Dell S2409W in Monitors

Dell's 24in models have always been popular in the PC Pro office, and while the S2409W may not be one of the manufacturer's all-singing, all-dancing models, it does offer a high-quality panel at a reasonable price.

So you won't find expensive extras such as USB ports or fully adjustable stands - the S2409W's stand only tilts - and Dell hasn't even seen fit to include a set of basic integrated speakers. All this helps to keep the price low, but unlike many other sub-£200 monitors it doesn't sacrifice image quality in the process.

What you do get is a clean, curved design on a minimalist round stand. The control buttons sit out of the way on the right side of the frame, and we found navigating the tidy menu to be a pretty intuitive process. The best results came with the Custom (sRGB) colour setting, which gave us excellent contrast and a very good compromise between black and white levels.

There was a small amount of backlight bleed at the top and bottom edges, and we found the top half of the panel slightly darker than the bottom, but gradients were smooth and even, and colours were vibrant and reasonably accurate. It's not quite up there with the punch of the Samsung SyncMaster 2494HM, but it certainly isn't far off.

High-definition video clips looked sharp and detailed on the 1080p panel, and the 5ms response time didn't manifest itself in any noticeable blurring in fast scenes. Plus, if you do need audio during a gaming session, there's a headphone output that will work if you're connected via the HDMI port.

Other than that you get the usual DVI and VGA connectors, and a three-year on-site warranty with next business day response times. If Dell had managed to squeeze all this into a price just a little lower, the S2409W might walk away with an award. As it is, it's crowded out by cheaper options such as the LG Flatron W2442PA, with its fully adjustable stand and integrated speakers. We'd go for that every time, but the Dell is close behind.

Author: David Bayon