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Dell dragged me into monitor hell
WHEN I WROTE a five-page rant yesterday, little did I expect the volume of mail I got on one particular point, the Dell 3007 monitor. Most people wondered how Dell, usually a solid maker of monitors could get it so wrong. Let me tell you.
First off, as you can see in the pic linked above, I have three monitors on my desk, from left to right a Dell 2405, Dell 3007 and Samsung 214T. I bought the 3007 based on my good experiences with the 2405 and the low price. Unlike most of the freebies that the press gets, I bought this one for about $1300 with my own money, long enough after it went on sale that I figured it wasn't worth a review.
The picture is great, no question there, the panel itself is one of the sharpest and noise-free pieces that I have ever owned. So why did I say "The middle monitor is a Dell 3007, one of the worst monitors on the face of the planet, avoid it at all costs."? Easy, everything else around the panel.
There are two deal-breaker problems with the 3007, and the later 3007WFP-HC, a high color panel variant appears to have the same flaws. They are the inputs and the controls, both are so lacking it is borderline criminal to sell this monitor.
First lets talk about inputs. The 3007 has exactly one, a DVI input. On a monitor that costs over $1000, and that is the flagship of the Dell line, not having half the inputs of it's 24 and 27 inch brothers is just dumb. The 2405 has a full compliment of ports, and the 2407 probably has more, and the 2707 has yet more. The 3007 has 1. Yes 1. Duh.
I know what you are thinking, get a KVM you moron, they are cheap and work pretty damn well. I have two on my desk, in the pic linked, the DVI one is under the video decoder board between the mug and the 2405, you can't see the analog one, it is by the servers.
That said, the 3007 needs a dual link DVI signal, and because of the brain dead electronics in this beast, it only supports 2560 * 1600 and 1280 * 800. Please note, I am not joking, the highest end part by Dell supports two resolutions, you can't run 1920 * 1200 if you wanted to.
This means that any KVM needs to support dual link DVI at 2560 * 1600 with dual link HDCP or you get a black screen. It took me a while to figure out why I was seeing nothing when I first set it up. As far as I can tell, such a KVM does not exist, and I could not coax the monitor into displaying 1280 * 800 through the KVM even for testing purposes.
This utterly moronic design decision is compounded by the fact that almost two years after introduction, this stupidity has not been fixed. EVERYONE is better than Dell here, and as far as I can see, you can't buy a monitor this bad from another vendor, they seem to have ethics and a modicum of common sense.
The other problem is the controls, or lack thereof. They follow the same minimalist design philosophy as the ports, IE don't put any on. Here they all are, three of them.
Yes, I said three controls. There is power, the blue lit one, + and -. The latter two control the brightness, and that is all you get. If you want to control ANY of the other functions of this beast, you must install software on your PC and hook up the USB connection. Great, another bloated TSR to pollute my system and take up memory. Whoever thought this up, kill yourself.
Could it get worse? Hell yes it can, the damnable TSR/software is Windows only. I can't tell you if it is only XP or also supports MeII because I can't find the damn thing to download at Dell's site. Yup, service and support below consumer grade call centre levels, a Dell hallmark of yore back to haunt us again.
I have one XP box left here, and it is my test system. I use the 3007 for my main monitor, and because of the moronic port situation, it is not connected to the test box unless I physically rewire my setup. That means to change anything other than the brightness, I have to rewire, fire up a test box, find (is it available for download at all?) the software, install it, change the settings, reimage the test box back to it's neutral state, rewire, and go back to work.
Completely unacceptable. Like I said before, to the design team, please kill yourself for the good of humanity. This control setup is beyond laughable, it is like some demented nightmare come to life to taunt those who dare try to buy something nice from Dell.
In the end, the Dell 3007 is a nice looking panel wrapped in electronics so broken it is a wonder that it was approved for sale. I can not fathom how this made it though any even mildly critical product review. My only conclusion is that Dell cynically thought that a big shiny number, 30 inches, and a low price would be enough to tempt people. Once they have your money, they have your money.
I admit, I was a sucker, and trust me, I do feel stupid every time I think about it. In the end, I think Dell owes me and everyone else who bought one of these a new monitor with real ports and controls. Barring that, at least a KVM that works with this.
Bottom line, let me reiterate, avoid the Dell 3007 line like the plague. Their flagship is complete crap, you will be better off buying ANYTHING else. To anyone involved in bringing this to market, there is no honour in killing yourself for this product, but please do it anyway. µ
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I bought a 30" about a year ago now, and found your page while searching for prices for another one, or possibly two.
The resolution of 2560 x 1600 is great. Naturally, I made sure I would be using it on a PC with a sufficient specification of video card. The only problem I found was that I could not run two monitors from the same card, seriously!
As for adjustments, I have never found any need to make any.
It makes our assortment of Iyama 22" CRT, and various 19" LCDs feel cramped.
Well, being a resolution purist, I'm very happy to see at last a monitor that only accepts integer divisions of its native resolution.

