Among Dell's latest crop of desktop displays is the SP2008WFP ($299 direct), a 20-inch widescreen monitor that boasts a speedy pixel-response time and Dell's TrueLife anti-glare coating. It's also one of the first Dell monitors to have an embedded webcam and microphone solution, as well as webcam manager and effects software to spice up your video-chat sessions.

The SP2008WFP is an attractive display, sporting a thin metallic silver bezel and a strip of piano-finish black trim around the outer edge of the cabinet. The 1,680-by-1,050-resolution panel sits atop a matching stand that lets you easily tilt the panel forward and backward with one hand, though I would have liked height and swivel adjustment as well. Of the four USB ports, two are conveniently mounted on the left-hand side of the panel. The other two are located around back and are joined by an HDCP-compliant DVI input, an analog (VGA) port, an upstream USB connector, and a DC power connector for use with a Dell Sound Bar, a $35 option. This model does not have integrated speakers, but it does come with a 2-megapixel camera and two microphones, all of which are embedded in the top bezel.

Image quality with the integrated 2MP webcam was better than that of the 1.3MP camera on the ViewSonic VX2255wmb—ideal for video chats or the occasional mug shot, and even good enough for e-mailing a (slightly grainy) pix of junior to the grandparents. Included in the box is a webcam management utility disc that contains a couple of neat programs to help you set up the camera and apply special audio and visual effects during chat sessions. From the webcam's center you can record and save video clips as well as capture still photos. A remote-monitoring feature takes still shots at preset intervals and uploads them to a Web site of your choice so that you can share them with invited guests, and you can set up the camera to shoot time-lapse video and save it to your hard drive in the WMV format. I love the motion-detection function, which lets you keep an eye on things while you're away from your work area. A motion sensor activates the camera, which begins recording video and saving it to your hard drive. The program even sends you an e-mail alert when the motion detector is tripped.

I enjoyed the various video and audio effects available in the webcam console. You can choose from over a dozen voices that make you sound like a robot, a munchkin, or a duck, to name a few. You can make yourself appear on-screen as a flying superhero, a monkey, a werewolf, and more, using the video effects button. Additionally, the webcam manager contains Reallusion's Live!Cam Avatar and Live!cam Avatar Creator software, which lets you choose an avatar from a palette of animated characters or create a custom avatar using your own JPEG images.

Four slender Functions buttons and a power switch are placed on the lower-right bezel. Two of the buttons enable one-touch access to the Auto Adjust and Contrast/Brightness functions and are also used to navigate the OSD (on-screen display) screens. The SP2008WFP provides the usual mix of image adjustments, including clock, phase, and sharpness settings, color temperature and color presets for graphics applications (multimedia and gaming) and video applications (theater, sports, and nature), and hue and saturation-level adjustments. You can also create your own color preset by tweaking the RGB levels.

The SP2008WFP performed admirably on the DisplayMate LCD diagnostic tests. Small text (Arial) was legible down to 5.3 points but was much easier on the eyes at 6 points. Grayscale performance was good, with just a touch of weakness at the extreme high and low ends of the scale, but not enough to affect the color scales, as was the case with the LG Flatron L206WU. The Dell TrueLife panel produced sharp colors with very little reflection from ambient light, but the vertical viewing angle fell far short of the advertised 160-degree mark. I observed severe color shifting at around 110 degrees from the bottom angle, and the screen was almost completely washed out at 160 degrees. Be sure to position the monitor to minimize this. Horizontal viewing was pretty much on the money at 160 degrees.

Thanks to its speedy, 2-millisecond pixel response rate (gray to gray), the monitor had no trouble displaying fast-moving images. F.E.A.R. looked awesome and played as smooth as butter, and The Matrix was mostly error-free. I did notice an occasional artifact, but they were few and far between.

If you're shopping for a widescreen display but don't have the budget or desk space for a 24-inch model, the Dell SP2008WFP should be on your short list. Just make sure you mount it at eye level.

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