HP DreamColor LP2480zx

Bottom Line

Two key things can be said about the 24-inch HP DreamColor LP2480zx: It's a performance powerhouse, and it's ultra-expensive. Though most reviewers are impressed by what they see on the screen, most can't justify the mammoth price.

Performance

Performance monster. The 24-inch HP DreamColor LP2480zx is the result of a collaboration between HP and Hollywood's Dreamworks Studio. The goal was to bring the unmatched color reproduction of the CRT monitors used in motion-picture studios -- like Dreamworks -- to consumers in the form of LCD displays. In a sense, it succeeds -- as long as price is no object -- because the HP DreamColor LP2480zx is the best performer.

Thanks to its 30-bit IPS panel and tri-color, RGB LED backlight, it produces CRT-class colors that are rich and vibrant, and the deepest blacks found among LCD monitors. TrustedReviews.com's Andy Vandervell describes the color scales and gradients as "uniformly flawless," and the black levels as "easily the best we've seen on an LCD monitor." Images are sharp and detailed, while ghosting in movies is nearly nonexistent. Backlight bleed is a thing of the past, as CNET says it's the lowest amount they've ever seen; they also find that the display presents nearly 100 percent uniform backlighting. Users can expect excellent quality overall with movies and games. Its wide color range is "extremely impressive," says TrustedReviews.com.

Features

Lots of picture controls, but some things are missing. Considering its towering price tag, it's disappointing that the HP DreamColor LP2480zx eschews some fairly basic features, like contrast adjustment and direct color controls. CNET grouses about the lack of built-in calibration options.

Even so, as TrustedReviews.com says, fussy users can spend hours tweaking and adjusting the available controls. Available adjustments include black level, color temperature, gamma and brightness. Its presets are professionally focused, including Full, AdobeRGB, Rec.6.01 (for video-encoding), sRGB, Rec. 709 (for HDTV content), SCI-P3 Emulation and User-7 modes. It sports a handful of energy management features like "power on recall," which lets you set the display to turn off and on at certain times.

Design

Ports galore. The charcoal-black HP DreamColor LP2480zx doesn't share the sleek aesthetic of many high-end IPS monitors; even with its LED backlight, reviewers describe it as "substantive" and even "industrial." Its rectangular stand is about a foot wide and helps the display remain quite secure against wobble. Ergonomic features include 35-degree back-tilt, 45-degree horizontal swivel, 90-degree pivot and 4-inches of screen-height adjustment.

The onscreen user interface is comprehensive enough, though the Enter button is often unresponsive, reviewers say. Connectivity essentials are all accounted for: Under the monitor's back panel are 2 DVI ports, an HDMI input, a DisplayPort connector, a component-video connection, an S-video port, a composite video connection and a USB upstream port; on the right side are four USB downstream ports.

Value

Despite its performance, that price tag is hard to swallow. Except for those engaged in professional TV or cinema post-production (where 30-bit monitors costing tens of thousands of dollars are not unheard of), most users will probably want to look past the HP DreamColor LP2480zx, despite its impeccable performance. It's very hard to justify paying more than $2,000 dollars for an LCD monitor, at least for consumer use. Even most graphics professionals will have a difficult time reconciling that price in a marketplace that offers less-costly but still high-end IPS monitors -- such as the Dell UltraSharp U3011 (*Est. $1,085) -- that deliver performance that's nearly as good.