The number of people around here that run a 1280x1024 LCD at 1024x768, or a 1600 one at 1280, it hurts my eyes.
You bought it-did you research-I think not
Who says that graphics drivers are the only thing you need to set the monitor up -- you are an uneducated moron here, not Charile.

Decent monitor has color temperature setting (that is not the same as gamma by the way) and brightness/contrast settings in driver do not affect backlight as they should.

Moreover, if you honestly believe that you got it cheaper because Dell removed 2 buttons then you are a moron beyond my wildest expectations.

Charlie should consider 28" Viewsonic. It is a lot cheaper, has HDMI, 1920x1200 and it is MeII ready.
Someone commented on other brands of monitors, and suggested HP, and other brands.

But why hasn't anyone mentioned Sun monitors?. They have some mind-blowing LCD screens... if you ask me -obviously, at a price-.
Hi Charlie,

I suspect the problem lies with the utter and complete lack of video scaler ICs which can support the insanely high resolution of 2560x1600. The television world is (and will be for the forseeable future) stuck at 1920x1080. My hypothesis is that the nice video scaler ICs in lower full HD-ish resolution computer displays are borrowed from the TV world (hence the ability to support a multitude of input formats). Since there are no TV scalers with support for line widths above 1920, Dell et al are stuck with simple DVI to LVDS converters to feed these massive panels. This would also explain why even the better-featured HP model can only offer a 3-to-1 DVI switch and nothing else.

Just guessing...
The author's primary problem is technical ignorance. 

Sure, it'd be nice if Dell put more than one DVI port on the monitor. But it has to be DVI, and it has to be dual-link. No other connection type that you have a reasonable chance of finding on a computer graphics card supports the native 2560x1600 resolution.

I myself have the HP version of this panel (all the 30-inch monitors use the same panel), which has three dual-link DVI ports, and an extra button on the front in addition to power and two brightness controls, to select the input. The Samsung and Apple versions also have no other display controls, which makes a lot of sense when you consider that the display signal is always digital. Any adjustment that pertains to an analog connection is quite irrelevant.

My HP model supports *only* 2560x1600. The graphics card scales any other resolution without a driver (and without a performance hit), so that "limitation" is also irrelevant.
Where does Inquirer find these people to write these articles. I usually laugh them off, but this is rediculious. I have teh 3007 and after alot of research, comparing to 1500+ dollar monitor Dell is a steal for the quality. Maybe lack ports, but thats a small price. Do your research before you bash something you dont understand.
To my knowledge and as a Dell employee we cannot recall having seen the similar kind of vehement feedback from a customer or a reviewer on the 3007 monitor. It is interesting that this state of the art monitor, in which we sell thousands, not only received a distinguished award from Computer Shopper and others, but it also was recognized by MacWorld UK with an Editors Choice Award. We hope our next edition of the 30 inch monitor is more appealing to Mr. Demerjian.
sandwiched between two Dell 20.1 flat panels. I love the monitors. The lack of additional ports has never bothered me. I run the three panels with one computer.

I've had mine about two years and it has now grown dim and a few pixels have died... and I've been waiting about a month and a half for a replacement.

I would expect Dell could have a better plan for warranty replacements.

I notice that Dell no longer claims typical shipping times. Perhaps their JIT manufacturing premise is not working as well as management had hoped.
"That said, the 3007 needs a dual link DVI signal, and because of the brain dead electronics in this beast, it only supports 2560 * 1600 and 1280 * 800. Please note, I am not joking, the highest end part by Dell supports two resolutions, you can't run 1920 * 1200 if you wanted to."

