“The L2045w is a great value 20.1″ LCD monitor for general use, office use and even mid-level video use.”
Avg
-
Affordable; USB 2.0 hub built-in; nice screen
-
response speed of 5ms; wide screen
Against
-
contrast ratio 600:1; wide footprint; DVI cable is not included
Abstract
When HP released the L2045w 20.1-inch widescreen LCD monitor, it categorized it as a business-grade LCD monitor. This classification suggests that the L2045w is a lower-spec monitor reserved for boring desk jobs and monotonous use of the Office suite. HP is seriously reducing the prices of its own products. While the L2045w may not rise to the level of professional/studio quality monitors, it certainly stands tall among the consumer and business level competition with some very desirable features. Learn more about the L2045w’s specs and why it might be the right computer monitor for you.
Features and design
HP’s new L2045w LCD display is a cleanly designed monitor that looks good on almost any desk. The black and silver color scheme is very common these days and HP wears it quite well. The LCD screen itself has a thin frame that makes the visible surface of the screen larger and more attractive.
The input controls are located on the front of the screen, centered on the bottom edge of the frame. Adjusting the controls is easy once you get the hang of setting up the multifunction buttons. It took me about 20 seconds to master navigating the menus and selecting settings.
The L2045w has a built-in USB 2.0 hub which is something I really like. The hub input is located at the bottom of the display frame, next to the DVI and VGA ports. Two USB device ports are located on the right side of the screen. The ports are recessed about 2 inches from the edge of the frame, which is fine for permanently attached USB devices, but can be a little inconvenient for regular use of tiny USB flash drives. (Anecdotally, I’ve had a 20-inch Dell LCD monitor with USB ports on the far edge of the frame, which made it easier to access the ports.) Reaching the L2045w’s USB ports might also be a pain for users with larger-than-average hands. This minor inconvenience was overshadowed by the fact that I, like many consumers, prefer my LCD screens to have USB ports regardless of where they are located.
Two great features of the L2045w are the adjustable height and the swivel screen. The LCD screen can be adjusted as low as 3 inches to 6 3/4 inches from the table surface. On HP’s website, they mention that the L2045w has a screen that can be rotated 90 degrees. This is a great feature, especially for people who regularly rotate the screen to show co-workers and clients images on the screen, this is very handy in hospitals or local newspapers. Of course, “90 degree turn” means 45 degrees left of center and 45 degrees right of center.
One big bonus with the L2045w is its ability to switch from the mundane Landscape mode to the ultra-cool Portrait mode. This is fantastic for long documents, long web pages and, most importantly in my world, for editing vertically oriented photos, brochures, etc. It’s a real pleasure to view and edit a full-size vertical image in Photoshop without having to constantly scroll to up and down or to zoom in and out after each edit. Portrait mode solves this problem nicely.
As noted with landscape mode, the screen is adjustable in portrait mode. The bottom of the screen can drop as low as 1 inch and can be raised to just over 3 1/2 inches.
Technically speaking, the L2045w gets a few thumbs up and a few sighs. On the plus side, the 5ms response time is excellent. The 600:1 contrast ratio is good, but far from great. Honestly, it’s a little annoying. A quick look at comparable monitors shows that contrast ratios range from 700:1 all the way up to 1200:1. I’m not entirely sure why this happened, but I think someone on HP’s design team needs to be spanked with a ruler.
A final finger wag at the L2045w’s design concerns the oversized stand. My Samsung SyncMaster 205BW (also a 20.1 inch LCD) has a small round base just under 8 inches in diameter. The L2045w base is 14 1/2 inches wide and 9 inches deep! By the way, that’s big! It takes up a lot of desk space, something I have a limited amount of. On the plus side, the center of the base has a drawer shape that’s great for keys, an iPod, a small portable hard drive, paper clips, a small picture frame, etc.
This LCD screen does not have built-in speakers. HP sells a “silver flat speaker bar” that easily attaches to the monitor. I can’t/won’t give any negative attention to the lack of built-in speakers because the speakers generally built into LCD screens are crap anyway. The sound is almost always weak and worthless. In fact, HP is probably saving itself a lot of grief by refraining from built-in speakers. Friends don’t allow friends to use built-in speakers!
For some, the best feature will be the price. As of this writing, the base price for the L2045w on hp.com is $279. This is already a good price for such a monitor, but HP made a very bold move by offering an instant rebate of $20 AND a mail-in rebate of $40, bringing the total purchase price down to $219. Of course, prices and discounts are subject to change.
