HP W2408H 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor

List Price: $569.00 Discount Price: $459.99

Features:

• Panel type: 24 in Diagonal Widescreen Thin Film Transistor LCD Active Matrix
• Rotates / Height Adjustment / Swivel and Tilt Function
• 1920x1200 Resolution and 1000:1 Contrast Ratio
• 5 ms response time

Accessories:

3-Year Extended Service Plan - Covers Electronic Items $201-$500 - Repair

Customer Reviews:

great value for $450 [Posted on 2008-07-03]
okay, those who do RAW images and are Photoshop snobs for perfect colors and hues, go spend some serious money (>$1K) on a professional, photo worthy monitor; those who want a great picture on a BIG screen for less than $500, then this one fits the bill.
Background: I work in a large academic bioresearch lab with co-researchers coming in and out all day. When not stuck in a biocontainment hood or separating DNA or RNA from cells, I pretty much spend my work days in front of computers analyzing and graphing data, building plots, writing papers, checking emails, or loading my iPod. I decided to use only my new Thinkpad for all my work and get the desktop computer off my work area, but the 14inch screen just is too small for having lots of programs and figures and email, and plots up all at once. So I looked around, found this on Amazon (since I'm Amazon-prime... free shipping on a 24in monitor more than paid for the annual fees). Now I'm very happy, and co-workers are quite envious as they stare at their dim, puny 15" or 17" LCDs. THis display is nice and colors have good saturation, but most of all... lots of real estate to keep all my figures and plots on-screen. I'm sure an expert side-by-side comparison of this with a much more expensive monitor would show how the colors bleed in some text, but the black is very black, the colors are strong and bright, and for $450, I'm extremely pleased. The speakers of course are "tin"-ey sounding, but I didn't buy it to listen to music, I keep the volume down low on it, just enough to hear the "new email" bing-bong wave -- who needs Hi-Fi for that? And occasional You-Tube or news videos have crappy sound anyway. Set-up was simple and a no brainer -- plug-in, reset the resolution on video properties, you're done. If I'd wanted great sound, I'd have kept my big speakers (but they take up too much space). Don't buy this monitor if you also want a great sound from integrated speakers, as those two terms (great sound, integrated speakers), really don't go together in any setting (unless you're buying a home entertainment system for >$2K).
All-in-all, I'm really am happy with the value here. 18 months ago, you couldn't touch a 24in monitor for less than a G, now under $500, that's deflation in a time of $4 gas. Plus at least HP is a US company (of course not made in US, but what consumer electronics are these days), so some $$ stay here in the US of A. Amazon prime, one-click buying, and free 2nd day delivery right to my desk made this as easy as it gets.

Joel in Massachusetts

A great monitor--with calibration. [Posted on 2008-07-09]
I'm a photojournalist and bought this monitor after my old 21" CRT died. I've been very pleased with the HP W2408H over the last couple of weeks, but it does need calibration. If you are a gamer or general user, you will love the brilliant picture straight out of the box. For photographers and editors, the colors are too bright and saturated, too "juicy" for critical use.

I uninstalled the monitor's software, dragged out my venerable $100 Pantone ColorVision ColorPlus (the consumer colorimeter sensor for monitors) and it gave me a nice, clean image in minutes. A worthwhile investment for anyone.

The monitor's wide-screen real estate makes editing hundreds of photos quite a bit easier than with the old square CRT. It also uses less power and produces less heat than a CRT, a nice plus these days. The image is smooth, even and neutral with calibration. Like any LCD, though, you do need to view the screen "on axis."

Just to verify what others have said, the built-in speakers are total garbage: weak, tinny, and pointed out the rear so you cannot hear what little sound they do produce. You definitely need external speakers.

With the exception of the crummy speakers and the iffy calibration software, the monitor is excellent. Five stars.

Great monitor for general use [Posted on 2008-07-12]
Pros:
Size
Ambient light sensor
Glare (lack of it)
Adjustable stand
Stability
Cord management

Cons:
hp driver update
Color w/photoshop
heat

I bought this monitor to complement a new hp computer (m9252p) after hanging on to my previous one for 8 years. My old computer had a 17" CRT monitor, so to say this was a step up is quite the understatement. I was pleased that right out of the box the monitor worked with both hdmi and vga connections with no configuration required. Let me say that while I'm fairly capable with computers, I'm certainly no monitor expert. My purchase of this particular monitor was based mainly on the ratings from other customers and a few of the features this model offers. First of all, I liked the fact that the monitor had built in speakers. I have since purchased a decent 2.1 system, but I could see how the monitor speakers could be useful in a work environment where only low volume levels are required. For the home though, I think they're fairly useless for most applications. Another reason I chose this model was for the stability of the monitor stand. Having two cats in the house that jump around a lot, I was concerned that a flat panel monitor would be likely to easily tip over. That's not a concern with this monitor. It's also possible to mount the monitor on a wall. The stand has a pretty good range of height adjustability, which I find nice when working long hours. My old CRT monitor was prone to glare issues which I haven't seen with this monitor, even though they were in the same location. A concern that I had was with the size of this monitor. My initial thought was to buy a 22" model, but I talked myself into this one even though I am seated only about 2.5 feet from it in my workspace. I have had no problems with eye fatigue at this proximity. Part of the reason that I haven't had problems is from hp's Ambient light sensor, which adjusts the brightness of the screen in relation to the lighting conditions of the room. This is my favorite feature of the monitor, although I wasn't aware of it prior to purchase. I also like the fact that the stand has cord management built into it. With vga, hdmi, power, usb, and audio cords attached, this comes in very handy. Oh yeah, the built in usb ports are very nice as well.

