The HP 514pn is wondrously thin and light, but it still has a sturdy feel. Its matte silver-gray aluminum frame measures 8.2 by 12.6 by 0.35 inches and weighs 1.4 pounds. The screen—set into the front with minimal bezels—stretches 14 inches diagonally, with a native 2,560-by-1,600-pixel (WQXGA) resolution. Its 16:10 aspect ratio provides a slightly taller screen for its width than a 16:9 widescreen panel (with screen dimensions geared to video content), making the 514pn a good fit for both photographic and productivity tasks.
For years, 16:10 panels were lost in a sea of widescreens, but they’ve returned to prominence. In fact, many of our favorite displays use this aspect ratio. In the portable monitor arena, these include the Lenovo ThinkVision M14t Gen2, our overall favorite portable monitor, and the Dell Pro 14 Plus Portable Monitor (P1425), which bears a strong resemblance to the 514pn in most of its specifications and capabilities. But the HP’s resolution outstrips both of these products, topping the M14t Gen2’s native 2,240 by 1,400, and the Dell’s 1,920 by 1,200.
A small screen coupled with high resolution makes for a high pixel density and, all else being equal, a sharper image. The HP 514pn offers an impressive pixel density of about 226 pixels per inch (ppi), easily beating the 189ppi figure for the Lenovo and 162ppi for the Dell. The pixels on all these screens are spaced closely enough for effectively working with photos and intricate diagrams, but the 514pn’s screen is particularly impressive. The 27-inch, 5K Apple Studio Display—which Apple characterizes as a Retina display, meaning that individual pixels are indistinguishable at a typical viewing distance—has a pixel density of “only” 218ppi.
The 512pn’s screen also has a 75Hz refresh rate, better than the typical 60Hz, but it lacks adaptive sync, so it will hold no special appeal for gamers.
Another feature of the screen: a technology called Neo:LED. Supposedly, the 514pn is the first portable monitor to feature this technology, which adds mini LED backlighting to an IPS Black panel. The latter delivers superior contrast (a rated 2,000:1 ratio, in this case), featuring deeper blacks than traditional IPS panels, while mini LED enables a wider color gamut, including complete coverage of the Display P3 and Adobe RGB color spaces, and power savings. As you’ll see below, our tests largely bear out HP’s claims around contrast and color coverage.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
