Dell E172FP

Author's product rating:   

Picture quality	Excellent
Colour sensitivity	Excellent
Design	Excellent
Ease of use	Very easy
Value For Money	Good

Advantages:	Clear, no discernible flicker
Disadvantages:	Would prefer silver design !  ;)

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I am actually using the Dell E172FP monitor whilst writing this review of it, and looking at the screen it's very difficult to see anything wrong with it. This is a classic Dell design- a kind of stony black finish (it almost looks like granite) which does look good, although I personally would have preferred silver (can;t have evrything though).

SCREEN SIZE:

17 inch screen, and the viewable area is actually very good on this monitor. Remember the bad old days when monitors were built into a big clunky surround and the viewable area, i.e the screen itself, was a good deal less than what you might have expected? Thankfully with the new range of flat screens coming out the viewable area always seems to turn out quite generous, and this one is no exception.

RESOLUTION:

Supports up to 1280 x 1024 which is good. I am one of those people who hates clunky big resolutions (ever tried viewing your Start -> Programs menu in 640 x 480?!). Up to a point, therefore, the finer the resolution, the better.

BUTTONS:

The monitor has a simple system of three buttons for modifying settings, and a slightly larger one for turning it on and off. Simple. Have a play and a tinker.

POWER:

It takes a standard AC 240V power adapter, i.e the sort you see lying around everywhere. Which is good, and sets it apart from a few of its rivals, some of which use their own power cables. All well and good, but what happens when the power cable blows? That's right... you have to find another. And finding a standard power cable is of course hell of a lot easier.

SWIVEL:

The monitor has an adjustable swivel so you can tilt it back and forth if you need to. Useful if you're always tinkering with that sort of thing.

STABILITY:

The stand for the monitor is perfectly stable. I've got mine sitting perched on top of my Dell SX270, which as some of you may know isn't the largest desktop PC in the world. However, the monitor is perfectly stable and doesn't wobble. Good balance of weight and design.

PLUG AND PLAY?

Plug and play is pretty much taken for granted these days (unless you're running Windows NT or 95 in which case you're obviously determined to make life as difficult as possible for yourself). There was no need to even install this monitor. When I swapped out the old one for it, and powered the PC up, it simply flashed up an AutoUpdate in Progress screen and sorrted itself out in a matter of seconds. It was as simple as that.

COMPATIBILITY:

It works with all modern operating systems and probably with all most ancient ones as well. The connection to the PC video card is via your standard 9-pin adapter which has been the standard for many years now and is featured on older PCs as well as the more modern ones. For my Dell SX270 I have to use a special converter as it doesn't have a standard 9-pin socket, however this is a design feature of the PC, not a fault with the monitor.

OVERVIEW:

I think the cost was in the region of £199 which is very reasonable (this was bought through a corporate account however so the retail price may be somewhat higher). Still, although they can still be a bit pricey, flat screens in general are worth buying, and this one certainly is.

BENEFITS:

Looks stylish
Plug it in, power it up, no configuration normally needed
Good resolution
Fairly light
Adjustable tilt
Good balance of weight
Reasonable price
Pristine screen quality
Uses standard AC power adapter

Definitely recommended!

Thanks for reading...