In the past one and a half year, we have seen a radical departure from the “tried and tested” CRT screens, with more and more people considering a TFT monitor instead for their desktop PCs. The advantages are immediately obvious, with TFTs requiring less desktop real-estate, which in many cases is a deciding factor. It is also very nice not to have a bulky monitor that emits heat in front of your eyes all the time, plus TFT screens do tend to look cooler compared to traditional CRTs. So with prices going down all the time, these monitors have become very attractive for many categories of users.

Gamers though, until recently, were avoiding such monitors like the plague, and the reason was simple: high response times. Most TFT monitors of yester-years had a 25ms response time or more, which translates to one of the most ugly side-effects these monitors had: ghosting. This side-effect was most prominent in fast-paced games (like first person shooters, racing games etc.) and many films that had scenes where everything was fast. Fortunately, advances in monitor technology have permitted the release of TFTs with a 16ms or less response time, eliminating this disadvantage and making TFTs attractive to gamers. Up until recently however, these low response time monitors were an exclusive feature of relatively small monitors (if you can call sub-19” monitors that way, of course) – people who wanted to buy a large monitor were left with no real choices but to go CRT.

Then, at the beginning of the year, Dell came out of nowhere and changed all that. The company has a history of quality displays which can be had in great prices, and their previous model, the 20” 2005fpw, was quite a success. So when it was announced that Dell was planning to release a 24” Wide TFT screen for a mere €1000, many people were sceptical of such an offer, especially at such a low price. Fortunately, the 2405fpw does not disappoint.

First contact

I ordered the Dell 2405fpw back in April from Dell's own online shop, with the monitor arriving 20 days after that (bear in mind though that I live in Greece, so your delivery times may vary). Just to set the record straight, I have paid for it, and I did not receive it as a reviewer's sample, so you can stop cursing my luck :D This also means that I've had experience with the said monitor for over 5 months already, so I guess I can give you a pretty clear picture of what the monitor can offer (and what it can't).

The first impressions can be really summarized with only one word: huge. Being a previous owner of a Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454 (an excellent 19” CRT monitor which has served me well for the past three years, and continues to do so even now), I was accustomed to large monitors, but a 5 inch increase in real estate is something you are never really prepared for. Just to give you an analogy, imagine being used to working with a 14” monitor, only to jump to a 19” monitor after that. Yes, the difference is that big. Widescreen is something you also have to grow accustomed to; especially if you come from the CRT world (like most of us). Fortunately the transition is smooth – as soon as your eyes get used to the enlarged size of the panel (as already stated, the monitor is huge), you will appreciate the extra desktop real-estate you will have; and all that, without having to resort to wearing glasses. At 1920x1200, everything is crisp, and fonts and icon sizes look normal.