Dell 2209wa, still the "best" 22 inch lcd monitor?

[orionis]

It's time for me to upgrade my lcd monitor (finally) and I had done some research into this area.

I like to hear from users of Dell 2209wa. Is it really as fantastic as the reviews people had given it?

Is there any 22" IPS (or even TN) lcd display that is as good or better?

What's the deal killer for you, if there's one? Too bright? Too much heat? Too much power consumption? Noise? Backlight bleeding?? Any?

I will use the lcd monitor for internet browsing, web development (which involves some graphic manipulation), gaming, movies etc.

My specs is as follows:
Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H
Athlon X3 435 (2.9g/1.5mb)
Corsair DDR3 4gb
HIS HD 5770 1GB
FSP Blue STorm II 500w
Seagate Barracuda 500GB

 

[jaguarskx]

Check out this incredibly huge thread on the Dell 2209WA:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1387587

If you can pony up some extra cash, you can also consider the NEC EA231WMi which is a 1920 x 1080 e-IPS monitor:

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2009/review-nec-ea231wmi-bk.html

Don't know of any other 22" e-IPS monitor. The resolution of the above NEC monitor means you will get less frames per second compared to the lower resolution Dell.

 

[orionis]

Thanks for links jaguarskx (wow it's a long a** thread on hardforum, will take me sometime to go through it).

The NEC model is sadly beyond my budget.

What about LED monitors, like Dell G2210?

The 2209wa is a fit for me, in terms of price and performance, except that I wonder about the brightness problem (I work with low lighting at night) and the power consumption/heat production (too much heat produced & energy consumption is not desirable for me).

 

[jaguarskx]

LED monitors all use TN panels. They use LED lights as backlights instead of florescent lights. The monitor will look thinner, but it doesn't improve image quality.

 

[orionis]

The Dell G2210 does fit some of my criteria and it has ambient light sensor. I sit in front of the monitor for many hours and thus eye strain is a concern.

The 2209wa sounds wonderful and I am very tempted. The difference in price between the two models is not much.

But as reviews goes, I have encountered that people can give glowing good reviews on a product but I own the same item and think very differently of it.

Currently I am using a 17" Samsung Syncmaster (5yr + old) and so far I have no problems with it.

 

[orionis]

Best answer selected by orionis.

 

[orionis]

Had bought the Dell 2209wa. There's no dead pixel and all but can anyone help to see if the backlight bleeding is acceptable? Sorry for the poor quality pic as I took it with my phone cam. Contrast at 73. Brightness at 5.

white background

black background

 

[kettyo]

Had bought the Dell 2209wa. There's no dead pixel and all but can anyone help to see if the backlight bleeding is acceptable? Sorry for the poor quality pic as I took it with my phone cam. Contrast at 73. Brightness at 5.

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/3368/dsc01663p.jpg white background

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/6199/dsc01666ov.jpg black background

It's no backlight bleeding, it's the infamous white glow effect on cheaper IPS monitors and they always show up near the edges of your eye/camera focus and change their 'places' as you change your focus. It's normal from cheaper IPS's. It can be annoying on black backgrounds while you won't see it on brighter images.

I also have the 2209WA and it's the very same.
The thing i don't like too much is the hard coating of the panel which makes the image, especially whites somewhat crystal-like.

Apart from these small issues i think it's a great monitor.

I don't have any heat problems (though i use the minimum brightness).

 

[orionis]

It's no backlight bleeding, it's the infamous white glow effect on cheaper IPS monitors and they always show up near the edges of your eye/camera focus and change their 'places' as you change your focus. It's normal from cheaper IPS's. It can be annoying on black backgrounds while you won't see it on brighter images.

I also have the 2209WA and it's the very same.
The thing i don't like too much is the hard coating of the panel which makes the image, especially whites somewhat crystal-like.

Apart from these small issues i think it's a great monitor.

I don't have any heat problems (though i use the minimum brightness).

Hi, thanks for the reply kettyo. I have had the monitor for two weeks since and must say I am satisfied with the buy. The heat is not really a problem either.

The fonts on a white background is not really that eye friendly though. I have tried various contrast/brightness setting.

 

[kettyo]

Hi, thanks for the reply kettyo. I have had the monitor for two weeks since and must say I am satisfied with the buy. The heat is not really a problem either.

The fonts on a white background is not really that eye friendly though. I have tried various contrast/brightness setting.

I've found the contrast setting of 77 to be optimal.
I can check it out at this page: http://lcdreviewz.com/Brightness-and-Contrast-Adjustment
When i go up to 78 the upper rectangle fades out so 77 is the optimal for me.

Try a brightness of 24 for strong fonts but it might be too bright in a dark room.

Also you can try the cleartype tuner for xp or the inbuilt cleartype settings in vista/7 (supposing you use windows) to calibrate your fonts appearance. If you're interested i can tell you my preferred cleartype settings under win7 too.

 

[orionis]

I've found the contrast setting of 77 to be optimal.
I can check it out at this page: http://lcdreviewz.com/Brightness-and-Contrast-Adjustment
When i go up to 78 the upper rectangle fades out so 77 is the optimal for me.

Try a brightness of 24 for strong fonts but it might be too bright in a dark room.

Also you can try the cleartype tuner for xp or the inbuilt cleartype settings in vista/7 (supposing you use windows) to calibrate your fonts appearance. If you're interested i can tell you my preferred cleartype settings under win7 too.

Thanks for the advice kettyo, it's very helpful to me. I downloaded the cleartype fpr winxp from microsoft's site, didn't know there's such a tool. My contrast and brightness is now at 75/6 respectively. But I find it hard to achieve a brightness level that's comfortable to me. Maybe it's me.

 

[kettyo]

Thanks for the advice kettyo, it's very helpful to me. I downloaded the cleartype fpr winxp from microsoft's site, didn't know there's such a tool. My contrast and brightness is now at 75/6 respectively. But I find it hard to achieve a brightness level that's comfortable to me. Maybe it's me.

Also it's noticeable that this monitor needs quite a long time to stabilize the brightness and color saturation after turning on so it might be wise to turn the automatic monitor standby off in power management settings in windows.

 

[orionis]

Also it's noticeable that this monitor needs quite a long time to stabilize the brightness and color saturation after turning on so it might be wise to turn the automatic monitor standby off in power management settings in windows.

By long time do you mean per session or it needs a certain amount of "burn in" or hours of use to stabilise?

 

[kettyo]

By long time do you mean per session or it needs a certain amount of "burn in" or hours of use to stabilise?

I mean per session.
I takes several minutes after turning on to stabilize. (not a big issue just liked to note this)

 

[orionis]

I mean per session.
I takes several minutes after turning on to stabilize. (not a big issue just liked to note this)

I see. Thus your advise about switching off the standby. I gather that each time it comes on again it starts the cycle of stabilising all over again. I have the habit off switching off the monitor when going off for a short while. Maybe screen saver will do instead?


Anyways, thanks alot for taking the time to explain. 😀