What to look for when inspecting used 2407WFP?

[nakedhand]

In need of hints and pointers here..

I found a "deal" on a used Dell 2407WFP Rev. A03 ($300, it was $1300 new). However he is not the original owner, and that worries me.

What specifically should I look for when doing a visual inspection of the monitor itself (disregarding the image for now)? Obvious wear and tear on ports, scratches, dings and dents are straight forward, but I am dying to see how much dust and smoke particles might have collected on the PCB inside. Any good indicators if the monitor has been in a smokers home, been repaired, tampered with etc?

Planning on bringing a laptop and firing up some photos, HD video and some monitor testing (calibration) software to look for any problems with the panel itself, got LutCurve so far.

Can anyone recommend me some good testing/calibration software?

Any input much appreciated, I would hate buying a piece of garbage

 

[Whoisthisreally]

I can't think of any reason to test the monitor's image accuracy. because as with the majority of monitors the 2407WFP won't achieve any sort of accuracy for any given standard without calibration using a measurement device. Apart from physical damage to the monitor you should probably check white luminance / temperature uniformity as well as black uniformity for panel bleed.

 

[nakedhand]

I can't think of any reason to test the monitor's image accuracy. because as with the majority of monitors the 2407WFP won't achieve any sort of accuracy for any given standard without calibration using a measurement device. Apart from physical damage to the monitor you should probably check white luminance / temperature uniformity as well as black uniformity for panel bleed.

Thanks Whoisthisreally. Noted and will definitely be checking these things.

 

[Whoisthisreally]

Oh, and if you can get access to the factory menu, it would be useful to know the amount of hours the LCD has been in use. If the LCD has been used for say, more than 8000 hours, particularly if it were used at more than 50% brightness (you have no way to tell this) then the negotiated price should be lower.

 

[Ultima99]

For the 2407 make sure the power button is in good shape, over time it can twist and will not work when pressed unless the button is in its correct orientation.

 

[daveswantek]

Check the H/W rev. it is on the back. You would rather have rev a03 or a04. a04 was the best of the lot.

 

[nakedhand]

Oh, and if you can get access to the factory menu, it would be useful to know the amount of hours the LCD has been in use. If the LCD has been used for say, more than 8000 hours, particularly if it were used at more than 50% brightness (you have no way to tell this) then the negotiated price should be lower.

I will have to look into this. Do you have any knowledge on this?

For the 2407 make sure the power button is in good shape, over time it can twist and will not work when pressed unless the button is in its correct orientation.

Funny, the powerbutton on my 2405 is twisted by me, flimsy stuff, no problems in regards to its function though. Thanks for letting me know about this!

Check the H/W rev. it is on the back. You would rather have rev a03 or a04. a04 was the best of the lot.

I will make sure to double check, thanks! He also told me its been sitting in a closet most of the time that he has owned it, wonder if its true, over all I have a bad feeling about this purchase, I am going to be a hell of an annoying customer hehe

 

[Whoisthisreally]

It varies between Dell monitors. You can find the key combination here. My 2209WA says 5657 H and my EV2333W says exactly 1000 H in the information menu. It is scary how time accumulates on these things.

 

[brumwald]

On the 2007(W)FP monitors standby time is also counted. So the figure is next to useless if he/she doesn't turn it off completely but lets it sit in standby instead.

 

[nakedhand]

It varies between Dell monitors. You can find the key combination here. My 2209WA says 5657 H and my EV2333W says exactly 1000 H in the information menu. It is scary how time accumulates on these things.

wow this is extremely useful. I had no idea it was even possible, but of course
I just checked my old 2405 and yes, its scary how time accumulated on this 35165 hours... thats a lot of graphics work, really havent been gaming on that monitor at all (I dont even dare contemplating how many hours my old CRTs would have on them hahaha).

On the 2007(W)FP monitors standby time is also counted. So the figure is next to useless if he/she doesn't turn it off completely but lets it sit in standby instead.

Good to know. I will see if I can get a straight answer coaxed out of the current owner as to his habits on leaving it on standby. Anyway, if its in the 35000 range like my display, I am surely going to forget about this lol

 

[monitorrat]

In need of hints and pointers here..

I found a "deal" on a used Dell 2407WFP Rev. A03 ($300, it was $1300 new). However he is not the original owner, and that worries me.

What specifically should I look for when doing a visual inspection of the monitor itself (disregarding the image for now)? Obvious wear and tear on ports, scratches, dings and dents are straight forward, but I am dying to see how much dust and smoke particles might have collected on the PCB inside. Any good indicators if the monitor has been in a smokers home, been repaired, tampered with etc?

Planning on bringing a laptop and firing up some photos, HD video and some monitor testing (calibration) software to look for any problems with the panel itself, got LutCurve so far.

Can anyone recommend me some good testing/calibration software?

Any input much appreciated, I would hate buying a piece of garbage

I had an early revision and returned it for a more expensive samsung 244t (about $1100 at the time, close to release, i don't think the 2407 ever really sold for $1300 it was a few hundred less than the samsung) since it had a really nasty problem with the overdrive effect and i waited a good while for them to fix it, they didn't (at the time) but were very good about letting me return it for a full refund including shipping, top notch customer service (soooooooooo much different than samsung who are basically a criminal organization hah, although I didn't find that out until I got one of their HDTVs).

I did eventually check back and notice that they had fixed the issue and a few others. I can't recall what revision fixed it though. pretty sure A02 was still bad. can't recall if A03 was good or if you needed A04 or later. I would do a careful check to make sure that A03 was the one that fixed up all of the severe issues that the first sets had.


EDIT: actually I was thinking of the 2405 so disregard much of the above