Dell 2408FPW or Dell E248WFP: Dillemma

[Shameless]

Hi guys,

im upgrading my old but trusty Dell 2005FPW 20.1 LCD with a newer 24 but ive got a dilemma! I cannot decide between the two monitors. I primarily use the monitor for gaming, but also do a little photo editing and quite abit of internet browsing! So heres my choice:

1# The highly regarded Dell 2408FPW which i can get for £380, widely regarded as one of the best monitors for colour reproduction. This monitor, does have its down sides... mainly its input lag which effects gamers! and its high cost with regards to the:

2# Dell E248FPW which i can get for £244. Again this monitor is a 24 inch 1920x1200 panel but is constructed with a 'cheaper' TN panel. Therefore the panel has less than perfect colour reproduction and can suffer colour shift at different angles! It also doesnt have alot of the niffty feaures of the 2408 but is conciderably cheaper!

Now im really stuck as which on to buy! I dont want to replace my 2005FPW with a panel that will look inferior, but am concerned about the outlay of the 2408 and more importantly the input lag!

Can anyone with one of these monitors share their experiances and help my decide!

Any input welcome!

[staffsMike]

I'll jump straight in and say I have never really liked any of the Dell E*** monitors. They are always OK but never great. I havn't used that particular one yet but I'm sure I will at some point and I'm sure my feelings will be the same.

Depending on what the monitor is used for, other than the PC that is, consoles, DVD players etc.. The 2408 has that in it's favour as well.

The A01's should be out soon which I would assume will address the input lag issues. I'd probably wait for that.

[Shameless]

I'll jump straight in and say I have never really liked any of the Dell E*** monitors. They are always OK but never great. I havn't used that particular one yet but I'm sure I will at some point and I'm sure my feelings will be the same.

Depending on what the monitor is used for, other than the PC that is, consoles, DVD players etc.. The 2408 has that in it's favour as well.

The A01's should be out soon which I would assume will address the input lag issues. I'd probably wait for that.

Thanks for your input! I only have my PC (DVI) and My xbox 360 (VGA) on the monitor at the moment, and im fine with that, connectivity isnt really an issue, but performance (especially since im coming from my excellent 2005FPW) is! but i have to think about cost too! Ill keep my eye out for this A01 revision.

[directhex]

I'll jump straight in and say I have never really liked any of the Dell E*** monitors. They are always OK but never great. I havn't used that particular one yet but I'm sure I will at some point and I'm sure my feelings will be the same.

Depending on what the monitor is used for, other than the PC that is, consoles, DVD players etc.. The 2408 has that in it's favour as well.

The A01's should be out soon which I would assume will address the input lag issues. I'd probably wait for that.

you're correct. the E* monitors are, i every way, inferior

as an example, the E248WFP uses, as its panel, a TN+Film (which is the worst type of panel, suffering from poor color accuracy & strange abnormalities when viewed from any angle other than straight on). the 2408FPW uses a S-PVA panel, which suffers no such issues. These differences are common across the entire dell monitor range (i.e. cheap screens use worse panels)

[Shameless]

Hi guys, after speaking to my system admin at my place of work, it seems we have a framework discount at DELL, after speaking to him it would appear i could get a E248WFP for approx £210 posted! I dont know about you guys but for that price im gonna take the plunge. To be honest if i cant live with the display I think ill sell it in a couple of months and get its more expensive big brother.

[directhex]

just to reiterate, the E248WFP is an inferior screen - and the thing about TN screens is the problems get worse and more noticeable the larger the screen

it'll be pretty much impossible to read if you rotate it to portrait, fr'example.

there are absolutely zero benefits to buying a brand like dell for their TN screens - dell screens are only worth the money at the high end (S-IPS and PVA) end of the spectrum, where most of the competitors don't have anything to offer. otherwise, there are plenty of other companies making TN screens for the same money

[rufeo]

i would try and get the 2408 if it were possible. the main attraction with dell is their excellent warranty, but it only applies to their higher end models. the 2408 is one of them, but unfortunately the e248wfp isn't.

so what's so good about it then? 4 yrs covered with a replacement shipped before you have to send the monitor back (think they swap but don't quote me on that...), but the main selling point for me would be their dead/stuck pixel warranty. basically if you get even just one then they'll swap it for another one!

when i bought my 24" i got 10 stuck pixels! i retuned it under the DSA, and then paid the sum of £35 to get a dead pixel check.

also a pva panel does make a alot of difference. the first monitor with the stuck pixels was a tn panel, when i returned it i went for a pva panel out of curiosity. i'm so glad i did it, you won't notice the difference till you see it.

as directhex has already said the bigger the monitor the more noticeable the viewing angle/colour shift. if you're doing some photo editing that can cause a problem, because if you sit back and look at the screen then the colours in the centre will appear different to the ones on the edge. unless you want to be scanning the whole screen so you can see pretty dead straight in that area then get a pva/ips panel.

