Customer Reviews

HP LP2475w 24-inch IPS Widescreen LCD Monitor

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I bought this monitor to replace my worn out CRT monitors, used mostly for high quality adjustment and soft proofing of photographs. I wanted something in the 23-26 inch range, I wanted an IPS panel (as compared to inferior TN type monitors)and I really didn't want to pay $1300 for the NEC 2690 WUXI, $900 for the new Apple LED 24" or even more for higher end displays. The HP seemed to fit the bill at about $600, it had generally good reviews from photo web sites, but there were a few people reporting color shifts across the monitor.

It is not possible to examine these high end monitors in person where I live (amazingly, what with being a few miles from Silicon Valley), so I ordered it on the strength of the reviews, the many color and picture controls it offers and the wide range of types of connections it will accept. And the hope that the reported color gradient was not a consistent problem, just some QA outlier.

It is a nice monitor, it calibrated very well with my Spyder 3 Pro calibrator, but it does have an obvious green to pink color shift going from left to right, just as had been reported. This seems to be a design defect with this monitor. Not terrible, I might not have noticed it immediately if I was not looking for it, but it is there, no such thing on my Apple 23" at work or even the TN panel on my Mac laptop. I think the shift is more obvious once the brightness is tuned down to levels consistent with photographic proofing, but I can not say for sure, as I really haven't evaluated this.

I thought of returning it, had I bought it locally from Best Buy or such I would have returned it, but the energy barrier to sending it back to Amazon was just too high. So I will live with it, the color is very good in the middle 2/3 of the screens, I will not expect critical color accuracy on the ends of the screen. For most people who take pictures, this will probably not be a problem most of the time. But for people who take color management very seriously, this is likely not the best choice. Alternatives will cost you, however.

It has picture in picture capability, which I thought would be a nice thing to play with, but it turns out that it will not do the PIP thing with two inputs from my two computers, only when one input is from video-type sources via component or similar connectors. A minor disappointment. It does switch between sources quite nicely, so I hook up both computers and can easily view either one. Lots of other connectors that I will probably not use, but it does add flexibility that monitors such as the Apple just don't offer.

Build quality is high, the base is very nice indeed, the USB hub is nice, but sometimes it doesn't work with the laptop due to "inadequate electrical power". The placement of the input ports, tucked up into the bottom, is very poor, making it extremely difficult to plug in new connectors--one of those extremely obvious design flaws that leave you asking just what the designers were thinking.

I see some other reviews that comment about excessive saturation in the monitor. This is a wide gamut monitor, very different from most other LCDs, and you should really not buy one of these if you are not prepared to calibrate the monitor and use software that understands embedded "color ICC/ICM profiles", such as Photoshop >5 and Firefox >3 (have to turn this feature on). Even then, unprofiled images from the web or elsewhere can appear very overly saturated. If none of this rings a bell, you should probably not buy this, or any, wide gamut monitor if you want color accuracy.

April update--the problem is getting worse, it might be temperature related, it is time to cut my losses and move on. The new Apple LED monitors are gorgeous, another motivation to put this flawed monitor behind me.

I was setting up a home office and wanted to work off a large monitor so I could manage many documents at once AND I wanted a high quality monitor for photo editing. I am also a Mac user and after looking at the prices of Apple monitors I found i could get this one for 30% less and have the same visual experience.

Out of the box this worked perfectly - its big, and bold so you need to adjust the color but that is quite easy. What HP doesn't tell you is that they supply one of every type cable you could ever need with this monitor in the box. HDMI, DVI, RGB, USB - I think there were 5 cables included which was great since I use 2 computers and they take different connections.

Optically this monitor is excellent. There are 3 types of monitors TN - twisted nematic - the cheapest and the technology that Dell uses now), VA - vertical alignment which offers better viewing angles and color fidelity at the cost of speed, and IPS - in plane switching - the best available today that offers the widest viewing angle and the best color fidelity and are only slightly slower than TN panels. The HP (like the Apple monitors) are IPS and for the money the HP is the best value in IPS that you can buy. A full review of flat panel technologies is here: http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lcd-panel-types.php.

This panel looks great, the high resolution is excellent and with stand makes it so I can position to panel so I reduce neck strain.

The only issue I have is that there are no Apple specific drivers, but my MacBook Pro recognized the panel and I can use my calibration tool to fine tune the picture.

I'm a web designer and I needed a monitor that was easy on the eye. This one is a dream. No headaches or eye strain.

Prior to this I bought a 24inch NEC MultiSync LCD2470WVX. It had excellent build quality but it had a 6bit TN+ monitor that really hurt my eyes and gave me headaches. I defiantly couldn't have done a 12 hour day with that monitor. I sent it back after the first day and paid the restock fee.

A nice thing about this monitor is the 178 degree viewing angle. My last 19inch LG monitor also had a 178 degree viewing angle and so I never thought it would be an issue. The NEC showed me that it is a big issue. With a 160 degree viewing angle you can see a colour fade even between the top and bottom of the screen.

Out of the box the color calibration wasn't fantastic. In fact the NEC was much better out of the box. This could be to do with my graphics card or the ambient lighting conditions though.

The IPS panel (which is made by LG) is excellent and you have complete control over the settings. So regardless

The build quality is also fantastic. It's really solid and it tilts, swivels and goes up and down. The buttons are really crisp and it looks very attractive. Much more so in real life than it does in the little thumbnails you get on the website.

If you are looking for a great monitor that you can work on all day without eye strain or migraines then I strongly recommend the LP2475W

Kind Regards,

Adrian Smith

London

I was initially skeptical of this monitor because it was significantly cheaper than competing monitors from other companies. Considering the cheap price (For an IPS panel) I was afraid HP might have cut corners in design and build quality. However after reading some very positive reviews, I decided to buy it. I've had it for about 3 weeks now, and I am extremely happy with my purchase.

Within minutes of receiving the box, I could tell that my fear of HP cutting corners was unfounded.

It was packed well, separated into two parts (the screen and the stand), encased in Styrofoam supports, within a sturdy box. It would take some significant mishandling from the UPS grunts to damage it in transit. While it seemed to lack any manual beyond a "quick setup" guide & CD, HP included a nice selection of cables for its inputs, as well as a D-Sub to DVI converter.

The monitor housing is well designed, feels solid, and includes a cable management system. The stand is very stable, allowing for a wide range of motion (including pivoting into portrait mode). The stand also offers enough resistance that you'll never accidentally move the monitor, without offering so much resistance that its hard to move when you want it to.

It has a very nice selection of inputs; 2x DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI, as well as composite video, component video, and s-video ports. Theres also an SPDIF out, so you don't have to worry about losing audio quality if you run sound through the monitor with HDMI/DisplayPort. Not only that, but theres also a 6 port USB 2.0 Hub built in. While it lacks a D-Sub plugin, HP includes the aforementioned D-Sub to DVI adaptor in the box.

The screen is an LG.Philips built IPS panel, which offers the expected superior color reproduction, response times, and viewing angles. It needs some calibration from the factory specs, but that is to be expected. My monitor had no dead or stuck pixels, and no obvious uniformity issues.

All and all, you'll be hard pressed to find a better monitor without moving into the $1,000 USD price range. It is a good multipurpose monitor which is accurate enough for design work, is speedy enough for video games, has the plugins to connect just about any piece of home theater equipment directly to the monitor, and does it all without breaking a budget.

The HP 2475W is a very good monitor for photo editing provided that you calibrate it properly. Ideally you should use a colorimeter (Spyder, Gretag-MacBeth, Huey, etc.) to do that. Out of the box, the color isn't off by much but the default brightness is blindingly high. It's far too bright if you want to match what you see on the screen with what you get from your printer. If you don't have a colorimeter, at the very least you should turn the brightness way down - to maybe 20%.

The monitor's menu system allows you to set contrast, brightness and tweak individual colors using the "custom color" submenu. You should use that feature to tweak the default output. The menu is a bit of a pain to use but once you set it up properly you won't need to change it very ofetn, although I'd suggest re-calibrating it after a month's use and then checking calibration every couple of months.

Once it's calibrated it's well suited for use with Photoshop or similar image editing software. It works perfectly for normal office software, but if you're not doing color-critical image editing it's overkill. The LCD panel uses relatively expensive IPS technology rather than the more common and less expensive TN technology. IPS gives you more consistent color when you look at the monitor slightly off-angle. And with a 24" monitor you can be sure you'll be looking at the left and right edges off-angle even if you're looking straight at the middle of the panel.

