HP W2007 review: HP W2007

Similar to its larger, 22-inch line mate, the 20-inch HP w2007 wide-screen LCD delivers high image quality and an attractive design, and with only a small price premium compared to other displays in its class. The $260 w2007 is a simpler model than HP's w2207, although both units offer HDCP compliance for watching protected HD content. The My Display software bundled with both displays still doesn't really function properly, but that's a minor ding against this otherwise polished LCD. You can find less-expensive 20-inch wide-screen displays on the market, but few produce as sound an image, at least for general computing. If you're looking for a small-scale HD movie display, you'd do better to keep looking.

Design
The HP w2007 is essentially a scaled-down version of the w2207. Both share a stylish, glossy black bezel with gray plastic trim, as well as a conveniently designed stand that doubles as a keyboard dock. Unlike the pricier w2207, the w2007 has a much more basic range of motion. You can only tilt the screen up and down from between minus-5 to plus-25 degrees, rather than the w2207 that tilts, moves forward and back, and whose screen also rotates 90 degrees. The w2007's limited range of motion is in keeping with its lower price, and we found we were happy enough with the adjustability it offers. We also like its onscreen display, which is simple to navigate.

Manufacturer's specs
Resolution: 1,680x1,050
Dot pitch: .258mm
Pixel-response rate: 5msn
Contrast ratio: 1000:1
Connectivity: DVI, VGA
HDCP compliant
Included DVI and VGA cables

Features
HP's monitor is fairly spare for its price, as far as features go, especially when you consider that you can get a lesser-known, less-stylized 22-inch wide-screen monitor for about the same price. It offers a DVI and a VGA output, but no HDMI out. It also has a basic audio output via a pair of typically underwhelming LCD speakers. We're glad that it has HDCP compatibility, which lets you watch protected HD movies (even if the quality isn't the best we've seen, as outlined below). We were once again let down, however, by HP's My Display software, which is essentially supposed to bring the features of the onscreen display to your desktop. We updated our Windows Vista desktop to the latest ATI graphics card drivers, made sure we had the latest version of My Display, and while the system itself recognized the HP w2007 monitor as such, HP's own My Display was unable to make the same connection.

Performance
For the most part, we were impressed with the HP w2007, at least as far as traditional computing tasks. Of all the LCDs we've reviewed recently, it actually scored highest on our suite of image quality tests, besting several larger, more expensive displays. It scored highest on our grayscale and uniformity subtests. Otherwise its color, sharpness, DVD movie, and gaming scores weren't the highest we've ever seen, but collectively they were all good enough to make this a very strong all-around display.

Our only complaint with the w2007's image quality is its HD movie playback, particularly the color quality, which we found bland. But because this is a relatively small screen for movie watching, and one whose native resolution won't support 1080p content, we're willing to bet that many of you in the market for a 20-inch LCD aren't too hung up on HD quality. We're glad that HP made the w2007 HDCP-compatible, but we consider that capability more of an added bonus in a display of this size.

Service and support
HP's support of this display remains behind others in the industry, backing it with only one year of parts and labor coverage. Other vendors commonly have three-year plans. At least HP's Web site offers plenty of support resources, with drivers, downloadable manuals, and an online tech support chat feature.

Find out more about how we test LCD monitors.