I've got 3 20" monitors on my desk.

The Good
2 of them are Dell 20" 2007WFPs. Some tech reviews of those monitors said they were good – but had slow response times for when it came to games. I figured that was crap before I ended up buying one, and it was SUCH an awesome monitor I bought another. I also bought a 17" 'UltraSharp' around the same time. It's viewing angle wasn't spectactacular, and I hated having 2 monitors at 1680x1050 and a third at 1280x1024. (The missing 26 pixels in height really messed with my anal-retentive tendencies.)

The Bad
So, fast-forward a few years, and I snagged what I assumed was the new 'version' of these same monitors: a Dell 2009W. Same KILLER housing/mounting equipment. Same awesome stand, same fantastic built-in USB hub. And hell, the specs looked better. Much better – at least on paper.

Only it was all lies.

The Ugly
My buddy Carson bought one of these pigs too at about the same time I did. Within a few days we both noticed that these new monitors just… sucked. They couldn't hold their color very well, couldn't come CLOSE to generating anything remotely close to rich greys like their predecessors, and (to make matters worse) colors/visibility changed depending upon what angle you were looking at them from.

And, frankly, that last point is such a crime. Used to be that 'UltraSharp' meant that you were getting a monitor with a solid viewing angle. With my older 2007WFPs no matter which direction/angle I look at something from, the colors stay the same. With these new replacements, I can shift my head just a bit, and everything is different. Let alone the fact that these monitors are seriously over-saturated (even after turning contrast and brightness WAY down).

More Ugly Still
And… of course, we all know that I'm a bit hyper-critical some times and prone to be a bit cranky (hey, that's just branding right – the site IS called AngryPets.com). But I'm not the only person complaining about it.

This review NAILS it:

Shame on Dell for not using S-IPS panels anymore. I bought this monitor coming out of a 2001FP. WOW did i get jipped.
Don't be fooled by the specs. This LCD sounds amazing on paper for the money.
2000:1 dynamic contrast, 102% color gamut, 1680 x 1050 pixels tightly packed into 20 inches. All for 259 bucks?? Sure I'll take one.
Bad idea. All I was left with was an over- saturated (and trust me the colours are wayyy intense) Almost too contrasty monitor that has a bad viewing angle.
Now more about the viewing angle. Sure it touts 170 degrees. but that's just the image. Not the colour. There's MAJOR colour shifting even at a slight angle.
When in portrait mode, the viewing angles are even worse-to-unusable(unless you don't move your head AT ALL)
      (source: cnet.com)

Likewise, geeks/readers out at Engadget nailed the craptastic choices Dell made when bolting this bucket of crap together down in their comments – where statements like this NAIL what went wrong:

Another TN panel. *sigh*
I really hate that Dell is now calling their sub-par monitors "UltraSharps". What it used to mean was a better-quality IPS or VA panel which offered better viewing angles and better colour depth. The older 2007WFP is a far better LCD than this 2009W.

So if you're in the market for a new 20" – skip past the GREAT looks of these 2009W's – they're total crap.

Shame On Dell
Yeah, I know. Shame on me for not doing a bit more homework. Especially with Dell – whose company motto seems to be: "The consumer will get over it…".

But honestly, despite the fact that I'm a fairly geeky guy and I could have done some research on these new models, why would I have needed to? The predecessor 'UltraSharps' were exactly that. These monitors (apart from their gorgeous hardware) are PURE crap.

And Dell, since you're going to find this post via Google or whatever, here's what I'm hoping: Either send me a 20" that's TRULY UltraSharp along with an apology, or I hope that someone mounts a class-action suit because you've patently decided to pull a bait-and-switch with your own 'UltraSharp' brand name.