The stand is solid and versatile. You can adjust height, tilt and swivel left & right with one hand, and it pivots 90 degrees. It comes with pivot software. It has a set of 4 USB ports that connect to a USB port on your computer and that work even with devices that do not normally work off of a USB hub.

The monitor has more input options than you can possibly use and it comes with a full set of 6' cables - two HDMI cables, an HMDI-to-VGA cable, S-video, two DVI cables... The only (very mild) complaint I have is that I needed a slightly longer cable because my desktop computer case is a bit further from the monitor than usual, and the 6' HDMI cable barely made it. I replaced it with a 3 meter (10') cable so it would be easier to pivot the monitor.

To be fully compatible and to get the most out of the monitor, your video card needs to be capable of 1920 x 1200 output. I think video cards made for desktop computers in the last 3 years (or more) will be able to do this. Even the video card on my Dell laptop can handle that resolution level.

All in all, this is a less expensive solution than a LaCie or Eizo and it's highly satisfactory - once you calibrate it.

The vast majority of the LCD monitors out there use the TN (Twisted Nematic) technology, which is awful for color accuracy and your viewing angle.

This monitor is an IPS panel. That means the colors, gamma curve and contrast are way more accurate across a large viewing angle. The image doesn't change as you change your position relative to the monitor (the way it is with regular TN panels), but it stays the same.

Therefore, it's more expensive than regular LCDs but it's way better for... well, for pretty much anything, but especially for watching video and for processing photos.

So I am going to compare it in this review with other high-end monitors (IPS, VA). THIS IS NOT A COMPARISON with regular low-end monitors (TN). All the cheap low-end monitors are way worse than this one, there can be no comparison at all.

So, comparing it with other high-end monitors, these are my observations:

Viewing angle: it's smaller than what I expected, especially in the vertical direction. I've seen IPS panels with a wider angle, not too different from plasma actually. This one is not that good. On the other hand, it only affects you if you actually get up and walk around the monitor. As long as you're seated in front of it, there are no issues. You can move in your chair all you want, the image is rock solid.

Some reviews mention a left-to-right tint gradient. I think I've seen it shortly after turning it on for the first time. Now I can't see it anymore. Maybe my eyes got used to it. Maybe it was a temporary thing.

Some reviews mention a texture issue with the pixels. In a way, this panel does have a slightly unusual texture. On the other hand, it's not a problem, either for me or for my wife (we are the two main users of this screen). To me, it's just different, neither better nor worse.

The default contrast, brightness, gamma and colors don't matter to me. I calibrated this monitor with a LaCie Blue Eye 2 calibrator and now it's perfect in all these regards: gamma is at 2.2, temperature color is at 6500K, brightness is at 120 cd/m2 - the recommended settings for a professional monitor. After calibration, it's awesome, I'm processing photos taken with a high-end digital camera (Panasonic G1) and they look very real and accurate. I wrote down the settings after calibration, so I can quickly restore it if somebody mucks up the controls.

I can't comment on gaming and things like that, I don't play games too much on this monitor, and for those rare occasions when I do, it seems good enough. I can't say I noticed any latency or anything like that.

Bottom line: I bought it to process photos taken with a high-end camera, and to process high-definition video. After calibration with a hardware sensor, it does the job very well. I'm happy with it.

This is by far the best monitor I have ever owned (and I have gone through plenty!).
I was looking for a true 8-bit monitor, and this one is pretty much the cheapest of them all. From the ergonomics to the form factor to the matte screen, this is an excellent monitor for a Graphics pro or anyone serious about graphical design or photography. The stand is solid and the vibrancy of the colors is breathtaking. However, I did need to use a colorimeter calibrator to get the most out of the monitor. Also, it did take me a few weeks to get used to it.

Pros:
- Solid excellent quality stand.
- Matte screen (shiny / glossy screens are awful for graphical work - too many reflections).
- Large desktop - Photoshop work is awesome.
- Ability to display near-complete AdobeRGB and sRGB colorspace. In general, just incredible color reproduction.
- Numerous configuration and customization options.
- Ability to turn off the LED on/standby light (though it does not remember the setting if it looses power).
- A slew of video connectivity options.
- Mini-hdmi cables included in the box.
- No flaws or dead pixels at all.
- Great viewing angle.

