed. The 173MW also allows you to save your own brightness and color settings; an animated tutorial guides you painlessly...

Wide-screen (and pricey) LCD monitor supports high-definition TV.

The SyncMaster 192MP is clearly a monitor first and a television second, since the image smearing makes it less attractive as a TV. But it serves very well as a monitor, with a large image and generally outstanding image quality.

The swank SyncMaster 173P's outstanding image quality (and good looks) make it a fine choice for graphics and entertainment applications, if you can swing its premium price.

As is often the case with innovative designs, the SyncMaster 173P LCD isn't cheap. Its $630 price tag (at the time of our review) makes it nearly as expensive as some 19-inch LCDs