It never fails.

Less than a minute after I place an order for merchandise, I’m always stricken by buyer’s remorse. This is usually driven by an irrational feeling my purchased item is going to suffer from some horrible soul-crushing flaw.

It doesn’t help matters that I always read support forums before making a purchase. These forums are always filled tales of horror, disappointment and anger so it’s understandably easy to get a distorted idea of a product’s quality after reading them.

(To give one example, I was expecting my PSP would be filled dead pixels, have a faulty square button and would fling UMDs across the room violently. It was a relief when the device manifested none of the problems others reported.)

I had that familiar feeling of uneasiness once I submitted my order for the Dell 2007WFP and the reading I’ve done since then has not made me feel any better.

Big fight!! S-IPS versus S-PVA

I mentioned earlier the 2007WFP model has been known to use two different panels: the S-IPS panel and the S-PVA panel. This wouldn’t matter if the two panels produced similar output but they’re based on two different technologies and going by message board posts alone, the consensus is S-IPS panels are superior.

(See this site for a more even-handed view of S-IPS versus S-PVA panel issue.)

It would appear Dell shipped the first batches of 2007WFP with S-IPS panels before switching over to S-PVA panels. One has to wonder about Dell’s motives for doing this. One could speculate but one rather not in case Dell’s legal department is feeling bored.

Regardless of the reasons, users are unhappy about this. Dell could score PR points by simply disclosing any changes in panel type but for some reason, it is reluctant to discuss the issue and simply maintains that a 2007WFP is a 2007WFP regardless of panel type.

There doesn’t appear to be any way of determining which panel type you’ll get before purchase resulting in a situation described as a “panel lottery.”

It isn’t easy to determine what panel type you have in your 2007WFP even after purchase. Users will first have to access the service menu and this involves some complicated input worthy of Tekken multi-hit combo.

I have my doubts whether I could actually differentiate between a S-IPS and a S-PVA display. After all, I’m currently using a cheap 17-inch CRT and I suspect I’d be happy with either panel type. I do feel rather uneasy about the way Dell is handling this, though.

The recent situation with my 17-inch CRT has convinced me that it’s high time to try a new high resolution display. I think it would be a good investment considering the amount of time I spend in front of the PC.

There are a couple of compelling reasons to make the move from a CRT to a LCD display but the main reason I’m doing so is to save my eyes.

When I first got my CRT, I had to reduce the brightness dramatically to reduce eyestrain. This alleviated the problem but caused another one. Photos that were actually okay looked too dark on my monitor after I reduced its brightness and this led me to make adjustments when editing to compensate. The final result was photos which looked all right on my darkened monitor but were in reality too bright with the colours looking washed out.

The simple solution to this problem was to increase the monitor’s brightness but this meant the back of my eyeballs felt like they were melting once again. I’m no ophthalmologist but this can hardly be a good thing.

Hence the need for a flicker-free LCD display.

I’m also keen on making the move to a widescreen display after using a standard 4:3 ratio 1024×768 display for a decade. Widescreen displays are said to improve productivity and I can definitely envision how having multiple windows visible simultaneously would aid office workers in that regard.

(There doesn’t appear to be any research on whether a widescreen display would allow you to goof off in a more efficient manner, however.)

LCD displays are also lighter and take up less space compared to CRT monitors but I’m not about to lug my LCD display around and I don’t live in a closet-sized Tokyo apartment so neither of those advantages seem especially beneficial. Still, bonus.

Dell or no Dell

I’ve been checking out products in my price range over the past few weeks. ViewSonic, Samsung, BenQ and Acer all have appealing widescreen displays but Dell’s widescreen displays have my favour.

Dell’s UltraSharp models may not have the best speed rating compared to models by other manufacturers (and indeed, Dell itself has faster models) but I’m not a high-ranked competitive gamer so I don’t think a difference measured in milliseconds is going to be an issue for me. (It is, however, a noticeable problem.) Regardless, I was drawn to the UltraSharps primarily because they’re said to have good image quality.

(Of course it’s not as clearcut as that. Dell is known to use two different LCD panels for the same model. The Dell 2007WFP, for instance, uses either the S-IPS or S-PVA panel. I haven’t seen any comparisons between the two Dell 2007WFP panels but it would seem the S-IPS panel is the more desirable of the two. Unfortunately, Dell doesn’t allow customers to specify a panel preference.)

Aside from display quality, the UltraSharp displays also have some useful features. The 2007WFP can be used in either portrait or landscape mode. I could see how this could be desirable when reading a long document or an ebook but I have my doubts whether it’s something I would actually do in practice. We’ll see.

There’s also a 4-port USB hub. It’s not essential but it’s nice to have USB ports that don’t require you to reach around to the back of the systems casing.

There are a couple of potential problems to look out including dead pixels and colour banding but this is a random roll of the QC dice rather than flaws inherent in the design. Dell does provide a Next Business Day Advanced Exchange Warranty programme but hopefully, I won’t have to take advantage of it.

Dell’s usual price for the 2007WFP is RM1999 but the company gives discounts of around 40 per cent seemingly on a regular basis. The model is currently available for RM1399 so I placed my order.

We’ll see how it goes.