Gateway FHD2401

Sleek-looking display fumbles with gray

WHEN WE SET UP THE FHD2401, we were instantly
impressed. The silver-on-black bezel, hidden LED touch-sensitive controls, and bright 400cd/m2 display make for a stunning addition to any desktop. Unfortunately, the FHD2401 doesn't perform as well as its looks would have us believe.

Although its 1,920x1,200 resolution and 16-to-10 aspect ratio are fairly standard for 24-inch monitors, Gateway makes the FHD2401 stand out by adding brushed-aluminum accents to the monitor's piano-black bezel. The silver stand is sturdy, although it doesn't allow height of angle adjustment.

In our DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) tests, we saw gray-scale issues on both the dark and light ends of the spectrum. The FHD2401 failed to display the three lightest and darkest shades of gray. We also noticed rippling on the dark end of the color ramp test, a further indication of gray-scale problems.

The monitor does display text well; even
when we shrank our font size down to 5.3 points, the words were readable and crisp. Still, a stand with height and angle adjustment would go a long way toward making the monitor more productivity-friendly.

The FHD2401 gained some ground in subjective gaming and DVD testing, thanks to its 2,000-to-1 contrast ratio and glossy screen.
We noticed some slight loss of detail in gray areas, but the 2-millisecond (gray-to-gray) pixel-response time kept ghosting from affecting the image, even in the fastest-moving scenes of The Bourne Identity.


Overall, the FHD2401's bright, glossy screen and excellent design elements make it a serious contender for those who
value form over function. While it performs well enough for productivity and casual multimedia use, discerning garners and film geeks looking lot a monitor that excels at reproducing the darkest (and lightest) shades of gray should look elsewhere. —Matt Safford

www.gateway.com

Computer Shopper January 2009