Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP

Simply put, I love the Dell Ultrasharp line of monitors. I currently have two monitors, one 24" and one 21", the older one has been running for over five years with zero problems, the "younger" of the two… has been running strong for three years. I would consider myself both a medium level gamer and a medium level Photoshop user - I do neither of these professionally nor for 8hrs a day, but I have more than a passing knowledge of both. I would consider myself a pretty savy computer user as I've been in the Systems Administration world for over ten years. Gaming - The 24" widescreen is great. Even with just a 60Hz refresh I notice zero ghosting - however I will immediately admit that I'm not the most sensitive person when it comes to noticing ghosting. However, I am one of those people who cannot play FPSes due to motion (or something) sickness, so while I can't look at a movie or video on a ghosting monitor and point out ghosting, if a monitor has video lag on FPS games, my headache comes on hard and fast. I still get headaches with this monitor, but it takes about as much time as some of the newer 120Hz displays, so my impression of the ghosting is that it's almost non-existent (take that logic with whatever grain of salt that you will). When I first got this monitor, only a handful of games really supported the native widescreen resolution, so you were often playing games in windowed or non-native resolutions. Now that widescreen has really become the default, it's great having the option to use a huge 1900x reso. Usually my video card is the one left gasping, not the monitor. Photoshop / Graphics - The 2408WFP doesn't really shine in this arena, but I haven't found too many LCDs that really stand out yet. The problem is "blacks" - it just doesn't do them very accurately. LCDs have always had issues with displaying true, deep blacks, and the 2408 is no different. The darkest black, when compared to something like a Pioneer Kuro TV (for instance) is more like a charcoal gray. Using a monitor calibrator you can sync up the CYMK with no problem, but sometimes it's not an exact translation when you go to print. Workstation / System Administration - I love the 2408 for work. I can run multiple 1024 resolution terminal server windows to multiple machines, or go native resolution and cascade the windows - either way you have more than enough retail space on your desktop to have multiple programs open without feeling confined. Hook up two of these monitors and get a little multi-mon going and you'll really wonder how you ever dealt with a non-widescreen monitor. The misc bits included with the monitor, such as the card reader / USB, are nice, but that's about it. One minor gripe I have with the monitor is that I've never gotten one that sits straight on its base. Since the 2408 can be tiled to be taller rather than wider, the mount is a swivel. Unfortunately both monitors I've worked with sort of "lean" towards the right. I have a pack of notecards under the monitor which levels it out, but it's just an annoyance. Also, I've never been able to calibrate two of these 2408's to the same exact setting. Using a monitor caliber one is always brighter, darker, warmer, or colder than the other - even with all the settings exactly the same. Again, nothing deal breaking for me, but an annoyance nonetheless.

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I think for this price this monitor is outstanding, the sharpness and clarity of this monitor is unbeatable a this price. I bought and returned 2 other 24 inch monitors before buying this one (one Samsung… and one Viewsonic), the quality of the picture on this monitor is so superior that there is no comparison, the other 2 were unacceptable (font fuziness, off colors...)for somebody like me who spends hours everyday in front of the monitor and value his eyes. It doesn't look cheap at all to me and actually looks great on my desk next to my other Dell monitor. It might not be suitable for professional graphic/photo use, as some people complain, but I guess if you want a monitor for professional use maybe you spend more than $500, what do you expect when most professional monitor sell for $1500+... All in all I think this monitor is outstanding for everyday office or home use, definitely my best tech purchase of the year.

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My wife does serious photography editing and design, and she has an Apple 24" LED Cinema display. It is stunning, and very easy on the eyes. On the other hand, I do a lot of programming and email, so I… originally didn't care about color and looks and bought a Dell 2408wfp purely based on specifications. This Dell is a big step up from my 20" Dell that's about 5 years old. At every aspect, the Dell on paper seems superior to the Apple in terms of bang for bucks, and in terms of amazing features. Dell wins every aspect, hands down. The Dell is pretty cheap, and if you catch Dell deals at the right time you can get it directly from Dell for $450 with shipping and handling! When I got it, I was super excited. I opened the box, and boy oh boy, this has got to be one of the clunkiest, plastic looking behemoth I've ever seen. It's thick, bulky, and looks very... typical PC, which is alright, because I've been a PC person all my life. Function over form, right? It has a very very bright backlight and the colors are quite vivid, and it's a pretty good deal considering how little you pay for so much features. However, after using it for a while, I realized that I was getting a lot of eye fatigue. During the day, I needed to turn the brightness from the default eye blinding 50 down to about 15, and at night, I needed to turn it down to 0. Even at 0, it is still eye blindingly bright. This has got to be one of the brightest monitors I've ever had in my life, and if you find it appealing to look at bright monitors like how moths fly to those bug lanterns, you'll love this Dell. One of the most annoying thing about the Dell is that to change the brightness, you must get into the Dell menu-- minus button (to call the brightness menu), minus button again to get into brightness selection, Enter to select it, then finally -/+ to select brightness, then Enter, then plus to select Exit, then Enter. That's at least 7 buttons!!! On a Mac, you can do it in 2 seconds. I can't believe how bad the usability on the Dell is even after so many years that they could have improved it. The next most irritating thing about this monitor is the lack of power-off feature. If your laptop is suspended, it'll go to sleep. But the moment you unplug it to go out, it goes back alive and says "No input" instead of sleeping gracefully. Everytime I unplug, I also have to remember to turn it off manually, which is really annoying. Even my old Dell monitor slept when I unplugged it. The inconsistent user interface is just yet another example of how badly engineered this monitor is. As for color, I don't know what to say. If your life doesn't require knowing what sRGB, AdobeRGB, raw, color calibration, printing, etc, then it doesn't matter. However, I do some basic web design and photography, and I've had no choice but to calibrate the monitor. By default, this monitor is too bright, and too vivid for serious photographic needs, and requires a calibration hardware+software (I use Spyder3Pro which although not spectacular, gets the job done). I've always wondered why the Apple LED Cinema display looked sharper, and simply looked nicer. So I took my Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 micro lens VR for a 1:1 repro close-up macro on an APS-C camera, which resolves much more resolution than a naked eye can possibly see (near microscopic). Initially I took a separate shot of the Apple and the Dell so I could see their resolutions close-up, and thought to myself, there is no way the Apple is so much sharper. I took several pictures of these monitors again, and again. The results are easily reproducible-- the Apple display is superior in terms of clarity. I've uploaded the comparisons to Amazon so you can look at the differences. If this Dell is suppose to be ultra sharp, then the Apple is "superiorly" sharper (and without hurting your eyes). As for color... the colors on the Macs just look better, pre-calibrated without much adjustments needed. If it weren't for the fact that my current computer doesn't support mini-DisplayPort, I'd have gotten an Apple LED display already. I guess I'll just have to wait for my next big upgrade so that I can get the Apple display. In short, if you're a programmer or just a casual emailer/web browser, and if you want the MOST features or the brightest backlighting hitting your eye balls, and if you don't care anything about sRGB/AdobeRGB/etc... this Dell is an awesome monitor. It probably has one of the best bangs for bucks, with tons of features like multiple video inputs and card readers which I do find very useful since I do a lot of digital photography. On paper, the specifications are very impressive. On the other hand, if you want a well built, well designed, and great looking graphical display for serious photography and serious graphical needs, one that looks good on your desktop and is easy on the eyes, one with excellent resale values year after year... if these things matter to you more, then the Apple 24" LED Cinema Display is really worth every single penny.

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