Hands-on with Dell's Crystal 22-inch LCD

You've read the specs, you know the price ($1199 ... ouch), but what you really want to know is what it looks like in real life. Well, we've traveled down that avenue dear reader, and stared the Dell Crystal 22" LCD monitor straight in its display and not only have we lived to tell the tale, but we managed to snag a gallery illustrating some of the more attractive pieces of this display.

Gallery: Hands-on with Dell's Crystal 22-inch LCD

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[Jeff Reynolds @ Jan 7th 2008 3:24AM]

This thing is ridiculous. It's a regular monitor with a huge sheet of plexiglass over it.

[Will H. @ Jan 7th 2008 3:42AM]

i agree. and people complain about lcd tv's being too reflective. one of the major problems about using computers for extended periods is eye strain due to glare on the screen - hence why many government and private sector companies commonly provide glare reducing screens for employees monitors.

imagine buying one of those and then having to slap a screen on it cause it was impossible to use. lol.

[Xzavier @ Jan 7th 2008 8:57AM]

Strange...

When I use to work in the financial markets, the reason why most people including almost all of the Administrator Assistants which I saw using "glare reducing screen"/privacy-Antiglare frames was to keep wandering eyes off of private information!

But seriously though... I've watch enough movies to know... Those government officials of ours should just go out and buy some cheap sunglasses if they don't want their eyes to hurt. Think of all of the Tax Payers dollars that would be SAVED!

I wear my suuunglasses in the office
So I can "tpye" my work really right!
I got to get that paperwork done!

Corey Hart

[Halfmad @ Jan 7th 2008 3:24AM]

That looks rather lovely, expensive but pretty damn sweet!

[jeff @ Jan 7th 2008 3:29AM]

I know that the front was pretty exciting and apparently it locked you like a tractor beam into its near fatal reflective vortex...snap out of it and scoot your booty around to the back and the sides and give me some angles on this badboy. A couple of strangely framed blurry speaker pics and full frontal ain't gonna do it for me. Who's in charge of tech porn photography over there?
Alright, mainly teasing....keep up the good work, drink lots of fluids!

[euclid @ Jan 7th 2008 11:44AM]

Hilarious. Thank you sir, for the laugh :)

[Adam @ Jan 7th 2008 3:29AM]

Nice last pic... Beer in hand cruising around CES lol

[Umut @ Jan 7th 2008 3:39AM]

This must be the ugliest monitor that I have ever seen.

[R Cervantes @ Jan 7th 2008 4:46AM]

Are you friggin blind.just retarted, or a fanboy?

[Mobius_1 @ Jan 7th 2008 6:23AM]

This monitor is not ugly! The price is!

[frank @ Jan 7th 2008 9:40AM]

Dell has TOTALLY lost it! I guess you can give them credit for using a glue that you can't see, maybe that's why it costs so much.

[BlissX @ Jan 7th 2008 4:07AM]

PLEASE tell me you guys took some nice HD photographs of th Dell 3008WFP also? Who cares about this overpriced thing; get a 24" instead from Dell.

The new 30" however, oh-ho! Behemoth!

[shamrock593 @ Jan 7th 2008 4:35AM]

Exactly.

TN film panels FTL.

[Calvin Foo @ Jan 7th 2008 5:53AM]

I wouldn't want that. it is too reflective!

I own a Dell M1330, my only complain is the stupid reflective LCD, else it would be perfect.

[Daniel D @ Jan 7th 2008 6:26AM]

Wow how could you not get a shot of the connectivity ports at the rear!?

Pfft and you call yourself a gadget blog!

[Justin @ Jan 7th 2008 6:46AM]

Seriously, am I the only one (other than Jeff Reynolds up there)... one of the two, who sees this thing as nothing more than a 22 inch LCD with a sheet of glass slapped on top?? I'm looking at a 22 incher right now, I could put glass on it, too, but that would be ridiculously cumbersome. And what? Built in speakers? I can't imagine those are of high caliber. What happens if they get damaged, or go bad? Also, the fact that we can easily see the photographer in the REFLECTION of the "monitor" is proof that this thing hasn't been tested in any real-world situations.

Come on! Where's our GOSH DARNED Minority Report glass monitors?!

[Cryoburner @ Jan 7th 2008 11:10PM]

While it might be overpriced, it is a unique looking monitor with nice aesthetics. For the price, they could have easily given it a 24 inch screen with 1920x1200 resolution though.

While it might show a lot of glare in those shots, it's probably mostly due to the abundant overhead lighting. While it might be comparable to a typical work environment, the screen appears to be more of a luxury item than something targetting for use in an office setting. In a room that's strategically lit, glare on the screen would likely be minimal.

The speakers look better than those found in most monitors, but there's nothing stopping you from using an external set if desired. They include an output for connecting a subwoofer, so I imagine that they're of relatively decent quality.

[Blake @ Jan 7th 2008 7:51AM]

Looks like a $1200 mirror to me.

[Rodeo @ Jan 7th 2008 10:00AM]

It's attractive, but I think it's just an attempt to show that Dell can make attractive hardware if it wants to. Now if they could just make a laptop that doesn't look like they harvested the plastic from a GM dashboard...

BTW...the single cable is a shameless copy of an Apple cinema display...come on Dell, really.

[CosterMonger @ Jan 7th 2008 10:54AM]

that's not for professionals - that's for consumers, and they like that disgusting gloss finish on everything

I'd like to see what one of these Crystal 22" looks like in person, with the glass cracked :)

[meta-fm @ Jan 7th 2008 11:40AM]

Awesome! Soon they'll be selling mirror instead of monitor. The HD of yourself you'll buy :)

[Nova @ Jan 7th 2008 11:53AM]

At this point, you better have a mirror insteed of that monitor for your PC. Glare is useless.

[KenC @ Jan 7th 2008 1:43PM]

Can't you make your own with a nice LCD monitor, and a custom sheet of tempered glass? Epoxy in some of those globe Apple speakers that were popular a decade ago, and you've got a monitor as nice and cheaper.

[Johan @ Jan 8th 2008 4:50AM]

First a grossly overpriced tablet notebook, now this. Its a familiar tactic, make it look nice and charge a premium. Except it doesn't really look that nice. And its a ridiculous premium. It's like dell is trying to Apple but failing miserably.