New Monitor - Dell S2209W

Last weekend I decided to go and order myself a 'proper' monitor for my varying devices and design work instead of putting up with the ancient flat panel I'd been using for the past ten years. Looking around a bit, I found that Dell offered the 1920x1080 beasts that I desired; I wanted to have native HD instead of scaling it to 1920x1200. I went for their budget HD monitor, the S2209W (a 6-bit 21.5" widescreen). When I saw that it was only €185, I just had to go for it. Well it arrived today, and it's simply awesome! The screen quality is good, better than you'd expect for a 6-bit panel - it's hard to notice but you might see some dithering in static images. It's much lighter than I expected - all monitors I've handled up to now have been heavy, but this one is light as a feather in comparison. It doesn't include any special features, no USB, no HDMI, simply a standard VGA and DVI connector, supporting HDCP, naturally, so you can use it with PlayStation 3. The image quality is amazing due to the high pixel density; 1080p movies look really beautiful on it. I can't wait for Bolt's release to Blu-Ray, as I really want to watch it again on this. It's funny, having a HD monitor (or any HD screen) just makes me want to re-enjoy movies I've seen before, if I can find them in HD. It makes even the worst film ("White Chicks" anyone?) seem worth watching! ;-) All in all, I'm really happy with it. It may be a budget monitor, but it just feels great, and is certainly cheaper than Apple's 24".

2 comments:

  1. If you were to risk opening it up, you'd find that almost all "basic" level of tiered electronics are all the same, the only difference is that there is a cover over where the HDMI port would be on a higher model.

    I even know someone who was able to get extra connections on his plasma TV such as a secondary audio port, and other HDMI outputs, maybe the same for you?

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  2. I also consider buying this monitor. But I've heard a few bad things about tn-panels, especially about the color accuracy. I would mainly use it for web design...do you think it's okay for that?

    Would be great to hear your opinion - thanks in advance!

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