There's also audio and power jacks for Dell's optional $35 speaker bar that attached to the bottom of the display. Rounding out the features are four USB 2.0 ports and a 2.0-megapixel Webcam with dual microphones.
Performance
The Dell SP2208WFP turned in unparalleled performance on our DisplayMate benchmarks. Along with the Samsung 2232GW, it separated itself from the pack. The SP2208WFP's aggregate score of 90 on our DisplayMate suite of tests is the highest such score we've seen to date. There was no area of weakness. It scored highly throughout, with top scores on grayscale and color tests and uniformity and sharpness tests.
It scored well on our contrast ratio and brightness tests, although there are some displays that were brighter. Still, Windows apps looked crisp, with text legible down to a font size of 7. Though the default image setting was passable, we switched to the user-defined custom mode to lower the red level to get rid of the slight pink tint we saw on a blank, white Word doc. The viewing angle moving side to side was more than acceptable, but when you move off the axis vertically, the screen darkens and colors shift quickly. With our eyes just above the top of the display and looking down at the center of the image, the image quality begins to suffer. Visitors to your desk will need to pull up a chair to share the display; those standing will see a poor image.
Movies and games looked fantastic, with rich, vivid colors and smooth movement. The glossy screen coating helped smooth edges, and the 2ms response time (gray to gray) meant there was no ghosting. We did find that the Multimedia color preset was not the right choice for movie watching, tending too much toward red. Using The Royal Tenenbaums as our test disc, Ben Stiller's red Adidas track suit looked practically radioactive. The Normal color preset presented a much more balanced picture.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Service and support
Dell backs the SP2208WFRP with a three-year warranty, which includes the Advanced Exchange program where Dell will ship you a replacement monitor the next business day, should yours have a problem that can't be resolved over the phone. You unpack the replacement, and then ship back the defective unit to Dell. You can add a fourth year of coverage for $39 or two additional years for $59.
Find out more about how we test LCD monitors.
