A Guide to Dell Flat Panel Displays

Dell currently has one of the best price/quality rate for flat panel displays. Occasionally you might find cheaper units than Dell Flat Panels (FPs). But before you go and make that purchase, you should check whether the quality is comparable. Most cheaper units do have lower quality; and you certainly don't want that for your substantial investment. Only buy a good product at a good price. In order to know how the Dell FPs compare, please take a quick look to the following comparison page: Dell Ultrasharp Flat Panel Comparison.

Dell FPs are very aggressively priced. Dell wants high market share for its products so it provides significant discounts on these Flat Panels. If you are new to the world of Dell FPs, there are two different kind of Dell FPs being sold on eBay. Both are actually the same product, but the warranty on the items are very different. This difference should be quite important for buyers, since major headaches and stress can come out of it. Please take a few minutes to read the following information to get full knowledge about Dell FPs.

The first common Dell FPs you can easily find are those you see with a 1 year warranty. Have you ever seen those? I bet you have. So what is the standard Dell warranty on Flat Panels? It is actually three years. You can read the information at http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/monitors/2000fp/English/warranty.htm. Then why do some sellers advertise Dell FPs with only a 1 year warranty? There are two possible explanations. First, the seller just wants to promise shorter warranty although the unit has longer warranty. Such situation might be possible since some sellers might not be available 2-3 years from the time of your purchase. You should really check with the seller if you think he/she falls into this category. Second, there are sellers selling monitors that were originally purchased with a system. Do these monitors carry any warranty? It might and it might not. Let me try to explain it with a detailed example.

Let's say SELLER-A purchased a complete system with a Dell FP from Dell. Then SELLER-A sells the system to BUYER-B and the monitor to BUYER-C. The warranty on the system normally would be transferred to BUYER-B, since this is allowed by Dell. BUYER-B would then be the new registered owner of the system. And it is not just the system alone; but all other peripherals originally purchased with it. You have to understand that Dell only provides warranty on the system and not each peripherals, especially when the peripherals were purchased along a system. Thus, the monitor purchased by BUYER-C would actually have the warranty under BUYER-B's name. What happens when BUYER-C needs to get warranty support for the monitor? Unfortunately there is no absolute answer. From my extensive research on this, it seems that everything depends on your persistence in getting support. But in most occasions, Dell would refuse to provide warranty support. The best scenario is to have BUYER-B's complete information when calling for support, after BUYER-B associates BUYER-C's name with the system tag. Without such arrangement it is almost impossible to get support. Because even under the best scenario, Dell sometimes might still require BUYER-B to start the support ticket. Consider yourself having a major problem with your monitor and being told by Dell Tech Support to contact the system owner to obtain any support. Then, should you need a replacement, Dell might also ship the replacement unit to the system owner, not you. Is it worth going through all these hassle? That is a question you need to answer yourself.

The second type of Dell FPs sold on eBay are those carrying the full 3-years warranty. These monitors should be originally purchased from Dell Software & Peripherals (S&P) department. Although there is no actual warranty transfer process for Dell branded items, Dell does provide warranty support even if the item is sold to another entity. What is required to obtain warranty under such condition? The buyer/new owner needs to have the original purchaser information (name/company name and original order number). Whenever the new owner needs warranty support, he/she can call Dell directly and answer all the questions required to obtain support. There should be no problem getting support from Dell that way.

So which type of Dell FPs should you purchase? Personally I would go with the second one, since it has full warranty. The only situation I might consider buying the first type would be if I already own an existing Dell system with warranty coverage longer than 1 year. Why would I want to do that? There are two reasons. First, units with 1 year warranty are usually cheaper. Dell usually provides bigger discount when you purchase a monitor with a system. Bigger discount Dell gives to your seller, bigger discount your seller would give. That is why those units with 1 year warranty usually sell for less. Second reason is I might be able to associate the new monitor with my existing Dell system, hence taking the warranty from the system. That is the standard procedure with all peripherals available from Dell S&P department. I have not done this myself so I cannot ensure the result of such arrangement. But I can say I am about 90% sure Dell would allow it. You would only need to supply the serial number from the monitor to be associated with your existing system tag. It is that simple. Nevertheless, should you have an existing system with less than 1 year warranty or have a non-Dell-branded system, then it is better to purchase monitors with full 3 years warranty. I can assure you the lack of headaches would be worth the slight price difference you pay for the monitor. Keep in mind that this is a big investment, since FPs usually cost anywhere between $300-$1,000+, which should last you for a couple of years.

Price difference between the two different monitors might lure you into purchasing the cheaper one. I know everyone wants to get the best product for the lowest price. But would it be cheaper for the long run? The decision is yours to make. I hope this guide was easy to understand, and extensive enough, to provide you with the answer to most questions you have on Dell Flat Panel monitors. The information provided above are based on the information I personally gathered during the past year selling Dell monitors. Most of the information came from dealing with Dell Customer Service in many different departments. You can save yourself countless hours only to get to the right information. If you have any question about anything contained in this article or any other topic relating to Dell monitors please feel free to contact me via email. I thank you for reading this article.