AG Neovo is the digital offshoot of AEG, a company perhaps better known for washing machines and fridges. The arrival of a white goods company suggests a new domesticity for computer peripherals, and that’s very much the E-W22’s selling point. This is a monitor for home use, and possibly for home office use, with styling to match.

The styling is an unusual design with a shallow foot instead of a stand, supporting a high-quality glass-covered panel. Unlike most monitors, the E-W22 sets the panel behind an air gap and a thick sheet of optical glass, which adds a lot to the weight, without necessarily improving on functionality. Styling is subjective, but we weren’t completely convinced. It’s certainly friendly to designer interiors, and less crude and functional than most. But Apple has set a high benchmark with its Cinema Displays – occasionally imitated, never equalled – and while the Neovo’s look is certainly different, we’re not sure the styling is strong enough to count as a major selling point.

In fact, Neovo is pushing this monitor more for video viewing than general computing, and in effect what you’re getting is a desktop TV without the TV receiver. This could be a problem for some users, because features such as tilt, height adjust and swivel are missing here. And the on-screen display is certainly best avoided – a counter-intuitive click-fest that relies on some unexpectedly squishy buttons and is very easy to get lost in. The feature set is basic too, with no USB and a couple of tinny speakers.

Performance is mixed. Colour linearity was unexpectedly good – the best in this round-up, which is an impressive achievement for a domestic monitor. Brightness was a little short of the quoted 300 cd/m2. Video performance was good but not exceptional, with some hints of smearing.

Overall, this is a good panel trapped in a designer frame, and this may limit its appeal. If Neovo parked it on top of a more conventional stand it could win some new friends. For now, it’s certainly appealing, but only if you can live with the looks and – especially – the ergonomics.