Digital Trends

HP L2045w March 14th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Features and Design

HP's new L2045w LCD screen is a cleanly designed monitor that looks good on almost any desk. The black and silver color scheme is very common these days and HP pulls it off quite well. The LCD screen itself has a thin frame which makes the viewable area of the screen look larger and more appealing.

The input controls are located on the front of the screen, dead center on the bottom lip of the frame. Adjusting controls is easy once you get the hang of the multi-function-button setup. It took me about 20 seconds to master the navigation of menus and selection of settings.

The L2045w has a built-in USB 2.0 hub which is something I'm very fond of. The hub's input is located on the bottom of the screen's frame, adjacent to the DVI and VGA ports. The two USB device ports are located on the right side of the screen. The ports are recessed about 2 inches from the edge of the frame, which is fine for permanently-attached USB devices, but can be a little awkward for regular use of tiny USB flash drives. (Anecdotally, I had a 20" Dell LCD monitor with USB ports on the extreme edge of the frame, making it easy to access ports.) Reaching the L2045w's USB ports may also prove a bit aggravating for users with larger-than-average hands. This minor inconvenience is overshadowed by the fact that I, like many consumers, prefer my LCD screens to have USB ports no matter where they are.

Two great features of the L2045w are the adjustable height and the pivoting screen. The LCD screen can be adjusted as low as 3 inches and as high as 6 3/4 inches from the desk surface. On HP's website, they mention that the L2045w has a 90-degree pivoting screen. This is a great feature, especially for folks who are regularly pivoting their screen to show coworkers and clients the images on screen, this comes in really handy at hospitals or the local newspaper office. Of course, the "90 degree pivot" means 45 degrees to the left of center and 45 degrees to the right of center.

One major bonus with the L2045w is its ability to switch from every-day Landscape mode to way-cool Portrait mode. This is fantastic for long documents, lengthy websites and, most important in my world, for editing vertically-oriented photos, brochures, etc. It's such a pleasure to view and edit a full-sized vertical image in Photoshop without having to constantly scroll up and down or to zoom in and out after each edit. Portrait mode solves this problem beautifully.

As noted with Landscape mode, the screen is adjustable in Portrait mode. The bottom of the screen can drop as low as 1" and can be raised to just over 3 1/2 inches.

Technically speaking, the L2045w gains a few thumbs up and a few sighs. On the positive, the 5ms response time is excellent. The 600:1 contrast ratio is good, but far from great. Frankly, it's a little embarrassing. One quick look at the comparable monitors shows that contrast ratios range from 700:1 all the way up to 1200:1. I'm not quite sure why this happened, but I think someone in HP's design team needs their knuckles smacked with a ruler.

A final wag of my finger at the L2045w's design goes to the oversized base. My Samsung SyncMaster 205BW (also a 20.1" LCD) has a small round base that measures just under 8 inches across. The base of the L2045w is 14 1/2 inches wide and 9 inches deep! By gum, that's big! It takes up a lot of desk space, something I have a limited amount of. On a positive note, the center of the base has a tray-like design which is great for keys, an iPod, a small portable hard drive, paper clips, a small picture frame, etc.

This LCD screen has no built-in speakers. HP sells a "Silver Flat Panel Speaker Bar" which easily attaches to the monitor. I can't/won't give the lack of built-in speakers any negative attention because speakers that are generally built into LCD screens are crappy anyway. Sound is almost always tinny and worthless. In fact, HP probably saves itself a lot of grief by abstaining from built-in speakers. Friends don't let friends use built-in speakers!

For some, the best feature will be the price. As of this writing, the base price for the L2045w on hp.com is $279. This is already a good price for such a monitor, but HP has made a very bold move by offering a $20 instant rebate AND a $40 mail-in rebate, dropping the overall purchase price to $219. Of course, prices and discounts are subject to change.

Image Courtesy of HP