Customer Reviews

Dell 2408WFP UltraSharp 24-inch Widescreen + High Definition Flat Panel Monitor

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

For the advanced PC or Mac user who values wide viewing angles and colour accuracy, this is an excellent LCD. Dell recommends this monitor for "accurate color representation" in the "home and office", and describes it as offering a "satisfying viewing experience when engaging in digital content creation, gaming and HD entertainment". Depending on where you're coming from, this could be the best monitor you've ever seen or just not good enough to make the grade. Read on for my experience with it. Ergonomics and connectivity are certainly top notch. One possible issue is the extended colour gamut - colour managed apps will display colour accurately, but some apps will have ridiculous neon colours as a result. Lightroom, Photoshop CS3, the Vista desktop (Explorer, photo viewer etc.), and Mozilla Firefox (once configured) all work correctly.

I ordered my monitor on September 4, 2008 and received the original revision, despite a firmware update being released all the way back in June already! I wouldn't ordinarily mind but the original firmware only allows the user to adjust sharpness in increments of 25. The default value of 50 is too high, causing colour halos around text. Dropping it to 25 results in a picture that is way too soft. This also tends to emphasize grain in photos and jagged lines in vector graphics. The new revision firmware should sort this out but don't assume that you'll get it - you might need to send it back to Dell for an update.

What is a more serious issue for graphics/photography users is the so-called "contrast shift" or "gamma shift" that is inherent to PVA matrices. This means that the halftones will shift in brightness when viewed off-centre. This is a major problem as you only need to move your head a few centimeters to notice it. With a panel of this size, simply moving an image from one side of the screen to the other will result in a visible change as you drag the window across. This is the reason we don't buy cheap TN panels in the first place! Except, TN panels change contrast when you move your head up and down. PVA panels change (and quite significantly) when you move left to right. This is arguably even worse, as monitors are wider than they are tall, and typically you'll stay at a constant height when sat in front of a computer.

My last problem with this monitor is hard to describe - some users report is as "DLP-like colour rainbows". I can notice it easily if there is some white text on a black background (e.g. a command shell), or a low-key black and white image on the screen, and move my eyes from one side of the screen to the other. As your eyes move across the screen, the B&W image will temporarily appear to have vivid red/green/blue colour stripes across it. This effect happens to me often enough (without specifically looking for it) to be annoying.

Now onto the positives, of which there are many. The stand is excellent - moves smoothly, yet manages to be well damped. It has a small footprint yet is very stable, and rotates nicely along the vertical axis. The portrait orientation pivot feature might come handy to some. The monitor looks like a serious piece of kit and feels very well put together. On the back, there are all the inputs one could wish for - including the new DisplayPort connector. I think it's particularly well suited for general multimedia and productivity tasks. Watching video on it is fantastic thanks to bright colours and wide viewing angles. Gaming is another strong point - I tried Crysis (using PC over DVI, scaled from 1600x1000) and Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360 over VGA connection, scaled from 1280x800), both were stunning although I still prefer my couch + plasma TV when it comes to recreation ;-)

My monitor is going back to Dell as a result of the above mentioned issues. I still believe it is a very solid choice but not the right one for me. However besides the inherent S-PVA problem of contrast shift, the remaining issues are inexcusable at this price level from a major manufacturer like Dell. Especially when a fix for at least one of them has been available for some months now.

Overall, this is an excellent monitor-the image quality is great, excellent motion-response for video and games, minimal if any ghosting, and lots of picture adjustments. The connection options are very nice if you plan to connect multiple devices, although I personally haven't used any of them, so I can't speak to any limitations or caveats.

I also use an Apple display of the same size (which is twice the price, due largely to the aluminum enclosure), and this Dell preforms better in almost every way. The one thing I really like about the apple display is that it's text display is quite a bit smoother. I'm on a mac where high-quality text anti-aliasing is standard, so that's a tiny bit disappointing. Still, probably the only reason I notice it is because the Apple does it slightly better. Also, the Dell is slightly slower waking from standby. In most other ways the Dell is superior (adjustability, color, contrast).

I'm very happy with the Dell and I've had no dead pixels or other problems of any kind.

The 2408WFP is remarkable right out of the box. The professional online reviews are correct. No bluster. A good deal can be had at dell.com

I'm an amateur photographer, and I am a fussy about color reproduction. I also endlessly write and proof documents for work and school. I bought this 24" LCD monitor to replace two hulking Dell CRT monitors (19 " & 17"). They burn a lot of juice and heat up my home workspace. I was very reluctant to give up my two monitor set up because for over ten years I've relied on it at work and at home. I also like the image quality and contrast capability of my high-end CRTs. I'm sort of old school, I guess.

I hooked up the 2408WFP to a VGA output, and I'm running it at 1200 x 1920 (native). I found with *no* adjustments, the 2408WFP produces very good colors for photo editing and really snappy text for composition and proofing. I'm particularly amazed with the skin tones and the text sharpness.

I was torn between the purchase of two high-quality 19" LCD units or the 24" Dell. I took the plunge and bought the 2408WFP. I don't miss my dual CRT set up much. I prefer the LCD for long work sessions because I no longer have eyestrain. Also, with grid lines in Invidia nView Desktop Manager, it's easy to pull up evenly sized side-by-side Windows, just like with dual monitors. I may buy another LCD some day. Not now though.
The large screen of the 2408WFP is a gas for Web surfing and DVDs. The 90 degree screen rotation is my must-have feature; I enjoy reading my online newspapers more. I also proof huge, blown-up documents with the same ease and accuracy I enjoy with printed copy. I never seemed to catch all problems while editing on screen.

