desiibond
Bond, Desi Bond!
Dell SE-198WFP review
Specification:
Till last week, I was more than happy with my 7yr old 15” Samsung CRT monitor, thinking that it is more than enough for my tasks. For better gaming (preferable on my 15” moitor), I bought the Sapphire HD 2600XT graphics card and after playing games for a week, the feeling that I got is “What a shame that after having a good GPU that can play games at high resolutions, I am still using this old monitor”. So, me and my friend did a lot of search (online and on road) for decent display that produces sharp and crisp images.
What we were looking for is:
1) 19” widescreen display
2) DVI port
3) Quality after sales support
4) Long life
5) Strong bezel and stand
In the end it came down to two models. One from Samsung and one from dell but the Samsung model was 2k more but was downright sexy. I thought let me save the 2k and get the Dell due to it’s brand image and the quality of their displays.
Bought this at Golcha Inter trade for Rs.9,800. Little big tense about how the monitor is going to look and perform, came back to my house with the 7kg box J.
Packaging:
The monitor comes in a no frills pack. Nothing mentioned on the pack. No specs, no features, nothing. Just the serial number, price and manufacturer address etc.
On opening the box, found an A3 sized paper containing a 5step procedure to setup the monitor.
Underneath, there is
1) Driver CD
2) VGA cable
3) DVI cable
4) Power cable
5) Stand for the display
6) Manual
Design:
The stand looks and feels strong. It’s matte finish stand with glossy lining around the base. It is heavy, very strong and has metal plate that holds the display panel. Does not have any height adjustment and no pivot too, which is okay considering the price. One more model Dell SE-1908WFP has hight, pivot and swivel adjustment along with integrated webcam and USB ports. But this one costs 2k -3k more and is having issues with contrast and has ghosting issues too while playing games and/or HD content.
At the bottom of the package is the display panel. First look and I couldn’t be happier. Even before turning it on, I felt that my hard earned money didn’t go waste.
It’s a classic Dell LCD design. With Silver bezel and black rear side, it’s looks pretty decent. Will not say that it’s sexy but looks really great.
At the bottom of the rear panel, there is DVI port, D-SUB port (VGA) and the power socket.
The stand is slightly curved. This is to allow the monitor to swivel down a little bit more.
Coming to the front, the display looks great. The silver colored bezel is pretty thin.
“Dell” name is nicely etched on the bezel and has a mirror finish. At the borrom right corner, there is the power button with a blue backlight.
Buttons on the monitor:
1) video selection (to select VGA or DVI for input)
2) Menu selection
3) + and – buttons for navigation through the menu and for selection
4) Blue backlit power
Performance:
1) Text: Text is very very clear and my Thinkpad T43 display (1400x1050) looks like a sheep before charging lion.
2) Brightness and contrast: Display is pretty bright. The default setting is 75/100 contrast and 75/100 brightness. There are couple of modes that you can set the display to:
a. Multimedia preset
b. Gaming preset
c. Red preset
d. Blue preset
e. User preset
Multimedia preset has extreme brightness and my eyes couldn’t handle this amount of brightness and gaming preset has extreme brightness and contrast and well….
3) Movie playback: Superb color reproduction. No ghosting. Played Transformers DVD and my friend said “If I watch 3 more movies on your monitor, I will stop watching movies on my laptop” (1280x1024 14”). It’s not just the size that brings the difference. It’s the contrast and sharpness of the display that really surprised me. While the colors on my T43’s display and HP L1925 were little bit dull, here the colors were sharp and vibrant. Really love wathing red’s and blue’s on this monitor. Noticed little bit of over coloring while watching TV (PCTV 110i) but this could also be due to the transmission. 9/10 for this
4) Gaming: Played Need for Speed most wanted and the BMW M3 GTR looks superb. The blue colored car paint looked breathtaking and the shine’s awesome. Again, a 8/10 for this one.
5) Images: Downloaded few pitcutures from Intefacelift site and again, they are sharp and clear. 8/10 for this.
6) Viewing Angle: Rated viewing angle is 160degree. Higher viewing angle means darkness on the monitor and it becomes unreadable. Best angle should be inside 60degree. 7/10
7) Ebook reading: I would say "perfect". PDF's look superb on this monitor. Again, thanks to it's higher contrast ratio, the text is incredibly clear, large. But for long reading times, you certainly have to decrease brightness and contrast as the default setting will definitely cause redness in the eye for those who are not accustomed to 19" displays. 10/10
In the end, I really love this monitor and is worth every penny. I have HP L1925 hooked up to HP workstation XW4300 (with Quadro FX GPU) and the Dell SE-198WFP blows away the L1925. Don’t know how it will face against Samsung’s and LG’s. But I am pretty sure that it will definitely stay alongside or above the Samsung’s.
Pro’s:
1) DVI port
2) 1000:1 contrast ratio
3) Strong build
4) 3yr onsite next day replacement warranty (optional 5yr advance exchange warranty)
5) Superb contrast and color reproduction
6) Competitive pricing
Con’s:
1) No height adjustment
Bottomline:
This monitor is true performer which directly competes with the middle and high end 19” monitors. Thanks to it’s high contrast ratio and DVI port, there is no real competition for this monitor in sub-10k 19” segment. Dell is known for it’s excellent service. With optional 5yr warranty available, it’s a steal.
Specification:
Product Details and Features
Key Features
Monitor Type : Flat Panel LCD TFT (Active Matrix)
Contrast Ratio - 1,000:1
Aspect Ratio 16:10
Brightness : 300 cd/m²
Response Time : 5 ms
Dot Pitch : 0.285 mm
Viewable Picture Size : 19 in.
