gateway fpd2485w tft lcd monitor supplier

I purchased this monitor 11/2007. In 2/2008, the monitor completely died. I called Gateway and they refused to send me a new monitor. they would only send a refurb. (customer service reps were nasty, arrogant, and rude, when you do not agree with them they hang up on you).

The second monitor did not work right out of the box, none of the touch control buttons lit up and they did not work, I had no way to turn the monitor on or off.

They sent a third refurb unit, and again, right out of the box, the backlight kept turning off, I would have to cycle the power several times to get it to come back on and then it would only stay on for a few seconds. Tech support said they would take back the monitor and the speaker bar add-on (since the speaker only worked on this one monitor) and refund my money for both. He transferred me to customer service to process the refund and returns and they changed there mind and said they will not give a refund. When I asked how long this was going to go on, there reply was "until I get a unit the works"

In all fairness, this is a nice monitor, but three bad ones in a row, and there lack of proper customer service, is enough to make anyone think twice!

Thanks, Jarred, for the informed review. A selfish request--could you review the current Dell, Apple, and Samsung 23/24" LCDs? A friend is in the market in the next couple months and I am buying before the end of the year. From what little looking I"ve done, these seem to be the best candidates so far for hobbyist photo work (and movie viewing, game playing, web browsing...).

I purchased this monitor over the weekend at a local Best Buy. Here are my results from calibrating with the Pantone/greatagmacbeth Eye-One Display 2 colorimeter using the Eye-One Match 3.6.1 software.

Not sure what more could be done to fine tune the display. If you go to the user settings you can adjust RGB colors, but being an LCD it doesn"t really make a difference whether you do that on the LCD or in the Windows drivers. They both end up accomplishing the same thing. I have never looked into "hidden service menus" on any of the LCDs I"ve used, I"m sorry to say.

Thank you for the review. I"m very pleased that you will be reviewing monitors again. In your future LCD display reviews, I suggest that you identify the manufacturer and model of LCD panel in the monitor, and continue to identify the manufacturer and model of the signal processing chipset (you did in this review), as in Kristopher"s November, 2003 "Dell UltraSharp 2001FP Preview: Gaming LCDs for the Masses" review. Finding information about an LCD monitor"s panel and chipset is difficult at best. I suspect that many enthusiasts would often consider the panel type, brand and model when choosing monitors, if that information was readily available. In fact, I frequently read discussions about the merits of S-IPS panels over S-PVA panels. Additionally, would you also alert readers when a monitor manufacturer uses different types of panels in the same monitor, i.e., model. This practice is disconcerting; Consumers simply can"t be certain that the specific model that they purchase will have a specific panel. I believe that a vocal outcry would eliminate or substantially reduce this practice.

Currently, the FPD2485W is listed for $680 on the Gateway web site, while the regular price of the Dell 2407WFP is $750. Dell routinely runs sales, however, and the 2407WFP is available for $675 right now. You basically end up with two very similar monitors that cost about the same amount, although the Dell comes with a three-year warranty included making it a slightly better deal.

The Dell is currently (or was last week) $675 with the three year warranty. The Gateway is $680 + $30 for a 3-year warranty. So right now, the Dell is clearly less expensive. If the price of the Dell goes back up (which is almost certainly will at some point), things change a bit.

The problem is, darker blacks are good but brighter whites are only good up to a certain point. Anything above 400 cd/m 2 is far too bright in our opinion. As you can see, the black levels of both the Gateway and Dell LCD are equal, /quote:

Aren"t you supposed to compliment gateway for its excellent white brigthness while bash dell"s inferior test result? or are you saying gateway"s performance is nothing to sneeze at because it went over mere 5.21cd/m2 of your recommendation of 400cd/m2

We’ve seen a recent surge in 24” LCD monitors over the last few months. All the major players have weighed in with their single-DVI-saturated behemoths. Gateway has shocked the market with the first high-quality 24” screen priced under $700. No coupons, waiting for sales, or deal site acrobats. The FPD2485W suffers from one fatal flaw, though: consumer perception. Is the FPD2485W priced so low that consumers will doubt the quality? Is this a case of “you get what you pay for”? We are happy to say that the FPD2485W is a first-rate product all around, and we hope to assuage any fears of cheap build quality or missing features.