Cons:
- The control software doesn't even work on Vista x64 (of course it could be something wrong with my setup).
- Requires a colorimeter to get the most out of it.
- It takes time to get used to the way the screen is displayed (hard to describe) and to the sheer size of it.

I would highly recommend this LCD to anyone looking for a true 8-bit monitor. If I had desktop space for a second one I would not hesitate for a second to get it.

I'm not an HP fan at all, but this monitor has a lot going for it. For starters it's the only 24" monitor available in the US with an IPS panel, that costs less then a grand. The NEC 2490 which features an IPS panel costs twice a much. However, in its favor the NEC is accurate out of the box, utilizes a polarizer and is generally considered to be one of the best monitors on the market, without splurging on a Lacie or Eizo. The Samsung 245T and Dell 2408 both use an S-PVA panel are also around the price of the HP, and worth consideration. The Lacie 324 can be had for 2-300 more.
This HP however is newer then all of the above, features the most adjustments and connections and technically employs the most advanced panel. The monitor however, has two major flaws. The first is that color accuracy out of the box is awful. The monitor is way to bright and should be turned down to 20 or less right away. You will also definitely need to adjust the colors using the OSD. Unlike some reviews, it is not necessary to actually calibrate the monitor unless you are doing photography or graphic design. Adjusting the OSD will get you colors you will be happy with. Still HP should not be shipping a monitor with colors that off out the box.
The second problem is far more severe, and caused me to almost return the monitor. While my screen looks, uniform, with no dead pixels, I find it very difficult to read text. I've never encountered this before. I've turned off Cleartype and messed with resolutions, settings and fonts, and such and I still find it difficult. Text appears clear at a glance but actually reading anything in length becomes troublesome. For me, it's akin to trying to read something in a moving vehicle. I actually got nauseated after working on this monitor for an hour. I found myself having to look away from the screen. I have seen other complaints of headaches, and trouble with text, but apparently it doesn't affect everyone. I'm not sure what the cause is, perhaps the lack of a polarizer, something wrong with the sub pixels in the panel, the coating on the screen, I'm not sure. After some time, I've grown accustomed to the screen and it doesn't bother me like it did initially, but I am reminded of it every time I have to read anything in length. I see and read perfectly clear text on some friends monitors that use a TN panel, and I've never had this problem with any previous monitor.
The monitor pivots, tilts, swivels and has height adjustment. The connections are many, including multiple USB ports, HDMI, Display port, and DVI. I probably wont use anything other then DVI, but it's nice to have them.
If you are getting a monitor primarily for WordPerfect type programs or internet searching, avoid this monitor, save your money and get a TN paneled monitor for half the price or less.
Now colors look fantastic on the monitor once adjusted. Pictures, movies and games are excellent. If that's primarily what you are looking to use this for, it should be at the top of your list.

UPDATE 9/5/2009- I am still not sure what the cause was, but I have adjusted to the screen and no longer have any issues with nausea or headaches. Text for some reason, is still not as crisp as it was on my old Samsung TN monitor, but is otherwise acceptable. One new problem I've noticed is some video delay or skipping when watching some online videos. For example some videos on Cnet will get delayed a few seconds while the sound goes forward, and the video will skip forward to catch up. It may do this multiple times in one video. Other times is doesn't happen at all, but I didn't have this problem with any previous monitors.
Overall, when you figure the price of this ips paneled monitor, the superior colors, the multitude of connections and adjustments, this probably is a 5 star monitor.
I've come to really appreciate the height adjustment on this monitor, which is excellent at nearly 5 inches. At full height the center of the screen is about level with my eyes, and is quite comfortable. I've never had a monitor with height adjustment before and have always had to look down at my screen.
I am still surprised how great still images and videos look on this monitor. Colors are simply superb. The monitor pivots easily at full height and the screen can be adjusted by using the OSD controls, windows or an installed program that comes on the included DVD. The monitor also swivels and tilts easily, but holds its place.
For grins, I temporarily hooked up the my LG 390 blue ray player through the HDMI connection and the picture was fantastic. If you do hook up a dvd player or watch dvds through a computer disk drive, you will be impressed.

Top notch performance, even more so when calibrated. Webpages are rendered better w/color management sensitive software, inc Firefox 3. Buy from someone who will take a return, because if it isn't great, it isn't right.

