Sales cease on Dell 3008WFP 30-incher due to "technical issue"

Looks like Dell's run into some issues with its highest end monitor, the droolworthy DisplayPort-packing 30-inch 3008WFP. We heard it'd mysteriously vanished from the site with nary a trace, so we pinged the folks in Round Rock. This is what they had to say:

"The Dell 3008 monitor has been well received since launch and has been very popular with customers. In February we experienced a small technical issue with the product that has been long resolved. [Um, it's only April? -Ed.] Currently the monitors are on extended lead times and in order to manage demand, the 3008 is not available on dell.com. We are managing orders on a prioritized basis and hope to have the product available to all customers in the near future."

So there you go, down but not out. Expect 'em back, um, eventually.

[Thanks, Duane]

[nxtiak @ Apr 12th 2008 8:02PM]

I wish I had a 30 incher.
When I got my Dell 2005FPW YEARS ago, I was happy as heck. Now it just seems so small :(

[Big Boy(30 incher) @ Apr 12th 2008 8:11PM]

You can always upgrade your size. Just costs money. Women prefer a larger size (AFAIK).

[Shinigami @ Apr 13th 2008 11:15AM]

nxtiak! Get one! Its the best value for money, compared to cell phones, delicious foods, stylish clothes and other stuff you don't really need xD

[Kurian @ Apr 12th 2008 10:30PM]

Its not the size that matters, its how many FPS [ ? insert sexual metaphor ] you games will run at on it.

[Johan S @ Apr 12th 2008 10:52PM]

I don't know which size women prefer, but they do seem pretty happy when they get large.

[Abuzar @ Apr 13th 2008 12:34AM]

Most girls I know start getting uncomfortable after using a 13 inch "monitor". I don't think you will see much luck with a 30 incher.

[Mark @ Apr 13th 2008 4:02AM]

dell.

[Timothy Sottek @ Apr 12th 2008 8:31PM]

I ordered a 3007WFP-HC a couple weeks ago. Its ENORMOUS, and beautiful, and 2650x1600.

So I almost had a HEART ATTACK when I saw the title, and had to read a second time to figure out that it said '2008.'

phew, Engadget.

[buu700 @ Apr 12th 2008 10:49PM]

The title does not, in fact, say '2008'.

[Mike @ Apr 12th 2008 10:55PM]

I think you need glasses since it says 3008 :P

[Timothy Sottek @ Apr 12th 2008 11:00PM]

Yes, you're both right.

Thank you for taking the time to point out my inane error. I still keep writing the last millennium at the top of my homework!

[Shinigami @ Apr 13th 2008 11:17AM]

I know how you feel xD same here!

[Georgi @ Apr 12th 2008 8:33PM]

Great misleading title..... "cease"

cease (sēs) pronunciation

v., ceased, ceas·ing, ceas·es.

v.tr.

To put an end to; discontinue: The factory ceased production. See synonyms at stop.

[Sam @ Apr 12th 2008 8:38PM]

say what?

[mac @ Apr 12th 2008 8:57PM]

I think his point is that it should say "Sales temporarily cease" or "Sales put on hold" or something that doesn't sound indefinite.

[Ryan Block @ Apr 12th 2008 11:00PM]

Mac, but it is indefinite. It certainly isn't permanently, nor did they certainly didn't tell us when it'd go back on sale.

[Timothy Sottek @ Apr 12th 2008 11:21PM]

"nor did they certainly didn't tell us"

Ryan... are you a Zen master?

[mac @ Apr 13th 2008 1:05AM]

I can agree mostly, Ryan, but it certainly is a sensationalist take on the issue.

[happy_penguin @ Apr 13th 2008 10:09AM]

Good job, Ryan. You got me to read that reply four times before I could figure out what you were trying to say. :p :D :D

[Travezy @ Apr 12th 2008 8:39PM]

The 3008WFP is still available in the UK. Is it a technical issue with the US version only or has the UK site just not caught up yet?

[kyle allen @ Apr 12th 2008 8:42PM]

when i need an lcd i go to goodwill.

[Jim Nastik @ Apr 12th 2008 8:43PM]

yep, im writing this on my 3007... best thing I did, buying that monster... got it for 800$ here in japan last year in a crazy deal! now they are double. its worth that though...

[winnerxiao @ Apr 12th 2008 8:48PM]

OTZ……DELL……

[michael @ Apr 12th 2008 8:59PM]

I hope this doesn't lead over to th 2408WPF, which I just got. I was looking at the 3008WPF but I couldn't use it on my docked Precision M50 because of the need for dual DVI connections.