The FPD2485W specs are impressive on their own. 1920 x 1200 resolution, 1080p support (with HDCP), 1000:1 contrast ratio, 450 cd/m2 brightness, 6 ms response time, and a built-in, four-port USB 2.0 hub. Keep in mind that most people will only need to know the above specs to make a purchasing decision. These specs match or surpass those of the competition. The contrast resolution is good enough for watching darkly-lit video scenes, giving good color saturation. The 6 ms response time means no ghosting or blurring during fast-paced gaming or video.

One important feature for power users is the inclusion of HDCP, an encryption method used to secure high-resolution, next-generation media formats. Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD require HDCP in order to allow full 1080p playback. At publication time, studios have said that they will not degrade the high-definition signal without HDCP, but the option is always there, and you can bet that once high-definition pirating takes off, the feature will become enabled by default. It is also worth mentioning that the FPD2485W uses a Faroudja DCDi chip for video enhancement.

The FPD2485W has every necessary video connection. Along the back, you’ll find analog VGA, digital DVI, two component inputs, composite, and S-video. The only missing port is an HDMI input, which we expect to see on every monitor this size. The built-in USB 2.0 hub proves useful for removable flash drives, speakers, and webcams. There is also a power connector for the optional speaker bar that snaps into place below the monitor. The speaker bar uses standard stereo and mic connectors and draws power from the FPD2485W. We would have liked to see an optional USB connector to the speaker bar, since it seems like a more streamlined setup.

The TDX speaker bar spans the bottom surface of the monitor and clips into place without the need for any tools. There are the aforementioned standard stereo and mic connectors, two headphones jacks, one mic input, and aux RCA input connectors. The small, but capable, 8 watt speakers have hardware 3D enhancement and are decent for the low price. The speakers will mute when headphones are inserted. The controls located at the center of the bar are all capacitive touch sensitive, meaning there are no moving parts, and the surface is continuous with the casing. These controls include Input, Mode, Power, Mute, and 3D on/off. Since this review is geared toward the monitor itself, rather than this optional add-on, there’s not much else to say about the TDX sound bar. It is attractive, convenient, and is a decent option for everyday multimedia needs.

We loved the design of the controls on the monitor. If you have looked at the product images, you’re probably asking, “What controls?” All control buttons are hidden along the right side bevel, with only a small divot in the casing to signify the location of the power button. Once accessible, the buttons glow a soft blue. The menu system is a pure joy to use. Though we do like the tactile feedback of pressing a button, the tradeoff for aesthetics is acceptable — we’d rather have a nice-looking display than ugly buttons we will use a handful of times. The button LEDs can be dimmed for nighttime use. Navigating the menus is simple and is accompanied by audio feedback. Each button press comes with a nice banjo pluck sound, presumably to make up for the lack of tactile feedback. In an office, this could be extremely annoying, but thankfully Gateway has added an option to disable it (or boost the volume if you can’t get enough of that banjo lovin’!).

The monitor’s configuration screen has several presets that can be independently adjusted. These profiles include, Movie, Game, Pictures, Web, Warm, Cool, and a User customized profile. Each has its own color and contrast parameters. The monitor can be rotated 90 degrees clockwise on its base, and the height of the base can be adjusted, as can the tilt. The one missing dimension is left and right rotation. Also, the power supply for the monitor is built into the casing, which means no unsightly power brick on the floor.

