I tried. I tried so hard. I’ve spent literally years drooling over her. I’ve seen her cousins at some of my friends’ offices, and I was blown away. My choice of either a tall, slim image or one with a little more meat on the sides. My choice, and I could switch things around whenever I want.

I wanted to be with her so bad. After the time we’ve been together, I’ve touched her. I’ve caressed her. I’ve spent tens of hours reading about how to make us work together a bit more. I’ve really tried – I mean that. I realize that all relationships have a honeymoon phase, and that I might have been a little too optimistic that everything would work out between us, but I’ve never had a relationship like this be so challenging.

In this case, there is no compromise with her; she’s definitely a prima donna. In the past I’ve been able to put my ladies to either side of my primary display. This time, however, my Dell 1907 has to be in the front of me or else the colours are washed out. It’s amazingly annoying – to have spent a ton of money on a nice new 19′ monitor that I have the ability to rotate 90 degrees is pretty awesome. I had hoped that I could just wait it out, that I could adjust where it was and things would be better. Of course, this meant that I waited beyond the time that I could return the monitor. It’s not that it’s bad per se, but simply that it’s not good.

I have used secondary monitors for ages; it’s wonderful to be able to extend my workspace, and I’ve gotten quite accustomed to it. I have a monitor at work that would have cost a fraction more than the one that I bought, one that has superior viewing angles. I’ve never been in a situation where viewing angles were actually a problem; I’ve read all about problems with them but it’s never been a problem for me.

In my arrogance, I assumed that other people just didn’t know what they were talking about or being silly picky.

I was wrong. Viewing angles are important, and even Dell’s ‘premium’ line has been corrupted with crap. I shouldn’t have to shift it to dead in front of me; I shouldn’t have to rearrange my workspace to accommodate a supposedly high-calibur model; I shouldn’t have to be annoyed with my purchase. But I will be. Because it’s too late to return the product.

I’m done recommending Dell’s monitors. Not their premium laptops (XPS line), and I might even recommend their business computers, but there is no way in hell that I’ll recommend spending money on a Dell-branded monitor when you could spend the extra couple of bucks and get a known good-working Samsung.