 WOW! HP has created the Mona Lisa of monitors! |
| Review Date: April 27, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Robert Barnwell, Johnson City, Tennessee |
As an Apple devotee, I feel like a bit of a traitor writing a positive review of an HP product, but WOW this thing is great! I bought it as a second monitor to my MacBook. Apple MacBook MA701LL/A 13.3" Notebook PC (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive) - BlackThe color is brilliant, the contrast is impressive, the text pops and it's just plain beautiful to look at, even if you are working. I literally find myself working on things because I don't want to take my eyes off it.
While I love the look of Apple's cinema monitors, the price point is just so high. The HP w2207 represents a far more reasonable price point. Also, if you're a writer like me, HP makes a clip system for this series of monitors, so you can have a document holder off to the side without having to glue something to side of your monitor untiil the end of time.
If you're an art director, graphic designer, or similar artists thinking, "Ah-ha, this guy's a copywriter. What does he know about monitors?" Well I've been in advertising since 1996 and I've seen all kinds of monitors and this is one of the most impressive I've ever seen at any price.
Also, I took sometime to compare this model to others available for sale from a variety of manufacturers and no one matches the image quality in my opinion. This might seem strange for HP to come out on top in comparison to other companies that specialize in monitors, but the truth is people largely, buy their computers based on the quality and look of the monitor. Apple realized this early on and apparently someone told HP too. I wonder how many HP computer bundles are going to be sold based on the performance of this beauty?
Sure, it takes a little adjustment both on the monitor itself and on the display portion of the system preferences, but it's easy enough.
Plus, the built in speakers are much better than you'd expect from a monitor and the built in 2 USB hub is a nice little touch. More would have been better, but an extra usb port is always nice.
All of this said, there are some flaws with this monitor.
1. The rotating screen landscape-or-portrait function is great, but it doesn't work with the MacBook in Mac mode. What I'm talking about is the ability to physically turn the monitor and have the display go into a portrait arrangement. It's probably too much to ask for from a monitor made by a PC manufacturer, but it would have been nice if the software bundle would have included something for us, Mac people. It still works with the MacBook just fine in landscape mode, but it would have been nice to have this particular bell and whistle.
2. The monitor does have a DVI connection as well as an analog VGA connection, but it only comes with an analog VGA wire. Don't settle for VGA, when there's DVI to be had! Order a DVI wire with your order like this one.Cables To Go 2m DVI-D M/M Dual Link Digital Video Cable The response time is appreciably faster than with VGA. It's slight, but it's there.
3. Hopefully, this won't be an issue, but its warranty is for only one year, while others come with a three year warranty. This is a little disconcerting, but I'd rather have one year of looking at this screen than 3 years of looking at washed out or drab monitor.
4. The screen does pick up reflections more readily than other flat panels.
And even with these shortcomings, I've still got to give it 5 stars. It's just that beautiful!
UPDATE: Although mine did not, this monitor now does come with a DVI cable. So you won't need to buy one separately. |
Best Deal Ever!
|
| Review Date: May 19, 2007 |
| Reviewer: R. Davenport, San Jose |
I noticed the price has gone up since I ordered and received my W2207. Doesn't matter, this is the best LCD Monitor available today. Mine came with no dead pixels and was delivered by Amazon early.
First, the color accuracy is far better than any of the others I looked at. I have adjusted the color temperature to match what I shoot at and editing my pics and videos is just a dream.
Second, the product design is the best I have seen to date. The overall look, the stand, the buttons, everything is just right. You have to make sure you don't rest your keyboard on the stand while you are typing or it will shake a little but that's not really an important nit.
Third, no bleed through at the top or bottom. Extremely uniform from edge to edge and the black is very black.
Finally, I can't believe I can rotate the screen to edit documents! The HP software doesn't work right, but my onscreen controls allow for rotation. I can have a legal size document up full size on the screen with nice large characters and just edit away. No other screen in this price class allows this feature.
This is the best LCD Monitor available under $600. |
One of the Best 22" Non-Professional Monitors
|
| Review Date: November 7, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Torrey Pines, Bethesda, MD USA |
I just got this monitor at Best Buy. Normally I buy online, but while I was checking out monitors the salesperson at Best Buy said he had the HP and it was a floor model that he could sell me for one third off. Read all the reviews and bought it. I never thought to look at HPs. I was focusing on Acer, LG, and Samsung. This monitor was not plugged in at the store but what sold me on it (in addition to the price and reviews) is:
1) It looks stunning: the black piano frame is awesome; more importantly, the stand is the best of any manufacturer's stand I looked at; it is the only one I saw that had a substantial stand that did not look industrial yet swiveled, tilted, and had a great height adjustment
2) It has a glossy screen: I have one on my MacBook and and the reflections are sometimes annoying, but this screen's reflections are much less. I think that may be because I don't move the monitor around into brightly lit areas and I can control the lighting in the room where I have my computer. The monitors with glossy screens as opposed to matte screens looked far more lifelike with better color rendition.
