Gateway FHD2400 review (24-inch)

While watching the Kill Bill DVD we found the colors to be muted and didn't pop as much as they should have. One of the scenes we used for evaluation--where Uma Thurman and Vivica A. Fox have a conversation in a kitchen--there are many colors in this scene and they looked blander than what we had expected. Blu-ray Disc playback was detailed and sharp, although there was an oversaturation of red on many of the character's faces in the Swordfish disc we used for testing. Both Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry's skin tones were too red in the scene at his trailer where she teaches him to golf.

We saw better performance with games. World of Warcraft looked great. The Gateway FHD2400's glossy screen made the action look even smoother and less aliased along polygon edges than would be expected from our test system. Unfortunately, we noticed the same red push in the game as we did while watching Swordfish. This hurt the overall image quality. However, the error can be fixed by adjusting the red in the color menu. We also noticed on dark screens that there is obvious backlight bleed through at the top and left areas of the screen. While all LCD's are guilty of at least some backlight bleeding, it was apparent here even when viewed in a room with stark lighting. We were unimpressed with the viewing angle; we noticed the quality of the screen diminished significantly as the angle of our view was off center by about a foot.

The optional speakers are adequate if you don't have any alternatives, but at $50 they are simply not worth it. The sound is fine, although the volume level does not go very loud. We experienced a bad, hissy distortion when we took the volume higher than 45 (max is 100). We also wish the speakers had a way to adjust the volume physically--the only way to do this is through the OSD.

Service and support
The monitor included a one-year limited warranty that covers parts and labor. This is backed up by 24-7 toll-free phone technical support as well as technical support via e-mail. The EZ Tunes software included did not serve any important purpose other than facilitation of the pivot feature.

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