Dell is now selling their beautiful 30 inch LCD display for AUD$2,199 delivered. Hmm. I guess there does not exist a thing called “too big” for monitors, for a computer programmer like me who spent 15 hours a day in front of one.

And it is not a “TV-grade” 30″ big LCD. If you search one places like StaticICE, you’ll find 30″ LCD panels selling for around the same price that Dell’s 3007WFP. However, they are all low resolution units with terrible dot pitch at 0.50m. With resolution as low as 1280×768, those big 30″ LCD are probably only good for watching DVDs — then you can buy a standalone 30″ LCD TV for a bit more than AUD$1,000.

Dell 3007WFP however, runs at 2560×1600 at 60Hz with 0.25m dot pitch. They call it WQXGA, but I’ll say it is huuuuge! Other properties are:

• Contrast ratio: 700:1
• Brightness: 400cd/m2
• Ports: DVI-D with HDCP, 4x USB 2.0, media card reader

It does require a nice graphics card to use it though, but imagine how many xterm screen you can put on it (which is where I spent most my time in these days, including typing up this post).

The only comparable LCD monitor that I can find is 30″ Apple Cinema HD Display, which I suspect is using the same LCD panel, as they have the same specification. But you have to pay AUD$3,199 for Apple’s brush metal Cinema Display. $1,000 for the metal enclosure and extra firewire ports? You be the judge.