Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW 20" Widescreen LCD

[lsquare]

I have a BFG 6800OC.  It drives 1680x1050 just fine.

The only thing is SLI doesn't work over a DVI connection, so if you want to do SLI games, you'll need to plug it in via VGA (at least this is what I heard, I could be wrong...I hope I am).

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I'm pretty sure SLI does work with DVI.

[panoz]

anyone knows if the monitor is 6-bit or 8-bit? :huh:

[Steven]

anyone knows if the monitor is 6-bit or 8-bit?  :huh:

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uh its 24 bit. :unsure:

[SonComet]

uh its 24 bit.  :unsure:

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You mean its 8bits :p. I can't wait until 10bit lcd monitors are out, then they will display more colors than the human eye can see. Anyone know if plasmas are 10bit? They claim 1.07 billion colors so maybe they are.

[Cvrt7.62Ghst]

I'm pretty sure SLI does work with DVI.

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I have one and that is the way I am running it.

This has to be the best widescreen flatpanel under $800. Crisp and mine only has 2 dead pixels.

I'm gearing up to buy 2 more and run them all together in a triple panel PCI express setup when longhorn comes out.

[Martog]

Ah, well shoot, I just ordered one of these bad boys. I can't go back to normal 4:3 screens now. Now to wait till Dell offers $500 off their LCD TV's again and I'll order one of those to give myself a decent sized HDTV. :)

[Steven]

You mean its 8bits :p.  I can't wait until 10bit lcd monitors are out, then they will display more colors than the human eye can see.  Anyone know if plasmas are 10bit?  They claim 1.07 billion colors so maybe they are.

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Dude 8 bit is bad. check up on your binary skills. :laugh:

2^8 = 256. Thats only 256 colors.

2^24 = 16.7 Milion Colors.

The Dell LCd's are 24 bit. Please don't disagree with me on this. Your logic doesn't make sense.

[comebacktomorrow]

Dude 8 bit is bad. check up on your binary skills.?:laugh::

2^8 = 256.? Thats only 256 colors.

2^24 = 16.7 Milion Colors.

The Dell LCd's are 24 bit. Please don't disagree with me on this. Your logic doesn't make sense.

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I could be missing something (Im just jumping in on the thread right here), but he may have meant 8bits per colour component. In that case its 2^8 for red, green, and blue = your 16.7 million colour combination:):)

As far as I know, when speaking about displays, their colour depth is usually refered to by their colours per channel rather than their combined colour depth. Specifying per channel provides more informatio:):)

Edited March 18, 2005 by comebacktomorrow

[Steven]

I could be missing something (Im just jumping in on the thread right here), but he may have meant 8bits per colour component. In that case its 2^8 for red, green, and blue = your 16.7 million colour combinations :)

As far as I know, when speaking about displays, their colour depth is usually refered to by their colours per channel rather than their combined colour depth. Specifying per channel provides more information :)

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8*3 = 24....sooo ok if thats what he means ok he's right... :unsure:

[Martog]

8*3 = 24....sooo ok if thats what he means ok he's right... :unsure:

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Don't worry, it will be all good Steven. :woot:

*takes out Steven's P4 and pops in an Athlon 64 and runs away with the 20" Dell LCD :laugh: *

[Steven]

Don't worry, it will be all good Steven.  :woot:

*takes out Steven's P4 and pops in an Athlon 64 and runs away with the 20" Dell LCD  :laugh: *

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nub the proc don't fit. but gimme back my SCREEN!!! :cry:

[Martog]

nub the proc don't fit. but gimme back my SCREEN!!!  :cry:

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Oh, you know you are going to get the 24" WS model anyhow, so I can have this for now. :whistle: I really hope there isn't anything wrong with the 2005FPW that I ordered, will be quite mad, LOL. I've had 4 LCD screens so far, and only one has had a dead pixel, and that was my iMac, my original Dell Inspirion 8000 with 15" LCD, my PowerBook, and this Dell 17" LCD TV have none :woot:

[Starcom826]

From about:

"8-Bit vs. 6-Bit

Now color depth was previous referred to by the total number of colors that the screen can render, but when referring to LCD panels the number of levels that each color can render is used instead. This can make things difficult to understand, but to demonstrate, we will look at the mathematics of it. For example, 24-bit or true color is comprised of three colors each with 8-bits of color. Mathematically, this is represented as:

* 2^8 x 2^8 x 2^8 = 256 x 256 x 256 = 16,777,216

High-speed LCD monitors typically reduce the number of bits for each color to 6 instead of the standard 8. This 6-bit color will generate far fewer colors than 8-bit as we see when we do the math:

* 2^6 x 2^6 x 2^6 = 64 x 64 x 64 = 262,144

This is far fewer than the true color display such that it would be noticeable to the human eye. To get around this problem, the manufacturers employ a technique referred to as dithering. This is an effect where nearby pixels use slightly varying shades or color that trick the human eye into perceiving the desired color even though it isn't truly that color. A color newspaper photo is a good way to see this effect in practice. (In print the effect is called half-tones.) By using this technique, the manufacturers claim to achieve a color depth close to that of the true color displays.

