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bearcatrp · Dec 12, 2008, 10:47 PM

Anyone have this dell 3007.. http://dealmac.com/Refurbished-Dell-...ng/267535.html ? Not a bad deal for 749 bucks with free shipping. Doesn't have HDMI though. I do some video editing and not sure how good this is. I would be hooking this up to my 2ghz mac pro. Pretty sure my video card can handle it (7800GT). The response time worries me a little. Any help would be appreciated.

CharlesS · Dec 12, 2008, 11:36 PM

It's an IPS panel, pretty much considered the best for digital photography work as the colors and viewing angles are the best of all panel types. In fact, it appears to use the same LG Philips panel as Apple's 30" Cinema Display. Don't worry, it's a good monitor.

Oh, and the slower response time is actually a good thing. Those monitors with 2 ms response times are cheap TN panels - they're not true 8-bit panels and can't truly display 16.7 million colors, and they have terrible viewing angles. They're good for gaming, and not much else.

reader50 · Dec 13, 2008, 12:23 AM

This Dell monitor does have a disadvantage - it doesn't have a hardware scaler in the usual sense. It has only two resolutions - 2560x1600 and 1280x800. The 3008WFP has a more complete scaler, at a substantially higher price.

3007WFP specs page (click on Tech Specs tab)
3007WFP online manual

shifuimam · Dec 13, 2008, 11:05 AM

What is hardware scaling?

I mean, any LCD can drive lower resolutions if the video card outputs it, right? It'll be blurry either way because of how LCDs work, but I'm confused as to what the difference is between hardware and software resolution scaling.

bearcatrp · Dec 13, 2008, 11:07 AM

Thanks for pointing out the resolution limitation. Back to searching again.

bearcatrp · 11:44 AM

I also was considering the dell 2707wfp. Around 600 refurbed. Checked reviews and it seems alot of folks like this monitor. Comments?

bearcatrp · Dec 13, 2008, 12:46 PM

There is one other I am concidering. Its the samsung 2693HM. Good reviews, DVI and HDMI hookups and a price below 500 bucks. Decisions decisions. Any comments on samsung?

CharlesS · Dec 13, 2008, 01:53 PM

The 2707wfp appears to be a S-PVA panel - the color accuracy and viewing angle may not be quite as good as the IPS panel in the 3007, but still excellent. I have a 2408wfp which is S-PVA, and am quite pleased with it.

That Samsung appears to be a cheap TN panel. The other monitors mentioned so far are completely out of its league. I'd avoid it unless you're into gaming.

tooki · Dec 13, 2008, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

What is hardware scaling?

I mean, any LCD can drive lower resolutions if the video card outputs it, right? It'll be blurry either way because of how LCDs work, but I'm confused as to what the difference is between hardware and software resolution scaling.

Well basically, without a scaler, you ONLY get one or two resolutions. So, for instance, the 3007 cannot scale 1920x1200, if you pick it, you'll just get that resolution unscaled, surrounded by black -- maybe.

A display with a scaler can display basically any resolution at or below the native resolution.

I am not aware of a graphics card doing the scaling in this context.

Simon · Dec 14, 2008, 04:21 AM

This might be a silly question, but does anybody ever drive their large external LCD display at anything but the highest (i.e. native or physical) resolution? Or is this considered an issue because you might want to hook up the monitor to a computer that can't drive such a high resolution?

reader50 · Dec 14, 2008, 04:01 PM

It's useful for the monitor to accept 1920 x something and 1280 x something, so you can set it to native High Definition resolutions during video playback. That way your CPU doesn't have to do a software scaling on top of the MPEG4 decode, and the audio decode.

My Quad G5 will play back 1080p trailers from Apple on a display that accepts 1920x1200, but lost frames when it had to scale the output to my old 19" monitors at lower resolutions. It's a safe bet the same thing would happen software scaling up to 2560x1600. This would be less of an issue if someone released a multithreaded H.264 decoder, at least for those of us with multicore machines.

