Dell W1700 LCD TV review

Dell has been making some new forays into the technology market of late. Not that you'd know this is Dell's first LCD TV, as it comes expertly finished across the board.

First, there are its good looks; compared to the Packard Bell LCD TV, it's decidedly more costly in appearance. The bezel itself is metallic plastic but you'd be hard pushed to tell, and the metal speaker baffles lend it a touch of class. There's also the solid stand, which is height adjustable over a wide range and also tilts and rotates easily. Despite the relatively small footprint, it's reassuringly sturdy too.

Dell has gone to town on features - just about every input you can think of is present on the back panel. A UHF aerial socket takes care of TV input, and there are also scart, composite video, component video and S-Video inputs. There's even a component video output. Should you wish to connect your PC, there are both D-SUB and DVI inputs.

Thought has been put into the location of the ports; even with a full complement of cabling, it doesn't look like Spaghetti Junction. Dell also includes a cover for the ports, a netting cable-snake tidy and cable ties to keep things as neat as possible.

Thankfully, the W1700 didn't disappoint in use either. The auto-setup routine tuned in effortlessly and there were no complaints over the quality of the TV picture - colours appeared balanced and skin tones natural. Viewing angles are excellent too, and lag wasn't an issue during general use. DVDs told a similar story, although artefacts did make an appearance during some movies. We also noticed a slightly uneven backlight in between scenes, although it didn't show up elsewhere.

Like the Packard Bell, the 16:9 aspect ratio of the screen causes some issues for hard-core gamers, but it's possible to set the resolution to a standard 4:3 ratio, then switch the panel to the same. The W1700 handles this perfectly - unlike the Packard Bell. The Dell does no better or worse in terms of response times though, with 3D first-person shooters bringing out its various shortcomings.

Performance in PC use was excellent, with both VGA and DVI inputs scoring well. Desktop icons appear crisp, and small point text is clearly visible from a distance - vital if you're surfing the Web from your sofa. Subjecting it to our technical tests revealed no sign of pixel jitter from the analog D-SUB input, although we found the colour balance to be slightly biased towards green. Colour range was also good, although we'd have liked a little more separation at the lower end of the spectrum.

The design of the menu system and remote control are both excellent, with a convenient remote button toggling between PC and video sources. There are Fastext buttons for Teletext, plus adjustable picture-in-picture, although this only works when the PC is the main input. Other than that, the only real criticism is that there's no way of wall-mounting the panel. Dell even includes all the cables you'll need.

It all looks very rosy until it comes to cost. Samsung's SyncMaster 172W, may lack a TV tuner, but is available for just £255. This is partially because anything with an integrated TV tuner is subject to specific custom taxes. All the same, this is a fantastic piece of kit that combines excellent performance, intuitive use and superb design.

Author: Ross Burridge