Are we regressing back to the days of fixed frequency monitors? What an appalling restriction - how can you even define this as a monitor? So glad I held off buying one recently when they were on special...
because at the time of designing current LCDs there was no image/scaling procesor able to do 2560x1600 calculations at minimum 60Hz at realistic costs and acceptable input lag ...while your graphics is doing that anyway all the time, so why double it ?.
I am happy owner of HP 3065 and it can run all the resolutions fullscreen - just open (Nvidia in my case) drivers and selet to do rescaling on the VGA ... 
As soon as there will be 30" available with built in image procesor/rescaler, we gamers won't be happy , input lags will come with it ...
Well, aren't you a smart fella! I think we all learned something from you today. Graphics drivers, you mean those are needed?
Yes, we know. There's no OSD except brightness on this monitor, that's ridiculous. Brightness control, no preset whatsover. Is the software available for Leopard? Or maybe for your beloved FeistyFawn? Dell website lists this: Release Title: Displays: Dell 3007WFP, Driver, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows XP x64, Multi Language, Multi System, A-00
Nice. They also say it's the initial release, which means the software was never refreshed. I sure hope it works under Vista...
2 years and still no refresh. That's a bummer. Most if not all other competitive monitor manufacturers refresh their monitors more often than that. But you're right, you can't blame Dell for doing nothing than making you believe this panel will be great.
Heh really, once they have your money, they have your money.
Charlie has four complaints, all of which arise from the expectations set by smaller monitors, but only two of which are valid (1 and 3):

1. Lack of on-screen controls (esp. for backlight level, black level, white level and RGB gammas). Having only Windows applet control means the monitor is useless with Linux, Mac and Unix. This is truly inexcusable.

2. Lack of multiple inputs. Yes, you'd expect that at this price, but yes, you check for it before writing the check. Competing 30LCDs have multiples. That no dual-link DVI switches exist yet is a bit surprising.

3. Lack of scaler for rasters other than native and integer fractions thereof. This can mean that 640x480 and 800x600 cannot be displayed. Inexcusable, as these are required for BIOS setup and early OS install screens. I'll bet this limitation isn't loudly advertised. This may be a class problem with current dual-link monitors (and all monitors accepting DVI rasters over 1920x1200 are dual-link). That this is the case is surprising. The engineering problem isn't trivial, but is solvable.

4. Lack of analog inputs. An unsurprising consequence of #3. Annoying. I sometimes connect the DVD player's YPrPb to my current 24in LCD. But again, you inventory the ports before purchase.
The problem here is that you dont have enough money to buy a dual link dvi capable video card to support your 1300 monitor...

Get familiar with specs and requirements before you buy... 

This technology was designed to take advantage of large resolutions...
Sorry, Dooby, but graphics card drivers are NOT made to manage display functions beyond screen size and number of colors.

The rest, color temperature, screen angling and such, is normally in the OSD menu.

Proof ? Uninstall your graphics drivers and reboot. You'll still be able to control the above parameters - albeit on a 640 x 480 screen in 16 colors.
I work as a tech who gets contracted out to install whatever computer gadgetry someone is willing to pay IBM to handle. Sometimes thats a couple Dell monitors for Dual Screen.