[dual-link @ Apr 12th 2008 9:42PM]

> I was looking at the 3008WPF but I couldn't use it on my docked Precision M50 because of the need for dual DVI connections.

You mean "Dual-Link", right? I've seen people make this mistake before. Dual-link is a DVI interface in which all the pins are used, single-link interfaces don't use all the pins. Most modern graphics cards support dual-link

The 3007-WFP did not do hardware scaling.. it did 2560x1600 (which required a dual link interface) and 1280x800 otherwise.

The 3008 has a hardware scaler. This means it will natively support a variety of resolutions. If you laptop doesn't have a dual-link interface, the 3008 will still display up to the max single-link res: 1920x1200.. (you need a dual-link interface for higher-resolutions)

I still have a 12" PowerBook with apple's proprietory "mini-dvi" so it'll only drive my 3007 at 1280x800.. But my desktop will drive it at 2560x1200.

I really is only one DVI connector, promise.. I required photo's to prove this to colleagues

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVI
explains the differences between the many types of DVI

I do love my 3007 though.. but a 3007 AND a 3008! Now you're talking..

[michael @ Apr 13th 2008 12:41AM]

The Dell Precision M50, dock and all, only has 1 VGA connector. Besides whenever I buy an electronic, I buy it for all it can get out of it. . . or at least in theory. . . then electronic apathy kicks in.

[Michael Bailey @ Apr 12th 2008 8:59PM]

Umm; I'm running TWO 3008WFPs... That I got a couple month's ago... What exactly is the problem they experienced??

[Matthew J Pawlowski @ Apr 12th 2008 9:51PM]

They (Dell) don't specify what the problem was. I would guess most people don't notice the 3008's quirks but it has been very poorly received by the enthusiast community due to backlight leakage and excessive lag among other quirks. I hope they get these problems resolved ASAP because I'd like to pick one up.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1266885

[CupOfJoe @ Apr 12th 2008 10:05PM]

damn...i'd been looking at these. guess not now.

[Tom @ Apr 13th 2008 11:50AM]

You should be happy they're fixing the problem - don't lose faith because they're taking responsibility.

[Aguiluz @ Apr 12th 2008 10:16PM]

Mike, how about this:

http://www.appscout.com/images/spam%20boy.jpg

[Aguiluz @ Apr 12th 2008 11:21PM]

(Note: This was a reply to Mike's Spammy comment. It has been removed. I really hate to leave this hanging so I added this so I won't look like the three letter term for the rear end.)

[corruptXlife @ Apr 12th 2008 10:19PM]

I'm not sure, but I think this might be related to the LG plant fire that happened in China. I know HP was effected by that happening and 30" monitors are pretty hard to come by with them right now. Does anyone know where the LCD's are made for Dell's?

[polaris @ Apr 12th 2008 10:33PM]

Yet another douchey spammer: [e-mail]

[boe @ Apr 12th 2008 11:04PM]

I have the older 30" and it is very nice. I'm sure the newer one is much better but I can't complain about the quality of the picture for the older 30" nor the price.

I do hope that soon larger model screens are available. While you can certainly use a TV as a monitor - the quality for graphics isn't really on par with a computer screen.

I know it will take some work to make a larger one that still looks great but I have faith it isn't that far away. I'm sure a little over 5 years ago people would say no way they are going to make or now way enough people would want a 30" and I'd say there has been a huge demand for 30" screens.

[Greg @ Apr 12th 2008 11:05PM]

I have two of the 3008's. The problem is that they run very warm to hot. When they get hot, the backlight will flicker and eventually the monitor will shut itself off and a power off and power on is required to run a little while longer. On the positive side the color is better than on the 3007WFP-HC.

[Phil @ Apr 13th 2008 4:42AM]

Greg, that sounds like a serious problem and one you shouldn't just accept (especially on a monitor that costs as much as this). Get Dell on the phone and get a replacement!

[John Laur @ Apr 15th 2008 1:21AM]

I am on my second 3008WFP already; my first failed monitor was (apparently) one of the first experiencing any kind of problem and Dell captured it for failure analysis. They also took 3 weeks to get my "overnight" replacement. This is indeed the problem, and I'm not so sure it has as much to do with heat as how the monitor behaves when hot. Clearly the backlight inverters or cathodes have some problems. There are millions of LCD tv's that run much hotter than the 3008WFP. I am glad I got mine with a loooooong warranty because I expect it to fail again -- though hopefully the next replacement will come with a slightly bumped hardware rev.