We used the FPD2485W with a desktop PC sporting an Nvidia GeForce 7950 GX2 over DVI and a laptop with a built-in ATI Radeon Mobility X1400 over VGA. The VGA connection showed some extremely limited blurring and had less accurate colors than the DVI input, but the difference between the two was surprisingly minimal.

Text quality was absolutely beautiful using either input. Being able to view two full pages in Microsoft Word at high quality from a laptop is an awe-inspiring experience. The FPD2485W is so bright that some might find it slightly fatiguing to view text over a long period of time. We recommend changing one of the profiles to a slightly dimmer setting to relieve eye strain. For static picture quality, the contrast ratio really shines. Dim pictures and darker scenes had clearly visible details. Video playback was excellent overall, and there no blurring through the DVI and VGA connections, with some artifacts over VGA when using WinDVD 8. We found that the once our eyes got used to the high contrast ratio, artifacts for web videos and pixelation was more noticeable. Again, this is not a problem with the monitor. We liken the issues we have experienced to buying our first high-quality set of headphones — the issues are from the low-quality source material that has been deemed acceptable by most people.

We also tested Battlefield 2142 with the FPD2485W. Even though EA does not support widescreen monitors, we used the “+ widescreen 1920 x 1200” switch on the shortcut and got acceptable results. There was no noticeable ghosting or motion blurring, and the level of detail was exceptional. All in all, the FPD2485W does an excellent job of showing off everything this LCD panel can do. Keep in mind that most manufacturers use the same actual panels with their own circuit boards and casing, and the important thing to note is that Gateway is able to run with the best of them when it comes to the FPD2485W.

We placed the FPD2485W next to the Dell 2405 FPW (previous generation 24” LCD monitor), and the difference was striking. The current generation Dell monitor costs almost $100 more, but comes with a 3-year warranty. Gateway offers a 1-year warranty standard, with a 3-year warranty optional for $30 (as of the time of publication).

The Gateway FPD2485W is a first-class monitor all around. The picture quality is excellent, the controls are intuitive and attractive, and the only missing connection is the lack of an HDMI input. The optional speaker bar is an ideal solution for desks where this 24” monster eats available space meant for speakers. The analog VGA quality is also worth noting, making the FPD2485W an ideal second monitor for laptops with graphics chips capable of pushing the pixels. In anycase, if you are shopping for a new PC monitor, consider your searching over – this is the one to get.

Slide the neck’s bracket slots onto the bracket’s mounting tabs. Press the bracket lever to the right and hold it, then lower the neck into place and release the lever. Test the bracket connection to make sure it is secure, then move the monitor upright.

Connect other video sources (such as a DVD player, video camera, or receiver) to the appropriate video jacks on the back of the monitor. Component video 2 jacks Component video 1 jacks • For basic video quality, connect your video device’s composite video in jack to the corresponding jack on the back of your monitor.

To install the speaker bar: For easier installation, first rotate the monitor into portrait mode so you can install the speaker bar from the side. Tilt the screen back, then match the tabs on each side of the speaker bar with the slots underneath the monitor.

PIP video display to your Windows desktop, which makes it easier to access your computer programs while watching video. Swap—Switches the PIP image to the main image, and the main image to the PIP image. PIP Picture—Opens a menu where you can set the PIP brightness, contrast, saturation, and tint/hue. www.gateway.com...

Description: Screen Size: 23" - Screen Type: TFT LED - Resolution: 1920x1080 - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - Contrast Ratio: 100,000,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 178* - I/O Interfaces: VGA, DVI - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 23" - Screen Type: LCD - Screen Enhancements: LED Backlit - Resolution: 1920x1080 - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - Contrast Ratio: 12,000,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 170* - I/O Interfaces: HDMI, VGA, DVI - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 21.5" - Screen Type: LCD - Screen Enhancements: LED Backlit - Resolution: 1920x1080 - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - Contrast Ratio: 100,000,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 90* - Monitor Features: Built-In Speaker - I/O Interfaces: VGA, DVI

