DELL W2600 26" (66cm) LCD TV (€565)

Basq

Seems like quite a nice price for it!

Click here!

RobertFoster

Isn't 25ms bad for gaming though? Even console gaming?

Basq

RobertFoster wrote:

Isn't 25ms bad for gaming though? Even console gaming?

Not too sure about that - probably better answered in Home Entertainment

johnnyrotten

WOW! thats cheap. Anyone got any idea if these Dell TV's are any good?

Basq

johnnyrotten wrote:

WOW! thats cheap. Anyone got any idea if these Dell TV's are any good?

Pretty glowing review from infoSync World here!

And at the time of the review (Wednesday 30 March 2005), the W2600 was retailing at €1300 so at €565.. it's a friggin' steal!

Following up on its second-ever LCD TV, the 19" W1900, Dell's W2600 brings more inches, better display quality and a veritable smorgasboard of input options. What's more, it's one of the cheapest 26" LCD TVs on the market, resulting in the inevitable question: did Dell skimp on features in order to be able to skimp on price?

Swivelingly slim and simply sharp

At 26 inches, Dell's W2600 is of course not among the largest of LCD TVs, but has a relatively slim footprint and a black-and-chrome design that should go well with most existing setups. Weighing in at approximately 19 and 17 KG with and without its rotating stand, respectively, the W2600 pulls double duty as either a small LCD TV or a grandiose monitor; both of which are tasks performed admirably at a size 83 x 42 x 11 cm.

Despite a mediocre contrast ratio of 500:1, the W2600 offers superb display quality with very good colour reproduction and saturation as well as a quite satisfying 450 cd/m2 brightness level. In fact, using the W2600 as a monitor can be a bit hard on the eyes provided one neglects staying at an adequate distance - but with a response time of 25 ms, gamers looking for a versatile 16:9 monitor slash handily sized LCD TV won't be served. Most everyone else, however, will be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Partly to blame for this is the excellent viewing angle: whether horizontal or vertical, the W2600 produces next to no wash-out of colours or loss of brightness even when viewed at near 90 degrees off center. Impressive sharpness and anti-glare coating further improve matters, and users can easily tweak and adjust a bevy of visual options to their liking. Granted, the WXGA resolution is a modest 1280 x 768 pixels, but it's still more than adequate.

If you have the output, the W2600 has the input

In addition to its excellent display qualities, the W2600 positively shines in the connectivity department. First out is dual analogue tuners with an internal splitter and excellent reception, with the W2600 also supporting PAL/SECAM and being SDTV and HDTV ready with resolutions up to 720p or 1080i. That's just the beginning, however, as we also find dual SCART sockets, as well as S-Video and Composite video inputs - both with separate RCA audio inputs - around the back.

Having covered the basics, it's time to move up the quality ladder as we find not one, but two separate Component inputs, also with separate RCA audio inputs, as well as VGA and DVI connectors placed behind a removable panel along with a 3.5 mm stereo audio in jack and yet another RCA audio input. Think that's it? Think again.

Moving to the left side of the W2600, we find - astonishingly - yet another pair of S-Video and Composite inputs, again with separate RCA audio inputs, as well as a 3.5 mm earphone jack. This is placed alongside the expansion bay for the optional multi-format memory card reader, and to round things out Dell has also provided a Composite video out on the back of the unit to allow for scenarios such as recording from the dual tuners. The total head count comes to 10; an amazing brevity and surely enough to satisfy the most demanding media maniac.

The 10-feet experience

Controlling the W2600 from afar is a pleasantly simple affair thanks to the slinky black-and-chrome remote. This provides access to a transparent on-screen display where changes made are instantly visible to the image on screen, allowing users to rapidly alternate between different inputs, adjust audiovisual properties and control picture-in-picture options.

Channel setup is a breeze thanks to either automatic detection or manual fine tuning, and nice touches abound such as not being able to select from input signals where none is present, preset visual configurations and full manual control of aspect ratio. That being said, the W2600's remote is a bit of a stickler for precision; it's not overly demanding, but definitely borderline.

Far more severe is the fact that no matter which input source the user selects, audio from the analogue tuner bleeds into the Composite video out and its RCA output, which - apart from the 3.5 mm earphone jack, which suffers from static - is the only audio out option of the W2600. Adding insult to injury, there's also a discernible lag on audio out, rendering the option of connecting the W2600 to a hi-fi... well, not an option at all, really.

Marginally mitigating this embarassing oversight, the W2600's stereo speakers offer a broad register with more than adequate volume, and should in the name of fairness be adequate for most situations where one would want a 26" LCD TV. There's also support for SRS TruSurround XT, but as with all virtual surround solutions it doesn't hold a candle to the real thing. Better then is the picture-in-picture capabilities of the W2600, which let users keep a transparent eye on either the TV or PC whilst watching either in full screen mode - or alternatively two channels simultaneously.

Availability

The Dell W2600 is at the time of writing available and shipping in both the U.S. and Europe in NTSC and PAL versions, respectively. The PAL version for Europe, reviewed in this article, sells for approximately $1700 USD, or 1300 EUR. Dell W2600

Conclusion

Audio output issues aside, the W2600 performs superbly in all departments. Merging good TV qualities with Dell's PC legacy, visual quality is impeccable whether used as a TV, monitor, or both, and the integrated speakers perform very well indeed. For situations where space is at a premium, the W2600 is a marvellous multi-tasker with a small fotprint, and accepts virtually all kinds of input. What's more, it's also distinctly inexpensive, so unless one cannot do without hookinh it up to ones hi-fi, there's solid bang for buck to be had with the W2600.

What's positive:
Excellent display; good audio; connectivity options galore; cheap

What's negative:
Tuner audio bleeds to audio out, lags; remote requires precision shooting

Rating: 89%

Wertz

Hmmm....they already dropped this from 1100 to 749 a few weeks back, and I did some googling for reviews, all of which claim it as very good value for money at the (US) launch price...I'm very sorely tempted, if for no other reason than I'm fed up with my 4:3 25" beko crt.

This was the best actual techie review I could find;
http://www.biosmagazine.co.uk/rev.php?id=221

...and the usual cnet user review type stuff.

Seems like dell must have a warehouse full of these things...the 19" is down to €380 or so as well; that's a hard to beat price for that size and at this time of year.

*hand hovers over credit card*

mad m

25ms though hmmm,very tempted myself.Anyone know what was the ms on the 32" one on aldi a while back?

Paddy20

Wow!, this smacks of a real bargain price. Anyone know if it will connect up to my LG 5.1 surround sound/dvd player combination which has an s-video out ?..:eek: As I am really tempted, also is the 'viewable' screen size 26" ?..

P.:cool:

Wertz

Paddy20 wrote:

Wow!, this smacks of a real bargain price. Anyone know if it will connect up to my LG 5.1 surround sound/dvd player combination which has an s-video out ?..:eek: As I am really tempted, also is the 'viewable' screen size 26" ?..

P.:cool:

It seriously looks like it could connect to a legacy betamax or one of those old valve radios :v: They supply a swathe of cable options too...

On the response time thing; I've been on my inspiron 8600 all evening and it occured to me that I didn't know what the screen's response time was, so after a little searching on notebookforums.com I discovered my samsung WSXGA is 35ms :eek:
But I've used it for watching plenty of fast paced stuff and never noticed anything offputting. I ran SW Battlefront and the HL2 demo on it (low settings) and ghosting wasn't really apparent either, so to me 25ms isn't as daunting as what some other's seem to be slating this panel for...

[edit] yeah 26" is the standard diagonal display size AFAIK...think the actual size is 565mm*340mm (h*w)

Paddy20

Wertz,

Many thanks. Looks as though my CC is about another unexpected hit !.
Oh well, it's Xmas, nearly.

Paddy.

Wertz

Paddy20 wrote:

Wertz,

Many thanks. Looks as though my CC is about another unexpected hit !.
Oh well, it's Xmas, nearly.

Paddy.

I dunno...I'm still on the fence...I've been digging through google about this for nearly 2 hours and found a blog (usually what I'm not looking for :rolleyes: ) that reviews it and links to some other reviews...

http://flame.cs.dal.ca/~akerman/blog/2005_08_14_archive.html

There seems to be a lot of conflicting reports...the general consensus being that this has some great connectivity but offers middling to mediocre image quality from some sources....let's face it image quality is where the bottom line is here.
Those reviews are based on the original price (well this IS bargain alerts) but the thought that the best analogue picture quality is gotten by hooking up a PC with a TV tuning card to the DVI socket is a little disheartening.
It seems also that this particular resolution is in fact 15:9 (not 16:9 which is what "true" WS is)...I also found the mixed reports about console input quality to be offputting, as that would be a fair amount of it's usage in my living room.

The one bad thing about buying one of these online is not being able to try before you buy as it were...€570 is still €570, but I think we're covered by a cooling off period for online sales in this country (right?).

Is there anyone reading or browsing this thread tht actually HAS one of these TVs? (and that doesn't work for Dell ? ). I'd really like to hear a down to earth opinion at this particualr price before I put myself in the red...

mad m

Heh! If you goto buy this it gives you an extra €14.52 of a discount so grand total would be €550.85. For an Lcd of this size what do dell consider as too many dead pixels before a replacement is given?

Paddy20

Yep, I ordered it at 1.50am, and the price was even cheaper than expected, as 'mad m' has pointed out .

I did a check on the prices of 26" LCD TV's via Kelkoo, and the prices are a lot heavier than this, and they are without the computer monitor facility ?..so that made my mind up.

Filled out the online purchase form, and my order was confirmed within minutes by e-mail from Dell, so I am happy so far. I think it will satisfy my needs at a great price, fingers crossed.

After all, what can you get for less than €600 ! these days.

P.:cool:

mad m

^^ Fairplay Paddy....Im like Wertz on that bloody fence.Pity its so close to christmas...This offer I think is up for a while so if you get it delivered soon dont forget it post back on what you think of it....

Goodluck.

Voodoo2

You need 16MS or less to avoid ghosting in gamings but 25MS is not too shabby i admit, nice size!

skywalker

mad m wrote:

^^ Fairplay Paddy....Im like Wertz on that bloody fence.Pity its so close to christmas...This offer I think is up for a while so if you get it delivered soon dont forget it post back on what you think of it....

Goodluck.

Any ideas how long it will be going on for?

Plek Trum

Dell state its on until 23rd December - I presume thats depending on stock supplies though.

Not to be daft, but I took the 360degree tour on the model. Looking at the back, I couldnt see any scart connections (I think it states there are 2). I was thinking of buying this for the bedroom, just hook up skybox and dvd player. Can anyone confirm that they are there???!

butts

Just ordered one myself. From what I've read on the net, there seems to be mixed opinion on how well it works as a PC monitor, but at the price I thought it was worth taking a chance (I still plan on using Dscaler for watching alot of 4:3 stuff)

kmb

Ya,I am very interested also.It says hd ready,but is hd and hdmi different like what sky will be broadcasting?

regards kieran

skywalker

Plek Trum wrote:

Not to be daft, but I took the 360degree tour on the model. Looking at the back, I couldnt see any scart connections (I think it states there are 2). I was thinking of buying this for the bedroom, just hook up skybox and dvd player. Can anyone confirm that they are there???!

Never noticed that till you said it. It doesnt seem to be in the 360 tour thing, its in the specs though, Id be surprised if they werent there.

EDIT/ Its also mentioned in a couple of reviews linked from above.

EDIT 2/ its definitely there according tothis pic

Brando_ie

I was just about to buy one of the 19" LCD's at €450ish from DELL last week after it stacked up well against the other 17" options I had been looking at. But after the price drop I have opted for the 26" for the 'extra' €100 so I'm well chuffed. It's only as a bedroom TV so I'm a happy camper. Has onyone noticed that it comes with dual tuners which would be a brucie bonus for those on cable I would have thought?. Sweet!!....

Krusty_Clown

I had mine delivered last week, and the quality is excellent..

I wouldn't be in a hurry to use it as a PC monitor though, it's too large to be practical.. You really need to be a coulpe of feet away from it..

Plek Trum

skywalker wrote:

Never noticed that till you said it. It doesnt seem to be in the 360 tour thing, its in the specs though, Id be surprised if they werent there.

EDIT/ Its also mentioned in a couple of reviews linked from above.

EDIT 2/ its definitely there according tothis pic

Thanks for that - strange they are not highlighted in the 360degree tour though eh? Might be worth a call to Dell to confirm same before purchase.. cheers Skywalker.

skywalker

Found another pic showing where they are exactly here on the right hand side up the top on their own in a little alcove.

Give dell a ring though if you wanna make sure & get back to us.

Any chance of a bit more info krusty, hows the picture quality, does it definitely have scarts, wanna do a mini review for those of us thinking about buying?

bandy

Dont forgot yr piggy points too (worth 25e or so) http://www.pigsback.com/offers/381099880/default.asp

copacetic

more of a bargain alert but the 26inch sharp lcd that i bought for 999 (best price anywhere online or not at the time) is going for 499 in the new did opening in drogheda at weekend, only 30 apparently but great TV...

spec is a fair bit better than dell assuming it is same model as mine.
ad is in todays indo..

WizZard

Paddy20 - will you be hooking it up to a PC?

positron

daveym wrote:

more of a bargain alert but the 26inch sharp lcd that i bought for 999 (best price anywhere online or not at the time) is going for 499 in the new did opening in drogheda at weekend, only 30 apparently but great TV...

spec is a fair bit better than dell assuming it is same model as mine.
ad is in todays indo..

I was getting ready to get up early on Saturday to get one of those; but I decided not to. The resolution is poorer than Dell's, and they are 'HD Ready' either. Good reviews though - better blacks etc.. for €499, its a good buy though!

skywalker

Really interested to hear what its like with dvds, & anyone using it with an xbox.

quarryman

likewise.

anyone know how this would perform with the 360 and double as a PC monitor, despite the 25ms response time.

Headshot

rang dell yesterday and asked them
'if im not please with the dell w2600 can i get a refund'
they replied 'yes but you only have week to see if its right'

im buying it for my xbox 360 for sure

copacetic

positron wrote:

I was getting ready to get up early on Saturday to get one of those; but I decided not to. The resolution is poorer than Dell's, and they are 'HD Ready' either. Good reviews though - better blacks etc.. for €499, its a good buy though!

not sure about that, did you confirm model number?

my one is higher res than the dell at 1366x768 versus the dell at 1280x768 and it has got component in, so is as 'HD ready' as the dell is...

specs for my one are here (I got it in DID a few months back so assume it is the same one on offer)
http://www.sharp.co.uk/Product.aspx?ID=932

note the response time is also better at 16ms versus 25ms for the dell.

Headshot

quarryman wrote:

likewise.

anyone know how this would perform with the 360 and double as a PC monitor, despite the 25ms response time.

like wise too

georgiegray

just been in contact with one of the dell techies,in glasgow of all places so had to double check cos of the accent.Really wanted one of these to mount in bedroom however they cannot be wall mounted apparently and there is no scart connections so that answers somebody else question on here.
bummer hey
Anybody comes up with a wall mountable bargain priced one let me know

quarryman

according to the review given above it does have wall mounting and Scart input

..... the rear of the screen hosts a myriad of connection options: two SCART, two composite video, S-Video, two HDTV component, TV In/Coax, DVI (shared with PC), audio (left and right RCA, as well as PC), as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. The eye-catching stand is also detachable (screwdriver required), should you want to wall mount the screen using a VESA 100mm mounting device, and there are volume and channel controls on the right hand-side of the screen's chassis.

skywalker

Both are mentioned on the dell page itself, theres an actual section for wall mounting, that info you got sounds wrong.

Krusty_Clown

I have the 26" and yes, there are two SCART connections...
Oh and they are VESA compliant, so any of the typical brackets will work..

Think you should hold-off talking to your Glasgow contact!!!

Oh and HeadShot posted a review previously, which I thought was very accurrate.. Needless to say, I'm extremey happy with the purchase, except for that fact that I paid an extra 200 squids for it..

Daveym - can you post the specs for the Sharp?

KTRIC

Krusty_Clown wrote:

I have the 26" and yes, there are two SCART connections...
Oh and they are VESA compliant, so any of the typical brackets will work..

Think you should hold-off talking to your Glasgow contact!!!

Oh and HeadShot posted a review previously, which I thought was very accurrate.. Needless to say, I'm extremey happy with the purchase, except for that fact that I paid an extra 200 squids for it..

Daveym - can you post the specs for the Sharp?

Have you used it with a console ?? Whats the dvd playback like ?

quarryman

Krusty_Clown wrote:

Needless to say, I'm extremey happy with the purchase, except for that fact that I paid an extra 200 squids for it..

Daveym - can you post the specs for the Sharp?

So how do you find it for gaming, or have you used it for any?

And also, any feedback using it as a PC monitor.

skywalker

Theres another thread in home entertainment where Krustys made a few more comments on it.

Headshot

just bought the dell w2600 now

cant wait

cheers Krusty_Clown

skywalker

Let us know when you get it how it performs for consoles & dvds. Im giving it serious thought now myself.

copacetic

Krusty_Clown wrote:

I have the 26" and yes, there are two SCART connections...
Oh and they are VESA compliant, so any of the typical brackets will work..

Think you should hold-off talking to your Glasgow contact!!!

Oh and HeadShot posted a review previously, which I thought was very accurrate.. Needless to say, I'm extremey happy with the purchase, except for that fact that I paid an extra 200 squids for it..

Daveym - can you post the specs for the Sharp?

these are the basic specs for mine the LC26GA5E, am assuming it is the same one that DID have but would be wise to confirm:

Dimensions

Display 663W x 556H x 278D (mm) with stand and speakers
Display 663W x 504H x 108D (mm) panel with speakers
Table Top Stand 519W x 278D (mm)
AVC (tuner box) Not Applicable
AV link lead Not Applicable
Vesa wall bracket 100mm VESA


Other Information

Screen Resolution 1366 x 768 x RGB
Screen Type WXGA
PC Input Yes
Speaker 8.0cm x 2 (Fixed Speaker) 10W x 2
FM Radio Yes
Response rate 16ms


Terminals

Input 1 SCART (AV input, RGB input, TV output)
Input 2 SCART (AV input/output, Y/C input, AV Link)
Input 3 S-VIDEO (Y/C input), AV input
Input 4 RCA pin (component)
Input 5 D -sub 15pin, 3.5mm jack (Audio)
Output Audio (Variable/Fixed) out


Weight

With stand and speakers 15 kg
Panel and speakers 12 kg
AVC (tuner box) Not Applicable

Krusty_Clown

There's quite a few threads on this subject at the moment...
No, I haven't yet had a chance to connect a console, but I might try and do it this weekend.. I only have a PS2.

I use it primarily for my Media PC, for which purpose it is extremely well suited. They're connected via DVI, at native resolution, and the picture quality is excellent, despite the fact that my Media PC uses an analog NTL signal (non-split signal).

I also have my Sky DigiBox connected via SCART (RGB) and the picture quality is outstanding. DVDs look superb, even particularly dark/action-packed movies (The Descent).

While I haven't yet connected my PS2, I can't imagine the 25ms response rate being a big factor (unless you are an absolute perfectionist, in which case you should probably be looking at a high-end LCD solution). As mentioned previously, I use it as the output for my media PC, so it's well suited to PC monitor use (it is a Dell after all!), however, given the size of the screen, I don't think it would be optimal to have this screen on your computer desk, with your keyboard directly underneath. It's too big for that (remember, its 26" widescreen).

It came with all of the necessary cables (bar component inputs, which I do not use anyway), and has a huge range of connection options. I've used PIP (picture in picture) with different sources, such as NTL analog and Media PC, Media PC and Sky Dig., and all work extremely well. I don't use a standalone DVD player, as I use my Media PC for playing DVDs.

It has dual analog tuners, so you can display two NTL analog channels simultaneously, or use the Picture in picture functionality for different sources.

Only qualm is that you do need a good quality TV signal, if you plan on watching analog-based TV services (e.g. NTL/Chorus/Terrestrial aerial) otherwise, any poor signals will be accentuated by the TV.

Remote control is nice, but the receiver is on the far right of the screen, so can be finicky about receiving the infra-red signals, if you don't have it pointed in the correct direction, or have it placed on the RHS of your room..

Final thoughts:
Looking for a cheap replacement for your CRT TV, with good connectivity, HD support (through DVI and component inputs only no HDMI!), then this TV looks great, and is great value for money..

Looking for something to output from your Media-PC? This is perfect.

Looking to use it only as a PC monitor, get something smaller!

Perfectionist? You should probably look at something in the higher end of the LCD spectrum.

Phew... Can I go home now?!

Headshot

i hope it works well with my xbox 360

should it Krusty Clown? or any one else that can help

KTRIC

Krusty_Clown wrote:

Phew... Can I go home now?!

Who said you could go anywhere ???

I'll be expecting a full report on my desk tomorrow morning 9am sharp regarding said PS2 image quality.

WizZard

K-TRIC wrote:

I'll be expecting a full report on my desk tomorrow morning 9am sharp regarding said PS2 image quality.

Ditto!

georgiegray

anybody know how long they take to deliver?

Krusty_Clown

Ordered on a Thursday, it arrived on Monday morning.. Dublin-based..

I should be on commision...

butts

Ordered mine this morning. Receipt emailed to me says its due next Wednesday but wouldn't be surprised if it arrived on Tuesday.

KTRIC

Krusty_Clown wrote:

Ordered on a Thursday, it arrived on Monday morning.. Dublin-based..

I should be on commision...

Can we all come around to your house to have a look ??