HP – Pavilion 32″ LED QHD Monitor (DisplayPort, HDMI) – Black

Pros:
* Huge Screen
* Lots of pixels to work with
* Attractive design (case, stand, etc.)
* Good connectivity options
* VESA mount and desk stand included
Cons:
* Not 4k/UHD, but still great.
* Limited stand adjustments
* Bulky power brick
My Review:
The laptop I use for work has a built-in 15” Full HD (1080p) screen. This is nice, but when I’m not traveling, it’s a huge benefit to connect a second monitor. I used to expand my desktop onto an external 22” 1080p monitor for more screen real estate. Its really helpful to have the extra space.
A brief explanation of monitor resolutions, because QHD might sound the same as 4k, but it’s not. Technically, the bare minimum to be considered HD is 720p (1280×720). “Full HD” is what is commonly referred to as 1080p (1920×1080). This HP monitor is QHD which means 4 x HD so its resolution is 2560×1440 or 3.7 MP, versus 4k which is 4 x Full HD which is 3840×2160 or 8.3 MP.
Anyway, I digress. This HP monitor may not be 4k, but its huge 32” screen is a great canvas for getting work done, among other things. It makes more of a difference than you might think. I do design work on my laptop, and being able to not only have multiple things open but to have them open with large enough windows to see detail, is awesome!
I can’t say anything about gaming on this monitor, but for work purposes (spreadsheets, design work, etc.) it is amazing.
The provided desk stand does its job well enough, but does nothing but tilt; no rotation around the base and the screen cannot rotate to portrait (tall versus wide). It does come with a VESA mount that replaces the desktop stand so you can mount it to a wall or monitor arm, though.
I won’t get into the connectivity options because you can read that in the specs. I have it connected to my HP laptop with the provided HDMI cable and everything works great.
Aside from the limited stand adjustments, the only other small thing I could negatively mention is that the slim bezel and case design does not have a built-in AC adapter. Instead, it has an external power brick that is quite large but not too bad if you’re using this on a desk. Just keep in mind that the power cable coming from the monitor does have a huge rug bump in the middle 😉
Anyway, this is a really great monitor for its specs. As long as you understand that it is QHD (as advertised) which is NOT 4k or UHD, you’ll be happy with this huge and clear monitor.

This is a pretty nice display; I had to research QHD first – but it seems to mean Quad-HD / 2560×1440, so 4x the pixels of a ‘standard’ 1280×720 display but *not* yet 4k (3840×2160).
Using the supplied HDMI cable I was able to connect it to my Dell TB16 docking station and configure it to use the 1440 resolution within Windows 10 in an instant and immediately noticed the difference.
The monitor doesn’t have a height adjust, so I had to cut a 2×4 and put that under the stand, which also creates a cable track; the adjustments are limited to tilting up and down — also, it can’t turn vertically.
The display has a ‘quirky’ joystick on the back (that isn’t easy to get to), to adjust the color, input method and even has a decent menu that tells you how many hours its been on (back-light hours). The power button is also on the back but towards the bottom, making it easier to press than the menu joystick.
I’d say the bezel is ‘common’ – it’s not thick enough to stand out as an old design, but not bezel-less like some of the other screens. Finally, the screen is matte, not glossy – so there’s minimal-to-no reflection and this is a win in my mind.
Snapping my web browser to one side & terminal emulator to the other allowed me to dig into a support case, while being able to easily reference internal databases without minimizing or moving to another monitor.
I complemented this new screen, with my existing 24-in screens turned vertically; one on each side as you can see in the picture. This is my favorite layout!
I have not experienced any lag, delays, color imperfections or dead pixels out of the box. I don’t have the ability to turn the lights off while in the office, so I can’t speak to light bleed – but the blacks are black; there’s no mistaking it.
In adding this to my daily rig, I’ve become the envy of my group as it has absolutely helped me look like I’m doing more work.

Design:
The HP – Pavilion 32″ LED QHD Monitor is a monster of a display. This thing overpowers my desk in a highly impressive way. The bezels around the display are large for 2019, however overall appears thin and small in comparison to it’s 32″ display area. The stand is solid, however the inclusion of the optional VESA mount makes absolutely no sense. You connect it to the bottom rear of the display making this thing sit far higher than it should on a vesa mount arm. Most monitors hit somewhere in the middle, this thing is completely top heavy making the only mounting option to the wall.
Ports:
This thing comes packed with any port you may need: HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C/Display Port, 2 USB 3
Picture Quality/Resolution:
at 2560×1440 resolution, the 32″ size of this monitor becomes useless. This basically takes all of the possible screen real-estate you would get from a 4k resolution and simply “enlarges” it. Think of an acceptable 1440p on a 27″ monitor but blown up. This may be good for people with vision problems, or, prefer extremely large text and windows, but for most people, this will be a productivity hindrance and offers no benefit over smaller monitors. The refresh rate is also only 60Hz and 7ms response making this a no go for gaming or watching video. Moving windows around or watching anything with motion presents extremely blurry. Even with the inclusion of Freesync and a “game” mode, response times are pathetic and this should not be considered by anyone wishing play games.
The brightness on this display is also terrible. This display lacks the ability to get anywhere close to “white” and colors are extremely dull and flat. Given the poor brightness though, this does result in slightly better than average black levels. This is not to say the display has good blacks either, but due to the dim lighting, the illusion of better blacks is apparent and helps to eliminate clouding or spot lighting effects.
Other than this thing looks cool being so big, I do not see the point of why this exists. It has poor gaming performance and should never be considered by any gamer. It has poor resolution and should not be considered for office use as productivity cannot be increased without a second monitor. It’s colors are poor and response time to high that it cannot be used to properly watch video.
The only use case I can see for this display is someone with vision problems needing a magnified screen. Even with that, the poor brightness and color accuracy coupled with blurry window movement will likely not appeal to anyone.
I highly recommend avoiding this monitor as mostly all costs. Do not let the price sway you into thinking “32” monitor at this price point” is a good deal. Monitors of this size really almost mandate a 4k resolution to be useful.

I really liked it but after two months the screen started to glitch and now it’s really bad with a white mark on the top of the screen.