Connectivity galore, vibrant colours, meaty sound and superb viewing angles; Jørgen Sundgot kicks back on the couch with Dell's W2600" LCD TV.
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.
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