19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Elevates your desktop to new levels and a good tv screen,
July 8, 2004 19 is beautiful (ny, ny) - See all my reviews
This review is from: HP Pavilion F1903 19" LCD Monitor (Electronics)
A 19 inch monitor is pretty big these days for a PC. Apple with their new 30 widescreen is in a different league (more like furniture), but for normal people this monitor will suffice. It makes my old 17 inch LCD feel small and is probably as big as my 20 inch TV.For the price (get it at discount), you can't beat this HP F1903. Not only does it look good, it is sharp, relatively bright, just large enough to wow you and its stand will elevate off your desk almost 8 inches. Why does this matter? You will no longer scrunch your back while you potatosurf the internet.The default settings were already at 100% brightness, but the contrast seemed low. Boosting contrast slightly made reading a lot easier and increased sharpness slightly. If you increase contrast too much, the colors change (like from grey to yellowgrey).I have a TV tuner card in my desktop and having a 19 inch TV on your desktop will instantly save you couch time for that casual channel surfing when you're...Read more
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Great design, but bad color cast,
November 19, 2004 G. Duda (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
This review is from: HP Pavilion F1903 19" LCD Monitor (Electronics)
I have a graphics card with two plugs, so I was able to compare this monitor side-by-side with a 19" X-Brite Sony LCD (one monitor used DVI, the other analog, but I switched back and forth and it didn't seem to make any difference which one was on which for my observations).
The Sony was bright and brilliant, and made the HP look positively dull by comparison. One big advantage of the HP is that it can show a true black screen; the Sony's blacks are marred by the backlight "leaking" in from the side.
However, the deal breaker with the HP was the color cast--there was a slight yellow tint that I couldn't get rid of, even after updating the drivers, and using the OSD to adjust colors, etc. Also, if one raises the monitor's contrast to above 75%, this color cast becomes much more pronounced.
I really wanted to like this monitor, but after comparing it side by side with the other monitor displaying the same image, I decided I just couldn't live with the...Read more
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Thoughtful design,
July 13, 2004 D. Price (W Henrietta, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: HP Pavilion F1903 19" LCD Monitor (Electronics)
This is my first LCD monitor, and I'm so picky that I did a lot of research and in-store playing before making my selection.Comparing models side-by-side in the store, I found that despite the f1903's reported contrast ratio of only 500:1, I found it consistently as bright if not brighter than others with higher reported contrast ratios. (I was sure to check all the brightness/contrast settings.) So I wonder what that number really means. The lesson here is to look at the screen for yourself.The highest praise goes to the very adjustable base and stand. It will tilt and swivel and even raise up and down to find your comfortable viewing angle. I was surprised to find that the height adjustment actually acts like a spring tensioned to the weight of the monitor, so it only takes a simple lift or press of the frame to raise and lower it.It ships with the brightness set to 100% and the contrast at only 50%, but actually that looks perfect for a dim environment. Raising the...Read more
(6 customer reviews)