DELL 2407WFP WUXGA LCD A02 Review [56k warning!!]

Hello all, don't feel like studying now, and haven't seen any Indian review of a Dell 2407 so decided to write one up. So here goes..

I've used CRT's for quite a few years now and was pretty happy using them. But i started using Dell inspiron 8600 laptop like 5 months ago, and after using the exellent WSXGA [1680 x 1050], crisp, sharp screen of the laptop just couldn't bear the look of the piece of crap, blurry mess of 17" CRT i had (I don't mean it writankar ;)). And lets face it Laptops can't replace Desktops (atleast for me). So the quest for a new LCD began. :)

I started to shop around about 4 months back, my search started at the sensible 20" WS range but ended up heartset on the Dell 2407WFP it seemed like the best 'bang for the buck' decent LCD. But the initial revisions were full of issues like Banding, Blurry text etc. etc. so waited for a two months for new revisions to come out, and ordered as soon as the first A03 was seen. Paid Rs.43891 Incl. all taxes and shipping.

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Was promised an A03 but got an A02 :mad:, they said that these A02s are fully fixed and will be replaced, with a new one, if i found any faults. so...

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Although i felt like cheated (rather screwed), when i got the display out of the box i was very impressed. It was really well packed, the box contained driver CD, manual, stand, a VGA cable, a DVI cable, a power cable, the card reader and USB cable, and a few bits of papers. Took the stand out first was surprised at how heavy it was, very sleek and oozed quality. Mounting the panel was a breeze, locked into position with a click.

The movement of the screen was so smooth and hardly required any effort for both upward-downward and rotating about the pivot.

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These are the very nicely placed inputs and power cords.

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These are the card reader and USBs.

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Menu buttons.

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some more random pictures.

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Couldn't power it up for a day cause didn't have my P5W DH then, got it the next day (Boy was that day loong). Fired it up installed fresh OS was amazed to see even the installation screens. After installing the latest drivers for every thing including my 7800GTX.

It was so bright at it's default brightness (50) that i felt i'd get a tan sitting in front of it! not that i need any, Reduced the brightness to 28 and it just looked perfect. Had already collected many 1920x1200 wallpapers (after ordering a 2407 and waiting for it's delivery what else could i do in the free time!!??) tried every babe wallpaper i had and drooled, and drooled.

Had a smile from ear to ear :D while i just surfed TE and posted pics in the Show off section.

After the marvelling at the display for some time, first thing that came to mind was to check for banding which i was very happy to see was non existent :eek:hyeah:

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There was very slight vertical banding in desktop mode, but didn't show up in normal usage so didn't bother me.
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There is still some banding in MM and Gaming modes though, due to Faroudja.

Gaming mode

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Multimedia mode

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but at this point i didn't give a sh1t.

Then checked for blurry text which also was fixed :)
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ran all the tests i had downloaded didn't know what to look for in most of them but the display seemed good in all of them.

Then I installed AOE3 it supported 1920x1200 rightaway, turned every thing to max. It looked just .... spectacular. I already loved the game and playing it on this took the pleasure to a new level played a campaign for the whole next week.

Played Quake 4, supported 1920x1200 after WSGF patch. Looked AWESOME no lag, zero ghosting, all in all exellent gaming performance. Cannot post pictures as i have uninstalled all games, playing NFS Carbon now which doesn't support 1920x1200 (Universal Ws patch didn't work for me) and is crap anyway. But played NFSMW at 1600x1200, it didn't look bad at all, scales really well (puts black bars on the sides though).

Movies on this display are so good. Watched Elephant's Dream to see what this display could so, it was 11minutes of pure eyecandy, the movie looked AMAZING. Have deleted it so cannot post pictures. Here is a regular 1080p WMV playing though.

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The pictures really don't do justice to the monitor though, especially my 2MP kiddy camera, it looks wayy better in reality.

So in conclusion, i am completely satisfied with my purchase, it's a great display and a huge step up from the 17" crt i'd been using. I'd recommend this LCD to anyone who is looking for an all around 'great performance for price' display and not to someone who is going to spend all the time working on gradient or photo adjustments. Sure, there are better 24" iers out there like NEC, Eizo, etc. but they come with a way bigger price tag.

Final scores: 9/10

And to sum the review up:

Pros:

1. Huge 1920x1200 in 24" is just perfect.
2.Beautiful colours right out of the box no caliberation needed
3.Easy to use OSD
4.Absolutely none backlight leakage or dead pixels.
5.Very well designed, thin bezel, soothing colours, sleek stand with exellent maneuvering ability. Moves effortlessly.
6.Many inputs.
7.Fast response times and good viewing angles
8.5 year warranty.

Cons:

1.Expensive, in India atleast, it'll be absolute worthh of money if it's priced around 35k.
2.OSD buttons are a bit on the cheaper side, would love some more elegant looking buttons, atlease blue LEDs.
3.suffers from slight vertical banding even in desktop mode.
4.MM and Gaming modes still have both horizontal and vertical banding.

PS: Please don't ask to post thumbnails, i prefer it this way.
(i don't have the thumbnail codes anyway)
Also will add gameplay pictures later.
 
I'm just suggesting him to make sure that's not because of some erratic visual settings, because there is a probability of him getting a used/refurbished piece as replacement.
 
Ok: Tried the monitor with a laptop and the problem persists, so its defenitely not my graphics card. Reduced the brightness to 24.... not quite resolved. Used custom color settings RGB at 90 and :hap2: :hap2: :hap2:.
 
vij said:
@vandal
I found out a friend of a friend who works in dell...
She says Dell people check on their employees who purchased products using empl scheme to prevent them from misusing the schemes..Some checkup in 3 months time or something:huh: ...found it hard to believe...She also mentioned that prices have fallen a touch below 40k + tax+wax wat not... Il be getting the best non empl pricing by tommorow hopefully...

and hey you have your GF in Dell...Did you break up or smth? ;)

OT here but no breakup nahi, but she's not talking ta me :p
Dell does a checkup, but that's cool, cause she's from Jabalpur as well, so can say its in her place back home...She's been home on holiday and I've been out a bit myself, so well (you get the picture)

yeah she mentioned it's below 40K now... Misusing the scheme ain't the prob (I'll probably review it for free, and benefit dell maybe :p )....but I want that screen...
Google thanks for the PM... and for the inspiration to buy the monitor
 
vij said:
@pichingo
So is it looking ok now...

b/w pichingo's is the first Rev03 on TE I guess.

Yes, it looks fine now, thanks to everyone for the tips :hap2: . And here is a pic of the revision, for the non-believers out there ;)
 

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HOLY C :crazeyes: :crazeyes: P .. i just realized that mine is a03 as well.. forgot to see it, since i thought all the Indian models are a02.. :S :S :S :S :S



i was amazed by this LCD, since i was really trying hard to find some kind of banding.... :lol:
 
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