Dell SP2309W review

"World of Warcraft" on the Dell SP2309W looked crisp, colorful, and as darn near perfect as we've ever seen running at a 2,048x1,152-pixel resolution. "WoW" looks great on pretty much every monitor we test. Unfortunately, viewing the game from a lower-than-optimal viewing angle made the screen darken to the point that we couldn't see graphic details of the game--typical of most TN panels and has nothing to do with the game's performance.

The performance in the "Kill Bill Vol. 1" DVD on the Dell SP2309W came very close to the quality of the stellar Apple LED Cinema Display we tested in December. The colors were vibrant and the blacks dark; however, the colors and black level on the Apple are fuller and deeper, respectively. We didn't notice any streaking or ghosting and the screen remained sharp for a DVD.

The 1080p Blu-ray version of "House of Flying Daggers" looked great for the same reasons; however, we did not notice any quality advantage to the screen's 16:9 aspect ratio.

We did determine, however, that the best setting for watching games and movies on the Dell SP2308W is the Standard preset mode with a contrast of 59, and the brightness set to whichever high setting your eyes can take. We settled on a 94.

The optimal viewing angle for a monitor is usually directly in front, about a quarter of the screen's distance down from the top. At this angle, you're viewing the colors and gamma correction as they were intended. Most monitors are not made to be viewed at any other angle. Depending on its panel type, picture quality at nonoptimal angles varies. Most monitors use TN panels, which get overly bright or overly dark in parts of the screen when viewed from nonoptimal angles. The Dell SP2309W uses a TN panel, and when they are viewed from the side angles, the screen appeared to only darken slightly. When viewed from the bottom the screen darkened immediately. Of course, when viewed from the optimal angle, we had no problems.

Juice box

Dell SP2309W	Average watts per hour
On (Default Luminance)	40.38
On (Max Luminance)	48.27
On (Min Luminance)	19.24
Sleep	1.35
Calibrated (200 cd/m2)	41.83
Score	Poor
Annual energy cost (@$0.1135/kWh)	$12.98

Find out more about how we test LCD monitors.

Service and support
Dell backs the SP2309W with a solid warranty including a three-year parts-and-labor warranty that covers the backlight. It also offers support through a 24-7 toll-free number, 24-7 Web-chat, and fast 24- to 48-hour turnaround e-mail--a better package than most monitor vendors, whose support doesn't carry into the weekends. Navigating Dell's site and finding the drivers, product manual, and quick guide was simple and easy.