Next up in the Intec 5" Monitor. As with the Interact model, you can find it in both colors, Jet Black and Indigo. It has a 5" TFT display, giving a much sharper, colorful picture over the Interact monitor. The .4" that the monitor lacks from the Interact monitor isn't even noticeable. Most every game I played on this screen was enjoyable. Super Monkey Ball was sharp and colorful, Tony Hawk 3 was excellent, and the biggest surprise of all? I actually enjoyed playing Rogue Squadron on this screen! Color bleeding, washed out colors, and other screen defects were not an issue with this screen at all. In side-by-side tests with the Interact Monitor, the Intec monitor wins, no questions asked. It's just a better screen.

The construction of this model is put together a little bit better as well. The monitor itself is a little slimmer then the Interact model, but still sturdy. Instead of a square bracket to hold the monitor in place, there is a latch that hooks to the handle on the cube and there is two little bars that stabilize the monitor into place on the back of the cube on both sides. With a much slimmer design, the Intec monitor makes the Interact monitor seem bulky and clumsy. The power switch, along with the brightness and sound controls, is located directly below the screen itself. The power button is a little more efficient then the Interact model, where if you shut the monitor, the power button will depress and turn off the monitor. This saves power for people that might have the monitor plugged into a car adapter and forgets to shut off the monitor itself. With this feature, as long as you remember to turn off the cube, you should have no worries about draining your cars battery down in unknown territory. The only problem I had with the Intec monitor was the thin layer of soft plastic over the screen seemed a little easy to scratch, which I did accidentally do with a sharp edge of my thumbnail.

Sound is also another excellent point with the Intec Monitor. Like the Interact model, there are two stereo speakers below the screen. The sound quality is quite good, producing nice, clear, loud sounds. The unit comes with two headphone jacks, instead of needing to use a splitter like on the Interact screen. Ideally, it would be nice to have four jacks for four players, however I don't see 4 people sitting around this screen, all jacked in with headphones, not just using the regular speakers instead.

The other features are pretty much as standard as the Interact model. The nice bonus to this screen is that only one cord is needed to plug the unit into a wall outlet, instead of two. It works well with other devices such as DVD players, and doesn't have too many things to nit-pick at.

So who wins? This is Interacts second time with a portable monitor for a gaming system, the first time being with the PSOne. Many of the problems that plagued that screen affect the Gamecube version as well. You would think they would step back and attempt to fix what was wrong the first time, but it seems that is not the case. Intec has put out quite simply an excellent product, well worth any Gamecube owners purchase. They both retail anywhere between $129.99 and $149.99, depending on where you look, but if you've been thinking of purchasing a portable monitor for your Gamecube or just need something fun to do while up at the lake, get the Intec 5" Monitor. You'll be glad you did.