Hanns.G HG281DPB 28" Widescreen LCD Monitor

List Price: $806.45 Discount Price: $479.71

Features:

• Device Type - LCD
• Dimensions - 26.4" x 8.4" x 19.2"
• Weight - 24 lbs
• - Pixel Pitch: 0.309(H)mm x 0.309(V)mm

Customer Reviews:

Good all around monitor for a good price [Posted on 2008-02-01]
If you want a large monitor this is the sweet spot for value. The 24" isn't much less than this, but the 30" is much higher. Its a great monitor for watching movies because its able to produce a full 1080P picture. There are some odd thing, however. First, it only offers HDMI and analog VGA inputs. The adapter for DVI is provided. The speakers are not of high quality and if you are looking for acceptable sound while watching movies you'd better have your own external ones. The monitor displays nice pictures with good brightness and contrast and sharp text. One downside of this monitor is that it has a lot of backlight bleed. It is very noticeable in a dark with a black screen. On the other hand, under normal computer condition using windows its not as bad. Overall, this is not a bad product for its price. Cold Eyes

Pretty good, with a few caveats [Posted on 2008-02-23]
Excellent image once you adjust the settings.. as shipped, it's far too bright.

Amazon version differs from the best buy version in that it does not have an adjustable height, and also the best buy version has a newer bios and chipset (according to the tech at Hanns-G).

If you are coming from a crt, be prepared for adjusting to a lcd.. images are much sharper, and the entire screen is MUCH mor evibrant.. and it seems far too vibrant. There is also a color difference between lcds and crts, but both those issues will occur when going from any crt to any lcd.

All cables included (great!), and both resolution and gaming response time outstanding.

Setting viewing angle also takes adjustment.. on some web pages I couldn;t even see the logo at the top AT ALL because I had the height and angle adjusted poorly. (Again, having the height adjustment on the amazon version would have been nice.)

There IS a $90 price difference though between amazon and best buy, so you have to decide which is better, the upgraded software and stand, or the price.

(I see no visible difference between the amazon version and the best buy version, however.. I had both here at the same time to compare.)

great for the price if you have the space [Posted on 2008-05-01]
I just received my monitor yesterday. The box is pretty bright and I was not happy that UPS just left it on my front porch. The packaging is very sturdy and the box showed no sign of damage. Connected it to my Dell laptop and I was amazed. I am no novice to large monitors. I have dual Dell 24" at work. Tha Hanns g out of the box is set to 100% for brightness and contrast. I can only assume they do it for testing purposes?

I checked for dead pixels and not a one. the controls are on the back right side and take a little getting used to. Several times I turned the monitor off while adjusting it. I went to a web site http://brighamrad.harvard.edu/research/topics/vispercep/smpte/smpte.jpg

and could not get the black set quite right. Overall I am very happy with the monitor. I am not planning on using the built in speakers so can't comment on them.

One other plus the monitor is made in Taiwan not China like most things nowadays!

Best compromise of screen size, features, and cost [Posted on 2008-05-21]
Hanns.G HG281DPB 28" Widescreen LCD Monitor
The Pros:
The best part about the monitor is the sheer massive size of the screen. I often have OpenOffice Write, Mozilla FireFox, a DVD player, and several IM applications displayed side by side with plenty of room left over. The sturdy stand gives the panel a good range of tilt and swivel motions to adjust the viewing angle. I'm using it with an older, unremarkable HP Pentium IV laptop with 256MB of RAM that is also shared for video memory and it works fine.

The Cons:
I plugged my MuVo MP3 player into the audio jack and found the speakers sound surprisingly tinny and weak, even at the highest volume. They play simple Windows application sounds well enough but any plans to use them as everyday speakers for music and movies will be a disappointment. The other downside is the viewing angle. You have to sit almost directly in front of the monitor because it darkens when viewed from too far aside. The ability to tilt and reposition the panel lets any one person easily compensate for the viewing angle limitations, but it wouldn't work for a roomful of people watching a DVD movie on it.

The bottom line:
The amount of screen real estate you get for the money is a terrific value that more than makes up for the weak speakers and somewhat limited viewing angle. If you want the very best, shop elsewhere, but if you want the best value for your money, buy this LCD monitor.

This is it! [Posted on 2008-06-09]
[Background]
I have macbook pro using this as an external monitor, running windows xp pro and fedora in vmware fusion. Graphic design 50%, and coding 50%.
I got the latest model, HF289H from BB. I know this review is supposed to be on 281, but amazon does not have it yet and the excellence of 289 force me leave some comments here.

[What I was looking for]
I came from 22" Apple cinema display, looking for upgrading to Apple Cinema 30" for bigger size or 24" HP w2408(glossy) for more vivid colors. I'm a big fan of glossy monitors, but the reflection and color accuracy could be problems for big monitors.

[WOW]
This monster delivers the best of both world! The color is so vivid and no worries about reflections because it's matte. This monitor, in fact, put every expensive monitors out there in shame. In reality comparison, it won my vote hands down. I paid $530(vs $1900 of 30" Apple) compromising 2.5". I also had to give up the sleek look of apple cinema display, but it still looks better than most of other PC monitors out there. Watching DVD is pure joy with X-Contrast on, and the color quality is near perfect for graphic work(X-Contrast off, after calibration). Yes, size does matter. After getting used to this monitor, it's almost impossible to go by 24", not to mention 22". It also has plenty of connections, 2 HDMI inputs(289), 1 VGA, 1 component, and more. I'm so impressed.

You may want to calibrate this monitor though. I did it with Mac OS X, and then adjusted brightness(65), contrast(100), R(70), G(70), B(70). It's perfect to my eyes now, but you may want different values. I got the RGB tip from one of the reviewers here(Thanks, Linux). I strongly recommend you to spend some time with calibration. It makes huge difference.

[Now the cons]
This monitor does not go to sleep, and you have to turn it off instead. It's not a problem for me, but it could be for some people.
Reliability. Don't know much about about Hannspree(former Hanns.G). But the monitor comes with 3 years warranty.

[Conclusion]
Best value by far. If you still on the fence because other monitors have better specs on paper, do yourself a favor and take a serious look at it at the nearest BB. Do the real world comparison. You won't regret a bit.

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