Gateway FPD2485W - 24" HD LCD

I have the gateway for about 12 days no problems whatsoever
no flickering or tearing ,the colors are crisp and bright text looks great with clear font smothing,no ghosting ,buzzing noise?can't hear a thing with the 12 fans in my rig:)
I dont own a console (PC gamer) so cant tell if there was a problem with that.

being playing Half Life2 EP1,Need for speed MW,Company of heroes,Oblivion,Dark Messiah,Gothic3 and others.
cant see a problem with this monitor yet and I use this puppy for at least 6 hours a day, I'm very happy with it and I'm keeping it,maybe I was lucky dont know
 
I realize the 1080p ability of these monitors is a large factor in deciding to buy one... but does it matter that much when the screen size only 24"? I can imagine it would make a big difference on the 37" Westy or larger... anyone have observations?
 
iketeru said:
I realize the 1080p ability of these monitors is a large factor in deciding to buy one... but does it matter that much when the screen size only 24"? I can imagine it would make a big difference on the 37" Westy or larger... anyone have observations?
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It does make a difference, not just because 720p over the 360 has bad flickering issues. Even 1080i looks better over component than 720p.
 
I'm with you, no problems whatsoever. I tried WOW, BF2, HL2, CSS, Prey, and COD2.

rangers95 said:
I have the gateway for about 12 days no problems whatsoever
no flickering or tearing ,the colors are crisp and bright text looks great with clear font smothing,no ghosting ,buzzing noise?can't hear a thing with the 12 fans in my rig:)
I dont own a console (PC gamer) so cant tell if there was a problem with that.

being playing Half Life2 EP1,Need for speed MW,Company of heroes,Oblivion,Dark Messiah,Gothic3 and others.
cant see a problem with this monitor yet and I use this puppy for at least 6 hours a day, I'm very happy with it and I'm keeping it,maybe I was lucky dont know
Click to expand...
 
reductant said:
It does make a difference, not just because 720p over the 360 has bad flickering issues. Even 1080i looks better over component than 720p.
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Actually, I should've rephrased the question; I meant does 1080i look that much better than 1080p? Of course, I'd rather use 1080 anything than 720p ;)
 
WOW, i cant believe you guys playing FEAR dont see the color banding and all the issues we all had, maybe you got lucky, maybe you dont want to admit to a $700 mistake? donno but hey better for you.
 
gar818 said:
WOW, i cant believe you guys playing FEAR dont see the color banding and all the issues we all had, maybe you got lucky, maybe you dont want to admit to a $700 mistake? donno but hey better for you.
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I'm definitely not a Gateway fan boy, this is the first piece of Gateway equipment I ever owned. I have no reason to make things up.

This does make me wonder about their quality control...
 
I would of kept this monitor if I just used it for a pc to tell you the truth. For the simple fact that after about 2 days of tweaking it was to acceptable levels when color correcting the gamma through the Nvidia drivers.

When playing half life 2 and WOW they have gamma correcting options in the display options of each game, so that helped as well.

The problem was using a PS3 or X box they have no color correcting, and there was no way to get a corrected signal to the monitor from anything other then a PC. So it really sucked that way, but if you can get a good deal on it and plan on just hooking a pc to it and nothing else, then it's ok..not the best...but still ok.
 
reductant said:
Better than what? The BenQ? The BenQ doesn't keep images in proper aspect ratios, and it is expensive.
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BenQ has a firmware that is fixing that. I don't see what the problem is when that's fixed. And BenQ is not expensive in comparison to the other stuff out there. It's $800 at Newegg (that's shipped right now with free shipping, otherwise add $9.99 or $16.xx for their other two options they've had for 3-day shipping). The Samsung 244T is $880 (cheapest shipped according to PriceGrabber). The Dell 2407 is $725 shipped according to PriceGrabber. The Gateway is $679 + tax (if applicable) + shipping (if applicable). If you want to talk expensive, try Eizo or NEC. The BenQ is cheap by comparison.

The Westinghouse 37" has a longer response time, larger pixel pitch (I believe, correct me if wrong), lower resolution (16:9 AR which yields true 1080p vs. 16:10 which yields 1920x1200), AND more expensive coming in at nearly $1,100 shipped (cheapest) according to PriceGrabber. I fail to see how the Westinghouse is better than the BenQ. Okay, sure it has two DVI connections and some other extra inputs, but the BenQ has plenty of inputs already. Is the $300 extra for the Westinghouse really worth it? I also doubt the colors on the Westinghouse are as accurate on as the BenQ, but I would like to see a test on that.
 
NO Flickering NO Tearing & NO Buzzing Sounds At All

Would those of you experiencing tearing and / or flickering please kindly post you PC specs, especially that of your VIDEO CARD.

