Because part of the show in Dubai is marked as “Infocomm” (and has its own business model), there was lots of emphasis on large displays and LFD LCDs. However, there was very little discussion about desktop monitors. That changed when we went on the Dell booth.
Pride of place was given to the new 34″ U3415W curved LCD display. Dell has included this in the UltraSharp series and performance from the IPS display looked really good. There are multiple HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort inputs and four USB ports. The monitor also has upgraded audio facilities and is capable of suprisingly good audio performance. (On that subject, the company has also upgraded its monitor sound bar which is now fully powered by USB and looks very neat.)
The U2415 16:10 monitor was released recently (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 39) and was being highlighted at the show. The monitor is unusual in featuring no VGA input as we remarked on at the time.
Also on display were the S2415 (23.8″) and S2715H IPS narrow bezel consumer monitors. These have the black border between the actual bezel and the image, around 8mm on the 27″ and 6mm on the 24″. Both monitors have single edge backlights at the bottom of the display to allow the compact dimensions. The S2715 has 2 x 9W speakers, an unusually high sound level.
There is a long history of companies trying to bring out a monitor with integrated audio and video for conferencing and communications – we have fond memories of a very nice Nokia monitor that had these features – it turns out that we reported on the monitor in Vol 3 No 11 – more than 18 years ago. However, nobody has had much success so far. Dell is having another go at this application and has 21.5″, 23″ and 27″ monitors with microphones and cameras.
The UP2715K 5K monitor was not being shown. That has become the top monitor for Dell, keeping it ahead of the 4K competition.
On the booth was also a 23″ Wyse monitor with an integrated thin client system for access to virtual machines on servers although we have not been able to find details.
Dell sells a 55″ non-touch LFD (E5515H) in the US market, but, so far has not sold it in EMEA. That is likely to change in the New Year as the company has floated the price and specification with channel partners who are positive about the impact it could have.
Dell has a full range of DLP projectors up to 5,000 ANSI lumens and down to the portable area. It currently has 13 models in the range and was highlighting the interactive projector that was previewed at last year’s show.
Display Daily Comments
It’s a strange coincidence, but it seems from the data provided by the global display analysts that Dell is #1 in the global monitor market. Call me crazy, but could it have something to do with the fact that Dell is innovating in this space and taking care to ensure that it is promoting new technologies where others seem to think that “desktop monitors are just commodities”? While almost nobody else, apart from AOC/Philips (which had nothing new as we had seen them at IFA), had anybody with any knowledge or interest in desktop monitors, Dell had knowledgeable people that had clearly worked to make sure that the company’s displays were well demonstrated.
Although we’ve seen companies fail with integrated cameras and audio many times, there is sometimes a “right time” and product. Tablets were a failure for years until Apple succeeded. We were impressed with the quality of the camera in the Dell monitor – it seemed much better than the one in my (high end) notebook, and might be good enough to deliver the right experience. At some point, the time will be right for integrated communication monitors.
Dell’s planned entry into LFDs is interesting. It would be slightly surprising, however, given the effort to develop monitors for communication and the firm’s interest in education, if it didn’t start to work a bit harder at that market as well in the future.
We’ve heard others say, in the past, that they have found that projectors and large displays are often bought through “facilities management” rather than IT departments, which can make the sales process a challenge for IT companies. However, Dell told us that the increased importance of connectivity in projection is meaning that the IT departments are increasingly buying these devices. (BR)
