Monitors, Pixels and Prices

[iftiq]

Hello all- Happy New Year,

I'm looking to buy a new monitor and want something in the region of 22" to 26" (quite a broad range I know, but I'm more motivated by price than by size, and it seems some of the bigger monitors are decent value). With this in mind I've been looking at this Dell 23" in particular:

Dell SP2309W
http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna...hs1&sku=193757

I am intrigued by by the higher than normal resolution. I wonder if this unorthodox resolution is known to cause problems in programs or games?

The main question I have though is over the price. Comparing this monitor to another Dell:

Dell 2208WFP
http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna...hs1&sku=130004


There's something peculiar though in the pricing. According to my math:

SP2309W max resolution: 2048x1152
2208WFP max resolution: 1680x1050

Meaning,

SP2309W pixels = 2,359,296
2208WFP pixels = 1,764,000

So far this makes sense, the SP2309W is a 23 inch monitor and the 2208WFP is a 22 inch monitor, so it makes sense that the bigger monitor has more pixels.

However, according to the Dell website,

SP2309W retail price = £ 211.65
2208WFP retail price = £ 251.85

So then,

SP2309W pixels / £ = 11,147
2208WFP pixels / £ = 7,004

This to me seems to suggest that the SP2309W, in terms of pixels, is priced at a near 60% discount to the 2208WFP. Insofar as I can see both monitors are pretty much the same except for the resolution and panel size.

A 60% price difference though seems too exceptional to ignore. I also looked at it in terms of pixel pitch using this calculator: http://www.thirdculture.com/joel/shu...e/ppicalc.html

Which gave me 102.16 pixels per inch for the SP2309W and 90.05 pixels per square inch for the 2208WFP, again the price difference shows

£ 211 / 102.16 PPI = 2.06 £/PPI
£ 251 / 90.05 PPI = 2.78 £/PPI

Again, this seems to imply that the SP2309 is 35% cheaper than it's smaller cousin, the 2208WFP.

I can't make believe that this sort of discrepancy is unnoticed by Dell. So am I just being stupid and not understanding some major quality difference between these two monitors or is one of them actually just massively better value than the other?

Would appreciate any insight.

Thanks

[Powderhound]

The 22" uses a more expensive panel (PVA IIRC) as opposed to the 23" which uses a cheaper TN panel. The former gives better colour reproduction, while the latter tends to have a better response time.

[Pob255]

Not just colour repoduction be viewing angles too (esp vertical)
depends on what you want to do with this monitor
For games the higher res is going to require more graphics power but the res it self shouldn't be a problem (it's the same as standard 24-26" screens)
It should be fine for moves and gameing and other general uses if your graphics card can keep up, calibration is not really nessecery.

For professional level video and image editing a TN panel is not adviseable, but a calibrator is.

[iftiq]

Thanks for the responses. I don't think you're right though. See http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna...hs1&sku=130004

These are the technical specifications provided by Dell for the more expensive 22inch screen. They say the Panel Type is TN- Twisted Nematic. I can't find what kind of panel the 23inch is using, but from my understanding TN is the cheaper on and PVA the more expensive.

[Webby]

They both use TN panels

The reason the 23" is cheaper is that it has ~£40 off in the current Dell sale. You are also comparing prices of two completely different model ranges. The 22" is in the Ultrasharp range while the 23" is not if you take the comparative model the S2209W (1920*1080) is £175 and the 23" S2309W (1920*1080) is £195.

Finally the monitor that is best for you is not necessarily the monitor which has the most pixels or even the smallest pixels, it is the monitor that best fits the requirements of the user for example some people find it hard to read text on 24" 1920*1200 monitors but have no problem on 22" 1680*1050 as the pixels are larger. Now when you move to the 23" monitor with 2048*1152 the pixel size gets even smaller are you able to read text on that comfortably? I can but the are plenty of people that can not. If you want to game on it then you should have no problem with the strange resolution it is still 16:9 you may have to have black borders on some games that do not support the resolution or stretch the image to fit the full screen if that is your desire.

Finally if you get a high resolution monitor you will require a better graphics card (unless you only play games like WoW which are very undemanding).

Anyway the reason that the prices dont match is because you are comparing apples with oranges when you look at apples against apples it all falls into place.

[iftiq]

Thanks for the reply.

I can understand that they are different model ranges- but exactly what does this mean? I certainly appreciate the apples versus oranges analogy. However, I can tell the difference between apples and oranges. I can't see anything distinctively different between these two monitors. Both are TN panels, both are Dell branded, both come with a stand, both come with some sort of 3 year guarantee. The chief difference is in the panel size and maximum supported resolution for which I have tried to adjust. As far as I can tell we are comparing two apples of different size.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is, is there some underlying technological difference that makes the 22inch more expensive monitor (2208WFP) superior to the cheaper 23inch (SP2309W) and therefore justifies the price difference?

Does it come with extra goodness baked in?

I'm just curious is all.

I've already made up my mind to get the 23inch one, unless it is revealed that the price premium of the 22inch one is justified because it attracts nubile young women or some such.

[Webby]

I really could not tell you if the Ultrasharp is worth the extra money.

I have heard that the 16:9 monitors are cheaper to manufacture due to the ratio they can cut more panels per sheet which makes them intrinsically cheaper and as I said the 23" has got £40 off at the moment.

I think unless you can find a detailed review of both monitors by the same people you will have a hard job to get definitive answers so my suggestion to you is to buy both an let us know which is best