HP w2408h review

Weaknesses
Despite all its strengths, the w2408h has a few weak areas. Notably, the screen is covered in a glossy reflective coating -- a feature that's fast becoming the bain of our lives. The reasons for having it are plain -- the gloss makes the screen look like it has improved contrast and more vivid colours, but there's a big tradeoff: if you use it in the daytime, all you end up seeing is your own reflection, not what's happening on the display.

Our next beef concerns the monitor's vertical viewing angles. We're probably being harsh here, but the picture does deteriorate if you're not looking at the screen from a dead central position. This doesn't cause that much of an issue when the monitor is in its horizontal orientation, but rotate it into portrait mode and you'll start to notice this phenomenon a lot more.

Earlier, we heaped praised on the design of the w2408h. Fashion-conscious users will love it, but it's worth noting that the glossy inner bezel is very prone to picking up fingerprint smudges. Whatever you do, don't eat greasy food then adjust the monitor -- it'll hoover up traces of your KFC like you wouldn't believe.

Perhaps we're being greedy -- it's all that talk of KFC -- but we would have liked a few more input options on the w2408h. There's only one HDMI, meaning you can only connect one HD source at a time unless you buy a separate switch. It also lacks a DVI port, so you'll need to buy an adaptor if you want to connect it to your DVI-equipped graphics card.

Conclusion
We'd be very happy to spend our money on an HP w2408h. We're slightly put off by the glossy screen coating, but it more than makes up for this with exceptional physical adjustability and image quality that is pleasing to the eye. If money is no option then we'd go for the more expensive Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP, but for those on a lower budget, the w2408h is absolutely fantastic.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday