HP 2509p LCD monitor

A 25in LCD monitor with a stylish design, the HP 2509p's good looks come at the cost of efficiency. It provides reasonable image quality, but is let down by a highly reflective screen.

With its glossy black bezel and a recessed, matte black rim with silver edging, the HP 2509p LCD monitor looks impressive. Combined with the glossy silver stand, the HP 2509p can spice up a normally drab workstation.

Unfortunately, the HP 2509p's design is frustrating when it comes to actually using the monitor. The screen is glossy and highly reflective, making it difficult to use in an office environment. With a plain black Windows Desktop, we could easily employ the HP2509p as a mirror in our office, making it uncomfortable to use. The bezel also reflects light and attracts fingerprints.

The HP 2509p's large rear-mounted stand takes up a lot of space and is a little inconvenient when trying to connect cables. The single HDMI, VGA and DVI ports and two USB ports on the rear are a little tricky to access, especially if you have large hands. A further two USB ports are located on the monitor's left side.

The stand lets you swivel, tilt and adjust the height of the monitor. Build quality feels superb and HP includes a built-in webcam at the top of the bezel.

We aren't a fan of touch-sensitive controls on LCD monitors, but HP's implementation is among the best we've seen. The buttons at the bottom-right edge of the bezel only become visible when touched, but they are responsive and easy to understand. You can slide your finger along a small row of vertical lines to scroll through menu options on the on-screen display or adjust features like volume and brightness.

The HP 2509p's HDMI port and Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 makes it ideal for connecting to the latest games consoles, including the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. We were impressed by HP 2509p's ability to handle fast motion and its range of colours. It didn't skip a beat when connected to our PS3 and the colours were bright, vivid and crystal clear. There are five preset colour modes, including a custom colour option that lets you tailor the display to your requirements.

We also tested the HP 2509p using DisplayMate and found it struggled to display greys at the lower end of the scale. Black levels are adequate, though, and colour is excellent. Like most TN (twisted nematic) panels, viewing angles aren't great, with noticeable vertical and horizontal colour shift.

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