World of Warcraft on the SP2309W looked crisp, colourful and as near perfect as we've ever seen running at a 2,048x1,152-pixel resolution.
Unfortunately, viewing the game from a lower-than-optimal viewing angle made the screen darken to the point where we couldn't see graphic details of the game -- typical of most TN panels and has nothing to do with the game's performance.
The SP2309W's performance with the Kill Bill: Vol 1 DVD came very close to the quality of the stellar Apple LED Cinema Display. The colours were vibrant and the blacks dark. However, the colours and black level on the LED Cinema Display are fuller and deeper. We didn't notice any streaking or ghosting and the screen remained sharp for a DVD.
The 1080p Blu-ray version of House of Flying Daggers looked great for the same reasons. We didn't notice any benefit from the screen's 16:9 aspect ratio in terms of quality, however.
We determined that the best setting for watching games and movies on the SP2309W is the standard preset mode, with a contrast of 59, and the brightness set to whichever high setting your eyes can take. We settled on 94.
The optimal viewing angle for a monitor is usually directly in front, about a quarter of the screen's distance down from the top. At this angle, you're viewing the colours and gamma correction as they were intended. Most monitors are not made to be viewed at any other angle. Depending on a monitor's panel type, picture quality at non-optimal angles varies.
Most monitors use TN panels, which get overly bright or overly dark in parts of the screen when viewed from non-optimal angles. The SP2309W uses a TN panel, and, when viewed from the side angles, the screen appeared to darken only slightly. When viewed from the bottom, the screen darkened immediately. Of course, when viewed from the optimal angle, we had no problems.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Conclusion
Affordably priced, the Dell SP2309W offers fantastic performance and a good set of features. Overall, it's a great 23-inch monitor.
Additional editing by Charles Kloet
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Fred Thomas 6 February 2010
Good: Almost everything is great
Bad: viewing angles
Comment: Pros:
Bright
Good Contrast
Colours are great, and very customisable
Resolution is amazing
Many great features
OSD is brilliant
Cons:
Viewing angle isnt great, noticeable difference from top to bottom.
Default colour settings arent brilliant - to get it right you have to do it custom
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