Gateway FPD2485W 24-inch HD Widescreen LCD announced

Looks like Gateway's jumping into the 24-inch monitor arena as well, getting its hands dirty with a few other contenders (namely Dell and Apple). Their new 24-inch HD Widescreen FPD2485W -- mentioned with their FX530 desktop lineup and appearing on their support site -- gives you another three inches on top of that FPD2185W 21-incher of theirs, and features a 1920 x 1200 resolution panel with 450cd/m² brightness, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 6ms pixel response, 178° viewing angle, DVI with HDCP, two component, composite, S-Video, and VGA inputs, a four port USB 2.0 hub, touch sensitive controls, picture-in-picture, and Faroudja DCDi. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be an integrated media reader like the Dell 2407WFP has, but it's still a way better than Apple's stripped down 23-incher, and at $679 the FPD2485W's MSRP is lowest as well. (Tack on another $70 for their add-on speaker accessory.) We'll be sure to let you know when this guy becomes available. [Warning: PDF link]

P.S. -Gateway says it should be officially announced and available within a couple weeks, so for those fearful you might not have it in time for this holiday season, worry not.

[Gadget Extremest @ Oct 30th 2006 4:27AM]

Very nice. Gateway's last 24 inch model was quite an impressive display and earned rave reviews. In many ways it was able to beat the best from DELL, Viewsonic, and Apple. So I will be expecting this one to out perform its predecessor.

[Deluxe @ Oct 30th 2006 5:28AM]

Is that considered 'tall-screen', or would 'tall-screen' be a perfect square... hmm....

[Galley @ Oct 30th 2006 7:47AM]

Nice to see them add a second component input.

[Galley @ Oct 30th 2006 8:29AM]

I nearly forgot... will it accept a 1980P signal from a game console or upconverting DVD player?

[Kevo @ Oct 30th 2006 9:34AM]

According to the manual it can't do 1080p, however it can do 1080i over DVI / Component.

[Butch @ Feb 27th 2007 12:31AM]

It really doesn't matter on a screen that "small". 1080P really starts to show its advantage on widescreens 42" and above. I have seen the Gateway in action and I am impressed. I think the Dell is better out of the box, but if you are into "tweaking" displays, the Gateway can achieve remarkable results. I like the touch controls, the extra component ports, the auto-adjusting display, but it lacks the card reader features and the "out-of-the-box" crispness of the Dell. Either way you can't go wrong.

[Galley @ Oct 30th 2006 8:29AM]

I nearly forgot... will it accept a 1080P signal from a game console or upconverting DVD player?

[Scott Stanchfield @ Oct 30th 2006 9:07AM]

You can get the Dell 2407 for $679 right now. Check the various coupon/bargain sites. It seems to be on sale every few weeks and has been steadily getting less expensive.

[Alex @ Oct 30th 2006 10:29AM]

I have the 21" Gateway Widescreen, and definitely love it. One thing that puzzles me, I for sure believe that Gateway does not make the panel. However, looking at all the panels on NewEgg, I dont see any that match these specs. All the other 6ms panels have the same 1000:1 ratio, 1920x1200, but are a little brighter with a brightness rating of 500 cd/m2.... Ryan?

I do hope that they fixed the backlight issue... if you have a blank (black) screen in a dark room, you can see the backlight's 'X'. In most other lighting you can't see it, only when you have a black screen. I also hope they fixed the buzzing... I turned my brightness up the moment i bought mine.

Touchscreen controls are definitely a plus... I hope we see more details soon! ;)

[Alex @ Oct 30th 2006 10:34AM]

Edit: the PDF manual says 500. So this monitor probably uses the same panel as most 24"... although Dell's shows 450... hehe ;) Time to eBay my 21 and get this sucker

[Eric @ Oct 30th 2006 11:52AM]

If Dell's monitors are so great, why doesn't SWOPE certify them as they do Eizo and Apple monitors?

Could it be because Dell thinks brighter and contrastier is always good? Great for playing Quake IV or Call of Duty. But I'll take SWOPE certification as the authority on color correcting my photos any day.

One man's way better is another man's way to blow out highlights.

[Stunkovicc @ Nov 16th 2006 1:17PM]

Yes, the Dell 24-incher is strictly for gamers, and color control and hold is iffy even with their impressive 30-inch model. Apple's monitors are really stripped down and you can use them as desktop-based toasters (they are so hot-hot-hot), but their color rendition is excellent. For all-around use at a comprehensible price, EIZO rulz, but of course to some folks spending $1,500-$1,600 for a 24-inch monitor these days is still a stretch.