The above problems are classic symptoms of an over taxed, over heating card.

If you are moving up to a monitor with a native res of 1920 x 1200 without a graphics card upgrade you are asking for problems unless you had a higher end card to begin with.

Moving that many pixels around will cause lesser cards to run red hot.

A hot card will cause tearing. Enable V Synch in your video card control panel. If your card has enough muscle the tearing will stop and you may loose only a few frames per sec.

If your card is hot: flickering or sparkling around the seems or edges of a 3D object are very common.

Turn off your PC.

Allow it to cool.

Take off the side panel and point a small table fan right at the card and then start your PC. You'll only need the fan for the higher end games and eventually the low rent look of the fan will prompt you to buy a better video card.

Last but not least: If you are getting a buzzing from your monitor try giving your monitor a dedicated power source. A very high quality power strip with a 12 gauge power cord plugged into its own outlet should help you out.

Buzzing is usually the sign of an electrical product getting lower voltage than needed. If it goes on for too long though the problem may not be reversible.

I have had this monitor now for 4 days and have put it through the paces in long sessions of HL2, Oblivion and Far Cry.

I'll say all products have room for improvement but this monitor seems to be suddenly getting unfairly lynched.

I hope to post a full review in another day or two.

In the mean time, all the best and enjoy this great hobby

JMD
 
if I thought the monitor was defective I'll march to BB and get something else but what else can I say I got a good Screen
 
So can you explain the tearing and the color trails that I had with an Xbox 360 over vga?
 
JMD FLA said:
NO Flickering NO Tearing & NO Buzzing Sounds At All

Would those of you experiencing tearing and / or flickering please kindly post you PC specs, especially that of your VIDEO CARD.

The above problems are classic symptoms of an over taxed, over heating card.

If you are moving up to a monitor with a native res of 1920 x 1200 without a graphics card upgrade you are asking for problems unless you had a higher end card to begin with.

Moving that many pixels around will cause lesser cards to run red hot.

A hot card will cause tearing. Enable V Synch in your video card control panel. If your card has enough muscle the tearing will stop and you may loose only a few frames per sec.

If your card is hot: flickering or sparkling around the seems or edges of a 3D object are very common.

Turn off your PC.

Allow it to cool.

Take off the side panel and point a small table fan right at the card and then start your PC. You'll only need the fan for the higher end games and eventually the low rent look of the fan will prompt you to buy a better video card.

Last but not least: If you are getting a buzzing from your monitor try giving your monitor a dedicated power source. A very high quality power strip with a 12 gauge power cord plugged into its own outlet should help you out.

Buzzing is usually the sign of an electrical product getting lower voltage than needed. If it goes on for too long though the problem may not be reversible.

I have had this monitor now for 4 days and have put it through the paces in long sessions of HL2, Oblivion and Far Cry.

I'll say all products have room for improvement but this monitor seems to be suddenly getting unfairly lynched.

I hope to post a full review in another day or two.

In the mean time, all the best and enjoy this great hobby

JMD
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Tearing is with Xbox 360 when 1:1 mode is enabled. If I were getting a monitor solely for PC use, I'd go with the BenQ.
 
i didn't have any problems with this monitor either. besides the banding, everything was fine. i just returned because of all the problems everyone else had.
 
peTeMelster said:
BenQ has a firmware that is fixing that. I don't see what the problem is when that's fixed. And BenQ is not expensive in comparison to the other stuff out there. It's $800 at Newegg (that's shipped right now with free shipping, otherwise add $9.99 or $16.xx for their other two options they've had for 3-day shipping). The Samsung 244T is $880 (cheapest shipped according to PriceGrabber). The Dell 2407 is $725 shipped according to PriceGrabber. The Gateway is $679 + tax (if applicable) + shipping (if applicable). If you want to talk expensive, try Eizo or NEC. The BenQ is cheap by comparison.

