HP LP3065: A new contender for the 30" throne
by Jarred Walton on March 22, 2007 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Displays
Introduction
In Q3 2006, HP was able to finally surpass Dell for worldwide computer sales - albeit by a small margin. Competition within the North American market is even closer, with Dell continuing to hold a slight lead. Regardless of who is in the lead, the fact is that Dell and HP are the two largest computer resellers in the world. Not surprisingly, both companies also have an extensive line of displays on offer.
The LCD market is one of the fastest-growing segments of the computing industry, with new products offering improved performance launching on a regular basis. Not only has the quality of LCDs improved dramatically over the past several years, but prices continue to plummet as competition heats up. We took a look at Dell's 3007WFP 30" LCD recently, and now we've got HP's competing LP3065 offering in our labs for testing.
30" LCDs currently sit at the top of the lust-worthy computer displays totem pole, offering some of the highest resolutions and display sizes on the market. They also come with a price to match, effectively putting them out of reach of most consumers. Enthusiasts and computing professionals on the other hand are often willing to splurge in order to get top-quality products. It is possible to get more total screen real estate by running several smaller monitors, but some people prefer a single monolithic display over two or more smaller displays. Of course, if the quality of the larger display is also better than the smaller displays, that's another reason to consider spending the extra money.
As with all of the other 30" LCDs, a high-quality graphics card is basically required in order to properly utilize the LP3065. This is due to the native 2560x1600 resolution, which requires a dual-link DVI connection to function. While it is possible to find dual-link DVI ports on certain midrange graphics cards, the ports are far more common on high-end and professional GPUs. Naturally, if you want to run certain applications at the native resolution, you will need all of the graphics processing power you can find.
As we said in our review of the Dell 3007WFP, 30" LCDs certainly aren't for everyone, and the HP LP3065 isn't likely to change that fact. The real question is: is the LP3065 better than competing 30" LCDs? HP has added a few interesting features to their offering that could very well move it to the head of the pack. Let's take a closer look.
In Q3 2006, HP was able to finally surpass Dell for worldwide computer sales - albeit by a small margin. Competition within the North American market is even closer, with Dell continuing to hold a slight lead. Regardless of who is in the lead, the fact is that Dell and HP are the two largest computer resellers in the world. Not surprisingly, both companies also have an extensive line of displays on offer.
The LCD market is one of the fastest-growing segments of the computing industry, with new products offering improved performance launching on a regular basis. Not only has the quality of LCDs improved dramatically over the past several years, but prices continue to plummet as competition heats up. We took a look at Dell's 3007WFP 30" LCD recently, and now we've got HP's competing LP3065 offering in our labs for testing.
30" LCDs currently sit at the top of the lust-worthy computer displays totem pole, offering some of the highest resolutions and display sizes on the market. They also come with a price to match, effectively putting them out of reach of most consumers. Enthusiasts and computing professionals on the other hand are often willing to splurge in order to get top-quality products. It is possible to get more total screen real estate by running several smaller monitors, but some people prefer a single monolithic display over two or more smaller displays. Of course, if the quality of the larger display is also better than the smaller displays, that's another reason to consider spending the extra money.
As with all of the other 30" LCDs, a high-quality graphics card is basically required in order to properly utilize the LP3065. This is due to the native 2560x1600 resolution, which requires a dual-link DVI connection to function. While it is possible to find dual-link DVI ports on certain midrange graphics cards, the ports are far more common on high-end and professional GPUs. Naturally, if you want to run certain applications at the native resolution, you will need all of the graphics processing power you can find.
As we said in our review of the Dell 3007WFP, 30" LCDs certainly aren't for everyone, and the HP LP3065 isn't likely to change that fact. The real question is: is the LP3065 better than competing 30" LCDs? HP has added a few interesting features to their offering that could very well move it to the head of the pack. Let's take a closer look.
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Renoir - Friday, March 23, 2007 - link
That sounds like a very reasonable assumptionStill looking around for confirmation but I thought the ICT only affected analogue connections. If it does indeed affect digital connections then why are current software players not allowing full res over non HDCP compliant dvi ports given that no current discs have ICT enabled? We should be able to answer most of these questions when you get that laptop. I very much look forward to the review.
JarredWalton - Friday, March 23, 2007 - link
Bad news... the laptop is single-link. :(I'll still be able to test HDCP on a non-HDCP display, though. I've got a 2405FPW so we'll see what happens. Could be the software companies enforcing something that isn't strictly required?
chakarov - Friday, March 23, 2007 - link
Hope this could help you:http://www.behardware.com/articles/656-1/hdcp-prot...">http://www.behardware.com/articles/656-...ion-is-n...
Renoir - Sunday, March 25, 2007 - link
That link seems to confirm what I said which is that the ICT only applies to analogue connections and HDCP is always required for full res over a digital connection. At first Jarred I thought you might be right in that the software companies may be implementing something that isn't strictly required but the article linked shows that standalone units operate in the same way suggesting that that's the way it's supposed to work.chakarov - Friday, March 23, 2007 - link
In the specs:http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06a/3820...">http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm...382087-6...
And even in the detail specs:
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/1262...">http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/1262...
There is no mentioning of HDCP support.
There is nothing officially written.
May be there is a reason?
JarredWalton - Friday, March 23, 2007 - link
Interesting... I'm sure I saw HDCP there when I was working on the review, and I can find numerous web links where it says HDCP is supported (at single-link resolutions). I wonder if they updated the page recently to remove HDCP?Renoir - Friday, March 23, 2007 - link
Well the review states HDCP support and Loyd over at extremetech said that he was told by HP that the display "offers HDCP at full dual-link bandwidth". This information is what I'm basing my questions on although the fact that HDCP isn't mentioned in your links merely confirms that the situation is clear as mud. Clearly someone is either misinformed or spec sheets have been poorly writtenmi1stormilst - Thursday, March 22, 2007 - link
I have delt with a number of companies when trying to help friends and family with store bought PC's and there is no question that HP is second to none with tech support. If you own a HP system use the online chat support...it is excellent.leousb - Thursday, March 22, 2007 - link
To buy a monitor this huge just for gaming is IMHO a complete obscenity.OrSin - Thursday, March 22, 2007 - link
People been saying the asme thing about BMW, 65" tvs and pretty (but dumb) women.In the words of bart "We do what we like"