How to Tell if an LCD is 8-Bit or 6-Bit

This is the biggest problem for individuals who are looking at purchasing an LCD monitor. Most manufacturers do not list the color depth of their display. Even fewer will list the actual per-color depth. If the manufacturer lists the color as 16.7 million colors, it should be assumed that the display is 8-bit per-color. If the colors are listed as being 16.2 million or 16 million, consumers should assume that it uses a 6-bit per-color depth. If no color depths is listed, it should be assumed that monitors of 12ms or faster will be 6-bit and the 20ms and slower panels are 8-bit.

Does it Really Matter?

This is very subjective to the actual user and what the computer is used for. The amount of color really matters to those that do professional work on graphics. For these people, the amount of color that is displayed on the screen is very important. The average consumer is not going to really need this level of color representation by their monitor. As a result, it probably doesn't matter. People using their displays for video games or watching video will likely not care about the number of colors rendered by the LCD but by the speed at which it can be displayed. As a result, it is best to determine your needs and base your purchase on those criteria."

[panoz]

^^^

That is exactly why Im asking. the 2005fpw has 16ms but I have seen all the specs but not a thing about the color. If it is 16.7 or lower that is. Even called dell, but they had no answer and wanted to get back to me later on. A week has gone now.. :sleep:

[Steven]

^^^

That is exactly why Im asking. the 2005fpw has 16ms but I have seen all the specs but not a thing about the color. If it is 16.7 or lower that is. Even called dell, but they had no answer and wanted to get back to me later on. A week has gone now..  :sleep:

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Since the 2001FP all dell montiors are true 24 bit color. 16.7 Million no dithering.

[panoz]

thank you for that one! (Y)

[Starcom826]

I decided to bite the bullet and order a 2405fpw. 810 + tax w/ free overnight was just too good to pass up. Maybe I'll get around to doing a review.

[Berek Halfhand]

Before I go on about my purchase I first wanted to say thank you very much for this forum thread. I came across it in my search for information about this monitor and haven't regretted stopping right here. It's been extremely invaluable for information regarding eveything including Dell customer service. This will be my first LCD purchase aside from the Sager 8890 laptop I bought about 1 1/2 years ago.

Thank you.

Now, for my experience and what I expect out of the three monitors (Dell 2004FPWs) I purchased last Wednesday, which I should be getting tomorrow (Monday)! I will list questions and some comments before I go into my story. :). I'll be using this monitor primarily for gaming, but web editing and web surfacing along with multiple documents will be very important. DVD watching will be probably last, but would still be nice.

Response Time

Everyone has been saying 12ms, 16ms... well, which one is it? I think I have seen 16ms white to black and 12ms gray to gray.. well, which one would you use as the standard? The reason I ask is I'm extremely worried about ghosting and streaking, etc. 25ms indicated monitors seem older now, but I've seen good responses from monitors that were reviewed as having 16ms or 12ms.

Screen Size

Screen size is 17.25 by 10.75 right? If that is the case, the 1680x1050 resolution would suggest that the pixel real estate is somewhere between a 1280x1024 and a 1600x1200 monitor... being a bit closer to the 1600x1200 monitor. Also, the squares per inch from my current 19" inch CRTs would suggest that I'll be getting about 6 sq. inches more... right? That doesn't sound like its going to be much of a bigger monitor :(, although combined with the resolution increase from my current 1280x1024 it might work out.

Revision / Newness

Revision no. I've seen A00, A01, and A02. Since I just purchased it on March. 16th, I would assume that all three of the monitors will be A02, right? If not, should I expect problems? Supposedly the A02 is just fine, fixing the issues from the previous, such as bleeding and blacklight issues, right? What if I return one because of an issue, they have to send me at least the revision I had purchased, right?

Ghosting/bleeding backlight

Speaking of bleeding and backlight issues, is it really that bad? I dont want blacks to all turn out grey... I have a laptop monitor that is going on almost 2 years old now... Sager 8890 laptop, and it has a uniform bleeding, but its very slight. I better have much higher quality display than a laptop LCD 2 years old!

