SP2309W Looks Horrible on Laptop?

[akasixcon]

I went to CNET to find the best monitor for its price and the Dell SP2309W seemed promising. It has a 2048x1152 resolution and ranked high in best of monitors division. I have ordered parts for my new i7 computer build that arrives tomorrow. Luckily the monitor arrived today and I was very excited as I unpacked it and then finally plugged it in to my laptop via my laptop VGA output. To my disatisfaction, it looks like absolute crap. The screen is too bright, too colorful and too much noise / dithering. There are things that you can tolerate, this one is just untolerable.

I used the NVIDIA control panel to set everything to the right resolution. Did the monitor auto adjust thing. Currently my laptop LCD screen is only 1920x1200 by default so duplicating the image shows a bad result. What I did was "Project Only" using my Windows 7 Professional and the screen looks like absolute crap. I have 50" Panasonic Viera G15 and my laptop can output it via HDMI perfectly. I can watch HD 1080p movies without a hitch and can even browse the web on my TV. This monitor is absolute crap though as the color, sharpness, contrast and all that jazz is crappy.

My theory I wish is that my monitor / laptop sucks at VGA cable? I am gonna have to wait until my computer components come so that i can use the DVI-D on my Radeon 4850 crossfire. Let me know what you guys think. Is this normal to have for a new monitor?

p.s. yes i did adjust the color, contrast on the monitor settings / software computer nvidia control panel. The monitor still looks bad. I didn't purchase a monitor so that I will calibrate it for hours. For a $300+ monitor, I should able to get decent viewing and not spend time calibrating it. My TV / Laptop was able to play right off the bat. Why do I have to calibrate this monitor?

 

[koinonas]

My best ever display that I've ever used was an old Sony Trinitron CRT monitor. Color, sharpness, everything was great, that was until it blew a power supply and died a few years ago....

But getting to your issue. I would reserve judgement until you can run that display off a digitial connection whether that be a DVI or HDMI. VGA is an analogue signal and will really struggle to run a screen at such as high resolution (this is part of the reason why digital was invented).

If its still giving you grief running from a digital input, then it might be worth giving the manufacturer a call to see if something is actually wrong with the screen.