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Did you get a better price than the $1999 listed on Dell's site?They are shipping. My is currently with DHL
I received my 3008WFP today. Initial impressions:
Good:
1) No dead pixels - thank goodness!
2) Very little backlight bleed
3) Excellent brightness uniformity across the screen
5) Nice colors (better than my 30" Apple in that sense)
6) Dark blacks
Bad:
1) Chokes at the ends of the DVI cable prevent it from fitting into the hole in the back of the stand for the nice cable cradle. Duh... Makes you wonder about Dell.
2) Text doesn't look as good as it does on my 30" Apple, and Cleartype doesn't work as well. I think the problem is not in the panel itself, but in the signal processing performed on the image. Earlier-generation 30" monitors (like the Apple) didn't manipulate the signal. The Dell has some extensive signal processing going on: sharpness, contrast, scaling, etc. I wish there was an option to bypass all this junk. It's not so bad that I can't live with it (the degradation is minor), but it's a deficiency.
3) I wish the brightness could be set lower than the minimum setting - even the minimum is a little too bright, so I also have to lower the contrast from 50 to 45.
Overall, I'd say it's a winner and I like it, but it's not perfect.
How's the heat? I had the XHD3000 and it is quite warm.
Yes, I forgot to mention that - the 3008WFP generates a lot of heat! Much hotter than my 30" Apple. It radiates a lot of heat from the back, but some from the front through the panel as well. I guess it's not a bad thing in the winter, but can be bothersome during the summer.
It also may equate to lower long-term reliability... just sayin'.
Possibly, but I have to say that I stopped worrying about the long-term reliability of my computer-related equipment a long time ago. I just don't keep the stuff long enough for it to be relevant. Something new and exciting always comes out and tempts me to upgrade before the long-term is reached... For example, the longest I kept a monitor is 3 years - my 30" Apple monitor which I just replaced with the 3008WFP. When the 3009WFP comes out with LED backlighting and other goodies, I'm sure I'll be tempted again...
I received my 3008WFP today. Initial impressions:
3) I wish the brightness could be set lower than the minimum setting - even the minimum is a little too bright, so I also have to lower the contrast from 50 to 45.
Overall, I'd say it's a winner and I like it, but it's not perfect.
That is pretty much a killer for me. I find most of the bigger panels are too bright, I don't know why they think bigger panels have to be brighter. I had a Dell 2405 that was an eyeball scorcher even on minimum.
Brightness is nice when you sit far away and use it as a TV, but up close for text a lot of us need low brightness for comfort.
Is the Dynamic Contrast defeatable, does turning it off help?
Is the Dynamic Contrast defeatable, does turning it off help?
This is with dynamic contrast turned off. When dynamic contrast is on, the brightness setting is disabled (only contrast can still be tweaked), and the image is way too bright to be used for text work such as e-mail, web browsing, programming, etc. It's meant for video and maybe games.
Minimum brightness and a contrast setting of 45 to 47 is ok. I wish there was a way to reduce the brightness below the current minimum and keep the contrast at 50, but it's not really a big issue since the image quality doesn't really degrade noticeably with the slightly lowered contrast.
That is pretty much a killer for me. I find most of the bigger panels are too bright, I don't know why they think bigger panels have to be brighter. I had a Dell 2405 that was an eyeball scorcher even on minimum.
Brightness is nice when you sit far away and use it as a TV, but up close for text a lot of us need low brightness for comfort.
Is the Dynamic Contrast defeatable, does turning it off help?
OK; then how is the black level and backlight uniformity after these adjustments?
Although I don't perticularly like the dusty sparkle coating on LCD monitor. 3008WFP seems to have more of this as compared to 2407WFP. Maybe I just see more sparkles on 3008WFP becuase it is kept in a relatively darker room as compared to 2407WFP. Will be able to do a better comparison on sparkels after some usage.
Also, the monitor is quite sturdy which is good becuase before I started shopping for this monitor I had bought a HP 2408 monitor which was very shaky. No such problems here. Structurally, 3008WFP is quite stable. In any case HP 2408 (TN panel) looked like garbage in front of this monitor.
This is with dynamic contrast turned off. When dynamic contrast is on, the brightness setting is disabled (only contrast can still be tweaked), and the image is way too bright to be used for text work such as e-mail, web browsing, programming, etc. It's meant for video and maybe games.
Minimum brightness and a contrast setting of 45 to 47 is ok. I wish there was a way to reduce the brightness below the current minimum and keep the contrast at 50.
Its bright for sure, but I wouldn't call the brightness problematic in any way. No glare like my old Sony CRT monitor.
The tech who said lowering R,G,B is the same as lowering brightness is an idiot. One (brightness) lowers the backlight, the other (RGB) just puts more permanent blocking twist on the LCD crystals which is a terrible way to lower brightness.
LG panels tend to have a more "sparkly" look than Samsung panels. I don't know if it's really just the coating, or something that's more inherent in their IPS technology.
Another pet peeve of mine with Dell is the way they pack the monitors. They really need to learn from Apple on this front as well. Dell's packing leaves much of the panel vulnerable (it's not all encased in foam like Apple). Also, the box is put together in a rather flimsy manner. The whole method of packing is kind of nutty with them - it all disintegrates like a pinata once you get the monitor out. No fun trying to repack it if you have to return it. Maybe that's why they do it this way...
You must be thinking of something else entirely I am talking about the monitor being so bright it hurts the eyes even on minimum brightness. Ever CRT I have used could be turned down to black if you wanted to and even at full brightness were not as painfully bright as my dell 2405 at minimum. That monitor hurt my eyes so much I couldn't use it and had to sell it. So brightness levels are highly subjective.
Every LCD I have seen lower the actual backlight when you lower the brightness control. It would be very strange if this one didn't. I suspect that comment is a mistake.
The tech who said lowering R,G,B is the same as lowering brightness is an idiot. One (brightness) lowers the backlight, the other (RGB) just puts more permanent blocking twist on the LCD crystals which is a terrible way to lower brightness.
Ya, monitor could have been packed better. Apple seems to always top the design issues and attention to detail in any case. Although I think the packing that Dell is using is quite standard as my 50" Panasonic Plasma was also packed in similar way.
Can someone please do an input lag test?
What I am most interested in is how good the scaler is.
If someone could hook up a 360 over VGA or component and a Wii over component and tell us what it's like that weould be great. Any chance of this?
Also what about even older stuff, composite/s-video? how does that scale on this beast?
It's ok for Panasonic plasmas because they are mostly shipped in pallets to stores and then delivered from the store to the home. They are typically not mail ordered and don't have to go through the package torture hell which is UPS/FedEx/DHL.
Dell, on the other hand, is almost entirely mail order.
There are a number of small details that Dell just doesn't get right. I mentioned the DVI cable chalks that don't pass through the cable cradle, the packaging, and the inability to reduce the brightness all the way down to a comfortable level. Another example is the light on the on/off button which is too bright and somewhat distracting. Why not put a small low-intensity light there instead, like Apple does?