Wonderful color, accurate, detailed, great depth and contrast, wide viewing angle w/little shift, excellent build, very flexible/adjustable stand, VESA mount, many input options (although the PIP function is limited).

For those having text issues, the problem is likely with Windows Cleartype. This OS function (started in XP) takes advantage of the fact that one pixel is really made up of three sub-pixels. In an attempt to make text look smoother, Cleartype partially turns on the sub-pixels next to the ones that should be black to make up a character. Because this monitor is so responsive, you have to turn Cleartype way down, which actually sharpens the text image, and removes the perceived fuzziness. Using Microsoft's website [..]
we found that setting 2 or 3 from the bottom eliminates the issue.

First, two relatively minor gripes. I initially ordered 2 of these monitors from Amazon. One was fine but the other had a roundish about 3mm dim spot near the middle of the screen. It was hard to notice except with a white background, but was definitely there. I think this was an isolated problem, though and not an issue with the model in general.

Which leads to the 2nd gripe, this one with Amazon. I ordered another one of these to replace the faulty one and Amazon sent a supposedly "new" monitor that had very obviously been shipped around the country several times and returned by another customer before Amazon sent it to me. This was obvious just from the condition of and labels on the box. To me, that makes the monitor used or at least "open box" and it should be labeled, sold, and discounted accordingly. I am annoyed both as a customer and as a shareholder that Amazon wasted my time by sending a used or open box item when I ordered and paid for a new $600 monitor. Hopefully Amazon will accept the return without any trouble.

Now, as to the monitor itself, I use it primarily for business not for gaming or professional photo editing, though I do tinker with photography. Having seen 3 in operation, I can't tell there there is a green to pink color change on any of them as other reviewers have described.

The size takes a little getting used to. It may seem overwhelming at first, but give it a few hours and I think you'll enjoy not having to scroll around as much. I'm running two of these side by side with both rotated to portrait mode. In my day-to-day use, I just don't need a monitor to be wider than the 1200 pixels these provide in portrait mode. But it sure is nice to have 1920 pixels of height so that I'm not constantly scrolling on web pages or in email. I've never seen the appeal of widescreen computer monitors. I think widescreen computer monitors are being foisted on the public as desirable when in fact you are usually giving up vertical resolution which is better for most productivity apps. But a widescreen that is rotated to portrait, becoming a tall-screen - that I can get behind.

One is connected through DVI and is very sharp as you would expect. The other is connected to VGA using the supplied VGA to DVI cable. The VGA connection is not quite as sharp, but that is the nature of the beast and not a fault of the monitor.

I agree with most reviews on the web that the factory brightness setting is way too high and hurts the eyes. Bumping it down to 15-20 helps a lot and still provides plenty of light.

Even unadjusted, I don't see any real issue with color saturation that others have mentioned. Following the recommendation at TFTCentral, I set the Color control to custom and bumped back the values a bit. I haven't done any other type of calibration and it looks fine to me. I'm not a graphics pro, but I know a problematic or badly calibrated display when I see it and I just don't see any real issue on this monitor. It does seem that the factory color profiles are a bit off, but easily fixed. The CD includes color profiles for Windows and I even got an update through Windows Update. In short, I think the issue with oversaturated colors is overblown for most business users, though I'm sure it is a legitimate concern for graphics pros.

I'm deducting one star because one of three that I received had the small round dim spot. The other two are fine with no problems or dead/stuck pixels.

Update:
Having lived with the monitor for several days, I have to confirm what a couple of other reviewers have said: My eyes have a very hard time focusing on text using this monitor, resulting in eye strain. I can't explain why - maybe it is just a difference in the type of panel. I am accustomed to PVA panels and this one is IPS, which is theoretically better at least for photographic work. I got a Dell 2408wfp to compare and, although it has its faults and I don't like it as well as this HP in many respects, it seems to be much easier on my eyes for text. I'll also be trying a Samsung 245T if I can get my hands on one. It looks like I'll probably be returning the two of these HPs.

Another update:

I ended up returning these two HP monitors and getting two Dell 2408s. There is a lot to like about the HP LP2475w, but ultimately trying to read text on it gave me eye strain. I can't really explain why but, as other reviewers have said, my eyes just couldn't focus on text. If you will use this only for graphics, it is great. If you are doing any work with text (email, programming, etc.), think twice before getting this one.