Verdict: The HiColor wide gamut system packs immersive gaming and vibrant video into 24in of widescreen satisfaction.

Dell's original 2407WFP was legendary, as indeed was the 2405WFP before it. These TFTs made high-resolution widescreens much more affordable for the masses, and set the yardstick by which other screens had to measure themselves. In fact, we suspect that these monitors were the reason for readers recommending Dell monitors more than any other brand in this year's Awards. The 2407WFP-HC is an evolution of the 2407WFP (the HC stands for HiColor). It looks very similar to its predecessor, but incorporates a new wide gamut colour technology.

While some manufacturers are using wide gamut to improve the image quality of cheap TN panels, Dell has chosen to add its HiColor system to an already pretty decent S-PVA panel without increasing the price. Wide gamut is essentially a new backlight technology. Conventional backlights emit light with a slightly greenish tinge, which you can sometimes see in certain DisplayMate test patterns on cheaper TFTs. This means that they can only display a limited range of colours - usually 72 per cent of the gamut.

With wide gamut, a new phosphor is used for the backlight, which emits a much purer white. As a result, 92 per cent of the colour gamut can be displayed. So the dynamic range is extended, with whiter whites. However, wide gamut doesn't improve the black level or uniformity cross the colour range. So while it can make a6-bit TN panel's colour look better, adding it to superior S-PVA and S-IPS panels will make them look better too. There's also a new version of Dell's groundbreaking 30in panel with HiColor, which combines wide gamut with S-IPS technology for similar improvements to dynamic range.

We were expecting the 2407WFP-HC to be noticeably superior to its predecessor, and we weren't disappointed. It exhibited excellent angles of vision, with good contrast, in our synthetic DisplayMate tests. It couldn't quite keep up with the Eizo, but it came surprisingly close, considering how much cheaper it is. This helped it to produce extremely vibrant still images during photo editing, with every nuance visible.

However, it was when we turned to our full-motion, real-life tests that the 2407WFP-HC showed its true merits, particularly in gaming. Prey looked amazing. Not only was more detail visible in dark areas than was seen on any other monitor this month, but this detail was also rendered with a modicum of colour, whereas most of the other monitors could only manage greys. Textures were vibrant and tactile, making Prey's spooky, alien-filled interiors thoroughly immersive.

One area in which Dell hasn't improved the new 2407WFP-HC is response time, which remains 6ms, although we didn't find this to be a limitation in practice. Need for Speed: Carbon was very smooth and tremendously colourful, with the HiColor system again proving its worth. The 2407WFP-HC was certainly the pick of the crop for gaming across all 13 TFTs on test this month.

The excellent performance continued when we turned to watching movies. Again, contrast was excellent, with rich colours and excellent detail. Although wide gamut doesn't directly improve black levels, the improved dynamic range means that you don't need to make the panel particularly bright to achieve a bright-looking image, so generally, colours looked richer. This is the manner in which Blu-ray is supposed to be experienced. Only Eizo's high-end CG241W could better the Dell, and this wasn't by much. Our DVD test chapter was also sumptuous, with the ruddy brows of the Rohirrim's leather armour richly rendered, and no sign of the overexposure seen on so many of this month's monitors. In this area, the 2407WFP-HC equalled - or possibly surpassed - the Eizo.

Fortunately, Dell hasn't let its HiColor system go to its head, and has left the 2407WFP's excellent base features as they were. The panel includes a built-in media card reader and four-port USB 2 hub with two ports on the rear and two on the side. Inputs include everything you could want, from composite and S-Video, to component analogue video on top of the usual D-SUB. You can adjust height as well as tilt angle, and even pivot into portrait mode. Dell has sensibly omitted speakers by default, but you can add them as an optional extra.

We didn't find that there was much adjustment necessary to make the 2407WFP-HC perform, but if you want to fiddle with settings, the menu offers presets for PC, Mac and different viewing categories, plus colour temperature and sharpness. Usefully, you can choose between filling the screen or 1:1 pixel equivalence when dealing with non-native resolution inputs, so if you hook up a 1,080-line HD source, it doesn't have to be stretched to fill the full 1,200 resolution.

Although the 2407-HC's price no longer seems as incredible as that of its predecessor six months ago, with the built-in USB hub and memory card reader, plus comprehensive features and supreme image quality, you still acquire a lot of TFT for your money. If you're on a budget, the Iiyama B2403WS is exceptionally good value. However, if you want the best 24in gaming and multimedia TFT around, the 2407WFP-HC won't break the bank. The 2407WFP-HC continues Dell's tradition of high-end widescreen excellence, and you don't pay a significant premium for the privilege.

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