There are some compromises with LCD compared to CRT, however, I feel this LCD is well worth it from a practical standpoint.

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.

When I got this out of the box I was downright scared. I had never seen a monitor so saturated. And not in a good way. In a very electric green way. I am a professional photographer and I need something which produces very accurate colors. I have used an Apple 23" display for a very long time and I have gotten very used to the colors it produced. It is a very spot on display. The problem with Apple displays is that they haven't had a major upgrade in like 4 years (the new one doesn't count, glossy screen, only for the new MacBooks), so it's pretty old technology. The refresh rates are slow, low contrast, etc.

And when I opened the Dell 2408 I nearly put it right back in the box and sent it back. I couldn't fix it no matter what color profiles I used. After work and after researching forums for many hours with NO answers, I sat down with it, set it to Adobe sRGB and fiddled with the contrast so it was at 40 and the brightness was at 50 (a little bright) and this display looks amazing. I have a monitor calibrator coming in the mail, but with these setting I can almost use it for my photo work. Some colors online and on the dock of my MacBook Pro look a little saturated, but there's no harm in that. The main thing I needed was accuracy in Photoshop and I have that. I love this monitor and I will probably be ordering another one next week. I bought this from the Dell outlet online and it only cost me $450. There is almost nothing wrong with it cosmetically. A tiny scratch on the screen, which is not visible when turned on at all. So for half the price of the Apple 23" I got twice the monitor... in my opinion. There is just no comparison. The Apple is beautiful and I am a die hard Apple fan, but I cannot justify that kind of money when companies like Dell are making such fine products. Way to go Dell.

With the Apple displays you get 2 USB ports, 2 firewire 400 ports along with a DVI port and power port. And that's it. The Dell 2408 has tons of connection options such as 2 DVI ports, 1 VGA, HDMI, CF, SD reader, etc. It's an absolute bargain for what you get.

I do not hesitate to recommend this monitor at all. Just play with the settings until you find something you like for what you do.

This is a stunning monitor with an outstanding 1080i HD-TV display as well. I am running it as an HD-TV monitor and razor sharp computer display (1920 x 1220 resolution) for my Mac-mini. The display quality is, as far as I can tell, equal to the higher priced Apple displays, which should not be surprising since both are reportedly made by Samsung.

I bought it because I had limited space for a tv, and my desire to do photo editing. The monitor clearly will permit such.

The monitor has numerous inputs -- HDMI, component video, two DVI, S-video, as well as a dedicated display.

Out of the box the monitor was perfect, and setup worked perfectly, including soundbar. My only criticism of the monitor is the limited sound input (the soundbar only works with the HDMI and there is no separate sound input for component video)

Other comments about preset display settings being slightly blue are correct, but custom video setting can be tweaked without much difficulty.

Package includes numerous cables as well (the only cable missing was HDMI to HDMI (cable provided was DVI to HDMI).

UPDATE ON REVIEW 9/30/09

I purchased Photoshop CS3, color calibrated the monitor, and the pictures produced are stunning. This monitor accurately shows both tv and photos, and it is really good to use in a cramped space.

I also ran video output from cable box to tv input (RCA yellow cable with a S-video converter plug) to S-video input, and now one can watch tv on screen while doing computer work).

Only negatives so far is that the soundbar tv audio (from the monitor) went bad, which forced me to use an external speaker (Vers) with audio fed from my Comcast HD box. The sound is now much better, but it is somewhat irritating the tv sound broke. The sound from the computer audio through the included speaker still works fine, so it is definitely a tv audio problem. Other negative (slight) is that it would have been nice to have a remote control to switch between inputs.

This is one of the current top-rated monitors (May 2008). Image quality is superb (but a bit bright for the subdued light in my living room). Mine has one dead pixel in the lower right, which, fortunately, is buried in the task bar and is unnoticable most of the time.

The major dissapointment is the slow card reader. Using a SDHC high speed card, the reader transfers at only 8 MB/s (as opposed to a high-speed reader at 16 MB/s)....both fall short of the rated 20 MB/s.

Using the DVI cable, the image quality is quite good, although some text appears slightly blurry. Photo image quality is superb! Great performance....if it was $100 less.

I'm confused... I was ready to buy, and fall in love with this monitor. I have the 2407WFP. Then, I ran into the complaints about it getting stuck in POWER SAVE mode. The Dell monitor forum has SIX PAGES of complaints about this issue. Are they talking about a different, earlier model? Try this: google "power save" and 2408.

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.

I am a video graphics professional who didn't want to spend the outlandish prices for critical monitors or monitors from Apple. After a lot of research, I pulled the trigger on this model. I calibrated it using color sync with my mac pro, and it's a beauty. One review I read had issues with font looking a little jagged on websites. This is true when compared to Apple's monitors, but I think it has to do with the sharpness and high contrast ratio of the Dell. Doesn't bother me at all. There is a lag in start up from sleep mode, but not really a big deal. Even the CF card reader worked great and transferred fast. --- As a tip though, buy through one of the sellers under "new and used" Toyzz is way over priced for this thing. I think even Dell sells it around $600. I have not used it for watching movies or television, but want to let you know that for a monitor. It is quite nice.