Image courtesy of HP
Setup and use
Setting up the HP L2045w LCD monitor was very easy. Upon opening the product packaging, I saw that the monitor was protected by soft, padded foam blocks. After removing the LCD screen from the foam, the first thing I noticed was that the monitor was already mounted. I’ve bought dozens of LCD screens in my time and I’m used to attaching the base to the screen body. In the case of the L2045w, it took me less than 8 seconds to get it out of the box and onto my desk. Plugging in the power cord only took a moment longer.
While I was happily impressed with the easy setup, I was quite disappointed that HP didn’t include a DVI cable with this monitor. A VGA cable was included, but that’s like buying a new computer and getting a free modem cable. Boo. DVI cables are so cheap these days, the fact that HP didn’t include them makes HP look too cheap to satisfy their customers. I repeat and confirm my previous “boo” to HP saving on a simple DVI cable.
As soon as I connected my quality DVI cable (which I got from eBay for $4.00) to the L2045w, I connected it to my MacBook Pro. Within seconds, the MacBook Pro was running two screens thanks to its ample 256MB video card.
First impressions were complete satisfaction. No dead pixels. Vibrant colors. Clarity was as good as I had hoped. At the native (and maximum) resolution of 1680×1050 pixels, the screen looked great.
I opened several programs to test the screen. Word documents looked sharp and as close to perfect as possible. Icons and screen fonts were flawless. Web pages looked just as good on the L2045w as they did on my MacBook Pro display and my Samsung SyncMaster 205BW LCD display.
When opening the images in iPhoto, they were as sharp and clean as I expected. I did notice, however, that images opened in Photoshop CS2 and CS3-beta looked a little washed out on the L2045w compared to the same image on a native MacBook Pro display. After adjusting my monitor’s display settings and Photoshop’s color profiles, I was able to get the test images to almost equal values. Of course, the images didn’t resolve to absolute color perfection between the original screen and the L2045w, but that’s a common problem with any multi-monitor setup that uses non-identical monitors. For single monitor systems this won’t be a problem at all.
I also tested the L2045w monitor with a Sony Vaio VGN-T350P laptop using the VGA video port. Windows XP recognized the L2045w immediately, however XP’s automatic configuration was for the wrong screen resolution – 1280×1024 – which isn’t even the native screen resolution for a wide LCD like the L2045w. After manually adjusting the screen resolution to 1680×1050, the screen looked great. A shared 128 MB Sony Vaio video card was able to provide the 20.1″ LCD with fantastic videos and photos.
As a dedicated and solo LCD display for any desktop system, the L2045w will likely be more than sufficient for most uses. People who need high-end monitors for video production projects will probably never consider any of the mid/business class LCDs for their needs, and that’s okay. Those professionals who need absolute perfection and are happy to pay for that convenience should stick with their top-of-the-line systems and peripherals. For the rest of us, the L2045w is a monitor worth noting.
HP L2045w and Apple MacBook Pro
HP L2045w in portrait mode
DVD playback results
I tested a few DVDs with the L2045w to see how well it would fare in non-business use. The results were almost identical whether I was using OS X or Windows XP – the 1:1 DVD playback was almost perfect. There were no visible artifacts, no slow transitions from black to white or from color to color. Video from the 256MB dedicated video card and the shared video card looked equally pleasant.
I only noticed flaws in video playback when I pushed the video to 2x native resolution or full screen. Of course, the dimensions of a wide DVD video are approximately 850×360. When this super clean image is scaled up to 1680 pixels wide, pixilation and loss of clarity occur. This isn’t a monitor or video card problem – it’s a DVD encoding problem that will be viewable on any screen.
In summary, the L2045w is a very good display for watching DVDs.
Conclusion The L2045w is a great value 20.1-inch LCD monitor for general use, office use and even mid-level video use. It offers a 5ms refresh rate (as fast as most LCDs these days), a beautiful 1680 x 1050 resolution and bright, crisp colors. The screen rotates 90 degrees and tilts forward and backward. The display also converts from landscape to portrait mode, something many Photoshop users really appreciate. The overall performance of the L2045w is very positive. While HP made a few unfortunate gaffes with the L2045w (a Sasquatch-like footprint, a 600:1 contrast ratio, and the lack of a DVI cable), the fact is that the L2045w is a very good monitor that will satisfy most users. Price is another valid selling point. If you’re looking for an inexpensive LCD display and wouldn’t mind being pleasantly surprised by the features, seriously consider the L2045w.
Advantages:
• Absolutely affordable • Wide screen • Built-in USB 2.0 hub • Turns to landscape and portrait mode • VGA and DVI inputs • Height and viewing angle adjustable • Response time of 5 ms
Against:
• Contrast ratio of previous years 600:1 • Unnecessarily wide footprint • DVI cable not included
Editor’s recommendations
Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn