Enhance Your Gaming with Vista-Friendly Peripherals - Part 1
Widescreen Monitors ExamplesDell UltraSharp 2407WFP-HC | Average Retail Price: $669 / £460 Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP-HC Replacing Dell’s previous 24-inch widescreen (a personal favorite of many journalists), the new UltraSharp 2407WFP-HC raises the quality bar over its predecessor. How? Its newly-incorporated TrueColor technology is capable of displaying 92 percent of the full color gamut, a near 20 percent increase over previous versions. What remains unchanged? The great feature set that made the 2407WFP series a stand-out from the start, including a three-year warranty. Unlike some LCDs, this Dell offers nearly four inches of height adjustment along with the ability to swivel, tilt and twist into portrait mode. Plus, it’s slim black bezel keeps dimensions trim. Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture support is featured, as well as five inputs – DVI-D, VGA, Component, Composite and S-Video. A native resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels provides sharp text and graphics, with exceptional color accuracy and uniformity thanks to TrueColor, a brightness of 400cd/m2 (candelas per square meter) and a contrast ratio of 1000:1. Meanwhile a 6ms response time provides a blur- and ghost-free gaming experience. The 2407WFP-HC is also HDCP compliant and, with an HDMI to DVI cable, can serve up HD movie content. Moreover, it sports a built-in USB hub and media reader with support for CF, SM, SD, MS and MMC cards. However, it does lack is a dedicated HDMI connector.
Dell UltraSharp 2707WFP | Average Retail Price: $1,199 / £740 Dell UltraSharp 2707WFP For a larger window on your digital world, Dell’s 27-inch UltraSharp 2707WFP offers the identical 1920 x 1200 native resolution as its 24-inch counterpart, but in a less confined space. As with other Dell flat panels covered here, TrueColor technology provides amazing color reproduction and uniformity, treating your eyes to deeper, crisper colors and whiter whites than lesser monitors (as well as older Dells). Differing in design from its widescreen brethren, the 2707WFP sports a luscious brushed aluminum chassis with beveled mirror edges and a tilt, swivel, height-adjustable stand attached to a black, bezelled glass base. It’s as close to "art" as a piece of computer equipment gets (except for Apple’s offerings). Actually, at present, the 2707WFP is Dell’s only "premium" display, putting it in a class by itself. A portent of panels to come? Quite likely. Connectors are plentiful and consist of DVI-D (HDCP compliant for HD content), VGA, S-Video, Component, Composite and an integrated 9-in-2 media card reader (supporting CF, SM, SD, MS and MMC formats) and USB hub. Technical specs include a 6ms response time, 400cd/m2 brightness and 1000:1 contrast ratio. The only shortcomings of this digital behemoth are the lack of a dedicated HDMI connector, like its siblings, and the fact that it's also roughly twice the price of the 24-inch model (though, it's currently on sale for $1,019 with free shipping).
Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC | Average Retail Price: $1,499 / £1040 Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC The Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC is a revision of their earlier 30-inch titan though, externally, it looks identical. TrueColor technology serves up a greater range of visible colors for a more vivid experience. Taken by itself, it’s a visual treat. Compared to its predecessor, however, it’s a remarkable improvement with deeper hues and crisper colors. Text is crisp and clear, and graphics pop from the screen. Plus, there’s the pure digital real estate itself. Once you’ve spent some time with a monitor this immense, everything else looks Lilliputian by comparison. As with its "more condensed" siblings, this Dell features an integrated USB hub and a 9-in-2 media reader (supporting CF, SM, SD, MS and MMC formats) and, while it doesn’t offer a portrait mode, provides tilt, swivel and approximately three inches of height adjustment. However, unlike Dell's other widescreen offerings, the 3007 has an ultra-high optimal display resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels that requires a dual-link DVI-D graphics card with the appropriate display capabilities. Moreover, if you plan to max out visual detail settings in your games, dual graphics cards are a must (i.e. ATI's CrossFire and NVIDIA's SLI). The end result, though, is gorgeous to behold – a first-class viewing experience! This holds true with movies, too, being an HDCP compliant monitor. Response time is solid at 12ms (8ms grey-to-grey), contrast is a competent 1000:1 and brightness, at 300cd/m2, is close to that of its siblings. The only major drawbacks of this Herculean display are monitor calibrations limited to brightness alone and its single DVI-D connector. If you need more than one input, you'll have to look elsewhere or invest in a video switcher. It's also a pricey beast at nearly $1,500 / £1000 (though, recent sales have offered free shipping and a hefty discount).
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