There is a Y Cable that Dell sends out so that a single DVI connector can be split for two screens. I'm not especially familiar with how DVI works, but you might try and get this splitter and reverse it- connect the 2 ends to a video card and the other to the cable that joins it to the monitor. Take a signal from two sources outputting the same info and combine. Worth a shot if you have one laying around.
The Charlie in the Dell
The Charlie in the Dell
Hi Ho the Merry-O
The Charlie in the Dell
This monitor was built for the sole purpose of being an all digital LCD. Dell is very price conscious and they build (for the most part) decent quality stuff at as low of a price as possible. There is only one 30" LCD that has any type of analog input out, which is the Gateway XHD3000. This is the only 2560x1600 monitor that supports component input. It is also $1700 usd. Gateway had to include the "HQV Realta video processing" which is a very expensive chip. That’s why you end up with a $400 higher price tag. This is the same reason dell doesn’t have and OSD (on screen display), as it would require some sort of digital scaling chip just to display anything extra on the monitor. As for the + and - buttons, they are only used to adjust the back light brightness exactly the same way the LCD on a laptop works. Like Dooby wrote, all the setting to change brightness contrast and gamma are built into the control panel of you video card drivers. Changing these settings at the driver level actually gives an almost perfect representation of what the changes should be. For example, let’s say the monitor supported RGB analog video, the video card is digital in its native form, then the signal gets changed to an analog signal threw the onboard DACs (digital to analog converter), Then the monitor has to convert this analog signal back to a digital form after doing a little video processing to it, this way it can be displayed on the LCD, since the LCD is natively a digital screen. After all that is done, then they could add the extra controls to it such as OSD and give you contrast and gamma, but your signal is all ready degraded since it was converted from digital to analog then back to digital. This makes it loose a lot of the original quality. 
Let’s face it. This was never intended to be a TV, or a multimedia LCD. It was meant to be a BIG LCD with incredible high resolution for enthusiast and professionals. It wasn’t made to plug you VCR or Xbox into (although my Xbox elite works on it with HDMI to DVI cable at 1280 x 768 with a little weird strip at the bottom). And YES you can do 1920 x 1200 on it. You still have to have a Video card that supports Duel link DVI. Then the video card actually does the scaling of the screen.

The bottom line....whatever LCD you ever get, they all have "FIXED pixels"...meaning they all have a "Native resolution". It’s just that in the case of this LCD that it is really really High Res of 2560 x 1600 and dell opted to let the video card be the scalar and get it to market at the lowest price possible rather than choosing Gateways path and paying so much extra for the HQV Realta video processing. 

This monitor is one of the BEST purchases I have ever made and don’t regret it one bit. Sure it would be convienent for it to have extra inputs...but that comes at a price.

Next time you drop a $1000 on a piece of equipment do yourself a favor and research it a little before you do, rather than bi*ching and moaning here and telling the engineers to DIE. Grow up and learn a thing or two before putting both feet in your mouth at the same time.
I have brought this monitor and im 200% happy with it.
So what it only has one connection, i only have one cable to plug in it anyway, my pc, if i want to play on the xbox or whatever ill use something apprioriate, i wont use a monitor with a resolution almost twice the standard hi def.
And what are you whittling on about only have two resolutions? just to prove it im running 1920 * 1200 and it looks fine

If anyone has ever played a game on this monitor at 2560x1600 you can see why this monitor is worth every penny

tsssk
One DVI, yes it's a bit stingy but the only things you could possibly want or need on a monitor with this resolution would be, well, more DVI inputs. Why?

HDMI maxes out at 1440p. VGA, well I'm not entirely sure off the top of my head but it's certainly nowhere near 2560 x 1600. Same for Component. Why would you want a bunch of inputs that can't output at the native resolution of the display?

If anything, the main problem with the Dell screens is the panel lottery, that and the HC models seem to arrive without being calibrated properly resulting in ridiculous over saturation.
I have one sitting on my office desk and it does its job perfectly well. I don't know about you but I usually read the spec sheet before buying expensive bits of hardware to see if it has the features I require, it seems as if you didn't think it through before pressing the buy button.

I just needed to connect it up to a single computer, be profilable with a monitor calibrator and give reasonable colour accuracy (average deltaE of 0.5 after calibration so it's pretty decent), and give good image quality. It delivers on all those fronts. No need for more than on/off and +/- buttons because after calibration, you don't touch the screen set-up at all.

For use it in an office/work environment, it's quite a reasonable monitor. It's great for digital image editing, spreadsheets and DTP.
Having used this monitor on my brother's system you can change the resolution and all the colour settings though it is the 3007WFP-HC, but how you can say this not fit for purpose I do not know I would buy one right now if had £850 burning a hole in my pocket. If you dont like it send it to me, Stop whinging about the specs you should checked these before you buying it.
I use this screen since when it came out - never had any need of additional inputs - nor of installing the software to adjust it.

I do not see your point - and to possible buyer I strongly recommend it. 

Of course if you plan to hook it up to an XBox or a Sky tuner then you better but a LCD TV and not an high end monitor.


IMHO Dell has tackled a specific market ... and they got it right
AKAIK there is only one 30" monitor available today with the electronics to properly process a wide variety of signals and display them on a 30" screen.