The Westinghouse 37" has a longer response time, larger pixel pitch (I believe, correct me if wrong), lower resolution (16:9 AR which yields true 1080p vs. 16:10 which yields 1920x1200), AND more expensive coming in at nearly $1,100 shipped (cheapest) according to PriceGrabber. I fail to see how the Westinghouse is better than the BenQ. Okay, sure it has two DVI connections and some other extra inputs, but the BenQ has plenty of inputs already. Is the $300 extra for the Westinghouse really worth it? I also doubt the colors on the Westinghouse are as accurate on as the BenQ, but I would like to see a test on that.
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Console use is critical for me, that's all, and I can't wait for a possible fix to the BenQ. And 24" is still kind of small. Pixel pitch is greater and will probably not look good if you are close to the screen, but I'm willing to live with that. My eyes are bad enough already and my girlfriend keeps telling me to sit further away, so at least this'll please her. The Westinghouse is also having some issues, such as overscaling 480p over component (which is going to be an annoyance when I get a Wii) and the HDMI not functioning with the PS3. But for me, the BenQ would cost $875 (they're offering free shipping now from NewEgg cool!). Yeah, so the Westinghouse is about $150-$200 more, but you get more screen and I don't have to worry about all this scaling crap that LCD manufacturers can't seem to figure out. It's been such a hard decision for me to make. I'm getting tired of obsessing over these monitors because nothing is perfect. I just have to go with what's the best deal and what will do what I want it to do the best.
 
yep, kinda like picking a politician, the best of the worst. I am going to the CPL tourney in Dallas to check out the 2007 BenQ monitors. We will see how that turns out.
 
Has anyone going from the gateway to the benq or anything else say if the monitors motion blur is better? or if there is ghosting/trailing at all. After being displeased with the gateway I am now very worried about the 16ms(6ms G-G) respnse time that all these 24's share.
 
My Gateway went back to Best Buy today. I looked on the shelves, and the only other one they had in stock was also a return.

Officially, it was the banding, crushed blacks, flickering, and ghosting that did it in. I hadn't mentioned the ghosting in my original post, but I found that an object moving across a field of solid color would show significant horizontal banding across the solid field. This was on the DVI input, which means the problem was entirely in my monitor, and not a cabling problem. The effect also happened on the analog inputs.

People who want to use this monitor for watching movies, listen up!

When running a 1080i signal from an HDMI source into this monitor's DVI port (with an adapter) it became apparent that this monitor does deinterlacing by simply doing a line double of each field. Essentially this downgrades your signal from 1080i to 540p, halving your vertical resolution. This results in noticeable pixelation, and in my opinion is unacceptable for true HD viewing. So if you're looking for a monitor to hook to a cable box to watch HDTV, you may want to keep looking.
 
Reductant, how come BenQ would cost you $875? It's only $799.99 shipped at NewEgg. 24" is huge. Though if you're going to using it more for a TV than monitor, then I guess it may be a bit small. But I would think 37" isn't much of a compromise size-wise for a monitor/TV dual function, as 37" is most definitely in the TV zone and no longer fit to sit on a normal computer desk.
 
JMD FLA said:
NO Flickering NO Tearing & NO Buzzing Sounds At All

Would those of you experiencing tearing and / or flickering please kindly post you PC specs, especially that of your VIDEO CARD.

The above problems are classic symptoms of an over taxed, over heating card.
Click to expand...
By this argument, people who have experienced these problems should have them on any monitor when running at a high resolution. Yet, this seems not to be the case from the people who returned the Gateway and switched to the BenQ. Also, the fact that people are having the same problems with the 360 seriously makes me doubt that these problems are solely video card problems. Given that people in this thread see to have drastically different experiences with this monitor, it seems to me that there's a possibility that Gateway is having quality control problems... maybe there's just a large group of defective monitors at launch. In any case, though, it seems pretty clear that the crushed blacks and banding problems that Seemore posted about are caused by the monitor and not the source.

I'm looking forward to your review. I hope the positive experience you've described so far continues to hold up.
 
The latest Froogle search shows that the BenQ FP241WZ (which will have the 1:1 pixel mapping fix) has a price tag of anywhere between $995-$1030. Add tax and shipping to that and it's going to cost more than the Westinghouse, which I got for $1050 shipped.
 
reductant said:
The latest Froogle search shows that the BenQ FP241WZ (which will have the 1:1 pixel mapping fix) has a price tag of anywhere between $995-$1030. Add tax and shipping to that and it's going to cost more than the Westinghouse, which I got for $1050 shipped.
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try pricegrabber.com

oops, nevermind. the new z isn't even on pricegrabber.
 
I really wanted to get this monitor for my office since my wife was kicking me out of the living room. My budget got stretched for this one and maybe just stretched to the breaking point for the Benq. For me the 1:1 pixel mapping is pretty important but in no way will I pay even more for the same monitor. The bleeding issue seemed to be really a new issue and I don't want to have to be the test subject for this new technology. Well back on topic I have been reading this forum for about two week and finally decided to register and post, I have found a lot of useful information and look forward to posting for a long time.

Now that the gateway utterly sucks should I start to look at the dell (not a fan but I need a good monitor at a competitive price) or the benq? I do a ton of photo editing and I will use this with my 360 all of the time. I went by Best Buy and looked at the display and wasn't impressed by it but I didn't hear any noise from the monitor at all but the thing seemed to be a fisher prise easy bake oven (I broke a sweat standing next to it), I don't think I could bear having something that hot included with a 360 on my desktop.
 