[Laura @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:20PM]

I'm having this very same problem. After the monitor has been powered on for 2 to 3 hours, the brightness goes crazy, with lots of super-bright flashes. At first they happen every few seconds, but after a while they're very frequent. The monitor is basically unusable once this starts. It's obviously a hardware problem.

I've spent at least six hours over the past three days on the phone (mostly on hold) with Dell, and it's been an incredibly frustrating experience. Their level one support "techs" seem essentially clueless and are just reading from a script as far as I can tell. The tech asks me a question, I answer it, he repeats my answer back to me (which seems to be required by their script), and then he very politely asks if he can put me on hold for two minutes while he researches the issue. This repeats about about five times. Then if I'm lucky I get to talk to the "senior" tech, who asks many of the same questions.

Somehow they seem unable to arrange to ship me a replacement monitor. Last night, the senior tech finally agreed that it was a hardware problem but said that I'd need to call another number to arrange the replacement. Nobody answered at that number last night, and today when they did answer it turned out that the number has nothing to do with Dell. I called Dell back, finally got to another senior tech, and he promised to have someone call me back within two hours to arrange a replacement. It didn't happen. I called again and talked to another tech who (very politely) refused to transfer me to a senior tech but finally agreed that I needed a replacement. (This was after asking me about 5 questions that other techs had already asked and putting me on hold 5 times to research the right response to my answers.) Now, again, they can't arrange a replacement tonight and I have to call them again when I get back from the trip that I'm leaving for tomorrow.

I'm ranting now, but this has been my most frustrating tech support experience ever and will probably prevent me from doing business with Dell again. It's been even worse than calling SBC/ATT with DSL problems. It's even worse than they time SBC told me that the WAN address of my DSL modem should be 192.168.0.1. :-)

I mean, Dell is a freaking *computer* company. They should have a CRM system to keep track of a customer's support issues so that each tech doesn't have to ask the same questions over and over. Even with the low wages they're probably paying these folks in India, and even if their main job is to make me go away instead of helping me, this kind of inefficiency costs money and creates angry customers.

[young198 @ Apr 12th 2008 11:09PM]

I want too

[deusfaux @ Apr 12th 2008 11:59PM]

The issue is that this sometimes $2000 display can't display any SD signals without squishing or stretching them (to 3:2 aspect).

The firmware and OSD lack 4:3 and 16:9 scaling operations, and by default Dell monitors treat any NTSC/480i/480p signal as a 3:2 aspect image on 1:1 (and aspect too, obviously).

It's so lame, and there's no excuse.

[deusfaux @ Apr 13th 2008 12:00AM]

Well actually I'm kidding. That's what the issue SHOULD be all about - so it'll get fixed.

But that won't because Dell keeps ignoring it.


Instead the real issue is backlight bleed. The input lag is unlikely to change - and will prevent me from getting this monitor (up from my 3007) because of such a distinct DOWNGRADE.

[BigDaddyM @ Apr 13th 2008 12:11AM]

If it means anything, I like how the smaller image of the "3008" makes the front page look, verses the super big and random sized images.

I hope you guys proceed with that.
M

[DellLCD_FTW @ Apr 13th 2008 12:26AM]

While we're on the subject here. did anyone get sucked into buying one of the new UltraSharp 2009W's?

I did and I hate it. I have a old 2001FP which is still 100x better (and I still think it's Dells best monitor to date).

It all comes down the to light panel behind these things. I think that's where these problems are. They are getting cheap with that.

[Eh @ Apr 13th 2008 1:05AM]

Knowing the Dell the only "technical issue" is that S-IPS costs too much so they are replacing them them all with TN.

[moe @ Apr 13th 2008 3:56AM]

there will never be a 30" TN from dell. the only downgrade it may get is mva/pva. they would not be able to do either if they want to keep the scaling option

[Michael @ Apr 13th 2008 1:08AM]

Anyone know what CAUSED the plant fire?

[fongwen @ Apr 13th 2008 11:02AM]

anything above 30' looks gorgeous, i wish to get my hands on a new one in the near future too :P

[Eli Just @ Apr 13th 2008 2:52PM]

uh, you can still buy one on the Dell site:
try this link:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Monitors/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=k12&cs=RC957233&sku=3008WC5#Overview
It's through the education sector though...

[SecretSaver @ Apr 23rd 2008 1:31AM]

I have one of these 3008 monitors. I have had it for around 2 1/2 months. It died on me today. Frickin made in China piece of crap.