The best 19" monitor I know of is the Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454. It has a Mitsubishi Diamondtron flat tube like most in its class but the big difference is the electronic control gear, it supports 130kHz horizontal refresh rates, 115kHz on a 19" is rare and standard these days is 96kHz for mainstream models. What this allows is stupidly high refresh rates at all resolutions. It can do 1920x1440 @85Hz, 1600x1200 at over 100Hz. The styling is also the sharpest I've seen on any monitor and you get a USB hub in the base (as well as shitty speakers, but they do come in handy sometimes). It is a beauty, every day you use your computer and sit down in front of it you will thank yourself for buying it. The display is the primary interface with the PC and also one which doesn't need to be upgraded every 18 months like other components, so you can invest a lot of money in one and see returns for a long time. You will only want to upgrade one of these when decent, affordable, gamable 18" LCD panels come out. Which at this rate will be another 2 years away, and even then a CRT will probably beat it for flexibility of changing resolutions. They've come down in price a lot and would be an excellent long-term buy. Looking at UK prices I don't think it will cost much more than the NEC you're proposing, but I can't find that exact model over here. Iiyama's warranty rocks as well

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Bennyboy.