The Gateway XHD3000

http://www.gateway.com/accessories/product/1541272R.php?seg=hm

It does this using a Silicon Optix Realta HQV chip:
http://www.siliconoptix.com/products/Realta.cfm

But you'ld know that before you started your rant, what with being a tech journo and all...
When you bought the monitor you knew it had a great picture and only one input.

You cannot claim it has a great picture and then call it worthless. Its only job is to display a great picture.

You knew it only had one input and still bought it so the only person to blame is yourself.

Having to run software to adjust the monitor is only an inconvenience. Plus, I find that the video card adjustments are all I need.

You and the other posters who claim the monitor is worthless are blithering idiots. It does one thing and one thing well. If you want it to do something else then buy something else.
For the love of god and all that is holy, Charlie, please kill yourself. You couldn't write a viable piece of journalism to save your pathetic life. WHY must you continue to punish us with your drivel?
...which has THREE dual-link DVI inputs. The author should have researched this a little bit better before shelling out $1300. 

There is no such thing as a KVM box that can switch dual-link DVI, as the author found out the hard way.

By the way, I DO NOT LIKE HP, they declined to give me a RMA number for a broken CDR writer more than a decade ago when these things still cost $500 or so, with all kinds of bogus excuses ("your driver software is too new"). 

Since that incident, when HP stole $500 from me, I have been avoiding HP like the plague.

However, spotting the single-DVI-input issue ahead of time, this time I made an exception to my decade-old HP boycott.
I could not agree more. It's not for for purpose.
actually this monitor doesnt support dual link HDCP anyway (i own one!) it only supports HDCP at 1280x800 - so you cant even watch full def blu-ray on it
is like going to the monitor section at the store, shutting your eyes, pointing to one at random, and buying it. 

It could be great. It could be terrible. It could be anywhere in between.

Every time I've opened up one of those Dell LCDs to switch out the inverter or reconnect some ribbon cable, it seemed the panel was a different brand. My best explanation for this is that whenever Dell needs to make a batch of LCDs, they just buy panels from whoever is selling them for the least. This keeps their costs low but unfortunately for the consumer it means there is no single "dell" monitor.

They probably do the same thing with choosing ODM designs. Whoever came up with the 3007 was probably charging significantly less than whoever designed its predecessors, and Dell was happy with that in spite of the lower design standard because they know they can do huge volume sales regardless sight unseen.
You don't like the monitor then...
I'm fully in agreement with you that the Dell 30in monitor is pretty shocking in its lack of features.

However, I've not been able to find any that are significantly better.

The other 30in monitors I'm aware of are from:

Apple: supports more resolutions, but still only has a single DVI for input.

Samsung: supports more resolutions, but again only has a single DVI for input.

HP: Supports more resolutions, has 3*DVI, but no other input types.

Are you aware of any other 30in ones on the market? I've been looking for a 30in monitor, but (as you indicate in your article), they are all rather limited.
it is a good mon by itself, and a downright excellent one if you consider its price too. Just because it doesn't suit your need doesn't make it bad. 

AFAIK Apple's 30" also has one input only, and HP's has 3 but they are all DL-DVI. Don't know about Eizo's new offering....

If you can't find a KWM which support DL-DVI, blame the right party 

(it is the KVM vendors, my friend)
So for any sensible person who has the one set-up and doesn't mind the outrageous crime of installing software this would seem a pretty good monitor. Unfortunately out of my price range but I tell you what Charlie, send me yours and you can have my Mitsubishi Diamond CRT in return. It has lots of ports, more than you can shake a stick at.
"Whoever thought this up, kill yourself."

This is why I love the INQUIRER.

I find it appalling Dell would release a monitor like this. Did you somehow get a pre-production unit which had all convenience stripped from it? How on earth did they ever let this pass QA?

Such a shame, because as you say, Dell are renowned for their displays and most people would base their experience off lower end units before jumping to the big 30". Very disappointing..
The thing is, most reviews back then focused solely on the size and picture quality of the monitor :) Stupid but true...
Not being funny, but inputs and settings should have been mentioned on/in/from wherever you bought the monitor. There were reviews gallore about the monitor before it was available, and dual link DVI has never been a hidden factor. If you don't read the specs when buying something that costs you over $1000, then thats pretty much your own fault. If you didnt take two seconds to piece together that the monitor needs something you can't give, then thats your tough cheese. I paid £1300 ($2600) for mine and its the best thing Ive ever bought. 

