Dell 2709W 27-Inch LCD Widescreen Monitor

I had a good HP monitor "or so I thought" but could never get good prints on my professional large format photo printer. What does one have to do with the other? EVERYTHING thats what! Even though my old monitor was calibrated monthly my prints were always dark and skin tones looked really bad considering what I saw on screen and the fact that the images came out of my Canon DSLR's and "L" glass and I always shoot in RAW mode. Then I learned that most consumer monitors are of the TL variety and don't accurately display enough gamut to do professional work. I always wondered why the pros used $2,500.00 Eizo monitors when you could get the same size one at Best buy that looked just as good to the naked eye for $300.00. This is not an Eizo but it's as close as you can get for $750.00 and is light years ahead of the consumer ones at Best Buy. And as soon as I plugged this bad boy in and calibrated it with a Huey ALL my printing problems disappeared. I can now print with professional results that look extremely close to what it shows on the monitor for the first time ever. I have been fighting that one for years now, tried different printers, calibrating equipment, Photoshop CS3 & CS4, Lightroom and it still looked terrible. New high end monitor and problem solved!!! SOOOO, if your a photographer spend the extra money to get an SPVA or similar type and stay away from the cheap TN monitors that places like Best Buy sell. If all you want is a gaming monitor or something for general use then get a cheap TN type. For more information on monitor types look here http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lcd-panel-types.php There are reasons some things are so much more expensive than others that look the same.

As a graphic designer, the quality of my monitor is critical. I previously had a LaCie 22" CRT and loved it. But it was time to upgrade and get the 50lb beast off my desk.

LaCie offers a larger LCD monitor but it was out of my price range at the time so I opted for a Dell. Another designer had recommended it and I trusted their judgment.

Overall, I am satisfied with the quality and reliability. The screen is huge 27" offers a ton of desktop space and allows for multiple screens and toolbars to be open while still viewing your work.

It was easily calibrated using my Colorvison Spyder. I didn't have any more trouble adjusting the controls for calibration than any other monitor.

It is bright but that can be controlled. It is easily viewed in bright light and a dark room. My office has four large windows so during the day it is well lit but still easily viewable.

I love the convenience of the extra USB and card reader ports on the side. All have worked well.

It is lightweight and adjusts height and angle very easily.

I have had no problems with any pixels yet.

There are two drawbacks to this monitor which may be true of every LCD. The clarity is not as good as the old CRTs. I lost some detail in grayscale and Photoshop work (but after almost one year of use, I am used to it now).

I wish it had a higher resolution setting than 1920 x 1200. I stepped up in screen size from my old LaCie but went down in available resolution. So in the end, I didn't really get a proportional increase in screen size. From my research, this seems to be the maximum resolution for LCD monitors this size.

I would recommend this but if money weren't an issue, I would probably go back to a LaCie.

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Very good monitor if, like me, you like your pixels to have a nice big size :) This is a bit easier to read than the 24'' monitors (has same 1920*1200 resolution, but with 3 extra inches).

The monitor is very well built, feels extremely sturdy and solid. Height is easily adjustable, it swivels and turns nicely. No portrait mode though (like the Dell 24''). The integrated USB hub is extremely useful. Image is nice and crisp, from almost any angle. It even did quite OK with games, didn't see any "ghosting" effects whatsoever.

Cons: The color calibration however is obviously quite a bit off. I didn't find any controls to tweak the color settings, except presets... For me the "Adobe RGB" preset was seemingly the most accurate, but there is no way to calibrate the color components directly. Browsing through the monitor's menu is not practical, the menu keys are very beautiful and fancy but not very ergonomic.

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[Edit, after 4 months usage]

After using this monitor for a few months, I'd like to remove one star from my rating because of the controls: they are the worst I've ever dealt with!

I love the picture and size of the monitor, and thankfully I don't have to switch sources or tweak the settings all that much. But man are those controls awful!

You have to approach your finger in a certain way, you can't be too fast or too slow when pressing them., and you have to press for a precise amount of time, under the right angle for it to work!

Whoever came up with that design: please stop! Do not, under any circumstance use that design on another monitor again! It is completely unnerving and gets me mad every time I have to deal with them. Worst design ever.

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Pros: Big 27 inches. Multi card reader-great for photographers or anyone that carries data in SD or CF cards. Super easy to set up-less than 20 minutes. Very cool touch sensitive controls. Right sized pixels makes it very easy to read text.

Cons: Out of the box a bit too bright on the brightness side. Easy fix with a monitor calibrator like the Huey Pro easy peasy!

Summary: An awesome piece of "real-state" I can bring multiple windows at the same type without sacrificing space and having to scroll lef-right, right-left, or up-down, down-up. Great to work with applications like Adobe Lightroom you can bring all the tools and plates that you want without getting into your work area. I've owned several LCD monitors and in my humble opinion, this one is the best out there. I was considering the 30 inch Apple Cinema, but then again in this economy one is going to look for the biggest bang for your buck, and believe you me this is it.

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Great monitor, just as the reviews said. I'm not crazy about the controls, but I hardly needed to use them. I tried the equivalent 27" Asus (from another on-line store) and sent it back (in spite of the $50 re-stock fee and shipping), because the Asus just couldn't cut the mustard, compared to the 24" Samsung 244T I run next to it, which is another great monitor I tried to buy the equivalent 27" Samsung, but they seemed to be unavailable.

I use both monitors for a wide variety of home apps, photo, video, web, etc. and gaming.