Dell UltraSharp 2009W: 20″ Wide LCD Monitor

March 14, 2008

Dell UltraSharp 2009W

Size: 20″
Pixel Format: 1680 x 1050
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Color Gamut: 102% NTSC
Contrast Ratio: 2000:1 (dynamic)
Brightness: 300 cd/m2
Response Time: 5ms
Input: USB 2.0 (4), DVI with HDCP, VGA
Price: $289
Availability: Now

dell_2009w.jpg

A LCD mon­i­tor with dynamic con­trast ratio! 2000:1 is pretty good. It’s just a guess but I’m think­ing the CCFL-based back­light has either a local dim­ming or puls­ing capa­bil­ity. The CCFLs are the Wide Color Gamut (WCG-CCFL) vari­ety which is becom­ing more com­mon. With any LCD mon­i­tor that sports more than the typ­i­cal 72% NTSC I would rec­om­mend get­ting a color cal­i­bra­tion tool, espe­cially if you are in a pro­fes­sion that requires accu­rate col­ors. You never know what CIE coor­di­nates these mon­i­tors have. Other than the fea­tures already men­tioned, the $289 price seems to be good, but in light of this ‘UltraSharp’ not hav­ing RCA inputs to use as a video source for a DVD player, a PS2 and oth­ers, I would have liked to see this come out at $249 since it’s only semi-UltraSharp.

Update 2008.04.15
At digg, some­one states that “Dell is once again releas­ing a top notch LCD mon­i­tor: Dell Ultra Sharp 2009W.” Let’s see if this state­ment holds true by look­ing at some spec­i­fi­ca­tions of Dell’s new UltraSharp 2009W.

Let’s first look at the cool specs. The 102% NTSC color gamut is great. The 2000:1 dynamic con­trast ratio is cool too and will enhance the pic­ture of video. These two fea­tures will really enhance the gam­ing expe­ri­ence for you hard­core gamers out there.

Now on to the not-so-great stuff. The 5ms response time for it to turn on and off might sound like it’s pretty fast, but it’s actu­ally on the slow slide since many are putting Gray-To-Gray (GTG) or Toff-Ton-Toff response times of less than 8ms. Since it is a reg­u­lar 20″ the pixel for­mat is lim­ited to 1680 x 1050. If you’ve been read­ing my posts for a while, you know that I really don’t like this in-between pixel for­mat. If you’re a real gamer, splurge on a dis­play that has a pixel for­mat of 1920 x 1200 (and make sure you get a pow­er­ful GPU to drive it). The last weak point is the awful view­ing angle. Don’t think about mov­ing your head up and down when you’re gam­ing since col­ors and bright­ness will shift. The 170/160 view­ing angles of the 2009W is sub­par and tells me this mon­i­tor uses the TN+Film LCD kind.

Source: Engadget

[tags]Dell, LCD Monitor, 20″, 1680 x 1050, Dynamic Contrast, Wide Color Gamut, WCG-CCFL, DVI, HDCP[/tags]