Description: Screen Size: 30" - Screen Type: TFT LCD - Screen Enhancements: Anti-Glare - Resolution: 2560x1600 - Aspect Ratio: 16:10 - Viewing Angle: 178* - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 21.5" - Screen Type: TFT LED - Screen Enhancements: Anti-Glare, Widescreen - Resolution: 1920x1080 - Contrast Ratio: 100,000,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 178* - I/O Interfaces: VGA - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 19" - Screen Type: TFT LCD - Screen Enhancements: Anti-Glare - Resolution: 1440x900 - Aspect Ratio: 16:10 - Contrast Ratio: 700:1 - Viewing Angle: 150* - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 21.5" - Screen Type: LCD - Screen Enhancements: LED Backlit - Resolution: 1920x1080 - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - Contrast Ratio: 12,000,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 170* - I/O Interfaces: VGA, DVI - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 21.5" - Screen Type: TFT LED - Resolution: 1920x1080 - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - Contrast Ratio: 100,000,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 178* - I/O Interfaces: VGA, DVI - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 20" - Screen Type: LCD - Screen Enhancements: LED Backlit - Resolution: 1440x960, 1600x900 - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - Contrast Ratio: 12,000,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 170* - Monitor Features: Built-In Speaker - I/O Interfaces: VGA, DVI - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 19" - Screen Type: LCD - Screen Enhancements: OSD (On Screen Display), Anti-Glare - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - Contrast Ratio: 700:1 - I/O Interfaces: D-Sub, VGA

Description: Screen Size: 24" - Screen Type: LCD - Screen Enhancements: Anti-Glare, Widescreen - Resolution: 1280x720 - Contrast Ratio: 1,000:1 - I/O Interfaces: Component, S-Video, Composite, USB 2.0, DVI - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 24" - Screen Type: TFT LED - Screen Enhancements: Anti-Glare, Widescreen - Resolution: 1920x1080 - Contrast Ratio: 100,000,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 170* - I/O Interfaces: VGA - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 23" - Screen Type: LCD - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - Contrast Ratio: 40,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 160* - I/O Interfaces: D-Sub, HDMI, VGA - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 24" - Screen Type: LCD - Screen Enhancements: LED Backlit - Resolution: 1920x1080 - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - Contrast Ratio: 12,000,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 170* - I/O Interfaces: HDMI, VGA, DVI - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 27" - Screen Type: TFT LED - Screen Enhancements: Anti-Glare, Widescreen - Resolution: 1920x1080 - Contrast Ratio: 100,000,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 178* - I/O Interfaces: VGA - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 21.5" - Screen Type: LCD - Resolution: 1920x1080 - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - Contrast Ratio: 5,000:1 - Viewing Angle: 90* - Monitor Features: Wall-Mounted - I/O Interfaces: VGA, DVI - Enclosure Color: Black

Description: Screen Size: 22" - Screen Type: LCD - Screen Enhancements: Anti-Glare, Widescreen - Contrast Ratio: 700:1 - Viewing Angle: 160* - I/O Interfaces: Composite, S-Video, Component, USB 2.0, VGA, DVI - Enclosure Color: Black - Weight (lb): 14.00

Today we are going to embark on a journey that we have traversed for all our life. However, if we do not, or can not, truly appreciate the essence of its thrill; we are missing the whole point. That means, the promises of our LCD screens is under scrutiny today.

LCDs have improved upon the obvious cons of CRTs but with an added baggage of their own newly introduced problem set. Very early on in their lifetime, you used to count the dots aka pixels on the panels. Even now, sitting close to computer monitors bigger than 22” you can witness the dot phenomena of LCDs. The reason behind this is that LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) comes with a pre-specified native display resolution with the manufacturer cramming exactly this much number of liquid crystals into that panel. Therefore a bigger panel with small native resolution makes you spot the crystals distinctly. This problem is almost gone for newer panels.

