HannsG HP222DJ0 22in widescreen monitor review

When it comes to 22in widescreen monitors, you're spoilt for choice. There are literally scores of models to choose from, especially around this price. The HP222DJ0 is one of three new 22in models from HannsG, and is differentiated from many by its height adjustment.

The design is almost retro, looking more like the boxy LCD monitors of ten years ago than the latest curvy screens. The stand can be raised or lowered by 60mm, but the mechanism is stiff. This makes it hard to raise the screen: we ended up lifting the entire monitor off the desk before the spring would extend the stand.

Beyond the height adjustment, there's not much to make the HP222DJ0 stand out from the crowd. Oddly for a new model, it has a 16:10 rather than a 16:9 aspect ratio. This is explained by the 1,680x1,050 resolution, which suggests that HannsG is using older LCD panels. All other 22in widescreen monitors we've seen recently have a 1,920x1,080 resolution. However, if your eyesight isn't up to scratch, a lower native resolution could be a benefit rather than a disadvantage.

Still, it's slightly disappointing that there's no HDMI input. You'll find VGA and DVI inputs at the back, and the latter is HDCP compliant, so you can at least use a DVI to HDMI adapter if you want to connect a games console or even a Blu-ray player.

There's a typical four-button menu system, which isn't the easiest to use, but at least the controls are located on the bottom edge of the display rather than the sides. There are precious few options beyond brightness, contrast and colour settings. The latter have white balance symbols akin to a digital camera, and are oddly labelled as warm, nature and cool. There's no sRGB, but a user option lets you individually control the red, green and blue levels.

Another odd omission is presets, which we've come to appreciate on modern displays. It means you'll have to adjust brightness and contrast manually when you switch between office work and photo editing, for example.

Unfortunately, no amount of tweaking can overcome the screen's appalling contrast. Instead of seeing subtly different shades of white in our tests, we simply saw a completely white screen. It meant that highlight details in photos completely disappeared - dramatic clouds vanished in bright skies, and textures on white clothes were gone.

Another problem was the inability to achieve a good colour balance - greys looked blue in our colour tracking tests. With narrow viewing angles as well, the poor image quality means that the HP222DJ0's other failings pale into insignificance. With excellent quality 22in monitors available for less money, the HP222DJ0's only advantage is height adjustment, and that's not enough of a reason to buy it instead.