Round Rock (TX) ā€“ Dell Corporation started shipping its first monitor from the 2009 line-up. Under the name S2409W, the monitor has a 16:9 LCD display with full 1920×1080 resolution.

Since Taiwanese manufacturers are now migrating to 16:9 panels, Dell had no choice but to use the panels and offer the display for only 379 US Dollars. This is one sweet deal for a large display, since last year you had to pay 400 bucks for a 22-inch display.

This S2409W belongs to entry-level series of displays, so donā€™t expect any home cinema features on this model. It features a 5ms gray-to-gray response time (just like 2408WFP), 1000:1 contrast ratio, just 300 candles light output and 85% color gamut.

Connectivity options include analog D-SUB (will this ever die?), DVI and HDMI. Oddly enough, DisplayPort ā€“ something monitors makers have been pushing lately - is not present on S2409W.

Personally, I am not a fan of a trend that will see more and more 16:9 LCD displays and less and less of 16:10. Then again, if higher-end monitors offer higher quality picture, we might even achieve some sort of compromise.