HP annonces the w2558hc as 'an elegant, egonomic, high-performance screen that features a built-in webcam plus multiple USB ports and digital inputs for connecting devices like an MP3 player. It also has a built-in 15-in-1 digital media card reader that lets you watch slide shows and videos when the PC is off '. For once the blurb pretty well matches up to the reality! The w2558hc has very good ergonomics, two HDMI ins, a DVI in, a 4 port USB hub, a very versatile card reader, a webcam and a microphone. The foot has a pivot, that we must admit, is pretty useless on a screen that is larger than 24 inches. HP has also included a pair of speakers as a fallback for those who don’t have an external speaker kit.

The theoretically rapid response time is also fast in practice. 3 ms is not the fastest on the market but the responsiveness of the 25 inch screen is really excellent. Coupled with a display delay of less than two frames, this means that the screen can handle all types of games, whether online, LAN or solo.


The colour quality, like for most HP screens, is the big fault with this screen. The difference between colours requested and those displayed is 4.5 (the best screens being under 2). The dominant blue messes with the dark tones as well as the rest of the colours. The only way of getting better image quality is: download a calibration profile The contast, at around 750:1 (where the best screens score 1000:1) is honorable.


With films you don’t get too much flickering thanks to the contrast levels and responsiveness, even if a graphics correction chip would have given better results. Take care however not to view films in too well-lit a room, as you’ll get a lot of reflection off the shiny panel.