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HP Monitor Feature Guide

Everything you need to choose an HP monitor for your home, dorm or home office.
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Selecting the right HP monitor can seem complex. However, with a little help, you’ll make a smart choice that meets your needs and works within your budget. Let’s get started.

HP Monitor Buying Guide

The HP difference

HP monitors are designed to make your computing experience easy, entertaining and convenient. All new HP monitors feature.

  • A stylish, piano-black gloss finish
  • BrightView panels for amazing picture quality
  • Exclusive My Display and Quick View modes to easily adjust settings and change  your on-screen environment
  • Dual inputs, for one digital (DVI-D) and one analog (VGA) source
  • Swivel and rotation capabilities to work in a way that’s comfortable for you
  • Space to conveniently park your keyboard when it’s not in use 

With great looks, intelligent design and innovative features, an HP monitor is the right choice.

Assess your needs

If you use your PC for office work—e-mail, documents and web searches—your choice of monitor will be different than if you design cutting-edge websites and play video games.

Identify your priorities from one of the four usage groups below to help narrow your monitor search.

  • Home user—looking for a quality monitor with convenient features at a reasonable price
  • Business user—focused on performance over price, with an emphasis on a larger viewing area for spreadsheets and graphics applications 
  • Student—looking for a moderately priced monitor with great image quality for schoolwork and play that doesn’t take up a lot of space
  • Multimedia maniac—requires the best image quality for gaming, watching movies and surfing the web

Once you determine your use style, you can jump to recommended HP monitors or read below to learn more about the features to look for when selecting a monitor.

Features to look for

CRT vs LCD 
The days of big, hot, heavy cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors are over. Slim and lightweight, flat-screen HP liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors take up less space, are significantly more energy efficient and create less eye-strain.

The antiglare screen and deep contrast make HP LCD monitors ideal for everything you do on your PC—from watching movies and surfing the web, to homework, presentations and spreadsheets.

Screen size
HP offers LCD monitors in sizes from 15 to 24 inches.

  • 17- to 19-inch monitors are ideal for web surfing, email, creating documents and basic photo editing.
  • 20- to 24-inch monitors are ideal for graphic design, creating large spreadsheets, viewing  TV, movies and gaming on your PC.

Resolution
Monitor resolution refers to the size (measured in pixels) of what you see on the screen. The higher the resolution, the sharper the images, and more information will fit on the screen.

  • For 19-inch widescreen monitors, a maximum resolution of 1440x900 is common.
  • For larger widescreen monitors 22 to 24 inches, look for a resolution of 1920x1200—ideal for viewing high-definition content on your PC.

Widescreen
The standard proportion or aspect ratio for a monitor is 4:3. All new HP monitors give you the option of widescreen formats with aspect ratios of 16:9.

Widescreen monitors are wider than they are tall for a more cinematic viewing experience. Watch movies on your PC in their full widescreen glory or spread your work out across the desktop—you’ll have plenty of room.

Accessories
To get more from your computing and entertainment experience, choose the monitor accessories that are right for you. Some are integrated into certain HP monitors, while others are convenient attachments.

  • Integrated rear-facing speakers
  • HP stereo speakers—Great for enhanced audio while playing games and watching movies on your PC, or streaming video on the Internet
  • Video cards—Add one to your PC for better overall graphics and enhanced gaming
  • Optional web cam
  • HP Easy Clip—Personalize your monitor with photos, notes, headphones and more clipped to the edges of your monitor 

Choose with confidence

Now you’re ready to choose a great HP monitor.

And remember, your HP monitor is backed by award-winning HP Total Care service and support. Get the help you need 24x7 through our toll-free hotline or have your questions answered via e-mail in as little as an hour.


»  Check out the complete line-up of amazing HP monitors—from 15-inch up to 22-inch wide-screen

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