Dell's New 2xx7WFP Range

Changes, Improvements and Issues
Simon Baker, Updated 2 Sept 2006

Introduction A Look at the Old 2xx5FPW Range             - Dell 2005FPW             - Dell 2405FPW   What’s Changed             - Design and Pictures             - Responsiveness and Gaming             - HDCP Support   The New 2407WFP – Issues? - Text fuzziness - Colour Banding - Input Lag   How to Find the Firmware and Panel A New Firmware to Correct the Problems? Dell Acknowledges The Issues The A01 Version A02 Version Shipped A03 Revision Released (updated 2/9/06) Firmware and Panel Evolution    (updated 2/9/06)   Good Points and Other Areas User Opinions and Comments  Related Links and Further Reading

The launch of new Dell monitors is always surrounded by a large degree of anticipation and excitement. Dell have established themselves as one of the top providers of TFT screens over the last couple of years with some of the most popular models in the market being provided by them. They’ve managed to satisfy the performance enthusiasts and reviewers alike with some top end panels, while also offering ergonomically pleasing designs and multi function performance from their displays. Two of the most popular screens in the last two years have been the Dell 2005FPW and Dell 2405FPW. These have been huge sellers and rightfully so. Dell have now launched their new Dell 2xx7WFP range which offers new designs, updated specs and hopefully, an improvement to the already well established screens before them. This article will focus on the new 2407WFP in particular.

A Look at the Old 2xx5FPW Range

Dell’s 20”WS offering has been popular, offering very good all round performance from its LG.Philips S-IPS panel. Responsiveness has proved suitable for many users, and movies and office work have been enjoyable thanks to the WS format. This was one of the first 20”WS TFT’s in the market, and before the recent influx of other 20”WS models like the Viewsonic VX2025WM and NEC LCD20WGX2 for example, this was king. Dell did a good job with providing an excellent panel (LG.Philips S-IPS LM201W01, also used in the Apple Cinema 20”WS Display) and some top notch functionality from its screen. However, the 2005FPW was not without its problems...

The main issue with the 2005FPW has always been its questionable build quality. Severe backlight bleed is not uncommon and has plagued the 2005FPW since its release. This was the main problem with this model, something which the 2007WFP will hopefully fix (note: see this article for info on how to fix this!). Responsiveness is not on par with more recent 20”WS models and the panel is actually reasonably old, certainly before the time of overdrive, Dell had the time to utilise a newer, faster panel in their 2007WFP if they chose to.

The 24” version was even more popular, being the first affordable large screen in the main stream market. Again, Dell did a good job of fusing a top panel technology (Samsung’s LTM240M1-L01 PVA panel) with versatile functionality and ergonomics. The screen offers very good all round performance and a massive resolution ideal for work and play. Responsiveness proved adequate for many people and the PVA technology offered wide viewing angles, deep black depth and good colour reproduction.

Like the 2005FPW, the screen was not without its issues, although none as severe as the backlight bleed of its 20" brother. The characteristics of the PVA panel lead to some minor contrast and colour shift anomalies with only a slight adjustment in the users field of view. This is not really a major problem, and more a ‘feature’ of PVA / MVA panels accentuated due to the 2405’s large horizontal size. It might prove an issue to photo enthusiasts and graphics designers, but viewing angles are generally considered good and this 'issue' is rarely even noticed by most users. 'Input lag' proved to be an issue for some gamers and while this does not seem to be covered in reviews, it became a common topic in online forums threads.

 
Dell 2405FPW (left) stood next to the Dell 2005FPW (right)

What’s Changed

Dell 2007WFP – The design, updated spec of LG.Philips S-IPS panel (LTM201W01) with 800:1 contrast ratio and 300 cd/m2 brightness. However, no change to response time quoted (16ms).

Dell 2407WFP – The design, updated S-PVA panel from Samsung (LTM240M2), 6ms G2G response time now instead of 12ms G2G, HDCP support over DVI connection.

Note: You can find all other models including the Samsung 244T, ACER AL2416W and Eizo S2410W which use the LTM240M2 panel by using the panel search tool

Design and Pictures

Like the 3007WFP, Dell have opted to update the design of their 2xx7 range. They have ditched the semi circular plastic support base, and have opted now for a V-shaped metal leg and support stand as shown above. This is a fair bit thinner than the 2xx5 range but still offers the ergonomic adjustments that their predecessors did. Apart from that, the design remains quite similar. Here are some user pictures to wet your appetite:

Responsiveness and Gaming

This is perhaps one the most interesting areas with the new screens. The 2007WFP remained unchanged in this area, still being quoted with a response time (ISO standard measurement) of 16ms. However, the 2405’s 12ms G2G response time has been boosted to 6ms G2G thanks to a heavier dose of Samsung’s MagicSpeed RTC application.

BeHardware reviewed the Acer AL2416W back in October 2005 in their article here, which features the same 6ms G2G S-PVA panel as the 2407WFP (LTM240M2). Their analysis helps give an indication of its performance in games and whether there has been an improvement since the 2405FPW. In their review they compared the Acer AL2416W against Samsung’s 242MP which uses the 16ms PVA panel from the 2405FPW:

PixPerAn Image from Samsung 242MP (same panel as the Dell 2405FPW)
 

PixPerAn Image from Acer AL2416W (same panel as the Dell 2407WFP)

The pictures above show the responsiveness test from both screens based on BeHardware’s analysis. Please note that these were taken from the Acer AL2416W (same panel as the 2407WFP) and the Samsung 242MP (same panel as the 2405FPW). As you can see, there has been some obvious improvement in the panels response time, and not just on paper specification. BeHardware state:

“The worst image for the Acer corresponds more or less to the best one for the Samsung. In clone mode, our impressions are reinforced by the photo results; one is good for games, the other isn’t. We feel, just as we wrote about the 770P, that there is a real difference from Samsung’s previous panels. On the one hand there are the PVA 6 ms panels and on the other all the 8ms and above which have never left us convinced for fast games. They are good enough for Civilization or WarCraft, but not Quake. 6ms PVA panels are faster but there is still some progress to be made to reach the fastest TN reaction times and CRTs”

More recently (July 2006), BeHardware have reviewed the 2407WFP itself and look at its responsiveness here:

PixPerAn Image from Dell 2407WFP

"This test shows the progresses made by the new Samsung panel. You have to count the afterglow image to see it. The new Dell and Samsung produce the same result. For the 16ms panel (Dell 2405FPW), the afterglow is very strong and bothersome. For the 6ms, it has considerably diminished to come back to a much more reasonable level"

HDCP Support (updated 29/7/06)

The addition of HDCP to the 2407WFP has been welcomed by many users with the recent promotion of HD content on LCD TV's as well as its introduction to UK broadcasts in the very near future from Sky and Telewest TV. With the arrival of HDCP protected content in the future (Blu-Ray, HD-DVD etc) it will be necessary to have a monitor which can accept the signal over the digital interface, which is certified to allow the content to display correctly. The HDCP support is available over DVI on the 2407WFP. There is an interesting article about HD over at BeHardware here.

It has been reported on some forums that people looking forward to watching Full HD movies, hooking up Playstation 3 or HD DVD / BlueRay players to the 2407 using a DVI-HDMI cable will be disappointed. From all information available now it seems the 2407 can't display a 1080i picture, but only a 480p and 720p picture.

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