Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP user reviews

Pros It's got a 24" screen

Cons 6-bit panel, Terrible Banding, Bad Color Repro, etc.

Summary I currently own a Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW, and purchased the UltraSharp 2407WFP as an "upgrade" and was planning on using it as my primary display and moving the 2405 to the primary family PC.

That is, until I unwrapped this beast and tried it out. My first impression was one of terrible color reproduction and absolutely horrible banding. Compared to the 2405FPW, it strained my eyes, and everytime I went to a new webpage or viewed an image, my eye would catch the banding, and totally ruined my PC experience. You CANNOT do serious graphics work on this monitor.

I didn't even want to subject the wife and kids to this graphical nightmare, so back it went. I also thank God every day that I have a 2405FPW and wish I had bought two.

Pros Unneccessarily large, bright, beautiful colors

Cons You'll never leave your desk again

Summary My girlfriend and I bought a pair of these monitors last week. Stupidly large, not overly expensive, and beautiful. Neither of us had a single dead pixel, and it's about the best picture I've ever seen on a computer monitor (seriously). It is 95% as good as those huge Mac monitors we all drool over at the electroni cs shop. If you have a grand to spare, this is worth every penny. If you don't have a grand to spare, get another job and save up until you can afford this monitor. Your eyes might bleed from never leaving your desk, but it's worth it. The only drawback I've noticed is that the monitor is of such high quality, and SO big, that JPEG artifacting is significantly more evident (only really affects some web browsing). This is hardly a fault in the monitor though. Any high-quality display exposes more flaws in JPEG compression. C'est la vie.

In recap, BUY THIS MONITOR. You won't regret it.

Pros issues in firmware A01 fixed, sharp text and true gradients

Cons none that I know of yet

Summary I did a ton of research before selecting a 24-inch monitor. Like many other users, I was disappointed that the early 2407 models sucked so bar compared to the 2405. However, I also noticed users of the A03 firmware revision seemed happy. Well, mine arrived, and the text is sharp, and there are no vertical or horizontal banding issues. To make the most of the text, Google Cleartype and set your cleartype settings to your taste) (you'll need to do this in Internet Explorer, won't work in Firefox). I also used the settings in my ATI videocard to turn the brightness and contrast down some. I am very happy with this purchase, since it is a real improvement over my 19" inch Dell CRT, which served faithfully for 5 years. I'm 42 and these eyes are thankful for the extra contrast and resolution offered by the Dell. I think you will be very happy with this purchase.

Pros See previous posts

Cons Stand + connecting bracket have design/manufacturing defect, customer support = nightmare

Summary I ordered a Dell 2407FPW (24" widescreen) monitor last week. When I set it up, it had a noticeable tilt to the right. The distance from the top of my desk to the bottom left corner was 1.5cm different from the the top of my desk to the bottom right corner. The level could not be adjusted by rotating the monitor because it rotates clockwise while the adjustment would be a counter-clockwise turn. Applying downward pressure on the top left corner and/or upward pressure on the bottom right corner did not work. The monitor flexed back to its original, tilted position. The only solution was to place an object weighing approximately 16 oz. on the 4.0cm-wide top left corner of the monitor. (A Swingline stapler works well, but a can of Spam is too light.) The problem was not with the monitor but with the stand and bracket that connects it to the monitor. It was a manufacturing or design defect of a few minor parts.

Though the stapler corrected the issue, I still wanted a defect-free monitor. I contacted Dell Customer Care on the day the item was received. They informed me that they would send me a replacement monitor with a pre-paid return shipping label in 5-7 days. The monitor was shipped overnight so I received it 2 days after my call. But when I set up the replacement monitor, I noticed that it had the same flaw. I tried to manually correct it but the stapler was still the only solution. I called Dell back and informed them of the problem with the replacement monitor. They offerred to send me a third monitor with no guarantees of a defect-free product. I suggested that they give me a 10% discount because I thought that that would be quite fair. The support rep. put me on hold and spoke to her manager and they countered with an offer for a $50 coupon on next purchase. But I didn't want to buy another Dell product, I just wanted a proper monitor. So they connected me with Technical Support so that I could once again explain the problem with the monitor stand and connecting bracket. After being put on hold several times, they again offerred to send me a third monitor. I suggested the 10% discount again and it was finally accepted. Excluding my first call to Customer Care, I spent 2 hours on the phone speaking with a customer support and technical support rep. who put me on hold a total of 6 times while speaking with their respective managers. My issue was finally resolved after a lot of wasted time. They are crediting my account slightly over 10% within 3-21 days and they are arranging for someone to pick up the original monitor from my apartment.

Me, my brother, and my father have had many other negative experiences with Dell Customer Support for PCs so our families will never purchase another Dell PC again. I will encourage them to also never buy another Dell product because it's not worth the hassle to deal with their horrible customer support.

This is a great monitor but the stand is not manufactured correctly. If you are on the fence about buying this monitor then buy one from another company or buy the 19" model. But you'd be saving yourself a lot of trouble if you just refused to ever buy another Dell product again.