Dell 3008WFP-HC (page 1: Introduction)

Introduction

Price : 1912.40 Euros.
Between its photo and product sheet we can immediately see:

the new look borrowed from the 2707WFP,

the IPS panel technology which is rare !

the 8 ms response time. Let’s pray that real reactivity is better, if not this could be amongst the slowest on the market,

the 3000:1 contrast ratio which is way above average,

brightness at 370 cd/m² which is excessively bright if Dell did indeed opt for this as a default setting,

the rich connectivity in addition to an unprecedented Display Port input.

24 inches = mid-range. In the future, a 30 inch model for everyone?

The context in which the new 3008WFP-HC arrives has also changed. During the launch of the first 3007WFP two years ago, even 24 inch models seemed oversized ; however this is no longer the case. The latter size is becoming incredibly popular to the point that some models are now found in the entry-level with a price under 300 Euros.

From the moment that 24’’s have taken over the mid-range, a large vacuum was left which demands a new high end product. So the bets are on. Dell is amongst those playing this game and its two possible outcomes:
- some are gambling on 26/27/28 inch Full HD monitors,
- others – and fewer manufacturers – are counting on the 30 inch.

Surely, the 30’’ diagonal appears immense and oversized ; however this was the exact same case for the 24’’ two years ago. Therefore, it isn’t unreasonable to think that the 30 inch could make its way into users’ homes, especially if we imagine a double use for these products as a monitor and television. The size and video inputs enable this.

The tests

We run tests for reaction time in games, delay of display, and video rendering (SD, HD 720p, HD 1080p). We also evaluate ergonomics, viewing angles, the quality of upscaling, and the panel's brightness homogeneity. In short, we look at all aspects of a screen.

For color fidelity we use the LaCie Blue Eye Pro colorimeter, based on the Gretag tool and combined with the new LaCie software suite. More evolved than the previous version, this helps us to compare a monitor’s display quality (color spectrum and DeltaE) in standard settings and after calibration. Results are sometimes surprising as it’s often best to take the time to manually adjust colors (or at least contrast, brightness and color temperature).

The results of our study of 18 standard patches make it possible to create a table visually resituating the variation of colors compared to an ideal grey scale.

Rather than a response time measurement with an oscilloscope, we photograph the monitor in action. This is an effective way of capturing afterglow. The program used is Pixel Persistence Analyzer (or PixPerAn for those more familiar with it). Pictures showing these ghosting effects are captured with a Canon 350D at a shutter speed of 1/1000 s. We take 50 pictures in burst mode for each test to precisely measure the progression of afterglow between images. Otherwise, we haven't given up on the practical tests in games, HD and DVD video, web surfing, etc.

Finally, we measure the delay to display images compared to CRT monitors.

The test computer is self-assembled, has an AMD Athlon 64 3500+ processor and NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX card.