DELL 2007WFP 20" widescreen user review
DELL 2007WFP
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* Device Type: 20.1" Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor
* Features: 100 mm VESA Mounting, Antiglare with Hard-coating 3H, Includes Height Adjustable Stand
* Image Max H-View Angle: ±89°
* Image Max V-View Angle: ±89°
* Color Support: 16.7 Million
* Dimensions (WxDxH) / Weight: With Stand: 18.6" x 7" x 13.1" to 20.2"
* Dot Pitch: 0.258 mm (Pixel Pitch)
* Image Brightness: 300 cd/m2(typical)
* Image Contrast Ratio: 800:1 (typical)
* Max Resolution: 1680x1050 Pixels
* Response time: 16ms typical
* Port(s) Total (Free) / Connector Type: 15-pin D-Sub/DVI-D/S-Video/Composite Connectors
Further specs: http://support.euro.dell.com/support...Specifications
Following on from my ‘initial impressions’ in another thread, I have to admit that after a further 3 weeks of testing, I still remain slightly underwhelmed by this monitor.
When testing, using PixPiperAn, motion blur was definitely noticeable, and although it was an improvement on my 20ms Hydis based Acer AL1731M (a superb panel in its day), the improvement isn’t as much you would think. Having said that, all TFTs monitors that I have seen – including those using 2ms, 3ms, and 8ms panels – exhibit a degree of motion blur.
There are twinkling effects during video playback, although the effect is less noticeable the further away you sit from the screen. From a distance of more than 2 metres, the twinkling effect isn't particularly noticeable. However, as a result of the twinkling effect - which seems to be to inherent to S-IPS panels - this monitor can't be described as exceptional for watching video, although the end result is still acceptable.
There is noticeable pixel interpolation when playing non-native resolution video files such as DivX interpolated up to full screen, although that is to be expected when the resolution of the source material is considerably less than the monitor’s 1680 x 1050 native resolution. Again, the effect is less noticeable the further you sit from the screen. High Definition video playback at 720p and 1080p was good and interpolated video from a PAL source / TV card also looked very good.
Early revisions of this monitor (Rev A00, and to a lesser extent, Rev A01) had problems in being able to display smooth colour gradients. The A02 revision seems to have resolved these issues. When testing using Gradlin v0.3, there was some very minor colour banding that was noticeable towards the darker end of the colour spectrum but it was very minor almost to the point of insignificance. Somewhat unusually, my monitor's firmware is the original V1B11, even though the monitor label is marked Rev A02.
Colour reproduction is very good. Images and videos look bright, vibrant and colourful. Even at the default colour settings, only minimal adjustments were required when calibrating using Adobe Gamma or Nokia N-Test. The monitor has 3 pre-set “image modes” – Desktop, Multimedia and Gaming. The default setting is Desktop and in this mode, all applications worked well including video, image editing, desktop work and gaming. When Multimedia was selected, horrific colour banding was exhibited when testing using Gradlin. During video playback in Multimedia mode, colours were oversaturated as if extreme colour hues had been selected. Gaming mode was also unsatisfactory although not as extreme as Multimedia mode. It’s difficult not to take the view that the 3 pre-set “image modes” are nothing more than a gimmick. The Desktop mode was by far the best mode to use for all types of applications.
Details in dark areas of the screen (particularly during video playback and gaming) weren’t particularly well defined although there was an improvement when adjusting gamma levels within the application itself. Increasing the monitor’s brightness setting wasn’t a satisfactory solution – when settings were adjusted so that details in dark areas of the screen became visible, other parts of the image or video that were predominately white became oversaturated and detail was lost in those areas.
There was no noticeable backlight bleed that I could see, and neither were there any dead pixels when checking using Dead Pixel Buddy. The ergonomics of the screen are good with adjustments for tilt, height and rotation. On a personal note, I’m not particularly keen on the silver trim on the top and bottom edges of the bezel, as I find it slightly distracting when watching videos from a distance. An all black bezel would have been preferable. OSD has useful 'picture in picture' options.
The monitor has options for 1:1 pixel mapping, 4:3 aspect ratio and widescreen stretch. However, the usability of these functions isn’t particularly well implemented. For example, if you have your desktop set to 1680x1050, the OSD automatically sets to "stretch" - you cannot force 1:1 from the OSD menu as the option is greyed out. So if you wanted to play a computer game at 1280 x 1024 (not all games properly support widescreen) you would have to change the resolution in Windows to 1280x1024, then go to the monitor OSD, change to 1:1 pixel mapping, then load up the game. Then after you’ve finished the game, you would have to go back into Windows desktop and re(set) the resolution back to 1650x1050. Then if you want to play a computer game again at 1280 x 1024, you would have to go through the whole process a further time. It’s a very long winded and unncessarily tedious way of doing things. Fortunately, there is a solution and that is to bypass the monitor's OSD image scaling altogether and instead use the scaling options within the graphics card drivers. With my Nvidia Geforce 7900GT, its simply a case of selecting “centred image” from the Nvidia control panel. It works perfectly and is far superior to the monitor's built in and cumbersome OSD scaling options.
Overall, its a fairly good monitor, albeit an imperfect one. It's at its best when being used for desktop and photographic work. It's quite good at gaming, but due to the type of panel used, it could be better at video playback.
Brightness and colours: 5/5
Desktop and photography: 5/5
Video playback: 3/5
Features and ergonomics: 5/5
Gaming: 3.5/5
Overall: 4/5
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Colour Reproduction:
The following tests have been conducted after the monitor has been calibrated to the reviewer’s satisfaction.
Image 1: Colour Palette Picture – Colour reproduction was superb. Bright, colourful and extremely vivid colours. Easy to distinguish between the different shades of colours, with no two shades looking identical.
Image 2: Colour Sands – As above.
Image 3: Doom 3 Screen Shot – Main gripe is the contrast in the black area in the centre of the screen (the two black panels on the far wall) where its difficult to pick out detail.
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Gaming:
Response time test: Result = 15ms
Gaming Observations: - There's definitely motion blur. It's particularly noticeable when you do 360 degree pivots on the same axis in an FPS. It's not a huge problem in the sense that it would put you off playing a particular game, but it does demonstrate that TFT is still an immature techonology.
Unreal Tournament Test Video (17MB) - See comments for video playback.
Q.Would you consider yourself an avid gamer and would you recommend this monitor to a gamer? - I'm not an avid gamer, but have all the usual titles ranging from Prey, HF2, Riddick, Oblivion, Fable etc. Its acceptable for gaming. However, I've yet to see any TFT that is as responsive as a high end CRT (the Trinitron / Diamondtron CRTs were particuarly good). I suspect that there are other TFTs available such as the Viewsonic VX922 and NEC 20WGX2 that are more suited to gaming than the Dell.
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Panel Uniformity:
Black Screen - Fine.
White Screen - Fine.
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Image Clarity: Excellent.
Q. Does DVI make any difference to the image? - didn't bother testing with VGA.
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Viewing Angles:
Vertical: - Very good. Noticeably better than TN+film panels.
Horizontal: - Excellent. Significantly better than TN+film panels.
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Movie Playback:
Matrix Reloaded Trailer (58MB, 640 x 346 resolution) - Good but imperfect. Primary weakness is contrast and detail definition in dark areas of the screen. For example, in some scenes it's difficult to pick out the detailing of the buttons and the chequerboard texture on the front of Neo's (very) black jacket.
General Movie Playback: - see review above.
