The computer monitor or HDTV you pick says a lot about you. If you're a Web designer, you'll need plenty of screen real estate to do your job, so a 22-inch or larger LCD monitor is a necessity. A sports nut wants to feel like part of the game, so he'll gravitate toward an HDTV that's at least 50 inches. And a family that uses its computer for basic tasks like uploading photos and checking e-mail will be more than satisfied with a simple 19- or 20-inch monitor.

There is one universal truth, though: The standard 17-inch LCD monitors and 22-inch flat-panel TVs just don't cut it anymore; everyone—no matter their needs—wants to upgrade to a bigger screen. With that in mind, we've rounded up the 17 best LCD monitors and HDTV sets for your computing or viewing pleasure—whether you're a gamer, business pro, sports fan, or movie buff. From the 19-inch Lenovo ThinkVision L190x to the 65-inch Mitsubishi WD-65833, each of these screens earned a rating of 3 or better in our PC Labs' testing:

LCD Monitors: 19 to 30 inches

Lenovo ThinkVision L190x
Size: 19 inches
Editor Rating:
Delivering a sharp picture and accurate grayscales, IT administrators will appreciate this monitor's remote-management settings for adjusting brightness and contrast levels, turning the monitor on/off, and locking the on-screen manager remotely. The 1,280-by-1,024-resolution L190x also sports a razor-thin bezel and a handful of other business-friendly features like an adjustable stand and integrated four-port USB hub.

Dell SP2008WFP
Size: 20 inches
Editor Rating:
The SP2008WFP is an attractive widescreen display with good image quality and Dell's TrueLife anti-glare coating. It's also one of the first Dell monitors to have an embedded webcam (at 1.3 megapixels) and microphone solution, as well as a webcam manager and effects software to spice up your video-chat sessions. Thanks to its speedy, 2-millisecond pixel response rate (gray to gray), the monitor has no trouble displaying fast-moving images from PC games like F.E.A.R. or action movies like The Matrix.

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Dell SP2208WFP
Size: 22 inches
Editor Rating:
The Editors' Choice SP2208WFP is nearly identical in design to its smaller sibling, the SP2008WFP, but steps it up with a 2-megapixel integrated webcam, HDMI and DVI ports, and a USB hub. The 1,680-by-1,050-resolution display uses Dell's TrueColor enhanced color gamut technology to produce sharp colors and a crisp image. While the tiltable stand lacks height and swivel adjustment, it makes up for its shortcomings with a cable management notch that does a good job of keeping cords and cables neat and orderly.

HP W2408
Size: 24 inches
Editor Rating:
The widescreen HP w2408 monitor delivers robust colors thanks to it 1,920-by-1,200-pixel resolution. It hosts a bevy of features that music/video aficionados will find irresistible, including an HDCP-enabled DVI port, an analog input, three USB ports, and an audio jack. As an extra bonus, a built-in ambient light sensor adjusts screen brightness according to current lighting conditions.

ViewSonic VX2835wm
Size: 28 inches
Editor Rating:
This 28-inch widescreen monitor may not be eye-catching, but with a sticker of $600, its price certainly is. It offers component and composite inputs and comes with a DVI-to-HDMI cable. The screen is also blindingly bright with the default brightness set to its maximum, so you won't have any trouble seeing what's in front of you in low-light settings.

Samsung SyncMaster 305T
Size: 30 inches
Editor Rating:
For the design or image professional who needs to work on a large screen, this Editors' Choice 30-inch LCD monitor from Samsung will more than suffice. The 305T can achieve resolutions as high as 2,560-by-1,600, and its speedy 6-millisecond (gray-to-gray) pixel-response rate delivered an impressively smooth video performance during our testing. In addition, it offers four downstream USB ports and one upstream port to connect to a variety of peripherals—a big plus when it comes to transferring files from devices like thumb and external hard drives.

Next: HDTVs: 26 to 65 Inches >