Connectivity
Digital Video Input Standard : DVI-D, D-SUB
Technical Features
Form Factor : Widescreen Desktop
Max. Viewing Angle - Horizontal : 160
Max. Viewing Angle - Vertical : 160
Native (Recommended) Resolution : 1440 x 900
Miscellaneous
Power Consumption : 32 Watt
Other Features
Non-Glare • Slim Bezel (Thin Frame) • VESA External Mounting
Exterior Color : Silver
Release Date October, 2007
Till last week, I was more than happy with my 7yr old 15” Samsung CRT monitor, thinking that it is more than enough for my tasks. For better gaming (preferable on my 15” moitor), I bought the Sapphire HD 2600XT graphics card and after playing games for a week, the feeling that I got is “What a shame that after having a good GPU that can play games at high resolutions, I am still using this old monitor”. So, me and my friend did a lot of search (online and on road) for decent display that produces sharp and crisp images.
What we were looking for is:
1) 19” widescreen display
2) DVI port
3) Quality after sales support
4) Long life
5) Strong bezel and stand
In the end it came down to two models. One from Samsung and one from dell but the Samsung model was 2k more but was downright sexy. I thought let me save the 2k and get the Dell due to it’s brand image and the quality of their displays.
Bought this at Golcha Inter trade for Rs.9,800. Little big tense about how the monitor is going to look and perform, came back to my house with the 7kg box J.
Packaging:
The monitor comes in a no frills pack. Nothing mentioned on the pack. No specs, no features, nothing. Just the serial number, price and manufacturer address etc.
On opening the box, found an A3 sized paper containing a 5step procedure to setup the monitor.
Underneath, there is
1) Driver CD
2) VGA cable
3) DVI cable
4) Power cable
5) Stand for the display
6) Manual
Design:
The stand looks and feels strong. It’s matte finish stand with glossy lining around the base. It is heavy, very strong and has metal plate that holds the display panel. Does not have any height adjustment and no pivot too, which is okay considering the price. One more model Dell SE-1908WFP has hight, pivot and swivel adjustment along with integrated webcam and USB ports. But this one costs 2k -3k more and is having issues with contrast and has ghosting issues too while playing games and/or HD content.
At the bottom of the package is the display panel. First look and I couldn’t be happier. Even before turning it on, I felt that my hard earned money didn’t go waste.
It’s a classic Dell LCD design. With Silver bezel and black rear side, it’s looks pretty decent. Will not say that it’s sexy but looks really great.
At the bottom of the rear panel, there is DVI port, D-SUB port (VGA) and the power socket.
The stand is slightly curved. This is to allow the monitor to swivel down a little bit more.
Coming to the front, the display looks great. The silver colored bezel is pretty thin.
“Dell” name is nicely etched on the bezel and has a mirror finish. At the borrom right corner, there is the power button with a blue backlight.
Buttons on the monitor:
1) video selection (to select VGA or DVI for input)
2) Menu selection
3) + and – buttons for navigation through the menu and for selection
4) Blue backlit power
Performance:
1) Text: Text is very very clear and my Thinkpad T43 display (1400x1050) looks like a sheep before charging lion.
2) Brightness and contrast: Display is pretty bright. The default setting is 75/100 contrast and 75/100 brightness. There are couple of modes that you can set the display to:
a. Multimedia preset
b. Gaming preset
c. Red preset
d. Blue preset
e. User preset
Multimedia preset has extreme brightness and my eyes couldn’t handle this amount of brightness and gaming preset has extreme brightness and contrast and well….
3) Movie playback: Superb color reproduction. No ghosting. Played Transformers DVD and my friend said “If I watch 3 more movies on your monitor, I will stop watching movies on my laptop” (1280x1024 14”). It’s not just the size that brings the difference. It’s the contrast and sharpness of the display that really surprised me. While the colors on my T43’s display and HP L1925 were little bit dull, here the colors were sharp and vibrant. Really love wathing red’s and blue’s on this monitor. Noticed little bit of over coloring while watching TV (PCTV 110i) but this could also be due to the transmission. 9/10 for this
4) Gaming: Played Need for Speed most wanted and the BMW M3 GTR looks superb. The blue colored car paint looked breathtaking and the shine’s awesome. Again, a 8/10 for this one.
5) Images: Downloaded few pitcutures from Intefacelift site and again, they are sharp and clear. 8/10 for this.
6) Viewing Angle: Rated viewing angle is 160degree. Higher viewing angle means darkness on the monitor and it becomes unreadable. Best angle should be inside 60degree. 7/10
7) Ebook reading: I would say "perfect". PDF's look superb on this monitor. Again, thanks to it's higher contrast ratio, the text is incredibly clear, large. But for long reading times, you certainly have to decrease brightness and contrast as the default setting will definitely cause redness in the eye for those who are not accustomed to 19" displays. 10/10
In the end, I really love this monitor and is worth every penny. I have HP L1925 hooked up to HP workstation XW4300 (with Quadro FX GPU) and the Dell SE-198WFP blows away the L1925. Don’t know how it will face against Samsung’s and LG’s. But I am pretty sure that it will definitely stay alongside or above the Samsung’s.
Pro’s:
1) DVI port
2) 1000:1 contrast ratio
3) Strong build
4) 3yr onsite next day replacement warranty (optional 5yr advance exchange warranty)
5) Superb contrast and color reproduction
6) Competitive pricing
Con’s:
1) No height adjustment
Bottomline:
This monitor is true performer which directly competes with the middle and high end 19” monitors. Thanks to it’s high contrast ratio and DVI port, there is no real competition for this monitor in sub-10k 19” segment. Dell is known for it’s excellent service. With optional 5yr warranty available, it’s a steal.
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