Gateway FPD2485W

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Gateway FPD2485W

Posted 09/19/2007 at 5:39pm | by Katherine Stevenson

Gateway’s 24-inch LCD stands out in this crowd by offering far and away the most input options: VGA and DVI ins are joined by S-video, composite, and two component connectors, as well as four USB 2.0 ports. This LCD, however, also sports the most annoying OSD. Menu selections are accompanied by sound effects that are reminiscent of a Casio keyboard’s. And while there’s a healthy array of menu options to choose from, none appears to disable the menu’s audio. Twitchy touch-sensitive OSD buttons certainly don’t help matters.

The FPD2485W performed adequately in Display Mate, but the screen did show signs of banding in grayscales of 85 steps or more, particularly at the dark end of the spectrum. We looked for evidence of this shortcoming in our high-res digital photos, concentrating on subtle transitions in shades, but found no apparent flaws. We were also satisfied with the screen’s abilities with movies, including those with HDCP, but its game performance was unacceptable. An obvious and persistent flicker and other signs of digital noise seemed indicative of a screen that can’t keep up with rapidly changing content. Not good.

Gates of Fire

Plenty of options, including tons of inputs.

Watergate

Annoying menu tones, some grayscale banding & noise.

5

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anamnesis

September 27, 2007 at 11:16am

If the fact that you didn't even bother to invest the ten seconds required to turn off the monitor's "Casio keyboard sounds" under the OSD is any indication of the thoroughness of this review, then I can't imagine what else is wrong about your review. Fortunately I own one, so I know a lot is wrong (or at best, completely unfair) about your review. Main Menu > Advanced > Audio Feedback > Off. Wow, that was impossible to find. It has obvious, persistent, and unacceptable flicker? Maybe if you weren't running Quake benchmarks at 100fps, or whatever it is you claim causes "unacceptable flicker", you wouldn't be seeing so much of it. I've played tons of games and the tearing is minimal, no worse than any other LCD with a 6ms response time and a 60Hz refresh rate. If that bothers you and you're a gamer, you're not gonna be satisfied with the vast majority of LCDs out there with a similar spec. Fact is, there weren't many 24" displays that were able to match this one's 1080p capability, its refresh rate, or its feature set at a very reasonable $600 price point at the time of its release ... which was nearly a year ago, by the way. Obviously doing a great job keeping up with the fresh product reviews, guys! Even so, this display is still one of the best values on the market a year later, and you give it a 5. It's no wonder I stopped subscribing to your magazine.

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QBZ5676

September 29, 2007 at 1:36pm

^^ Definitely needs to be explored further, among other things.

Seriously, though: What's up with a review of a monitor that's now already a year old?

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