Summary: Its really hard to ridicule a $270 monitor but I have unreasonably high expectations.
The Dell SP2008WFP is not a good as monitor as the 2007WFP, however, its also $50-60 cheaper.
The first adjective that comes to mind when thinking about this monitor is "Shiney". Its a one word elocution that summarizes the monitor on a objective exterior level and also the intent of the monitor itself.
The monitor screen is overly glossed to the point of being a functioning mirror. This is by no exaggeration, as I was able to shave using it my office with my Braun electric shaver. To any Dell engineer, this what I'd like to call "overkill". When powered you'll see the faint reflections of your hand typing, lights, windows and such.
Glossing monitors became a trend several years ago, as way to sex up flat-screens. There's a certain zeal that reflective items hold on consumers. However, functionally they impede the monitors function, to provide an unabated crystal clear image. Its quite a design peril; make a monitor that's glossy and sell more off the shelf to less sophisticated users, or try and reach a more educated class of users. In this instance, to the marketing team that suggested "MORE GLOSS", they probably were on the money as a $270 monitor shouldn't be on the desk of a professional. Then again, they probably never considered a stingy company as the one I currently am employed to.
The overabundance of the gloss isn't limited to the screen, the shiny Silver logo and the black base are also shiny. Fortunately the silver plastics surrounding the monitor are diffused.
Now onto the more techie issues. First off this is a 6 bit panel. For those uninitiated to the world of LCDs, a higher end LCD will use an 8 bit LCD panel. This means that each color channel (RGB) contains 8 bit of information. 2^8=256, so each channel has 256 levels. 256*256*256=16777216 possible colors present on the screen at a given time. which is alternatively known as 24 bit color or millions.
A 6 bit panel has 6 bits per color channel, which is 2^6=64. That's exactly 1/4 of the colors per channel. So 64 x 64 x 64 for each color channel = 262144 colors. There's a lot to be said about those 16515072 missing colors.
Now the monitors in order to make up for the missing colors use dithering algorithms to replicate the colors. Often a 6-bit panel from today, will look better than an 8-bit LCD from several years ago due to this and pixel densities increasing, viewing angles improving, and response times improving. So this monitor is a step up to the Neovo F417 that was on my desk.
6-bit color does have some advantages. Its much easier to improve pixel response times since there's 1/64 the color to replicate hence this monitor's boasted 2 ms pixel latency. But again, Pixel latencies can be fibbed as there's different methodologies to test for latency, such as black to white, or grey-to-grey which forces a full color cycle. I won't get into the whole logistics of latencies as its an entire topic in itself but even if fibbed, this monitor has absolutely no ghosting and is capable of displaying 60 FPS (its max at as it has a 60 Hz limit at its native rez) in subjective tests. As there's no input lag to speak of, which is a bigger concern for hardcore gamers even if they don't realize it. All LCDs have input lag unlike CRT and Plasma. I found the input lag undetectable, a positive for any gamers.
Now its time to debunk another stat. This monitor boasts a 2000:1 which means from the darkest value, the brightest value would be 2000 times brighter. The mathematical equivalent of covering your eyes with your hand then staring into the sun for a second. LCD contrast ratios are established in non-real world applications, the screen isn't present. Then they measure the darkest the LCD produces while on, this means any sort of back lighting is disabled is less fair tests or turned down to the absolute minimum, then the backlighting is maxed the absolute brightest and so are the colors. The ratio of light is then measured to create the fictitious measurement. There are realistic test such as the ANSI test, that cover the screen in a black and white large checkered pattern that high AV gear will boast. To put in the 2000:1 ratio, a movie theater typically boasts roughly 500:1 to 600:1.
However, visibly the monitor reproduces rich deep blacks, something to be proud of with a 6 bit panel.
Aside from the gloss, the 2nd most disappointing aspect of this monitor is that it has subpar viewing angles. Viewing at anything beyond a 35 degree angle becomes frighteningly apparent. Its not very cool.
Now for the non-visuals: The monitor sports a Digital cam. It works with OS X without any drivers. Its 1600 x 1200 capable but sports a mediocre image. Any Mac users expecting iSight quality might be slightly disappointed but its functional and works fine. I give a thumbs up to it even with its mediocre picture quality as its certainly serviceable.
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