ASUS, Taiwan has launched the PG221 LCD monitor and we don't mind coming right out and saying it looks like a beaut.

A 22-inch widescreen with quasi-military slash industrial design notes with great visual and audio specs, anyone in the market for a multimedia monitor might want to wait for this to hit their fair shores.

The first thing you'll notice about the PG221, and probably its biggest selling point, is the military-styled 15 watt subwoofer tank-box.

We're not entirely sure what exactly about this is particularly militarily-styled, nor indeed what a tank-box is, but what we do know is that it gives you mega sound without needing extra speakers.

The 15 watt subwoofer combines with 10 watts-worth of satellite speakers to give you 2.1 stereo surround sound.

If you wanted to further expand the audio the PG221 is also able to support a 6.1 surround sound system with SRS TruSurround XT Technology.

The monitor boasts fast 2ms (G2G) response times and a 2000:1 contrast ratio, plus clever ASUS tech-ery to make the picture pretty.

Other features of note for this dishy display include USB 2.0 support, a built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam, a 3.5mm headphone jack and support for VGA, DVI, Composite A/V, S-Video and Component (YPbPr, up to 1080i/p).

Just one more thing - the PG221 comes with "Light-in-Motion" scenario lighting effects, which we assume is similar to Philips' amMX technology.

Each light colour (red, green, orange, pink or blue) stands for a sound preset mode (fighting game, strategic game, music, theatre or standard) that you've selected.

Somewhat randomly, the press information informs us that these effects are described as being derived directly from the "magic weapon light sabres" in Star Wars. Cool.

Pricing and availability to be announced.