- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Design
- Picture Quality
- Motion
- Inputs
- Features
- Sizes and Variants
- Compared
- Conclusion
- Discussions
HP Pavilion 22CWA
MONITOR REVIEW
The HP 22CWA is a decent budget monitor with an IPS panel. It lacks more advanced features to improve the picture quality and performance, but still performs okay. It has wide viewing angles, which helps the image to remain uniform when viewed from up close. Blacks appear gray in a dark room, but in a bright room, the monitor can overcome some glare due to the good reflection handling and decent brightness. Motion handling is only decent but is limited by the 60Hz refresh rate and the mediocre response time.
| Design | 6.5 |
| Picture Quality | 6.4 |
| Motion | 6.9 |
| Inputs | 8.2 |
- Sides remain accurate when viewed from close
- Gray uniformity is excellent
- Blacks appear gray in a dark room
- More motion blur than most monitors
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Design
The design of the HP Pavilion 22CWA is mediocre and it is entirely made of plastic. The stand supports the monitor well and does not take much desk space, but it wobbles a little if gently knocked. When viewed from the side the monitor looks thin and can be placed close to a wall. Unfortunately, the ergonomics are bad and thus, you will need to spend some time before you can place it in a comfortable position. The build quality feels ok but does not give off any premium feel whatsoever.
The back of the monitor is very plain. It has no option to wall mount it as the necessary Vesa adapter is sold separately. Also, there is no cable management
Picture Quality
The HP 22CWA has a mediocre picture quality. It can not display deep blacks in a dark room. Its brightness levels and good reflection handling make it more suitable for brighter rooms. The viewing angles allow you to view it from the side without significant loss of accuracy. The monitor has great gray uniformity, good out-of-the-box color accuracy, and a very good color gamut.
The SDR peak brightness of the monitor is decent. The same level of brightness is measured at all window sizes and this is great. Also, the brightness level makes this monitor suitable for brighter rooms
HDR is not supported.
The out of the box color accuracy of the HP Pavilion 22cwa is good.
We found that the most accurate picture mode was when we set Quick View to Custom with Color Control set to Custom (RGB) and Black Stretch set to off.
With these settings selected some people might still be able to spot color inaccuracies. Finally, the gamma curve is not tracking our target very closely.
After calibration, the accuracy of the HP 22CWA is excellent. Both the white balance dE and the color dE were brought down to very small levels where it is almost impossible to spot inaccuracies. The gamma and the color temperature were improved closer to our targets.
You can download our ICC profile calibration here.
Good coverage of SDR color volume. The HP Pavilion 22CWA covers adequately the standard s.RGB volume, but does have a lesser coverage of the Adobe RGB color volume due to its limited coverage of the Adobe RGB color space. In both cases, the monitor's limited contrast ratio does not allow it to cover well the darker brightness levels.
Motion
The HP 22cwa has decent motion handling. The response time is ok and can be slightly improved with the overdrive set to on. However, the monitor has a refresh rate of only 60Hz and no option to improve the image any further which is not great for games.
The HP 22cwa only supports the more common 60 Hz refresh rate. This means that motion in video games is not as good as on faster refresh rate monitors. It also does not support Variable Refresh Rate features like G-sync and FreeSync to avoid tearing and smooth out the image.
Inputs
The input lag of this monitor is excellent. However, because of its small size and 1920x1080 resolution, the amount of detail it can display is limited and this might bother some. The number of inputs is also very basic.
Excellent low input lag for this HP 22cwa monitor. Almost the same low input lag is also found in non-native resolutions and this is great.
This is a 22-inch monitor and the native resolution of FHD is expected. The relatively small size and resolution do not give you a lot of space or detail to work with.
Features
This is a very basic monitor and there are no features like speakers nor any other additional features offered on the menu of the On-Screen Display (OSD) other than basic controls.
Differences between Sizes and Variants
We tested the 22" model (22cwa), which is the only size available.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their HP 22cwa doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Model | Size | Refresh rate | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22cwa | 22" | 60Hz | 1080p |
Compared to other Monitors
The HP 22cwa is a basic monitor that performs decently in most usages. See our recommendations for the best monitors, the best monitors under $200 and the best budget gaming monitors.
The Dell P2217H is a much better monitor than the HP 22CWA. The Dell has significantly better ergonomics that allow you to easily position it to your likings, and this is important for all usages. The Dell also has marginally better motion blur. The Dell also has slightly better picture quality, due to somewhat better black uniformity which is good for dim scenes in a dark room.
The Dell P2417H is much better than the HP 22CWA. The Dell has much better ergonomics and will not trouble you when trying to place it comfortably. The Dell also has slightly better motion blur. On the other hand, the HP 22CWA has a slightly better vertical viewing angle and marginally better contrast that improves the picture quality in a dark room.
The HP 22CWA is an IPS monitor and has much better viewing angles that are good in wide rooms when you look at the image from the side. On the other hand, the ASUS VG245H has a TN type panel and the image degrades at the slightest deviation from the center. The ASUS VG245H has significantly better ergonomics that allow you to easily place it in a comfortable position and is more suitable for gaming with slightly better motion blur and refresh rate.
If you will be watching the monitor from the side, the IPS panel of the HP 22CWA is a better choice as it has better viewing angles than the Acer GN246HL that has a TN panel. The HP has also better gray uniformity which improves picture quality, whereas the Acer has somewhat better motion blur and marginally better refresh rate, which is important to gamers.
Conclusion
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