Dell 2407WFP Review

[cfaice]

Dell 2407WFP Review

Introduction

For the past month or so I've been looking around to replace my current dull 17" LCD monitor.

I was originally looking for a 20" widescreen, however during my research I found that a 20" monitor would not be capable of displaying HD content. I wanted to make sure that my purchase was going to last a lengthy amount of time, and didn't want to buy a monitor which would be outdated next year.

I eventually came across the Dell 2407WFP. This is a massive 24" widescreen with a staggering resolution of 1900x1200. This monitor is not the cheapest on the market, but is by far one of the best available, and best of all, the resolution is high enough to display HD content when it becomes available.

HD Ready

The High Definition support is provided by the DVI input. Various news sources suggest that graphics cards capable of supplying HD content will become available towards the end of 2006. So I have hopefully future proofed myself for many years to come!

Delivery

I had the foresight to clear my desk before delivery took place. I did this Saturday morning thinking I would receive the monitor later this week. Literally 30 minutes after I prepared my desk, a TNT delivery van pulled up. Top marks given to Dell and delivery; I only placed my order with a Dell partner on Thursday and here it is in my possession on Saturday (at the time the Dell website was indicating lead times of 5-7 days).

To my surprise, after several minutes of the delivery guy knocking about in the back of this van, he came out with not just one box, but three! One box was clearly the monitor, but I had no idea what were in the two smaller boxes.

Setup

It took me several minutes to negotiate the stairs while trying to get the boxes up to my computer room, but once their I was able to put my mind to rest as to what was in the two smaller boxes they shipped me.

Box one, a power lead. Box two, a user manual!

This seems a bit of a was of packing and shipping, and I have no idea why these items were not in the main box. After all, there was plenty of room for it all to go into one box, and I haven't read any reports elsewhere about Dell shipping the monitor like this. I suppose one reason behind it may be that all the monitors are produced in one country and boxed up, then depending on destination they ship the relevant power cord and user manual.

Here we go, the main box!

Upon opening the box, you are greeted with the standard polystyrene packaging. On top you have all the relevant bits and bobs, in this instance a DVI cable, USB cable, drive CD and a quick setup / install guide.

Removing the above packaging then gives you access to the monitor stand and monitor itself.

What's interesting about the monitor is that it comes with the VGA cable already attached. Again, I have no idea why Dell done this, as I would have thought the majority of people who go for this model would more than likely be using DVI for its superior quality. Still, only a 30 second job to disconnect the VGA and attach the DVI.

Once it was out the box and attached to the stand, I had to step back and take a deep breath. The monitor is huge, and I wondered what I had let myself in for!

With the shock over, I continued to set it up. Above I noted about a USB cable being included, this is because the monitor comes complete with a 4 port USB hub and card reader. As well as that and the aforementioned VGA and DVI, the monitor also comes complete with composite and S-Video. So this monitor can handle pretty much any connection you can throw at it.

Once everything was plugged in, it was time to power up.

The monitor is plug and play as standard and Windows XP had no problem supporting the resolution, USB hub and card reader out the box with no need to install the driver.

After an initial play around, I did install the driver found on the Dell disc supplied. I did this to see if there was any additional functionality of the monitor, but their wasn't! Now you may think what additional functions could a monitor provide, well, this monitor rotates from landscape to portrait. I later found with the help of Chris, that my ATI graphics drivers did all the hard work when it came to rotating.

Unfortunately, the display has not yet been configured to automatically adjust depending on orientation. But to be honest at the moment I don't see myself using it in portrait mode for anything.

Performance

While doing my initial research, I found that this monitor did have it's share of problems since it was launched back at the beginning of the year. Reported problems included colour banding issues and ghosting.

Dell have tried resolving these issues, but some are still apparent. The colour banding issues has been resolved on one of the monitors preset mode 'Desktop' (presets are desktop, entertainment and gaming). Again, I have no idea why they couldn't fix it on all three presets, but one mode seems enough for me as I couldn't see any advantage in switching to a different mode for different applications. (For those interested, i have the A02 revision)

The ghosting however, is still somewhat apparent. I have been successful in eliminating about 95% of it by reducing the screen brightness from the preset 50% to 30%. At this level, the ghosting is only apparent when dragging items over a white background. I don't do that on a regular basis, so I am not too bothered about it.

