HP 514PN Evaluate: A Slick Portable Monitor That Can Brighten Your Workday, however Not Your Pockets

Pros

• Thin and lightweight
• Vivid colours and better-than-usual distinction
• Well designed

Cons

• Expensive
• No {hardware} controls past brightness

While “Neo:LED” is simply an LG-branded model of its IPS Black panel with a mini-LED backlight — a low-power variation of the corporate’s QNED TV panels, which have been out for some time — the HP Series 5 Pro 514PN is the primary of the brand new laptop computer screens we have seen which makes use of the expertise. (Portable displays are simply laptop computer screens minus the laptop computer.) 

Neo:LED theoretically consumes much less energy than the everyday mini LED backlight, an apparent plus for a laptop computer, or on this case, an exterior show that could be working off the laptop computer’s battery. That, mixed with excessive distinction, broad colour gamut, brighter-than-usual display screen and sensible design makes the 14-inch HP 514PN stand out from a crowded discipline of name title and no title opponents.

Well, that and the worth: $299 is actually excessive for this class, particularly for 14 inches. And presumably why this monitor comes out of HP’s business show division. There’s fairly a little bit of time between now and when it ships on the finish of November, so it is attainable the worth will change within the interim.

Sleek design

You’d count on quite a lot of premium touches for the cash, and HP does not fail you. There’s a kickstand included into the again, which props it up in each vertical and horizontal orientations. The show’s concerning the size of a bit of letter-sized paper standing vertically. The bundled cable has a small L-shaped connector, so it does not spout out the highest like a Teletubby antenna when it is rotated, and there is a USB-C connector with help for video enter on both sides.

The kickstand is regular no matter orientation or angle. It’s not the thinnest or the lightest for its measurement, however at 9mm thick and 1.4 kilos, it falls on the right finish of the vary. The package deal features a skinny magnetic cowl — a pleasant contact and definitely one thing you’d count on at this worth, however the magnet’s not terribly robust. 

In addition to the connectors, on the suitable aspect is an influence change and brightness buttons. There are not any different {hardware} controls, which suggests you are dependent upon the software program. Unsurprisingly, the Windows software program is comparatively full-featured, and it consists of settings for brightness, colour presets and rotation, in addition to much less widespread choices like video degree (restricted vs. full vary), black stretch, response time (which you should not want to make use of) and extra. HP makes software program for the Mac, and although I’m utilizing it related to a MacGuide as I write this, it appears just like the Mac software program is not but obtainable from HP’s obtain web site. Rotation appears to be constructed into the MacOS settings, although.

Solid colour

Just as a result of this monitor can cowl a large colour gamut, does not imply it might accomplish that precisely. It’s rated at 100% of each P3 and Adobe RGB. That’s one space the place OLED tends to fall brief, because it has bother with Adobe RGB. 

The monitor’s not manufacturing unit calibrated and lacks profiles, so it does not clamp the gamut to a specific colour house. That means on the edges of an area colours will be manner off. It will be good for non-color-critical work in its default, Neutral preset. That appears to be most correct for Adobe RGB.

Another of the listed benefits of the IPS Black Neo:LED display screen is greater distinction than a standard IPS panel, as much as 2,000:1 in comparison with 1,000:1. That’s partly as a result of IPS Black ought to ship darker blacks, which the 514PN does — simply not by sufficient and never when the brightness is elevated. The antiglare end additionally contributes to barely decrease distinction than you may in any other case see with a shiny show. It was nonetheless just a little extra reflective than I preferred in darkish areas.

I discovered that distinction usually measured round 1,450:1, rising as excessive as 1,650:1 in its native colour house; native on most displays means the colour saturation and brightness are maxed out. But even 1,400:1 is best than quite a lot of moveable displays, and positively ok for work.

With the brightness cranked all the best way up, it measured 427 nits. That’s comfortably greater than its rated peak of 400 nits, which suggests there’s some overhead in-built to compensate for backlight degradation over the lifetime of the monitor.

While the 514PN has a 75Hz refresh charge, I discover it blended for gaming. I initially thought it could be nice as a companion to a handheld just like the Steam Deck (or Nintendo Switch, however I haven’t got a kind of). And it’s, so long as you do not want velocity; it does not help variable refresh, so you may be locked to 60Hz. But the vivid colours are a plus, so long as you are not used to the excessive distinction of an OLED display screen in your gadget. While I skilled some artifacts when the body charge on my Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS) dropped beneath 60 frames per second in Hades 2, the colour and distinction have been in any other case an enchancment over the IPS display screen on the hand held.

The HP 514PN is, total, a pleasant moveable monitor, particularly when in comparison with the common providing. But $299 is loads when it is popping out of your personal pocket; it is attainable HP might come out with a client mannequin at a cheaper price (that does not have a volume-buying markdown in-built). The greater distinction could do your eyes a favor in the event you spend lengthy days in entrance of it, although, which might mitigate the excessive price considerably.

How we check displays

All measurements have been carried out utilizing Portrait Display’s Calman Ultimate 2025 and later software program utilizing a Calibrite ColorChecker Display Plus (previously X-Rite i1Display Pro Plus) and a Murideo Six-G sample generator for HDR testing the place obligatory, or the Client3 HDR patterns inside Calman, the place attainable. How in depth our testing is relies on the capabilities of the monitor, the display screen and backlight expertise used, and the judgment of the reviewer.

On essentially the most primary fashions we could follow simply brightness, distinction and colour gamut, whereas on extra succesful shows we could run assessments of most user-selectable modes for gaming or color-critical utilization, uniformity and so forth. For the colour work, we might also run assessments to confirm how white level accuracy varies with brightness.

Color accuracy outcomes reported in models of Delta E 2000 are based mostly on Calman’s customary Pantone patch set, plus the grayscale and pores and skin tone patches. White factors outcomes are based mostly on each the precise white worth plus the correlated colour temperature for all the grey scale (21 patches, 0 to 100%) rounded right down to the closest 50K so long as there are not any huge variations. We additionally use Blur Busters‘ motion tests to guage movement artifacts (reminiscent of ghosting) or refresh rate-related issues that may have an effect on gaming.