The monitor still works, and still looks great. It must be the best tech purchase I ever made. I actually bought a second one earlier this year.
Took me a long time to accept the steep price but it has been worth it for my eyes.
$2600 nzd = $2200 usd, now that much I couldn't afford/justify.
I think the old Dell 30 inch has a harsh anti-glare coat that makes it sparkle? They finally solved that with the U2713HM which has a much lighter coat.
There has been so little movement in mid-quality LCD systems, it's nice to see some change. (Even if the 24" is ... profoundly uninteresting to me at 1080p)
Edit: Not that this changes the original point, just that, as an early adopter, I've been burned a lot less by monitors than by ... everything else.