First impressions, in the online shopping age, perhaps count less than they once did. But there's little denying that Octigen's 22-inch widescreen TFT - the clumsily-named 236617LNOTG - is hardly a looker, and would hardly benefit from living in a real-world showroom.Housed in a cheap-looking, plasticky exterior, the screen has a reflective casing that adds to the bargain basement feel. What's more, the stand isn't adjustable in any way, while the in-built speakers give the kind of tin-sounding, really quite poor output that stereotypically you'd expect from screen-mounted speakers.
Furthermore, a quick peak around the back of the screen reveals that if you're looking for anything more than a single D-Sub input, you're going to be disappointed again. It's not a good start. In short, the 236617LNOTG has to be the kind of product that eschews looks to reveal some kind of inner beauty. And in a way it does.
Because the unit might strip away the kind of frills you may expect, and might be sorely lacking in any kind of notable features, but when it comes to the picture quality, it's really quite good. It displays a native resolution of 1,680 x 1,050 pixels and, across a variety of source material, we were quite impressed with the sharpness of the display.
Both fast-moving films and equally rapidly-paced games looked suitably fresh, and colour reproduction was sound. It wasn't a top-notch picture, but it's entirely workable and useable for day to day operation. It certainly punches a little above its apparent weight.
You also have some limited flexibility over the display, courtesy of a fairly basic on-screen display menu that lets you select between the small handful of viewing modes that the product offers. And it has a healthy viewing angle too, which we weren't expecting. It's also worth noting that while the exterior of the screen may look and feel cheap, it is sturdy enough. So it's got a fair few points in its corner.
Crucially, it's also hard to ignore the rock bottom price. We found the 236617LNOTG for under £165, which is an astounding street price for a 22-inch display. There are some compromises as a result, as we've discussed, but if budget really is an issue, and you're not hunting for DVI support, then you really could do worse.
Because while the screen lacks the finish or obvious quality you'd get for spending a little more, it's hard to conclude anything other than that it's good value for money, warts and all.