Remember, this monitor came out around two years ago, when the only other similar monitor was the Apple. It undercut the price of that by £1000 ($2000) meaning that if some options had to go then so be it. It looks better (I hate silver shiny stuff) and works better. Ok, it would be nice if they brought out a newer model, but that would increase the price (similar size is £500 extra). I am a graphic artist, and have found the colour reproduction on it to be pretty damn good. I also have 2x 2407s and a 2001FP hooked up to this computer. I wub Dell.

One last thing, I did enjoy your use of the word moronic in this piece, when the only thing it really sums up is... you. You have to install "software" do you, to change all the other settings on this monitor. Would that software be the graphics card drivers, which are pretty much a necessity? Then you can change brightness, gamma, RGB, pretty much everything. I do like how you've used a whole page of the Inq to wibble your wobble, but at least make it make sense, or show that you know what you're talking about.
While it is unfortunate that it doesn't have a plethora of inputs and controls, it seems you're being a little harsh, recommending that everyone avoid it.

What if you just have one desktop, and you bought a 30" display because you want to, you know, use it all the time at full resolution? What if you're like me, and you don't always fiddle with the display settings? If all you want from it is to be a single, high-resolution display for a single computer and not change display settings, is it a bad display?
Well, what you mentioned is quite true, but you failed to note that these problems have been in existence since the time of the Monitor's debut.

You should have done the proper research in what kind of monitor would be suitable for you and your needs, as it suits mine just fine, thats why I've got 2 of them. I have a 2405FPW too, it's an awesome monitor too.

You shouldn't really be blaming Dell for all of this. *hint*hint* .

Cheers.
None of the monitors of this size that were available when you bought yours had features significantly better than the 3007WFP. Only the HP 30"er with its 3 switchable DVI inputs offered even minute improvement. They all have no internal scaler to allow resolutions other than native or quarter-native - none existed a (at reasonable prices) when these first generation panels were designed. This is also why they don't have an extensive set of input jacks. None of them offered more than brightness adjustment from their OSDs.

Gateway's brand new 30" monitor is the first to incorporate a scaler capable of handling the 2560x1600 resolution. It's a Silicon Optix Realta video processor which allows this monitor to display a full range of resolutions & use a full range of inputs. This is an expensive video processor usually found in high end consumer video devices like Denon's better AV receivers & BluRay player.

All the first generation 30" displays and their high-gamut younger brothers are now approaching EOL. Gateway will not remain the only player in the market to offer a full featured monitor of this size for long.
And this is why I haven't been able to coax myself into buying the Dell.
It does seem ridiculous... even HP includes 3x DVI.
(but HP was no-go because I didn't figure I could return it if the screen was dodgy)

However, when I was looking at these monitors I did run across a dual-link KVM from Gefen:
http://www.gefen.com/kvm/cav-switchers.jsp

It's a practically free at $400/2-port or $900/4-port.

Regards Charlie
There is an alternative monitor:
The Samsung 305T. LOVELY monitor.

I have a pair of 244Ts. One bought years ago, back when they were $1700 cdn. and one just a week ago, now that it is $600 cdn.

The Samsung T line has traditionally been an amazing pile of win, and thier 305T is no exception. 

My local computer parts shop is selling the 305T for under $1300 cdn. right now. Since the Canadian dollar is about equal with the American....

...well....

...Why buy a Dell? The Samsung models come with so many options....

Link to local shop's nice low price this lovely little toy:
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX18902(ME).aspx
Thanks Charlie.

The buying public has to be truly grateful you dug deep into your own pocket, and reported back FACTS.

Less-honest Journos would've kept the Freebie in return for "praise".

Look on the bright side though, it gave you a plausible article for the Inq.

PS Let us know Michael's response(s), will you?
I'm not a dell fanboy- cancelled my m1330 xps cause they didnt know when it would be ready 

BUT i have the 3007 HC 

and its been one of my best purchases because 
Soooo much screen space (firefox and Open office at the same time)
Great value
The colour quality on movies/sport is great 

1 dual link dvi , HOW MANY INPUTS do you need ?

hdcp ???? you leave it on the movies you watch ?
What sort of numpty buys the monitor first and then discovers it only got 1 input. Read up on it first to see if tis suitable.

