The official announcement isn't until Thursday, but a few stores have quietly started selling the FPD2185W, Gateway's
brand new 21-inch, 1680 x 1050 widescreen LCD monitor. They're pricing this one at $599 — which means they're more or
less going after the 2005fpw,
Dell's much-loved 20-inch LCD. And even though the FPD2185W doesn't quite have the edge in price (if you dig around you
can find a 2005fpw for way less than $599; Ryan paid $345 for his), it does have at least one major advantage over the
competition — it just happens to be one of the first LCD monitors to support
HDCP, or High Definition Copy
Protocol. HDCP is the embodiment of lameness, but at least having a compatible display means that you won't have an
obsolete LCD on your hands when Windows Vista arrives or when all this next-gen high-def gear starts showing up in
stores and you want to watch a movie on a protected high-def Blu-ray discs or HD DVD (Stephen Speicher explains it all
pretty well here). Anyway, the FPD2185W also has a
integrated Faroudja chip for enhanced video processing, a built-in 4 port USB hub, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, 178 degree
viewing angle (both vertical and horizontal), and an 8ms pixel response time.
Gateway's FPD2185W 21-inch widescreen LCD
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