Upping its largest offering from 26 to 37 inches, Dell improves on most all aspects of the company's LCD flat panel line-up; Jørgen Sundgot plays with the new Dell W3706C.
When Dell first introduced its line-up of flat panel TVs, many an eyebrow was raised. Would the master of margins wreak havoc on its competitors and usher in an LCD TV utopia with price tags that wouldn't make average Joe balk? As we now know, the simple answer is no - but Dell appears to stick to its formula of making products that are more than good enough despite their pleasant price tags.
We previously had the pleasure of reviewing Dell's W2600 LCD TV, and although the set itself proved to be no technological an visual marvel, Dell got excellent marks on value. I recently had the opportunity to spend a bit of playtime with the new W3706C, announced today, and from what little could be glanced it would appear Dell is repeating its formula.
Launched alongside the W3202C, the W3706C is a 37-inch panel with dual tuners, one of which is analog and the other of which is an analog/DVB-T hybrid. Unfortunately, a preview of DVB-T was not available, but the 1366 x 768 panel with a 1000:1 contrast ratio and brightness of 500 cd/m2 proved very clear and crisp - although colour saturation left a bit to be desired.
Supporting HDTV from 480i through 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p and 1080i, the W3706C is blessed with a multitude of connectors. For video, there's a single coaxial input for tuner signals alongside dual Composite, dual S-Video and dual SCART inputs, as well as single Component, DVI and HDMI connectors. Furthermore, a whopping 8 RCA ports are available for audio in, as is a single 3.5 mm jack for those bent on connecting a PC to the set.
Audio output is courtesy of two detachable, 30-watt speakers with SRS TruSurround delivering surprisingly meaty sound - quite a bit better than the output of the W2600.
Other highlights worthy of mention include picture-in-picture, picture-on-picture and picture-by-picture functionality, as well as Dell's unusual yet intuitive settings interface, retained in all of its glory from the W2600. Also, the sleek backlit remote control has been kept - a nice bonus in itself.
Available immediately, the Dell W3706C can now be had across Europe for €2,550 EUR and has been available in the US for $2,150 USD since October 18. Its announcement follows the recent introduction of
the W3201C LCD TV and W5001C Plasma TV, both of which are exclusively available in the US market.
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