Its a decent monitor with acres of screen real estate for not a lot of money. Yeah its only got 1 input but I read the reviews before I bought it.
someone flamed this monitor. We have a couple @ work and they drive me mad w/ their silly touch sensitive buttons and complete lack of control...and wtf's up w/ no height adjustment? I used 2 2007WFP's (S-IPS) whenever possible, they do not suck. :D
Dual-DVI KVM do exist. Gefen makes some. They are high quality, but expensive.
I purchased one prior to getting my 30". In the end, I didn't need it at all as I selected the HP LP3065, which has 3x Dual-DVI inputs.

BTW The HP LP3065 has a great screen, but is also limited into only two resolutions. The 2560x1600 and the highest VESA resolution (1280x800).

I also knew prior to purchasing my screen (I did research all the 30" monitors, all the DVI cabling specification etc) that I would not have HDCP. Maybe the 2nd generation of 30" monitor will have more choices, but I'm still extremely happy with my choice.

Dear Charlie, perhaps you should look around a bit before making such a rant.

There are two 30" ones at Newegg, a HP and a Samsung ($1300 both):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010190020+1309825151&name=30%22

Both has [Shorely have, Ed.] only brightness controls.
The Samsung also has only one DVI input.

Perhaps you should get an Eizo, that one would fulfill your needs:
http://www.eizo.com/products/lcd/SX3031W/index.asp
Recommended price: $2500. Oops...
As a (still) proud owner of a 3007 (and I paid 2500 for it too, at release... damn kids and only paying 1k!), your comments are spot on. 

Compared to any modern, more "normal sized" monitor, the 3007 is an under-featured piece of s&(&^%.

But you know what? It's 30" of love. 30 inches. I've used, and own, the 24" Dells. I've used, and owned, the 27" Dells. And guess what? They're not 30". No sir. 

So, at 1k today, you get what you pay for, IMHO: A big, 30" display. Nothing else. 30" of love. 2560x1600 of SLI-requiring LCD.
It's no secret this monitor only has 1 input, every review covers this point, and the fact that it only has brightness controls on the panel itself. 

I can't believe you're stupid enough to spend that much money on something without finding out first if it's appropriate for your needs.

The lack of inputs I suspect is closely tied to the massive native resolution of 2560x1600, you NEED dual linked DVI to run this so I expect other older formats like standard analogue simply aren't up to the task.

Even so most good video cards have VIVO and allow you to pipe all sorts of inputs through your video card and display them on the screen, again all possible with no additional software.

Nvidia and AMD drivers both offer fulls scaling options so the monitor can display any resolution you like full screen either stretched or not, they also supply you with full colour, contrast, brightness, gamma and other visual controls.

Furthermore the panel does support HDCP over dual linked DVI, this limitation comes from current video cards, not the monitor.

This is the most STUPID rant I think I've ever read, most of this is mis information from someone who is unhappy because they can't read reviews before spending big bucks on something.
And why would we believe this rant?

Charlie said he had sworn of Windows entirely a few months ago in another rant, yet every day he's using Windows and writing about Windows.

Charlie's almost like a stalker .. says he's done, but just can't admit his deep deep love for it, or keep his hands off it. He's gotta keep pursuing it.
Hey John, check out the Gateway XHD3000, reviewed here:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/gateway_xhd3000

Please note however, not everyone is happy with this monitor. Some people are reporting a horrid problem, which can bee seen here:

http://www.plasmamix.com/pub/xhd3000/xhd3000_defect.html

Still, it doesn't seem to affect every one. Good luck!
There have been reviews of this monitor's better and newer brother, the 3007WFP-HC, since December 2006. Nearly all of them list the number of ports, including and gripes surrounding them. Why, then, did you just jump in and spend $1,300 on its ugly sister with the same flaws? You call the single port a "deal breaker"? Why was the deal made?

Dell doesn't owe you, or anyone, anything with regards to this monitor. Take responsibility for your own stupidity and spare us the review for a product which is years old anyway.