When I was having trouble with my frequency range of my monitor I did a lot of swapping with other people to try and isolate the problem. The Gateway EV700 worked well but still gave me occasional 'out of frequency' messages that required that I reboot the computer. Shortly after acquiring the EV700 someone suggested trying out the HP S7540 to see if I had better luck with it. I used it off and on for about a month and found it to be a really nice monitor with a great display and controls that were easy to use. I was borrowing it from someone that had just purchased a Dell flat screen monitor and was pretty sure that he wouldn't be needing the S7540; it was a good thing that he only loaned me the monitor because shortly after he received and started using the Dell it died on him. Once again I was back to swapping monitors with other people to see if I could find something that would work for more than a few hours without slipping out of frequency. When he received a replacement from Dell and was satisfied that it wasn't going to up and die on him he brought the S7540 back and told me I could have it. I was pretty excited but can't shake the feeling that he'll be calling me to ask to borrow it if the Dell has any problems.

Hewlett Packard S7540 17 inch CRT Monitor

If you are looking for a replacement monitor and don't mind the overall size of this, it is a nice item to look into getting. It is almost the same size as the EV700 but weighs a little bit less, the specs in the manual say that it weighs 31 pounds but it feels lighter than that to me. You should make sure that you have enough space for this before you buy it because nothing sucks more than buying something that simply won't fit into the space you have. With the base attached this is seventeen inches high if you have it facing forward, if you have it tipped or angled for optimum viewing it will add an inch or so to the measurement. This monitor is as deep as it is wide, just a hair over sixteen inches. You should make sure that you have at least two or three inches of airflow space around the monitor because the air vents on top of it do get warm after its been on for a few hours. Hooking it up is extremely simple and it comes with all the cords and cables that you will need. Thankfully I didn't need to load any drivers or do any configurations when I attached this to my computer. For whatever reason, my computer doesn't react well when I try to change settings. For all intents and purposes, this is an awesome, easy to use monitor that is more than adequate for those who surf the web, play games online or visit websites that are heavy with graphics.

One of the biggest problems I had with the EV700 and the Mag Innovision monitors was that if I went outside of the 600 x 800 setting range my computer would crash, freeze up, reboot or just go to a black screen. So how did the S7540 do? I could change the resolution settings all the way to 1024 x 768 without any trouble but when I tried 1280 x 1024 I had some problems. This could be my computer being picky, my graphic card or processor or just a combination of things. I was more than happy with the way things looked at the 600 x 800 setting but was blown away with how things looked at the higher settings. The display is crystal clear and outside of the slight flickering that happens from time to time, this monitor has never given me any display problems. The adjustment buttons are on the front of the monitor and are easy to use. The first time I used this I did have to play around with the settings to get the windows centered but once I did it they stayed fixed. The only time that I had to adjust them was when my friend gave me back the monitor; he'd made changes to the settings to suit his own needs and told me that I'd have to reset the display properties and window settings again. I like that the buttons to make the adjustments are on the bottom of the monitor and out of the way, this almost completely eliminates the chance that they will get bumped accidentally.

The downsides are not numerous but they are things that you should know about before you purchase or think about purchasing this specific monitor. First off, HP claims that this is "flicker free"; that is something that I have to question because there have been numerous times when the screen has flickered or automatically adjusted its settings. The definition of 'flicker free' remains open, when I contacted HP to ask them exactly what they constituted as a flicker free display I got different answers from everyone I spoke with. That in and of itself was amazing because when each of the conversations started, they all asked the same things and were reading from the same scripts. The flicker could have come from a power surge but the monitor is plugged into a surge protector so I have to assume that the power strip [surge protector] would absorb any spikes. The second problem is the cord that runs from the monitor to the CPU. Sure everyone wishes that this would be longer so you could have your computer further away but the length isn't what irked me. When you go to move the monitor from side to side [thanks to the swivel base on the bottom] it can temporarily shut down the power to the monitor; when this first happened I thought that maybe the power cord was loose or the plug wasn't securely fastened to the back of the CPU. Even after playing around with it and trying several things to fix it, it still happened when the monitor was moved or adjusted. The lesson here is simple, adjust it when you first get it then leave it alone.

These sell for about $125.00 but I got mine for free. The previous owner had it for less than a year and said that he never had any problems with it. He did dig up the instruction booklet and warranty information for this but since I was not the original owner of it, I can't make use of the warranty if something happens to it. This was something that I didn't mention when I called for customer service help in regards to the flickering because they may have opted to decline answering questions about it. If I were shopping for a monitor would I consider the S7540? That all depends on it I had the same desk that I have now and what my budget would be. If I had an extra hundred dollars to spend I might splurge on a flat screen but if I wanted to stay in the hundred to hundred and fifty dollar range this would be one that I would consider buying. The warranty is for three years but only covers certain things on the monitor; if it dies, refuses to power up or has any technical issues they will examine it and see if it can be corrected but that is only after they rule out user error. Needless to say, if you open the monitor or make any modifications to it [outside of adjusting the settings] you will void the warranty. It also goes without saying that if you buy this online from a site like eBay you won't have any warranty coverage from HP. Sure the seller can tell you that if it doesn't work you can return it but nine times out of ten if there is a problem you won't be able to get a refund or exchange from them.

The Bottom Line

I am sure that within the next five years monitors like this will be hard to find; flat screen ones seem to be the norm these days. The overall look of it is nice; the combination of black and silver gives it a nicer look than the cream colored ones that look so 'office like'. It handles graphics, animations and flash a lot better than I expected and no matter what resolution I had it set at, I had a really nice looking page. I was so used to seeing slightly scrambled, distorted and fuzzy images that when I hit sites like MySpace, PhotoBucket and WebShots I was blown away at how different things looked when viewing them on the S7540. Eventually I am going to have to sink money into a flat screen but for the time being I am more than happy with how this one is working out for me, the way it displays things and how it hasn't slipped out of frequency [I may have jinxed myself by saying that]. If you are looking for a replacement monitor and don't need something that's high tech then this is a nice one to look into getting. If a computer moron like myself can hook it up with no problems and use it without any major problems then it's a safe bet that anyone else purchasing or using one will have the same results.


As always, thanks for the visit…

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2006 Freak369


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Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): free
Operating System: Windows