Customer Reviews

DELL 2408WFP UltraSharp 24-Inch Monitor

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The 2408 WFP offers good features and image quality but at a pretty expensive price. I upgraded from a 2001FP and the height adjustment isn't as easy to use as my FP older model. The monitor quality also isn't as sharp as other Korean brand monitors like LG and Samsung. I basically bought this Dell monitor for its ergonomic features for working long hours but I wouldn't recommend it for casual home PC shoppers.

Bought this monitor directly from Dell in July '09, several months after they had supposedly fixed the issue of the monitor going into sleep mode at times and not recognizing any signals from the pc. I wasn't aware of this problem until it started happening to me just weeks after I bought it. I learned about it from the Dell forum. I read countless posts by customers who were going through hell , some still having problems even with replacements, some having had it replaced multiple times. Over the months it has gotten increasingly worse. I just experienced an episode where I didn't think it would ever come back on. I now realize it's time to buy a new monitor and toss this piece of junk in the dumpster. I would recommend staying away from this model. Far away! It's not worth the risk. I'll never buy another Dell product. I can assure you, I don't work in the industry and I'm not affiliated with any of Dells competitors.

At first this seems like a terrific monitor, but it's only after using it for a few weeks that I began to see its drawbacks. I bought it on the recommendation on several boards that this was good for photography work.
Number one, it's too damn bright. I tried using it with the Xyrite Eye One calibrator. I was never able to get it to calibrate to anything consistent from calibration to calibration, sometimes I would get wildly wrong colors. This might be a problem of the xyrite though, which isn't all that great a product on it's own. It seems frozen in time to calibrate monitors made in 2001, even though I bought it at the same time as this monitor.

I gave up on getting it calibrated. Then about five months in it started going black. I'd have to unplug the monitor to reboot it. Dell Tech support is really just some bulletin boards where dell customers talk to each other. Apparently this is a known problem that was never solved. Then it died completely-- Dell refuses to give any tech support because I bought it from Amazon and I don't hav ethe Dell Order number. So you can forget about that "advanced 3 year exchange warranty." All in all a bad purchase. You're better off just buying some cheap vizio or samsung.

I woudn't recommend it any price, and certainly not used. Free is the only appropriate price, if you find a working one.

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 less than $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 the DVI, the Dell 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). One of the reasons that Dell doesn't look as sharp is because it has a matted anti-reflecting layer so it blemishes the individual pixels. 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, accurate color rendition and super sharpness, a monitor with excellent resale values year after year... if these things matter to you more AND you have money to burn, then the Apple 24" LED Cinema Display is the de-facto industry standard for serious graphical work.

I was looking for a wide screen for graphics and video editing. The clarity is striking and I am very happy with the performance. If I had it to do over again, I would make the same decision.

I've had this monitor for over a year now. It is pretty good.

The Pros are:
Very bright (which, yes, is good), but it can be turned down to very dim as well. Tons of ports and a good size. A a good price. I paid about $450.

The Cons are:
Annoying/unintuitive menu button operation.
Kind of a low static contrast ratio (1300 to 1), so blacks aren't as defined in dark scenes.

If I could improve 1 thing it would be the contrast ratio. I'd like 3000 to 1, which you can get, but the price practically doubles. All in all, a good monitor with a lot of features for a good price.

Very nice monitor -- fairly bright, good resolution, easily readable text and good-looking graphics.

But make sure you get the extended warranty (luckily I did). We have four of these in the lab, and broken buttons on one and mine just suddenly died completely after about 2 years.

Overall, this is a good monitor for a fair price. It has all kinds of inputs, the size is perfect, and the SPVA panel is a plus. On the other hand, it's really hard to calibrate the colors, I bought it three months ago and I'm still not happy with the setup, you can tell the difference when you have 2 different monitors together. I'm sure that it is possible to calibrate it but if you're planning to buy one and you're really picky with your colors, keep in mind that you'll probably end up paying another $140 for a colorimeter.