Dell's next-gen 30-incher sports Displayport and HDMI
More connectors than on world-class plasma or LCD TV — WHILE DELL'S ORIGINAL thiry-inch 3007 had some limitations in terms of limited resolutions and features, Dell is making sure that its next-gen part will meet every geek's needs..
Context & Ripple Effects
The original Dell 3007 was dinged for limited resolutions and features, and this successor announcement is Dell answering that critique on connectivity first: both DisplayPort and HDMI on one 30-inch panel, which the Inquirer notes is more input than a high-end plasma or LCD TV carries.
It lands during a stretch where Dell is deliberately climbing upmarket — the $1.4 billion EqualLogic storage acquisition earlier in November 2007, a streamed-desktop package managing up to 100 PCs per server in October, and a stated preference for its own virtual-desktop approach over thin clients and blade PCs. A flagship monitor loaded with next-gen ports fits that same premium-brand push.
First-order effects
- Buyers of Dell's 30-inch successor get native DisplayPort alongside HDMI on one panel, ending the adapter-heavy hookup that the feature-limited original 3007 implied.
- Dell can market the display as a desktop replacement for TV-class screens, competing on connector count against plasma and LCD sets rather than only against other computer monitors.
Second-order effects
- DisplayPort gains its most visible desktop showcase to date, pressuring rival large-monitor vendors to ship the port themselves instead of waiting on PC-maker momentum.
- TV makers lose one of the remaining spec arguments for keeping a big screen in the office or den, tightening the overlap between the monitor and flat-panel TV categories.
Third-order effects
- If flagship panels keep carrying dual standards, the market settles into HDMI as the consumer-electronics default and DisplayPort as the PC-native one, with high-end monitors serving as the bridge hardware between them.
- Connector completeness becoming table stakes on big displays reinforces Dell's broader 2007 pattern of moving up the value chain — storage via EqualLogic, virtual desktops, mobile workstations like the Precision M6300 — away from commodity box-selling.
The trend: In late 2007, large-format PC monitors are absorbing TV-grade connectivity, with Dell using DisplayPort-and-HDMI flagships to pull its brand upmarket.