Hp 7540

HP 7540
-Matt Ireland-​

Many people think that CRT monitors are old and outdated. Indeed I thought this before purchasing the HP 7540. Now I’ve totally changed my mind as I realise how wrong I was…



This 17” CRT monitor with 16” viewable screen is stylish, compact and in my opinion, all round cool. It is about 16.5” deep and, with stand, is the same length high. It is now an essential and integrated part of my desk.

I use the monitor as both a secondary monitor for my notebook and a primary monitor for my desktop. It performs well at both operations. It has a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024 and this is ample for both the graphics design, Direct X 9 programming and occasional gaming (CS:S and HL2) that I do. It has a .28 trio dot pitch. Although I have not yet purchased it as I have perfectly adequate speakers, the HP 7540 does come with the option of a multimedia base, consisting of quality speakers. Having read reviews of these, I understand that they are some of the best “under-monitor” speakers around. While most sound tinny and very generic, these are supposed to be tuneful and excellent for gaming.

The bottom of the monitor is home to the menu system and the on/off button. The on/off button is circular, has a radius of exactly half and inch and a funky design leads it into the indicator light. The menu consists of four buttons, a “MENU” button, a “+” button, a “-” button and of course a “SELECT” button. The menu has fifteen useful options: a brightness control, a contrast option, the standard horizontal position option, an option for the horizontal “stretchiness” of the screen, a vertical position option, the vertical “stretchiness” partner for the former horizontal option respectively and a magnetizing button, amongst others. In short, the monitor gives you full control over what modern digital monitors are severely lacking in.



I would rate this monitor 9.5 out of 10, the only downside been that it is CRT and therefore it does not have the flat screen advantage of the modern digital alternatives. It also only has a VGA input and has no USB hub. However, for anyone with a bit of desk space who is currently considering going with a flat screen monitor between 15” and 19” to seriously consider what they could be missing out on. I understand that it is still on sale but can be bought cheaply on EBay or some second hand electronics dealer.

Please ask me before using this text or any part of this text in any kind of publication. My address is: [email protected] Thanks for reading!

 

Yeh, it's a pretty cool monitor in short.

 

Yes really cool but obviously noone appreciates my efforts in reviewing it...

 

I really like CRT, Im working on a Samsung SyncMaster 17" and i love it.

Thanks for your review!

 

Yeh, the SyncMaster is good isn't it? I like how CRT monitors are cheap now as well. What's the point wasting £££s on a digital falstscreen when you can get more colours, e.t.c. on the cheaper CRT option. Desk-space is the only issue!

 

i would get a CRT for my old desktop but the weight and size make it less desirable so I need an LCD but will only settle for 19" and up so my price range is always high.

too bad those CRTs dont come any smaller or lighter!

 

It's very cool, i had CRTs until my computer went down. Now i thing i m goin to get LCD since i dun have much deskspace.

 

I have an ancient Sony CRT in my basement. Tops out at 1024X768.

Played many games on it, and being a CRT it suffered none of the issues that LCD panels had with displaying fast-paced games.

Unfortunately, no matter how good CRT's are, everyone wants everything supersized in 2 dimensions while being as this as a magazine. Not to mention the mandatory super widescreen-high-def-ultra-digital marketing nonsense that consumers eat up like crazy. Only they find out later that their new 20 inch widescreen monitor packs fewer pixels than so-and-so's 10 year old Viewsonic and absolutely sucks at displaying HD content.

Some people will buy an LCD screen that is absolute garbage over a quality CRT for the same price simply because the LCD looks cooler sitting in their IKEA clad "office".

I picked a hell of a day to quit smoking.

 

Yes its a good monitor, I have it almost two years ago and its working like a champ, but the space that occupies is killing me! oh well...

 

LOL. The space is really the downside!

 

as of now im on a crt too though i dont use the computer im using now i gotta say its quite enjoyable mine is an LG 17" and other than the deskspace factor its real good
BTW thanks for the review its been quite a while since i heard a gud comment about CRTs
cheers for the effort put into the review
thanks mate

 

Ah! A kindred soul. CRTs certainly are better than any LCD, no matter how good the LCD. And never shall I use a LCD, unless for reasons of space constraint.

 

1. With CRTs my eyes get tired very quickly;
2. I have a 19" LCD. A 19 - 21" CRT would not fit on my desk at all and would weight about...a ton;
3. CRTs take a lot more power than LCDs;
4. Refresh rate? 85 (at least) is not always possible at 1920 * 1080/1200.
5. LCDs are cheap for what they offer;
6. It's 2007, small (or slim) is not always worse than huge. The technology is quite advanced. I doubt anyone can spot a gaming problem on a 5-6 ms LCD. From what I understood some time ago, even though they write 2ms GTG, actually they can't go under 4ms, since it costs a huge amount of money and they need to research more. I may be wrong, but I doubt it, since I saw some real-life measures and even if it says 2 or 4ms GTG (I know what GTG means) if will actually have more than 5-6 in most cases.