Gateway FPD2485W: 24" LCD Beauty or Beast?
by Jarred Walton on February 22, 2007 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Displays
Closing Thoughts
The Gateway FPD2485W is one of the more recent LCDs on the market, and it performs very well. Is it the best option currently available? We haven't tested a lot of other displays, so we can't say for certain, but it appears to be competitive with most other options in the same category.
For many users looking at purchasing a new display, one of the overriding factors is going to be price. That's what helped turn Dell into one of the largest display providers in the world, as given the choice between a 24" Dell LCD or a more expensive but higher-quality 20"-21" LCD from someone else, quite a few people have been more than happy to stick with Dell. The fact that Dell's LCDs are actually very good also helped.
Gateway seems to have a good understanding of the market - and well they should considering that they compete in other markets against Dell - and they have produced a product that takes a very similar approach. The FPD2485W isn't a perfect LCD, but it performs very well overall and it is available at a very attractive price. 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 small difference in price probably isn't enough to sway most people one way or the other, so it's going to come down to performance, features, and any other extras. The bottom line for the consumer is that we're getting more competition in the large LCD market from a major manufacturer, and as the AMD/Intel price wars have shown us, competition is good for the consumer. Two years ago, 24" LCDs cost nearly twice what they do now, and they have now moved from the ultra high-end price range into a more palatable high-end classification. If you're still running a CRT and are finally thinking about upgrading to an LCD, most of the 24" models will impress and the Gateway FPD2485W is one of those you should keep on your short list of options.
About the only real problem we encountered during testing is the inability of the Gateway FPD2485W to reproduce a smooth gradient scale. Banding is very apparent in such cases, and while this won't really affect gaming or to a lesser extent video content, some users and especially graphics artists are likely to be disappointed. We could also hope for a more streamlined OSD interface, but the color gradients are a far bigger concern. Overall color accuracy is good, with a relatively low Delta E score, but it seems that the Faroudja signal processor may not actually be doing as well as we would like. The image processor seems the more likely culprit, as in other areas the panel appears to be the same as that used on Dell's 2407WFP.
One final area that we haven't really talked about is how opinions differ by individuals. Some people are blessed with much better eyesight, and what we find more than acceptable might disappoint. If possible, we always recommend that you try out displays in person, and that is particularly important if you are one of the more discerning viewers of the world. Pixel response times for example are now fast enough that most people don't notice the slight blurring that is still present on nearly all LCDs, but there are individuals out there that have serious issues with pixel smearing. If you're one of those, the new Gateway LCD doesn't appear to be any better or worse in that area than earlier Dell models, so it is unlikely to change your mind in that respect.
As we stated at the outset, it has been a long time since we last performed any display reviews at AnandTech. Our goal is to rectify the situation, and we hope to have numerous display reviews over the coming months. Initially, we're going to be focusing on covering some of the more popular products that are already on the market, as they will help to establish a baseline performance metric. We're also looking for feedback from our readers, so if you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to drop us a line.
The Gateway FPD2485W is one of the more recent LCDs on the market, and it performs very well. Is it the best option currently available? We haven't tested a lot of other displays, so we can't say for certain, but it appears to be competitive with most other options in the same category.
For many users looking at purchasing a new display, one of the overriding factors is going to be price. That's what helped turn Dell into one of the largest display providers in the world, as given the choice between a 24" Dell LCD or a more expensive but higher-quality 20"-21" LCD from someone else, quite a few people have been more than happy to stick with Dell. The fact that Dell's LCDs are actually very good also helped.