[Adrian @ Mar 12th 2007 6:25PM]

Hello Eric,

Forgive my ignorance. I am a professional photographer thinking if taking the LCD plunge. I currently use La Cie 22" CRT monitors. What is the SWOPE certification you refer to? Are you aware of any LCD monitors that will offer color balancing and detail equal to a CRT? Thanks in advance.

Adrian

[Eric @ Mar 13th 2007 11:00AM]

Adrian,

SWOP, sorry added an E stands for Standard Offset Web Press. It's a standard for printing.

LCDs are now better than the vast majority of CRTs for color consistency, brightness and color accuracy. Only the highest-end CRTs are now better. And they'll set you back $5,000 or more. The Sony Artisan was the standard until it was discontinued, and it cost $1,600. Apple's and Eizo's high end monitors are the best, but LaCie's LCDs are great too. I just prefer Apple's because they have never let me down. I get what I see on my monitor when I have prints made at a professional service bureau. And color accuracy is critical for me since my photos are often of gemstones, and color is the main characteristic of colored gemstones that's important over all other characteristics.

Some gemstones' colors are very difficult to get right. Ruby red, for instance, is a very narrow range of red. Pairaiba tourmaline's neon blue is about the hardest color to get. With my 23" Cinema Display I was able to get a print that was exactly like the stone my Brazilian friend sold for a half million bucks.

I would never use anything less than Apple's or Eizo's monitors for accurate color. For web and inkjet printing maybe something else would do. But that's not good enough for me.

[Jason @ Oct 30th 2006 12:14PM]

Yes, it will likely accept a 1080p signal from any external device and not stretch it. Too bad there is no HDMI port, though. I have the 21" Gateway and I'll stick with it.

[Loke Uei @ Oct 30th 2006 2:03PM]

hmm comment post went to the wrong post. here's the link

http://blogs.msdn.com/lokeuei/archive/2006/10/23/i-m-so-jealous.aspx

Love to have this configuration with the either Dell or Gateway's LCDs.

[moatassem @ Nov 11th 2006 7:41AM]

is it compatible with ps3 HDMI V1.3 1080p

[Stunkovicc @ Nov 16th 2006 1:09PM]

Well, with BenQ and other newfangled 24-inch monitors spotting 1920x1080 LCD panels coming with HDMI inputs of the HDCP kind, it is hard to figure our just what was Gateway's thinking when it came out with this FPD2485W in November 2006.

The monitor has a single DIGITAL input, the DVI-D. Apparently, there is even some confusion at Gateway about what a dual-stream DVI interface is, as they believe it is the same as DVI-D. The rest of the inputs on the FPD2485W are oldtimer analog. It is hard to comprehend why some reviewers here are actually ecstatic about a second set of ANALOG component inputs. In November 2006, no less. Daaah.

Of course, Gateway is trying to sell brand new 17-inch laptops for close to $1,900 with only an analog VGA out, when everyone else is providing either DVI (i.e. Dell) or HDMI (i.e. HP) already. Tsk, tsk.

Back to the monitor, yes it has the same exact panel as all the others, we had actually measued max brightness in center screen at 444 nits on another unit. Close enough to 450. The other mfrs who claim 500 must have "erred" on the side of rounding up. ;-))

One thing with the BenQ 24-inch monitor is, if you feed it video from such source as VHS, DVD, Camcorder, etc. with a standard 4:3 aspect ratio image, the BenQ will automatically stretch it to fill the 16:10 monitor. You cannot disable this function, so as a video monitor for anything else but a native 16:10 signal, the BenQ is rather useless. Hopefully, the Gateway will not have this serious shortcoming. Also, the Faroudja DCDi circuitry is easily worth an extra $200. I am not aware if the other competing makes are having this.

Incicentally, JVC Professional is soon toc ome out with a VIDEO monitor using the same exact 24-inch LCD panel as this Gateway and others like it employed. List price for the JVC is $4,000.

[sangkath @ Jan 14th 2007 1:00AM]

I was thinking of getting the 24inch Gateway LCD monitor. But after playing around with it I still can't figure out why you can't crank up the refresh rate up any higher then 60hertz. At resolution 1280 x 1024 you have 60hertz & 75 hertz. Anything higher then that the monitor locks you in at 60 hertz no matter what. With nVidia GeForce 7300 LE 256mb I am not able to go any higher in refresh rate.

[rickiac @ Mar 14th 2008 9:43PM]

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!