Hewlett-Packard has a strong reputation in the business community, and the L2045w is a good example why. This widescreen LCD monitor's base includes a tray to hold various office accoutrements, such as paper clips and a stapler, and the versatile stand allows height, swivel, tilt and 90-degree pivot adjustments. In addition, the 20-inch L2045w sports a native resolution of 1,680x1,050, which is one of the most popular size/resolution combinations for home office and business use.

The L2045w's specifications show a definite slant toward a business audience, with average ratings for brightness and contrast ratio. The brightness level may appear low compared to many other LCD monitors, but it's actually more than sufficient for a 20-inch display that will likely be viewed from a relatively short distance. The contrast is also adequate for day-to-day office applications, but the L2045w's unspectacular black levels make it hard to recommend if you are primarily shopping for a monitor for heavy color workflow. If you will use your new monitor for photography, video editing or desktop publishing, you should probably look elsewhere.

The L2045w's connectivity is limited to two video sources, D-sub (analog) and DVI-D (digital). However, the DVI connection is not HDCP-compliant, so you can't use the L2045w to watch copy-protected video like Blu-ray, HD DVD or other high-definition sources. As the L2045w is geared to home office and business use, this shouldn't be a concern for the monitor's target users. Standard DVD display with no problems. Two USB ports for connecting peripherals are located on the right side of the monitor.

While the sparse connectivity would seem to preclude using the L2045w for multimedia, this unit's 5-millisecond pixel response time is more than speedy enough to reproduce fast-action sequences in videos or games when you need a break from all those spreadsheets.

Because the L2045w is designed for home office and business applications, a good test of its performance involves the display of small text and image borders. Text is clean with no jagged edges, even at very small font sizes. Images also appear crisp with well-defined borders.

The Hewlett-Packard L2045w LCD monitor lacks the latest multimedia bells and whistles, but it more than makes up for these shortcomings with handy features that will serve its target market well.


Pros: Good value for general-purpose home or business use, multiple adjustment options include pivot, clear text and images
Cons: Limited to basic video inputs, lackluster black levels, not for graphics-heavy applications like photography and video editing

Warranty
3 years, parts and labor; on-site service