Design and features
HP's w2228h comes in a stylish piano black, with a spring-loaded neck that has quite a kick. Enough of a kick to destroy the foam it was packed in the moment it was removed from the box, as there seems to be no way to lock the stand down. Once the shock of the monitor exploding the packing wears away, the mechanism itself works quite well when set up on a desk, the weight of the panel allowing it to be adjusted with little effort.
The stand offers rotate, height, tilt and swivel adjustments, rare for a 22-inch monitor. Swivel is achieved by a tiny turntable like device on the bottom of the stand, and makes it incredibly easy to reorient the monitor. The neck is also recessed and slopes away from the panel, acting as a docking area for either your keyboard or your laptop.
The screen reveals itself as TN based thanks to the not so impressive viewing angles, though colours are fine, unlike the bad old days of yellowing screens. More of an issue to users will be the gloss screen, which is highly reflective, and on a monitor this size is nothing short of annoying.
HDMI, DVI and VGA inputs are available, but the monitor only ships with HDMI and VGA — curious considering the proliferation of DVI equipped machines. As you might expect, HDMI means the monitor can support sound as well, but the speakers can only be described as rubbish, struggling to cope with a decent volume, and flanging and distorting through Muse's City of Delusion. A 3.5mm audio in jack is also available should you wish to transport sound but don't have HDMI.
Video overdrive can be turned off, and although we didn't notice any corruptions during gaming that would force our hand, it's nice to have the option there just in case. Other menu options are the usual temperature settings and preset options that should be left well alone, but as an odd addition, you can also schedule times when the monitor turns on and off — a nice little addition for businesses.
Performance
DisplayMate revealed a few weaknesses, the w2228h showing a tendency to blow out gradients at the high intensity end of the spectrum, and only able to display a range of 3 – 253 in the greyscale tests. Movies looked fine, although calibration needed to be done to reduce the tendency to oversaturate reds, and gaming also performed well under Half-Life 2: Episode 2.
HP's w2228h is certainly a pretty looking monitor, and includes stand adjustments not often seen elsewhere, but capability wise it's no better than other 22-inch monitors that are AU$200-$300 cheaper. Along with the gloss screen, we'd have to recommend you look elsewhere.
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