Most games do not default to super-high resolutions, and most games made more than two years ago do not even offer high-res widescreen settings. You may be able to adjust their config files, or it may not work at all. So if your new monitor can't accept some midrange 4:3 resolutions, then you can't play some of your favorite games any more.

tooki · Dec 14, 2008, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by Simon

This might be a silly question, but does anybody ever drive their large external LCD display at anything but the highest (i.e. native or physical) resolution? Or is this considered an issue because you might want to hook up the monitor to a computer that can't drive such a high resolution?

Working in retail selling Macs, confused customers would often change their screen resolutions and have no idea why things had gone blurry and oversize.

tooki · Dec 14, 2008, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

[...] That way your CPU doesn't have to do a software scaling on top of the MPEG4 decode, and the audio decode. [...]

Scaling is done in the GPU, not CPU*. Every GPU Apple has shipped since the late 90s has had hardware video scaling of some sort. Of course, other bottlenecks can cause hiccups at higher resolutions all the same.

*Of course, the video playback app/framework must properly route its decoded video to the GPU, but QuickTime, VLC, DVD Player, Flash, etc. all do.

bearcatrp · Dec 15, 2008, 05:56 PM

Well finally made up my mind. Boy, what a PITA searching for a good monitor. Either this one has a problem with this or that so purchased a new Dell 2408WFP. Wanted a bigger one but this will do for now. Thanks for all the help.

CharlesS · Dec 15, 2008, 06:28 PM

I've got a 2408wfp, and it's a great monitor. I think you'll enjoy it.

bearcatrp · Dec 20, 2008, 10:03 AM

This is an awesome monitor. Glad I got this one. Just have to calibrate it.

Atheist · Dec 20, 2008, 10:27 AM

I've had the 2405WFP for 3 years now and just love it. I think you'll be very happy with your monitor.

tooki · Dec 20, 2008, 12:19 PM

I also have the 2405FPW, and it is indeed fantastic. A friend of mine has the 2407WFP and loves it.

angelmb · Dec 20, 2008, 02:16 PM

This DELL 2409 is a TN panel display, but I guess someone may be interested given the price.

tooki · Dec 20, 2008, 03:28 PM

Just remember folks, that one is NOT an UltraSharp, which is what all the other models mentioned are. The S2409W is a cheap display, while the UltraSharp models are higher-end models with vastly better color.

chris v · Dec 20, 2008, 09:59 PM

I've got a 2007 WFP at home, and I like it every bit as much as my two 20" Apple cinema displays I've got at work -- the only thing I've noticed about the Dell is that it's a tad slower (3-4 secs) to wake from blank when you move the mouse or tap the keyboard.

gqlewis · Dec 23, 2008, 03:08 PM

I just got my SP2309W last week from Dell and it rocks, a far more affordable option than the offerings of Apple. It even includes an HDMI input. One caveat though, the built in webcam needs third party drivers to function.

tooki · Dec 24, 2008, 03:33 AM

Well, based on the 2ms response time, that's gonna be a TN LCD panel, which is cheap and fast but has limited viewing angle and reduced color gamut compared to the expensive IPS or PVA panels in more expensive monitors like Apple's.

As for the webcam, the reviews on dell.com indicate that it works fine on Leopard without extra drivers. If the webcam is Vista-compatible, then it is also compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher, including Leopard.

ajprice · Jan 14, 2009, 05:58 AM

Dell 2407 here, I use it for my Macbook, PS3 and 360 and its generally great except for a few issues. I'll make a new thread though rather than hijack this one.

OreoCookie · Jan 14, 2009, 08:46 AM

My brother has a 2407, they're nice. It has a TN panel with all the limitations (viewing angle, angular dependence of colors, gamut, etc.) and advantages (response time) associated to that. If you are interested in working color accurately, you should not get a display with TN panel.