HP LP2475W ... last year's tech or still awesome?

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andrew732

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My beloved CRT has finally died and I'm being dragged kicking and screaming into the LCD age. I'm looking for a 23" or 24" and have a decent amount that I can spend ($750 or so). The monitor would be used for gaming and movies, in addition to normal word processing and other tasks.

After researching for a few weeks it seems like the HP LP2475W is possibly the best I could do for that money, mainly because it's basically the only h-ips monitors in that size and price range. I have a few things that I'm unsure about though, which I'm hoping the assembled experts here can help out with:

1) This HP monitor is 16:10, 1920x1200. Does that mean that anything in 16:9, 1920x1080 resolution is displayed in letterbox format (which would be OK with me) or is it just stretched and distorted to fit the 16:10, 1920x1200 format (which would not be OK with me)?

2) Is the 6 ms GTG response time and ~25 ms input lag likely to make gaming unpleasant? Would most people say that the h-ips and general quality benefits outweigh those mediocre response specs for gaming purposes?

3) It looks like there's a large number of cheaper TN monitors, including some new LED backlit ones, with much better on-paper specs. If I don't really need extreme color accuracy and viewing angles for professional graphics work, is it just stupid to spend so much more for the older HP even though I have someone else's money to burn? Would something like the LG W2361V or Asus VK266H (at about half the price) be as good or better?

Well, I think that sums it up. Any help would be much appreciated!
 
Well for some people S-IPS is worth the double to triple price premium - but for me I don't think it is. My TN monitors look very clear. But I sit smack dab in front of them.

Pete
 
Why not buy a VK266H and find out for yourself? If you don't like it, return it and get th HP2475w (or the U2410 / EA231wmi / whatever IPS monitor that pops up in the near future). That way you will have no problem justifying the higher cost to yourself, and the restocking fee (if any) on the Asus is chump change compared to the price of the HP anyway.

This is my standard advice for people from the CRT world wondering if VA / IPS monitors are worth the premium. Nobody can answer that but you. OTOH, if you want to burn money....
 
Coming from a CRT, I'd say IPS is worth the premium, or you'd just feel like LCD is a downgrade from CRT.

Colors and clarity aside, the biggest annoyance on a TN panel to me are the viewing angles. Even right in front of the monitor staring at it head on, the top of the screen is darker than the bottom. It's not all that noticable on light/white stuff like office work or websites, but if you do stuff with lots of colors and animation, like gaming, you'll see it.

if there is something that is light blue in color, and it goes up the screen, it gradually turns dark blue, and at least to me, it's very distracting.
 
andrew732 said:
1) This HP monitor is 16:10, 1920x1200. Does that mean that anything in 16:9, 1920x1080 resolution is displayed in letterbox format (which would be OK with me) or is it just stretched and distorted to fit the 16:10, 1920x1200 format (which would not be OK with me)?
Click to expand...

Whatever you choose, you will want to be aware of WideScreenGamingForum, particularly its Games List, which includes instructions for proper widescreen display of games that don't support it natively or correctly.

You might want to consider the Planar PX2611W, which is a 25.5" 1920x1200 H-IPS usually found for about $820.

Both the HP and the Planar have 1:1 scaling, and will display 1920x1080 properly letterboxed.
 
I wouldn't trade my LP2475w for anything but a NEC 2490wuxi (version 1 not 2). For the price the LP2475w can't be beat (provided you get a non-defective unit as I did). I use my PC for gaming 1st, movies 2nd, and the web after that, and the LP2475w excels at them all.
 
25ms sounds really slow, but it's not response rate and I'm not sure exactly how input lag translates into gametime usage. I know that slow of a response rate would make FPS almost unplayable. Anyone else? How does 25ms input lag relate to 25ms response rate?
 
Thanks very much for all the responses. I'm feeling better about dropping the cash now, especially because it seems to be under $600 at some places online. I would say that low viewing angles do actually distract me quite a bit even though I'm not a graphics professional, so it's good to know that h-ips still has cheaper technologies beat in that area. I'm also very relieved to hear that 1920x1080 content is automatically letterboxed and not stretched.

To answer the last question, yes I believe that input lag is totally different from response time and is generally quite a bit higher. Still, ~25 ms seems to be somewhat higher than most current displays based on my research. I'm glad that vick1000 confirmed the usability of the HP LP2475W for gaming because yeah, there aren't any around to try out in person.
 
The HP works great for gaming for me and it is awesome for photo editng.
Edited the colors on this picture of one of my favorite models.
3815477720_32acdeb368_b.jpg
 
I went from a decent 19" CRT to a 24" TN panel and I haven't really been bothered by any of the most-mentioned drawbacks of TN panels... But I don't spend all day working on Photoshop either. The viewing angles seem fine to me tho, horizontally they're actually surprisingly good, vertically they're pretty bad but it's only an issue if I'm sitting wayyy back in my chair or watching it from across the room as I lay in bed or something... I still use my CRT as a 2nd display btw. Hard to argue with the price too ($200 for the Samsung in my sig, at Costco, less than what the 19" CRT cost me 9 years ago). I guess if it's not your money tho... /shrug
 
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