Game play and watching DVD's is excellent. A great 16ms response time (not the quickest on the market, but still fantastic for game play), everything is crisp and clear, and having the extra screen space is great (but I may need to upgrade my Radeon 9800XT as it struggles with resolutions greater that 1600x1200). Watching DVD's is a pleasure, crisp, clear and sharp. Although the monitors aspect ratio of 16:10 is not usually the standard, DVD's fill up the screen with the exception of two small black strips (top and bottom).

Overall

With the exception of the minimal ghosting issues, I am very satisfied with my purchase, and would recommend this monitor to anyone who is looking. Out the box it is plug and play and fully operational within 5-10 minutes. Having HD support is excellent, and the USB hub and card reader is additional thumbs up for Dell.

The one major downside for this monitor is the price. This monitor retails direct from dell at ?824, while the smaller 20" is only ?437. Lucky for me, I was able to find a Dell Business Partner who managed to supply me with the monitor for ?588, this took the edge off, but it was still expensive.

Overall I will give this monitor a rating of 8.5 / 10.

A great monitor, shame that the ghosting lets it down a little, and the steep price.

Here are a few more images of the monitor, one while setting up, and the others once everything was back on my desk. I have also included an actual size screen grab just to show off the size!

I hope I havent done too badly for my first review, and I know I'm not the best at taking photos!

[JiveMasterT]

How much was it?

[cfaice]

How much was it?

RRP ?824.

However I found a Dell business partner on eBay who supplied it to me for ?588.

It came direct from Dell, and has the standard 3 year warranty.

[Toastyone]

^ which is like $1070 USD.... the ghosting for me is a real turn off and since I got my 2405 for ?302 about $550 I think it is a better deal, plus you get the card reader on the side of the 2405:))

[Dallas]

Thats a lota screen!

[MiG-]

Nice magazine is custom pc.. :D

[nekoshadow]

I been looking for one of these, I have no found one of these as such as yet but ill find one lol, they worth the money? :alien:

[dh5]

Excellent Review! :D Thanks for the info about where you got the monitor from, I shall look into that

[tony-inpo]

Wow that looks nice, great review and pictures

[Markko]

Awesome piece of kit mate! :)

[SonComet]

I too have the A02 revision of this monitor with no stuck or dead pixels. I wasn't aware that the ghosting issue still existed until I read this review. I can see it if I look for it, but it's easy to ignore. Also, I wanted to add that the color banding issue in desktop mode is not entirely fixed. There is still banding in vertical gradients, however I cannot see it in 99% of my use, so I consider it to be a non-issue for myself.

[cfaice]

Nice magazine is custom pc.. :D

Only the best will do :D

I been looking for one of these, I have no found one of these as such as yet but ill find one lol, they worth the money? :alien:

Defiantly worth the money if you have any spare. One thing I know for sure, you won?t have any money left once you?ve purchased one!

I too have the A02 revision of this monitor with no stuck or dead pixels. I wasn't aware that the ghosting issue still existed until I read this review. I can see it if I look for it, but it's easy to ignore. Also, I wanted to add that the color banding issue in desktop mode is not entirely fixed. There is still banding in vertical gradients, however I cannot see it in 99% of my use, so I consider it to be a non-issue for myself.

I have noticed 1 stuck pixel on my display, and I think it appeared after a day of use. I hadn?t noticed the vertical banding issue, so like yourself, don?t really class it as an issue. I?m sure the majority of the issues that have been reported still stem from the dodgy DVI chips they put in the panels. I hope that an eventual firmware fix will be available that will resolve all said problems (and I hope Dell will make it available to everyone who purchased this monitor).

[Martyn]

That is one shexeh monitor :cool:

I want one!

[chconline Veteran]

Me too :( But at least I got a Dell 2005FPW :D

[Guest]

What is "ghosting"? I've never heard this term before :s

btw, you might want to remove the email from the desktop screen.