Gateway seems to have a good understanding of the market - and well they should considering that they compete in other markets against Dell - and they have produced a product that takes a very similar approach. The FPD2485W isn't a perfect LCD, but it performs very well overall and it is available at a very attractive price. 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 small difference in price probably isn't enough to sway most people one way or the other, so it's going to come down to performance, features, and any other extras. The bottom line for the consumer is that we're getting more competition in the large LCD market from a major manufacturer, and as the AMD/Intel price wars have shown us, competition is good for the consumer. Two years ago, 24" LCDs cost nearly twice what they do now, and they have now moved from the ultra high-end price range into a more palatable high-end classification. If you're still running a CRT and are finally thinking about upgrading to an LCD, most of the 24" models will impress and the Gateway FPD2485W is one of those you should keep on your short list of options.
About the only real problem we encountered during testing is the inability of the Gateway FPD2485W to reproduce a smooth gradient scale. Banding is very apparent in such cases, and while this won't really affect gaming or to a lesser extent video content, some users and especially graphics artists are likely to be disappointed. We could also hope for a more streamlined OSD interface, but the color gradients are a far bigger concern. Overall color accuracy is good, with a relatively low Delta E score, but it seems that the Faroudja signal processor may not actually be doing as well as we would like. The image processor seems the more likely culprit, as in other areas the panel appears to be the same as that used on Dell's 2407WFP.
One final area that we haven't really talked about is how opinions differ by individuals. Some people are blessed with much better eyesight, and what we find more than acceptable might disappoint. If possible, we always recommend that you try out displays in person, and that is particularly important if you are one of the more discerning viewers of the world. Pixel response times for example are now fast enough that most people don't notice the slight blurring that is still present on nearly all LCDs, but there are individuals out there that have serious issues with pixel smearing. If you're one of those, the new Gateway LCD doesn't appear to be any better or worse in that area than earlier Dell models, so it is unlikely to change your mind in that respect.
As we stated at the outset, it has been a long time since we last performed any display reviews at AnandTech. Our goal is to rectify the situation, and we hope to have numerous display reviews over the coming months. Initially, we're going to be focusing on covering some of the more popular products that are already on the market, as they will help to establish a baseline performance metric. We're also looking for feedback from our readers, so if you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to drop us a line.
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jbr65n - Friday, March 14, 2008 - link
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!
timelag - Saturday, March 10, 2007 - link
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...).strikeback03 - Monday, March 5, 2007 - link
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.First I calibrated according to their instructions, which include driving the contrast to 100%. I had to go into user color and lower each color channel to 59 (default was 100) to get the brightness down. The brightness meter stated that it was at the target 120 cd/m^2, though the results show differently. Here are the results for the calibration:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/strikeback0...">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/strikeback0...
And here is the validation results as an image of an Excel page. The Eye-One software does not give an easy way to directly export a graph, so colors tested are labeled by both RGB and Lab color values. Dunno how these compare to the values the Monaco Optix package uses, but by it's tests the results were quite good.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/strikeback0...">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/strikeback0...
As the fist image shows though, the colorimeter was doing a lot of adjustment at the dark end of the spectrum, and video suffered from crushed blacks. So I tried changing brightness and contrast until video looked good, then recalibrating. Settings used here were brightness of 76 (with individual color channels still set to 59) and contrast of 60.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/strikeback0...">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/strikeback0...
Much less work is being done to dark colors now, video looks good, and the dE is even lower now:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/strikeback0...">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/strikeback0...
Brightness is still a little higher than recommended, but not much above what turned out following their procedure exactly.
Ferris23 - Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - link
I have this display and love it, but something I like to know about all my displays is how to access the service menu. Usually there are extra options that allow even more fine tuning with color etc...Do you have any connections that would be able to tell you the way to enter a service menu on this display?
Gateway "tech support" has no idea what I am asking and just send me spec sheets or links to what the OSD looks like.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - link
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.gandergray - Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - link
Jared: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.
Gandergray
gandergray - Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - link
My apologies-- Jarred.Googer - Monday, February 26, 2007 - link
Gateway offers a $29 extended three (3) year warranty for the FPD2485W making it the same as the Dell 2407WFP for $40 less.
JarredWalton - Monday, February 26, 2007 - link
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.larciel - Friday, February 23, 2007 - link