About the resolution, there is that hype of HD experience. This high definition stuff requires the display to have either of these resolutions 720p, 1080i, 1080p. For us techies, 1280 * 720 is 720p while 1080 refers to the 1920 * 1080 resolution. This is a wide viewing angle resolution of 16:9 aspect ratio. HD also requires signal input through HDMI connection. This connection transfers both the video and the audio signals all digitally; no digital to analog conversion going on. There is that alternate signal connection called DisplayPort that promises to transfer signals beyond HD quality requirements. However, you need to have the same type of connection on both the video card and the LCD. Trends show that consumer electronics are bent towards HDMI while computer devices are interested in using DisplayPort connectors.

On the other hand, our wide viewing angled LCDs monitors typically have 16:10 aspect ratio. 24” LCDs have 1920 * 1200, 22” have 1680 * 1050 and so on. These LCDs can display HD resolutions 1080p and 720p respectively but with degraded experience of black bars at top and bottom of the movies. Newer panels for the year 2009 are going to be 16:9 aspect ratio and they will be cheaper.

Another one is the response time problem. This one matters a lot for gamers. In order to display frames, each and every crystal of an LCD physically rotates to change the colors. This physical problem causes manufacturers to improve and report all sorts of specs regarding response times. You hear of 2ms GtG or 10ms ISO time. That means it takes 2 milliseconds for a crystal to change color from one gray shade to another or 10 milliseconds to change color according to ISO spec. Now, ISO spec implementation varies among different manufacturers. Whatever the case may be, this time should be lesser than 10 ms.

A very similar concept is the Response Time Compensation for a monitor. We are the generation who are witnessing the expiration of CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) technology. We remember the flickering of the frames to displaying a video on our CRT monitors. It seems particularly ugly when you shoot a video of any movie running on your CRT. To make matters worse, this flickering is needed for our eyes. If there is no black out between frames and there is a continuous stream of frames then we’d see frames blurring. This is because the image of one frame is not completely washed out from our retinas before the other frame displays, yielding the blur. There is no such thing as refreshing in LCDs so the black out gaps are artificially introduced. Early generation RTC technology had its share of errors but now things are getting smoother in the latest generation of Samsung.

Pixel Pitch refers to the concentration of the crystal in a square inch, or whatever, it basically is a measure of the crystal density. [Doesn’t help at all in judging the quality of the LCDs]

Viewing angle problem is another pain in the @$$. There are certain panels that provide very good angles but bad response times. Whatever the case may be, if you place the LCD above your eyes level and look at it from below, it always sucks.

Now comes the real deal. Which panel type is the best? There are 3 kinds of panels in common use today: TN matrix, PVA and IPS panels. TN matrix is the most common, cheapest and has worst viewing angles but good response times. PVA & IPS panels have very few differences between them and they are expensive with good viewing angles. Their downside of bad response times are really improved with the use of the RTC technology. However, these panel types are hardly found on LCDs smaller than 24”.

Some monitors come with glossy surfaces. This attracts dust a lot and reflects side lights as well but in a totally closed room it produces very good images. Another hot topic for discussion regarding panel types is the S, A and C panels. They are the three panel manufacturers that Samsung engages for the production of its panels. S stands for Samsung, A for AU Optronics (AUO) and C for Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO). But of course best ones among them are the S panels then C then A, albeit minor differences. Its hard to tell them apart but the only way to do this is to look at the complete model number and search it on the internet for details.

There are other bells and whistles attached to LCD monitors nowadays. Side speakers and the recently introduced surround speakers are very easy to spot. One Samsung monitor even attached a second mini-LCD with one of its model. Touch sensitive controls is also available on some models. However, it depends on your needs in order to make a purchasing decision.

Lastly, we have the brands to choose from. Samsung, Asus, Dell, Acer, BenQ and NEC are all good brands to name a few. Just know your current and future needs, watch your budget and pick any wide angle LCD monitor.