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I bought a Dell this week....

Avatar Eleanor Spenceley
and regretted it immediately.

Since there was no sign of Apple coming out with a DVI adaptor for their lovely new 24inch LCD monitors, I decided to look elsewhere for a cheaper 24inch monitor.

The reviews for the Dell LCD monitor 2408WFP have been very impressive from various PC Magazines (like 4.5/5 and 6/6 stars) and the price was extremely attractive so I put my PC bias aside and bought the Dell monitor.

Delivery was very fast (1 day), however the monitors default colours were awful with the reds so over saturated they were 'glowing'. After a good two days trying the various settings I found no way to display the colours in a satisfactory way, they were either 'bleached out' or the reds so strong they just continually distracted you.

So I decided to phone Dell to return the monitor, Customer Services tried to blame me for the order saying 'I knew what I was buying so they were not prepared to accept the return'. I explained there was nowhere on their web site which stated the reds would be so strong they 'glowed'. Eventually they passed me on to technical support, they said it was a known fault, but the colours were deliberately strong for 'gamers'. However, they were prepared to accept the return and I could wait for a new version of the monitor which will fix this issue in January. No thanks!

I'm now waiting for an Apple Cinema Display (23inch) (old version), there are a few companies selling these at around £80 off list price at the moment.

So that endeth my brief fling with Dell... never again.... I should have known better. ;-)

Martin

Re: I bought a Dell this week....

Avatar John Surtees
A very timely posting Martin, that has saved me a possible load of hassle. My old Mitsubishi CRT has been hanging on by a thread, and I have been comforting myself with the thought that when it finally gives up the ghost, I would pop down to Novatech in Portchester and pick up a 2408WFP. (They do them for only £4 more than Dell.)

Although I had read one or two reports of them being impossible to calibrate, as you say, most of the reviews are impressive and I had been swayed.

It makes you wonder if the magazines get supplied with off the shelf models when they do their comparison tests. If I remember correctly, the 2408WFP was a best buy in several mags.

Another monitor that has had favourable reviews is the BenQ FP241W, except that some say it is poor with text. So that one is none starter.

Anyway best of luck with your Apple Cinema Display. At least with Apple, you know what your getting.

Re: I bought a Dell this week....

Avatar Eleanor Spenceley
For what its worth, the Technical support claim not all monitors were affected and many users are still happy with them. On Windows XP where the interface is predominately a strong blue, I suppose the issue would not be as apparent to them!

Colour issue aside, the monitor was nice with loads of useful ports and the text pretty sharp, though not as good as on my MacBook Pro.

Re: I bought a Dell this week....

Avatar Stuart Affleck
I've got a BenQ FP241W. Eighteen months on, still chuffed with it. My first one had a weird glitch where the DVI connection stopped working (VGA was fine), but that was swapped out under warranty. I looked at the Dells, but issues like Martin's bothered me- I read too many problem reports. Lovely pic, lots of adjustments, no ghosting I can see (even gaming!). And it calibrated just fine, btw :)

Re: I bought a Dell this week....

Avatar Eleanor Spenceley
The Apple Cinema Display 23inch arrived. Just plugin and go, no calibration required.

All very nice as always. :-)

Re: I bought a Dell this week....

Avatar Derek Wright
I also bought a Dell 2408, I used a Spyder colorimeter to calibrate the screen and it is now looking very good.

Re: I bought a Dell this week....

Avatar Peter Shepheard
I am a new member having recently purchased a 24" glossy screen iMac. For photography purposes this screen is terrible. There are many posts on the Luminous Landscape web site for anyone interested in using an iMac for serious photographic work. http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=28685&hl=iMac+second+monitor
I have got somewhere close to the settings I need using a Spyder 2 and Coloreyes software (trial version only so far) but the luminosity is still too high. I get a much better image on an old Viewsonic monitor.
 
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