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While the panel is impressively large, the footprint is very reasonable with a depth of only 229mm, ensuring that it won’t overwhelm a desk in the way that something like Apple’s 30in screen would. And unlike the Apple 30in screen the graphics card can be run at its native resolution by any recent graphics card, though inevitably if you want to run 3D games at this native resolution you’ll need to invest in one of the very top-end cards, such as an ATI X800 or GeForce 6800.

Looks wise the monitor is smart and business like – i.e. typically Dell. The grey bezel is quite thin, which helps to enhance the already impressively large screen. The Dell logo sits at the bottom centre and to the right are six buttons. The furthest right is the power switch and the four in the middle are for controlling the OSD. This is a little fiddly to use. Once you’re used to it however, it gets the job done. The button that sits on the left is for input switching and to the left of this are five numbers – one for each input. The input button can be pressed repeatedly to move to each input without having to wait for the actual panel to switch to it. Once you stop on the input you want, the panel then switches instead of it slowly scrolling through each one – a system that works well. No speakers are included as standard but Dell does offer an optional AS500 ‘sound bar’, so you can add audio of desired.

All the inputs at the rear are located facing down in a line and as the monitor is so large there plenty of space to hook everything in. The stand is nice and sturdy and has hooks for cable management at the back. It’s very easy to raise or lower the screen at will or swivel it from side to side as required or rotate it down so that you can work in portrait mode. These are touches but make it a real pleasure to work on and notably Apple’s more expensive and smaller 23in screen has none of these features. Rotating the screen is a simple matter of lifting the display to its highest position and gently pushing down on the right. The OSD also has a setting to rotate to match the orientation but it won’t do this automatically, which is a shame. It does have a Picture-in Picture function and a Picture-Beside-Picture function.

As for performance, my first impressions of the screen were that it was sharp and clear but not superbly bright. It lacks the sheer brightness of some LCD TVs but this makes it easier on the eye to use as a day to day monitor.

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