That's the Z model, redudant. Of course you will be paying more for that, but you can't know the prices of something that haven't even come out. Street price is always lower than projected price.

We are talking about the normal version, which is clearly MUCH cheaper even with your tax than the Westinghouse.
 
I never thought that searching for a 24" monitor would be such a headache! Should I just go for a 21" instead?
 
peTeMelster said:
That's the Z model, redudant. Of course you will be paying more for that, but you can't know the prices of something that haven't even come out. Street price is always lower than projected price.

We are talking about the normal version, which is clearly MUCH cheaper even with your tax than the Westinghouse.
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Yeah, maybe, but Buy.com seems pretty ready to go at the price they've set. It's about $200 below the MSRP, just like NewEgg did for the FP241W. I wonder why the FP241WZ is getting wider exposure. I'm just trying to make a point to people that want 1:1 scaling for their games. If you don't, then get the BenQ, it's cheaper.
 
I saw the Gateway 24 in BB the other night; it looked fantastic. But this thread's opinions started out at fantastic and then gone downhill to horrible, so now I'm a bit confused.

My primary uses will be normal computer stuff (web, spreadsheets, word processing, a custom retail business application) and TONS of digital photo editing, where color is extremely important.

I'm not terribly concerned about the unique effects that games generate (fast motion, etc), but the crunching of blacks is of great concern to me.

Has anyone used this monitor (or others that have been discussed here, such as Dell, BenQ) for non-gaming, general PC purposes, especially photo editing, who can provide greater insight into its performance for these applications?

Thanks!

Loren
 
When I went to Best buy to check it out they had it hooked up to a crappy card and the blacks looked like crap. I also want to use this monitor for a ton of photo editing, but gaming is the other use that this will be for. From what I have read about this thing it has some huge problems that need to be addressed thou there are tons of people in each thread bashing every single monitor. I don't know if these people who find every little thing wrong with these just want what is not possible (a $1700 24" panel at a dell price), we have to give to get and I want a panel that can do a nice balancing act.

Although color reproduction is extremely important to me I know if I want a 24" monitor for around $800 I am going to have to give some on that. Thou I know that I will have to have my monitor calibrated. The gaming aspect is very important also for me and I really want 1:1 pixel mapping. The gateway does it but at the cost of crappy blacks, and the benq looks better at the expense of 1:1 pixel mapping. The benq forum has some screens on there and they looked so great even with the stretching, so I am kind of leaning in that direction but the price on this one is something to look at.

We still have to take into account all the things that you have to buy extra. For $679 you only get a one year warranty, and the benq gives you 3 years for $800 from newegg. The gateway is around the corner from me and I would have to wait for shipping from newegg. I never thought this would be such a hard choice!
 
I'm tempted to take it home and try it; maybe once it's properly profiled it will be fine. Besides, I'll try using the coupon; saving 12% of $680 might help make the blacks look a lot clearer ;)

Loren
 
12% coupon? amex rewards?

b/c the 12% coupon that some of us have tried to use, only TV's qualify for it and it won't scan if you try to use it towards the gateway monitor (though some members have gotten away w/ it, through some very smooth talking...)
 
yang88she said:
12% coupon? amex rewards?

b/c the 12% coupon that some of us have tried to use, only TV's qualify for it and it won't scan if you try to use it towards the gateway monitor (though some members have gotten away w/ it, through some very smooth talking...)
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I'm going to try to talk them into it. It never hurts to try!

Loren
 
good luck!...if the 12% worked for me, I might have kept the screen haha....

let us know how it goes =D
 
yang88she said:
good luck!...if the 12% worked for me, I might have kept the screen haha....

let us know how it goes =D
Click to expand...

Just got back; they didn't have any 24's in stock, so I didn't fight too hard for the coupon. They had a few 22's and 19's, and said they're expecting more 24's in a couple of days. I asked if they'd had any problems with the 24's (i.e. returns), and he said he hadn't had any.

I'll check back there over the weekend; the coupon is good through the 17th.

Loren
 
duce3 said:
When you get it could you post some screens please? :D
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hehe...IF I get it!

I was just looking at the Dell Outlet; they have a bunch of refurbed 2407's at $599...that's pretty tempting...is there any reason I shouldn't consider the Dell? My impression, up until reading a few messages online, was that it's a great monitor.

Loren
 
I was just looking at my video card (Radeon 9000) properties...it only shows a max res of 1280x1024...I assume this means I'll need a new video card to drive a larger monitor?

Thanks.

Loren
 
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