HP L1706

...user here at work of HP products nowadays. The reasoning behind this is we need reliability and quality of service and products. We want a good product that is robust enough to last the test of time with the staff!

So while I was giving my IT team and developers were a huge screen resolution to maximise their working space, I opted for the little brother equivalent for the general office floor. After all, screen size is a little less ...
...even compliments the new DC7700 HP Pcs we have just purchased. In fact it is an identical copy of the L1906 I have already reviewed but with 2 inches less to view!

This screen is very responsive and has excellent refresh rates and depth of colour. This is equally at home in the office for diplaying presentations and general work or for lightning quick action games at home. It also offers a terrific crisp and clear picture and the screen ... more

Along with our top peformance screen choice of the L1906 for maximum resolution and screen size for my IT team, we currently have a large number of the smaller but equally as good L1706 17 inch Monitors from HP
We are a major user here at work of HP products nowadays. The reasoning behind this is we need reliability and quality of service and products. We want a good product that is robust enough to last the test of time with the staff!

So while I was giving my IT team and developers were a huge screen resolution to maximise their working space, I opted for the little brother equivalent for the general office floor. After all, screen size is a little less important and saving a bit of desk space is more of a premium. However we still needed the ability to handle a good size resolution of at least 1280 x 1024.
It does not seem too much of a contrast in size compared to the older 15 inch TFTs we have throughout the office. It blends in well and even compliments the new DC7700 HP Pcs we have just purchased. In fact it is an identical copy of the L1906 I have already reviewed but with 2 inches less to view!

This screen is very responsive and has excellent refresh rates and depth of colour. This is equally at home in the office for diplaying presentations and general work or for lightning quick action games at home. It also offers a terrific crisp and clear picture and the screen delivers exactly the right set of criteria ror our needs.

The look and feel of the screen is also excellent. The rounded corners with a flat and streamlined bezel give the screen a fresh feel. Its brushed aluminium-look frame are very much in keeping with the current flavour of HP desktops and compliment them completely.
To the bottom and central of the bezel are the colour coded function buttons. The power button is also colour coded and set to the front bottom right corner.

Options for setup are very simple and easy to use. One click of the on screen menu button fires everything up in your face. The large contrasting and coloured menu is a pleasant relief from the traditional 2 tone standard menus. Using the + and - buttons allows for quick navigation as well as a 2nd click of the menu button to select options.
You have full control over alignment, brightness, contrast, image control, colour depth, etc. The option to close the menu is left in the user's hands and does not have the annoying habit of 'Auto-disappearing' after a few seconds.
Easy and functional.The Black round stand is non obtrusive yet large and sturdy enough to keep this screen right where you want it. It does not suffer like some of the more flimsy alternatives. With the size and weight of such a large TFT screen, you do need something strong to keep it in place.

Extras. Well you do get a driver disk and manual on CD with the included 1 year warranty but to be honest, the disk has never been used. Most modern PCs are capable ar having drivers built in for such a screen and causes no problems when attaching computers for the first time. You do get a standard VGA to VGA cable included and the power cord. There is no DVI connection on this monitor or S Video. Its VGA only.
Drawbacks. Only one i can see with it is that it does not come with Speakers. Obviously its more to go wrong and not such an issue for home users as most people have separate desktop speakers at home but in the office its handy to be able to play sounds through the PC. Unfortunately it comes up short in this aspect.

Pricing. Excellent for a 17 inch screen. £130 is easily achievable at a few online stores such as Insight and Dabs.
Overall
when replacing all of our current crop of flat screen 15 inch TFTs that cost us £180 about 4 years ago, we always now opt for these for our general staff and desktop usage. The high demand and high resolution demanding users have the larger 19 inch version but the others get this equally good 17! 

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