Dell 2407WFD vs current monitors?

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 9 Sep 2010 at 09:27

I have a Dell 2407WFD bought here a few years ago, been a wonderful workhorse for me, and its been used a lot.
Its now got a few issues ..
1) A dead pixel, not a major issue but annoys me in excel for sure
2) A thunderfly (those tiny little flat black flys) managed to get into the screen and is stuck, dead, in a viewable area. Not a massive issue again, but its about the size of 6 dead pixels, looks like a comma in excel

3) A strange "damaged" area of the monitor thats right in the top corner, I have no idea how it happened, I suddenly noticed it glowing bright one day, and you can feel it the screen covering feels damaged, again I have no idea how it happened, it wasn't moved or anything, was just there...!

So the old girl is getting on now, shes also 1920x1200 so becoming less common, but I must admit I do like the extra 120 pixels as its "appears" much more in balance than 1920x1080 screens which seem so stretched.

Would I notice a big diff switching to modern monitors, bear in mind this was a £500 panel so its not a standard panel per se. Thing is tech moves on ofc so its maybe no better than a £150 panel now?

Sooner or later I am going to an i7 and 5870 or possibly 6xxx depending when I make they plunge and they get launched, so may well get 2x monitors at that point as I have the desk real estate.

Or is it better to wait for 120hz to become more standard? Ive read that the extra 60hz is really noticeable even just for normal windows usage.

cmndr_andi · 9 Sep 2010 at 13:17

Hi there, I that the 2408WFP? If so you have a lovely monitor there, shame to hear about your issues.

Do you by any chance have any of your 3 year warranty left? As if you did you may be able to get a warranty replacement from Dell.

As for which modern monitor compares, this one is probably the closest (review here). It uses an E-IPS panel (your 2407 uses an S-PVA panel), so this HP has slightly better responsiveness and lower input lag, which should make it feel snappier. If you want to take it a step up, this Dell U2410 is excellent (uses a H-IPS panel) but rather expensive.

You can also get this excellent 1080p E-IPS 23in monitor for £260, but it is a bit smaller than your current one.

You can indeed get 24in monitors for around £150 (such as this), however these all use TN panels - which have inferior image quality and viewing angles compared to your 2407. However they are good for response time and input lag - so make good gaming monitors if you don't mind the reduction in image quality.

The 120Hz monitors (here is one of the good ones, review here) also use this TN panel technology and are generally excellent for gaming. However, they do cost approximately as much as comparably sized E-IPS monitors, so you have to pick between excellent responsiveness or excellent image quality and viewing angles.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 9 Sep 2010 at 16:21

hmm pretty sure its a 2407, your prob right its prob a WFP though, that sounds better than the WFD now I come to think of it.

Don't know what the return could be based on, the fly being in there?, guess its a design fault. May drop the OCUK shop a line and see if they can trace the details as I no longer have the box.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 9 Sep 2010 at 16:24

Thinking back I think it was 2006 I bought it, but sure its the 2407, and i think I got it in May/June so its almost certainly past its RTB warranty as I think it was 4 years so would have recently run out.