Home > Consumer Reviews > HP 2159M 21.5-Inch HD LCD Monitor

At first I was a bit surprised to see subtle blotchy patches of color and graininess. Like where the color is transitioning from one shade to another--instead of it being an unnoticeable gradient, there almost visible lines where one shade ended and another began (like in people's faces on videos). I tried to get used to it and I told myself that it was probably because the monitor resolution was so good that it makes lower quality source material actually look worse. I had also verified that the driver was installed properly and I was using the higher quality white cable (not the blue one). DVD's sometimes showed up nice, some pictures occasionally looked great. While some things like youtube or streaming content from netflix was almost unwatchable compared to my old tube monitor--but I assumed that was normal.

However, then I noticed that even high resolution 1080 photographs and wallpapers had the same color blotches and graininess which can't be so easily explained away. Plus Windows XP itself had grainy patterns like in program menu items. So I shopped around and got another monitor. Best Buy (of all the rip-off places) actually had great deal on a 23" Acer for $170 and I hooked it up and did a side by side comparison.

The Acer had no grain and no color blotches even in low quality source material like youtube (it was just normally blurrier as you would expect with lower resolution streaming video). But all around by comparison the Acer was crisp and perfect as I was used to on my old tube monitor--and for less money.

So anyway, maybe I just had a bad one of these HP monitors and it wasn't explicitly horrible all the time--sometimes I thought I had sort of fixed the graininess by slightly adjusting the contrast, but not really. The low quality image was noticeable most of the time in the monitor I had, so I wouldn't recommend it.

As far as better brands, I recommend (if possible) going to a office supply store or somewhere that has lots of them hooked up to actual computers side by side so that you can see what you're getting. Just reading reviews doesn't quite cut it for this sort of purchase since its something that you're going to stare at for hours on end inches away from your face.

I bought this monitor a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't try it until a few days ago for the SVGA cables gave me big troubles. With a good quality cable, now I'm enjoying the bright, crystal-clear colors of this monitor. The LCD panel size and the native resolution is optimum in my opinion. I strongly recommend this LCD monitor.

I needed to replace an older HP 21" I passed to my daughter. In looking through the choices, I reviewed the 23" HP, but settled on this smaller footprint model. I just received it. Stunning quality with my nVidia 9650 video card. The sound probably isn't Bose quality, but for us folks with human ears, sounds fine to me playing rock and roll - loud. Set up is a Forrest Gump simple 5 minutes or less. Open box $186 with free shipping. Like James Brown said - "I feel good."

I bought this monitor for my new mac mini and the colors are brilliant. For any other mac users (specifically noobs), this will work with the supplied cable that apple sends for DVI monitors.

I am coming from a PC that was driving two 17" screens and I really appreciated the extra real estate. I'm not a programmer and video/photo editing is only done occasionally (just family stuff), but there is something to be said about the convenience of two screens. I will say that having this one monitor is working for me right now. I like having a browser open next to a word doc or something similar. Multi-tasking is a definite possibility on this size screen. Would I like to have two? At this price point, yes I would, but for right now it is serving my needs well.

I didn't realize how washed out my older Dell LCD monitors were until I set this up next to them so I could transfer files over to the Mac. I ordered from amazon (as I order just about everything here) and there were no issues and no dead pixels.

The aesthetics fall in line with the Mac set up and it is very similar to an Apple Display-externally speaking. Like I said, I'm not a pro with the visual media, but this thing is really vibrant. The colors are rich and photos/graphics look so much better on this screen.

On this model it is also nice having the option of DVI, VGA, or HDMI. If this helps with your decision. If you are looking for a monitor in this size range, just get it.

Okay, to start off, I just have to say that this monitor was definitely worth what I paid, which was about $200. I bought this monitor to replace my old 15" CRT monitor that I had for many years. I just decided to upgrade since I had the spare cash and needed some more desktop space. This monitor is very crisp and clear. I am currently using it with the DVI connection with my fairly old Nvidia 8500 graphics card (I need to upgrade, I know). I have yet to view the monitor in HD quality since I don't own a HD enabled graphics card, even though the view in DVI seems to be just as good as HD 1080p, though I know there is likely to be a little bit of difference.

The screen brightness on this thing is amazing! I use it at 0% screen brightness because 100% is very, VERY bright. I also love that this monitor is energy star qualified, which means less power consumption when compared to other monitors of similar specs. One thing to note if you are switching from CRT to this monitor is that the colors are extremely vibrant, as I would expect LCD monitors to be. Though, this is not the case for some monitors of lower quality out there. I just recently upgraded my Windows Vista to Windows 7 and this monitor displays the new OS in all its shining glory.

When I unpacked this thing after I got it 5 days with the free shipping, I immediately noticed the size. I know there are bigger monitors out there but for me, this thing is huge. You could easily have two internet browsers open side-by-side with plenty of space (if you have the monitor on the highest resolution. Also, it should be noted that the monitor did not have any dead pixels upon arrival, meaning that this thing is well build and was well-packed (thanks Amazon).

This monitor also has all the ports that you need to hook your computer up to. The cables come with this monitor for VGA and DVI, but if you want to use the HDMI connection on the monitor, you will have to also purchase a HDMI cable as this doesn't come with one. I'd suggest getting a gold-plated one for the best connection. Also make sure your graphics card actually has an HDMI port on it before-hand.

My true only complaint is that I didn't wait until OLED monitors came out. But, that is a whole different category and shouldn't be considered right now...at least until OLED monitors become available for sale.

So let me try and sum this up with a Pro's and Con's list:

Pros

+ Large display at 21.5"
+ Very bright screen
+ Vibrant colors
+ Energy Star Qualified
+ More desktop space (if you're coming from a CRT monitor)
+ Built good and sturdy
+ Awesome for gaming, as well as internet browsing, etc.
+ Includes everything you need, minus the HDMI cable. (True plug and play)

Cons

- Doesn't come with HDMI cable (which is a minor gripe as they can be purchased at around $5-$10 here on Amazon)
- Low quality speakers (though everyone should come to expect monitors of this problem. I use external speakers).

So overall, I believe that this monitor will last me for quite a long time as Hewlett-Packard makes some pretty amazing and long-lasting products, especially monitors. I've had this monitor for about a month or so now and it still looks awesome. ^_^

I shall update this review as my time continues with this monitor.