Digital Trends

HP L2045w March 14th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Setup and Use

Setting up the HP L2045w LCD monitor was dirt simple. When opening the product packaging, I saw that the monitor was protected by soft, fitted foam blocks. After removing the LCD screen from the foam, the first thing I noticed was that the monitor is already assembled. I've purchased dozens of LCD screens in my time, and I've become accustomed to connecting the base to the body of the screen. In the case of the L2045w, it took me less than 8 seconds to remove it from the box and have it set up on my desk. Plugging in the power cord took just a moment longer.

While I was happily impressed with the easy setup, I was largely disappointed by the fact that HP did not include a DVI cable with this monitor. A VGA cable was included, but that's like buying a new computer and getting a complimentary modem cable. Boo. DVI cables are so cheap these days, the fact that HP didn't include one makes HP look too cheap to please its customers. I repeat and affirm my previous "boo" to HP skimping on a simple DVI cable.

As soon as I plugged in my own quality DVI cable (which I got from eBay for $4.00) to the L2045w, I connected it to my MacBook Pro. Within seconds, I had the MacBook Pro running two screens thanks to its ample 256MB video card.

Initial impressions were that of complete satisfaction. No dead pixels. Vibrant colors. Clarity was just as good as I'd hoped for. At the native (and maximum) resolution of 1680x1050 pixels, the screen looked great.

I opened up a few programs to test out the screen. Word documents looked sharp and as close to perfect as possible. Icons and screen fonts were flawless. Websites looked just as good on the L2045w as they did on my MacBook Pro screen and my Samsung SyncMaster 205BW LCD screen.

When opening images in iPhoto, they were as sharp and clean as I'd expected. I did notice, however, that images opened in Photoshop CS2 and CS3-beta looked slightly washed out on the L2045w when compared to the same image on the native MacBook Pro screen. After tweaking both the monitor's display settings and Photoshop's color profiles, I was able to bring the test images to a near parity. Of course, images did not resolve to absolute perfection of colors between the native screen and the L2045w, but this is a common issue with any multiple monitor setup using non-identical monitors. For single monitor systems, this will not be an issue at all.

I also tested the L2045w monitor with a Sony Vaio VGN-T350P laptop using the VGA video port. Windows XP instantly recognized the L2045w, however XP's automatic configuration was for the wrong screen resolution - 1280x1024 - which is not even a native screen res for a widescreen LCD such as the L2045w. After manually adjusting the screen resolution to 1680x1050, the screen looked great. The Sony Vaio's 128MB shared video card was able to provide the 20.1" LCD with awesome video and stills.

As a dedicated and solo LCD screen for any desktop system, the L2045w will most likely be more than sufficient for most uses. Folks who need high-end monitors for video production projects will likely never consider any of the mid/business range LCDs for their needs, and that's fine. Those professionals who need absolute perfection and who'll gladly pay for that comfort should stick to their high-end systems and peripherals. For the rest of us, the L2045w is a monitor worthy of some attention.

The HP L2045w and Apple MacBook Pro

The HP L2045w in Portrait Mode