3) The specs looked good, although I noticed that great specs don't always translate into a great image.
4) There were complaints about the power button on the Samsung monitors lighting up a room. Not the case here as the power button is on the top of the monitor with just a faint light indicating its location.
Then I got it home (no box; just a plastic bag over the screen to protect it from scratches). I plugged it in, attached my DVI cable, made a few easy adjustments, upgraded my GeForce nVIDIA 6800 video card's drivers (I had to do this; when I played movies the frame rate was very slow) and had the best looking image I have EVER seen on a monitor. STUNNING. Deep, rich, colors, black blacks, and white whites. It looks like I can step into my photos.
On the downside, I don't appreciate that the warranty is only 1 year and most other manufacturers offer 3 years. Since I bought it with my Master Card Platinum card, that extends the warranty by another year. I will decide if spending $50 for an extended warranty (4 years) from Best Buy is worth it.
I do notice that if I move my head vertically up and down relative to the screen (this is not something I would normally be doing), the contrast changes drastically (same thing if I am off to the side). I believe this is true for all large, widescreen monitors.
Bottom line, I am thrilled beyond belief to have this monitor on my desk. And, it takes up little more desk space than the 4:3 ratio 19 inch monitor that I previously used. Highly recommended!
|
The Best Monitor you can get for the price
|
| Review Date: May 5, 2007 |
| Reviewer: GoldNER, FL. USA |
Since I really love the X-Bright screen look vereses the traditional flat Matte look, this monitor is BEAUTIFUL.
I am very inpressed with the design and quality of this model. It truly stood out against other monitors. The whopping 22'' display is great since I am in grapihic arts. Nothing here to complain about. I looked for monitors for a few weeks before coming across the HP x2207 and when I saw this one, this monitors caght my eye. I am running it at the full resolution which is 1680 x 1050 for bright. No matter what your needs are this monitor will fit every area from Professionals to someone on a tight budget. This monitor sells for a very good price and I highly recommend it! |
Best monitor I've owned
|
| Review Date: August 31, 2007 |
| Reviewer: W. Ivey, Austin, TX USA |
I had been running a dual-monitor setup with a 19" LCD as the primary and a 20.5" widescreen to the side. I was looking for something with the same resolution as my existing widescreen but with close to the pixel pitch of the 19" (my middle-aged eyes like a little bigger pixel). I looked at a lot of 22" widescreen monitors but kept coming back to the W2207. I loved the elegant look and the crisp image (made crisper because the screen does not have a non-glare surface, not a problem for my set up but if you sit with a window behind you it could be a drawback).
Most of all, though, I love the stand. It's the best stock stand of any monitor I've ever seen. It adjusts easily in the ways you want a stand to adjust and, by virtue of the unusual "deep hinge" design, gives you plenty of room under the monitor for stashing desk items, snacks, small animals, etc. (There is a depressed tray molded into it to keep pens and such from rolling away - nice attention to detail that.)
I saw a couple of reviews that commented on uneven illumination of the screen. That is, the screen appears darker toward the edges. However, I don't find that to be the case from a normal viewing distance and vertical angle. It is a big screen, though, and if you put your face six inches away from it, sure it will look darker at the edges - just a function of viewing angle. (It's amazing how much bigger 22" looks compared to the 20.5" sitting next to it.)
I'm currently running it from the analog output of my video card (it's an older card with one DVI and one VGA output and I was too lazy to change the cable on the other monitor - I plan to upgrade to a dual DVI soon anyway). Even with just an analog signal it looks great, with one caveat: it's more sensitive at the analog input than my old 19" and sometimes picks up some faint crosstalk from the other channel. (I paniced when I first saw it, thought I had a bad monitor, then I realized what I was looking at.) A better quality card, or just going all digital should avoid that.
To sum up: Text is clear and crisp, color rendition is good enough for photo work(calibrated it with a Pantone Huey), it's bright (too bright out of the box), looks good with good ergonomics (and that wonderful stand).
|
|
No video reviews found for this product.