While I am very pleased with my selection of this monitor, I have found a few negative/unresolved issues. Some of these may be worked out either by myself or hp in the future. One issue is with the color. While the screen looks amazing, when using Photoshop to create prints (from Wal-Mart's photo shop) my on-screen images look much brighter than the photos that were produced. This could be an issue with the monitor, my minimal experience with monitor adjustment, or Wal-Mart's photo processing. However, it is an issue. Another issue is that MS Vista keeps finding a new driver for this monitor which it then can't install. After a little online research, I found that this is a common issue. Hopefully, this one will be resolved by hp in the future. The biggest surprise that I had, perhaps from my inexperience with LCD screens, was that this monitor puts off a lot of heat. It's not "hot" to touch by any means, but seems to radiate quite a bit of heat. Finally, the included hp software "My Display" seems somewhat useless to configure the monitor, but perhaps I'll find it more useful in the future with a little more time spent on it.


There are some other features of this monitor. Mainly, the one that allows the monitor to be rotated 90 degrees. I can't think of a use for this, but it's an interesting aspect. Someday, I'll hook up a ps3 to the monitor and see how that works out. I can't really say how this would work out as a gaming monitor as I am completely unfamiliar with those aspects of computing. For general office suite use, online use, and even photo hobbyists, I wholeheartedly recommend this monitor.

Great for the money, but [Posted on 2008-07-19]
Great value for the money, but I would look at competing products if you want this for a business/production environment.

1- Off-axis viewing is not very good. Even if you are right in the center, both color cast and brightness throughout the screen are uneven.

2- The mounting and pivot mechanics are marginal at best. You will have to tilt and finagle the monitor as you pivot if you don't want to bump the table/stand with the corner of the monitor. And, it is not exactly a fluid, quality movement. You won't want to do it throughout the day unless you buy a separate, wall-mount pivot.

3- Make sure you buy a third-party cable unless you have an HDMI output on your video card (few computers do). Amazon sells a few. I hear the image is much better with a DVI-HDMI cable (or straight HDMI) ... but, I'm using VGA since my cable was back-ordered. :-)

4- The piano black bezel may look good in the showroom, but it quickly gets fingerprinted-up. Felix Unger would probably wipe off the black by the third day of ownership.

5- The speakers are so bad, I think they should have used the production $ to add a DVI connector and a matte finish.

ALL THIS SAID, for a home user or cash-tight small business, it's a lot of screen for a very reasonable price - and the pivot is a great feature, especially if you do large spreadsheets.

I'm a little concerned with how many 'refurbished' units are flooding E-Bay and Amazon ... we'll have to see about reliability. (I've never seen so many rebuilds of one brand or model.)

Outstanding Colors, Great Modern Sleek Looks [Posted on 2008-07-21]
I have had this monitor since Christmas and to me it just so vibrant in the colors and clarity.

I matched my 24" inch monitor with an HP Elite 9000's desktop and they were married flawlessly. Each complemented the other as would be expected being they are often sold together. The monitor can be moved up and down to position as you like and can be turned sideways to provide protrait view if desired. It has full resolution providing more real estate and pixels to give you awesome detail and colors.

I have no blur, no burns no issues with viewing angles. My computer is positioned near a window that gets bright afternoon sun. Definitely some glare as the monitor itself is a very glossy shiney black border around the screen that also attracts fingerprints as well, but easy to clean too. Simply putting the window shade down made it much better but even with it up as long as you are in front of it you'll see the screen very well.

It has a 1000:1 contrast ratio which is superb for a monitor, however, I now see 3000:1 monitors in some stores but at double the price in many cases and they are geared to being a primary or secondary HDTV for many.

This for me is only for my desktop and for me to do graphics work and just do tons of photo edits, viewing and the ability to do side by side work on photos and documentation.

This monitor can be seen at most retailers, so go to the store and watch it along with the other 2 dozen 24" monitiors to compare to what you like best. I think everyone has a little bit different colors likes and dislikes. Remember this monitor has allot of calibration that can be done to change the colors, resolution to your specific liking.

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