The HP LP2465 is an older monitor than the BenQ and Dell, so HDCP compliance and an HDMI port are understandably missing. But it’s stood the test of time reasonably well and still has qualities that make it worth considering. Unfortunately, the first hurdle is price – it’s more expensive than both the BenQ and Dell this month.

But the 24in screen is highly adjustable, with a stand that can extend 130mm, swivel and tilt, as well as pivot to portrait mode. Like the Eizo, it features two DVI ports for dual-digital inputs, along with a DVI-to-VGA cable for older devices. There are two USB ports easily accessible on the side and a further two on the rear. Other nice touches include the power-saver mode and sleep-timer within the OSD, and the fact that the side bezel is the thinnest here at just 19mm.

But there’s nothing else to put it in the same league as the BenQ or Dell, and it lags behind in terms of image quality. Initially, we had to raise the brightness to 90%, which was simple thanks to the front-mounted buttons and intuitive OSD. But, we could tell instantly that the backlight was slightly uneven, most notably around the edges of the screen.

The DisplayMate colour ramps highlighted slight banding, indicating that colours may not blend smoothly, and the greyscale ramp showed this up to an even greater extent. We saw a slight red hue in our colour-tracking test, and this carried over visibly to our real-world images. Plus, the LP2465 lacked the sharpness of the other three screens. We noticed a small amount of motion blur during DVDs despite the 6ms response time, and the level of detail in dark scenes was comparatively poor, with shadows appearing blotchy at times.

The HP is more than up to the job of basic office use, but for $250 less you can buy the vastly superior BenQ. Had the HP LP2465 cost significantly less, the shortfalls in quality could have been forgiven. Unless you can find it cheaper elsewhere, the HP shouldn’t be on your shortlist.