[CrimsonBetrayal]

I just want to add that if you bought a display for the purpose of playing HD content, ensure it is HDCP compliant, or it's just a waste of money. Trust me, my $6000 NEC plasma is an expensive hunk of SD junk since it's not HDCP Compliant. Don't get me wrong, it's got a beautiful image, but it is not HDCP Compliant which all HD Devices must be thanks to the MPAA.

If you have bought a display that you want to use for HD, you have to look at resolution AND HDCP compliance, or it'll only ever be compatible with SD. I learned that lesson the expensive way. Just wanted to share.

[chconline Veteran]

That monitor is HDCP compliant.

[cfaice]

What is "ghosting"? I've never heard this term before :s

btw, you might want to remove the email from the desktop screen.

Ghosting pretty much describes a faint image of the original, following the original!

In the instance of this Dell, when dragging a drive around in "My Computer", a pinkish colour would follow it around.

I have removed the email :)

I just want to add that if you bought a display for the purpose of playing HD content, ensure it is HDCP compliant, or it's just a waste of money. Trust me, my $6000 NEC plasma is an expensive hunk of SD junk since it's not HDCP Compliant. Don't get me wrong, it's got a beautiful image, but it is not HDCP Compliant which all HD Devices must be thanks to the MPAA.

If you have bought a display that you want to use for HD, you have to look at resolution AND HDCP compliance, or it'll only ever be compatible with SD. I learned that lesson the expensive way. Just wanted to share.

Double checked that the Dell 2407 had HDCP support before purchasing :)

[Guest]

Ghosting pretty much describes a faint image of the original, following the original!

In the instance of this Dell, when dragging a drive around in "My Computer", a pinkish colour would follow it around.

Ah right, I've seen that before and it's really annoying. Especially when you're watching credits for a DVD scroll down, so it looks kinda bluured.

Isn't that caused by a high response time?

[cfaice]

Ah right, I've seen that before and it's really annoying. Especially when you're watching credits for a DVD scroll down, so it looks kinda bluured.

Isn't that caused by a high response time?

The response time is 16ms on this monitor, not the fastest, but it isnt the slowest!

Strange thing, DVD's and gaming is not affected. Everything is crystal clear.

[dL]

Nice review! I love the 2407WFP, but my 2005fpw will do me fine for at least a year or 2. Maybe 2 years from now, I'll consider the next gen of Dell's 24" Widescreen.

dL

[Guest]

The response time is 16ms on this monitor, not the fastest, but it isnt the slowest!

Strange thing, DVD's and gaming is not affected. Everything is crystal clear.

Mabey the refresh rate is spontaniously changing.... :s

And about changing the presets, you may wish to alter the brightness when in game or something like that so you can see the really dark areas. Seems fairly pointless to me too.

[Smigit]

^ which is like $1070 USD.... the ghosting for me is a real turn off and since I got my 2405 for ?302 about $550 I think it is a better deal, plus you get the card reader on the side of the 2405:))

Well ghostings a very personal thing. By all accounts EVERY report I have personally read that compared the 2407 and the 2405 has said the 2407 is actually a more responsive monitor and noticably so when test were done. Still, that will never be enough for some seeing as CRT's are better but yeah, I've heard this monitor performs better.

Thats if you oberlook some potential other issues like the banding which has basically been addressed and the fact HDCP was only half heartedly implemented if reports are right. Also certain resolutions arent available propperly which has prompted me to wait for the new Benq. I had been looking forward to this monitor for opver 6 months but even with the banding fixed there seems to be a number of minor problems.

edit: the HDCP stuff at higher res is simply rumoured so far I think, some people beliebve it wont get above 720i. Also it doesnt support certain other res like 1080p over some connections. SO yeah, its still fine for 95% of people I'm sure but I think Ill wait and see what the BENQ FP241W is like and priced at 1st and if its not that great or too exy I can fall back onto the dell.

Edited June 27, 2006 by Smigit

[Joni_78]

I've had quite good offer for my 2005FPW, was just thinking if I should buy 2407WFP then or is it worth it? This thread has been quite dead.

[PiracyX]

This is a very nice monitor. I just wish i could justify the amount its worth here in the UK. cheapest ive seen it is ?625 delivered.