When shopping for a monitor, your first decision can be the toughest. Are you looking for a sleek flat-panel? Or is it size you're after? Unless you have a fairly fat wallet, as far as LCDs go, a move from 15 inches to 18 inches often means a difference of several hundred dollars.

But that's not the case with Hitachi's flat-panel CML181, which puts you into an 18-inch LCD for under a grand. Of course, as with all things “more for less,” you will have to make a few sacrifices, and those required for the CML181 might not be worth the upgrade in size.