We've already had some experience with big, wide desktop monitors. One of them, the Sony GDM-FW900, is a CRT with a 24-inch diagonal display (22 inches viewable), but it's no longer manufactured (you can sometimes find refurbished units for about $1,200). LCDs have begun appear in widescreen format in the past couple of years, and these typically cost several thousand dollars. One of them, the Samsung 240T, weighs in at around $2,000. The best price we've seen for another, Sony's 23-inch SDM-232, was a bit over $1,600. And apple's 23-inch Cinema HD can be found for under $1,600 if you look hard enough.
Now Dell has decided to drop the price bomb. The UltraSharp 2405FPW 24-inch widescreen LCD will cost a measly (by comparison) $1,199. It's the classic Dell approach: Not pioneering a new market or category, but entering it later and at high volume, usually with a significantly lower price.