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review HP LP2275w

james

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Deep, rich color reproduction, a flexible stand with pivot capabilities, and excellent viewing angles are all good reasons to consider the HP LP2275w ($349 direct) for your next business display, but there's more. This versatile 22-inch LCD delivers very good grayscale and small-text performance and has a built-in USB hub. It offers some nice business features as well. Its relatively slow pixel response will likely disappoint the gaming crowd, though.

A superthin (0.5-inch) bezel surrounds the wide-gamut S-PVA (Super Patterned Vertical Alignment) panel, which has a resolution of 1,680 by 1,050 pixels and features an anti-reflective matte coating that reduces glare. The stand consists of a rectangular base with a small tray that can be used to store your keyboard, and a telescoping arm that provides tilt, swivel, and height adjustability. It also supports pivoting, which lets you rotate the panel 90 degrees (clockwise) for viewing images in portrait mode. The pivot feature is particularly useful for working with large documents, and it allows you to view Web pages with minimal scrolling. Unlike the Lenovo ThinkVision L220x, which features an auto-rotation sensor, the LP2275w requires that you manually change image orientation when switching between portrait and landscape modes. However, it does come with Portrait Displays' Pivot Pro software, a one-click utility for rotating the image without having to access your graphics card's control panel.

At the rear of the display are DVI, VGA, and DisplayPort inputs, as well as three USB connectors (one upstream and two downstream). Two additional downstream USB ports are conveniently mounted on the left-hand side of the monitor, making it easy to plug in peripherals such as keyboards, mice, and USB drives. A power switch located on the screen's lower bezel sits alongside four clearly marked function buttons that allow users to tweak image settings using the on-screen display (OSD) system. Color temperature, brightness, clock and phase, and contrast levels are easily adjusted via the intuitive menu structure. There's also a sleep timer; this puts the monitor into standby mode, where it draws just 3 watts of power, as opposed to 52W while in full operating mode, as measured by my Kill A Watt meter from P3 International. The LP2275w is Energy Star qualified, has earned an EPEAT Silver ranking, and is covered under HP's aggressive Hardware Recycling program (www.hp.com/recycle), which provides recycling services to businesses for a nominal fee (approximately $6 per monitor). Thanks to these credentials, it earns our GreenTech Approved seal.

The LP2275w comes with HP's Display Assistant software, which gives users the ability to change image settings with their keyboard and mouse instead of having to use the function buttons. The software includes handy business features such as an Asset Management tool that allows IT personnel to collect information about the monitor (serial number, network domain, host PC name) and control specific functions (power up/down, sleep mode) from a remote location. There's also a theft-deterrent feature that requires users to enter a PIN code to activate the monitor if it has been disconnected from its host PC without prior authorization. IT administrators will also appreciate the LP2275w's three-year parts-and-labor warranty that includes on-site service and 24-hour telephone support.

I was impressed with nearly every aspect of the LP2275w's image performance. Primary and secondary colors were bold and well defined without appearing oversaturated, while swatches from the DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) Color Scales test scaled evenly from dark to light. The panel had no trouble reproducing the darkest shades of gray on the 64-Step Grayscale test, and it did a very good job with light grays as well, although there was a tiny bit of fading at the very high end of the scale. Such impressive grayscale performance is rare for a monitor in this price range, but not unprecedented—the Dell SP2208WFP and Lenovo ThinkVision L220x also handled grays with aplomb.

Any business monitor worth its salt should be able to display extremely small text clearly, and the LP2275w did not disappoint. I had no trouble reading Arial fonts set to 5.3 points, the smallest setting available on the DisplayMate tests. I was also impressed with the panel's viewing angle performance, which lived up to HP's claim of 178 degrees (horizontal and vertical).

Not surprisingly, the LP2275w struggled while displaying fast moving images. Moderate smearing (motion blur) was evident during a round of F.E.A.R., and again when I watched the DeNiro/Pacino thriller Righteous Kill on DVD. The panel's 16-millisecond (black-to-white) pixel response rate is the culprit here, but since this monitor is designed for business users motion performance should not be much of an issue. Gamers and video enthusiasts may want to consider a faster TN+ panel such as the ASUS LS221H, which does a much better job with fast action sequences.

Despite its less-than-stellar motion performance, the HP LP2275w is an excellent choice for image editors, photographers, and anyone who requires accurate grayscale and color reproduction. Its ability to display very small text will appeal to users who spend a lot of time viewing large documents and spreadsheets, while IT administrators will appreciate its asset tracking and remote management features. All this earns it our Editors' Choice for 22-inch business displays.

taken from www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343785,00.asp

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