[kevpuk]

Can only agree with the guys here, I would suggest that the E248 is not the way to go....after all, the 2005FPW has a better grade panel (I also have one ) and so although the replacement would be larger, it would not look as good in my opinion.

I am tracking the 2408 too.....but - as suggested in one of the above posts - the A01 revision is likely quite close now.......

[Shameless]

Just took delivery of my E248WFP and wanted to share my thoughts:

As anyone who has followed this thread, I was in a bit of a dilemma. The dilemma involved the hard decision between the TN E248WFP and S-PVA 2408FPW. My main concern but not my only was 'cost', having an old graphics card it time it was upgraded. Another, the fact I was upgrading from the Dell 2005FPW (S-IPS) would the screen be inferior?

After a good few hours of deliberation, I bit the bullet... I ordered the E248WFP...How bad would it be?

I was so worried about how the screen would look over the weekend I spent hours looking at peoples picture and reviews... Monday came:

The monitor...



Total amazement... the panel is nowhere near as bad as people’s reviews make of it. And comparison to my 2005FPW, the image quality is almost the same! The viewing angles are smaller, but to be totally honest it negliable, as you start to get reflections of the screen surface before anything else. The only viewing angle I was truly worried about was how the monitor would look as I stood up... again... excellent:

Now Im not an expert and Im quite glad Im not as buying a monitor would be the most horrific experience, but I had illusions of this monitor being terrible, it is categorically not... and I would recommend it to anyone!

Ive been using the monitor for a few hours now and do like it, but i have to bring up some of the negatives. Mainly the stand! I really think Dell should have put a few more quid on the price and included a height adjustable stand. I honestly feel the lack of height adjustment compounds some of the problems of the TN panel. As it happens i went straight on ebay and have started bidding on a Ultrasharp stand from a 2007FPW so ill let you know how that goes!

Also, i manged to get my hands on a Panetone Huey colour correction system and its made a world of difference! Colours are almost identical to my old Dell 2005FPW.



Heres a quick setup picture with the colours fixed: (funny thing is how bad the viewing angle is on my Vaio!)

[sleepyhead]

That looks very nice

As long as you are pleased with your purchase, that is all that really matters.

You make me envious, I am still saving up for my purchase of a big Dell monitor.

[staffsMike]

Certainly seems alright from the pictures, better than previous E's I've used. Not sure though, I'd still want the 2408 I think.

[Shameless]

Certainly seems alright from the pictures, better than previous E's I've used. Not sure though, I'd still want the 2408 I think.

Please dont get me wrong, I am in no way trying to turn people away from the 2408FPW. I am only trying to show that for people where cost is real issue, the E248WFP isnt as bad as alot of people online are making it out. All i know is, that ive managed to get myself a 24inch monitor, 2408WFP stand and a ATI 4870 or Geforce GTX 260 for the same money as the 2408WFP!

I should have a 2408FPW stand coming in the next few days and im sure that will make even more differance. Ill get back and show the results of the better stand.

[kevpuk]

Glad to hear that you are pleased with your new pal I must admit that I would never have thought it to be a bad monitor anyway.......horses for courses and seems like you are a happy chappy and that is what really counts

[vmong]

any updates s on? i want to seeee

[TheReaFireblade]

any updates s on?

On... what

Since Shameless has already posted some good pics of his E248WFP above, I assume you mean the 2408FPW?
I think it would be safe to say images on the 2408FPW will be equally as impressive... and probably a lot better again
But if you're really that keen to view/compare the two, that you can't wait for an owner to post pics... Google for reviews of each monitor?


But the E248WFP certainly appears impressive enough in your pics Shameless

[Shameless]

Thanks for the positive comments! Im going to be adding another dimension to this saga

Okay guys, I’ve been using the E248WFP for hours now and im quite impressed but I’ve decided to compare the E248WFP with the 2408WFP for one reason which ill show you.

I’ve spoke to my Dell rep and he is sending me a 2408WFP (I hope this isn’t seen as a cop out). I’m going to compare the two and make my decision based on image quality/cost. All also get some side-by-side photos for you lot.

Okay, my reason for comparing:

When you look at the screen an angle not face on you will notice a very slight green/pink shift from top to bottom. 90% of the time this is not noticeable but on white heavy screens such a Word or in my example photo, the start page of firefox you see this effect. What this means is, that if you look carefully the top of the screen things are very slight more pink/red, now if you go to the bottom of the screen things tend to be slightly more Green. Below is a picture showing it at it worst... this picture was difficult to get to say the least.



Now before anyone discounts this monitor because of this, please wait till I get the 2408WFP to compare. I must stress that 90% of the time you probably wont notice! By directly comparing the two I hope the E248 stands its ground as a a great monitor for the money, but from what I’ve seen so far the problems it does have are nowhere bad enough to make its low selling price a false economy!

We shall see!