Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC - 92% Color Gamut 30 Inch LCD

When you think of the "ultimate computer upgrade", visions of powerful graphics cards, a blistering fast CPU, a spacious-high density hard drive or perhaps another Gig or two of memory to feed your ever-hungry OS might come to mind.  On the surface, these are all very reasonable options, and depending on your specific usage model, indeed they all might offer significant value, enhancing your overall computing experience.  Though we would offer a different perspective perhaps.

If you haven't recently considered the screen you're looking at all this wonderful new technology through, you're probably doing yourself a disservice.  We'd offer you should think of the modern computer monitor as a kin to your speakers in a high-end audio or home theater setup.  That is to say, it doesn't matter how powerful that amplifier might be; with all the bells, whistles, and acoustic fidelity you could throw at it, your setup is still going to sound like something designed by Playskool if you don't have a solid set of speakers that can accurately and dynamically reproduce the source audio feed.

In other words, GeForce 8800 GTX cards in SLI with a quad-core Intel QX6700 at the helm are only going to look as good as the screen that is displaying their output. And if you're a Professional Workstation/CAD type, you know all too well that image fidelity is something that has to be maintained throughout the pipeline, from generation and rendering to display.  We'd go so far as to say that a quality LCD screen should be one of, if not your primary focus, when it comes to system configuration and component selection. 

So when you think of the "ultimate computer upgrade", you definitely want to have an LCD option on your holiday shopping list.  In terms of an LCD panel that could be considered "ultimate", Dell's 30" wide screen UltraSharp 3007WFP that debuted earlier this year, is a can't-go-wrong choice, if you feel the need for cavernous desktop space at insanely high resolutions (2560X1600).  Pricey to be sure, the 3007WFP series delivers awe-inspiring image quality and a screen area that will occasionally require you to pan your head to take it all in, if you're sitting within traditional desktop range.

And of course, technology has marched on and Dell has decided to buff this line of monster LCDs out a bit more by enhancing the color fidelity and contrast ratio of the screen.  Today, we have our take on Dell's new UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC, a 92% color gamut capable LCD monitor.  With a full thirty inches of screen real estate and a new W-CCFL (wide cold-cathode florescent lighting) backlight, the new HC revision of the 3007WFP is targeted at increasing image quality in an LCD that has already earned high marks in the industry.

Dell 3007WFP-HC 30" Widescreen LCD Specifications and Features

A quick scan of the spec table above reveals a few obvious differences between the current 3007WFP and this new 3007WFP-HC model.  First, the 3007WFP-HC has a 1000:1 contrast ratio versus the 3007WFP of old at 700:1.  In addition, this new panel also sports a slightly faster pixel response time at 8ms grey-to-grey and 12ms black-to-black, versus the 11/14 specs of the older standard model. Lastly, the new 3007WFP-HC comes capable of reproducing 92% of the NTSC color gamut, while the 3007WFP, as well as many standard LCD panels on the market today, are only capable of 72% reproduction.  We'll dig into that a bit next.