Color depth, uniformity

Color brightness, and depth... when I put my laptop screen against my CRTs, and play a game the one thing I notice is that the CRT simply has more color... its .. deeper. I can't explain it really, but I'm sure you guys know what I'm talkikng about. Reds are RED, without any graying out or whatever... wash out color. The laptop isn't bad, its a great monitor, but you can still tell the difference. What should I expect out of this Dell 2004FPW? I've seen references of 16.7 million colors and such. Is this monitor a TRUE 8bit display?

Dead Pixels

Dead pixels!!! This is always the hottest issue. I dont want ANY dead pixels. Well, I might settle for "barely noticeable unless you are looking at it pixel thats black in a corner...", but thats it. It would seem that Dells policies are quite good and I shouldn't have a problem returning it for another if I have to? Any risks in doing this? Also, I will be getting three of these Dell 2004FPW's... what are my chances of getting with NO deadpixels at all out of all three total?

Thank you everyone for your comments. I tried to sum up everything and anything here, so thank you for bearing with me ;). Now for the story of how I purchased this monitor and my experiences with Dell thus far.

------------------

Story:

Let's start with that shipping and getting the monitor.

I discovered earlier last week that there happened to be a Dell kiosk right in the mall near my place. I stopped over with my friends and checked it out. My very first impression wasn't the greatest... took them a bit to get to us, but that's normal. No biggy whatsoever there. I asked the guy how I could purchase the monitors from the kiosk and they began by ordering my setup online. Long story short here I got the special 25 percent off (which was expiring the very next day) and they also gave me this 2 percent for going to the kiosk. The reps were very helpful, especially since I hit the kiosk right before it had closed.

So, I had ordered 3 monitors and were on their way overnight. Well, the next day I noticed that it wasn't going... so I called and the Dell reps online were very helpful. Essentially the kiosk guys didn't talk anything about a 2 day shipping processing deal. I've called a few other times and managed to get 5 percent off by putting it on their preferred Dell card. Now its on its way but unfortunately all my research and work to get it here faster for my lan party this weekend, it won't arrive till Monday.

Dells customer service has been astonishgly great, which has helped this whole ordeal out. They even called me back to see how everything was going?! That's customer support at its finest. Wait times weren't bad when I had to call, although everytime but the time they called I got an Indian guy or gal, everytime.

The funny thing about the tracking, which I finally got a tracking number, is DHL's website didn't show anything on their tracking webpage. Apparently DHL didn't even get it at the nearby distribution center on Saturday, nor will the tracking number show up till they get it!

Tell me friends, what is the point of the tracking numb if you can't track the package until it gets to the distrubtion center near you, and two hours later it shows up at your door? So far DHL's part of this whole deal has been a nice low 2 out of 10. The reason I give it a 2 instead of a 1 is because the rep was rather nice on explaining why I wasn't getting it on Saturday. I did stop at the same center Friday night and the lady there was absolutely terrible. The moment she looked at me I knew it wasn't going to happen.

In any case, here I am waiting on a Sunday for Monday mornings monitor shipment. My scores:

Dells customer service: 9 out of 10

DHL's customer service: 3 out of 10

DHL's policies: 1 out of 10

Dells monitor quality: Remains to be seen

[Martog]

Just got mine today, it is much bigger than what I thought it was!! It's a revision A01, and it seems to be fine, much larger than my 17" widescreen LCD. I'm gonna set my 17" up on the other port and using it a second monitor for now till I sell my TV.

[Berek Halfhand]

How is the viewing angle both sideways and up and down on the montor? Any dead pixels? How black is the black?

[Martog]

How is the viewing angle both sideways and up and down on the montor?  Any dead pixels?  How black is the black?

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It seems both fine sideways and up and down, I don't see any dead pixels, and the black? The screen or the case? The case is black black, so is the screen.

[Berek Halfhand]

Sorry, to clarify I meant when you are viewing the monitor and its on and you have a black picture or something... how black is the black for colors and such... with monitor bleeding it might be gray :(.

As for the viewing angle, how far to one side or the other, as far as up and down can you go before the picture begins to show distortion.

[Martog]

Sorry, to clarify I meant when you are viewing the monitor and its on and you have a black picture or something... how black is the black for colors and such... with monitor bleeding it might be gray :(.

As for the viewing angle, how far to one side or the other, as far as up and down can you go before the picture begins to show distortion.

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Considering my background has black in it, and it's, well black, plus I turned the background completely black and it was, well black.

As for the viewing angle, it is great, I was looking basically in line with the screen and stil was able to make out was on it. It is a truely amazing monitor.

[GeeZuZz]

I'ts funny to read that someone here thinks people who are returning a "one dead pixel" LCD are dumb. -"It's only 1 of 170000 pixels!"

I would like to see you when you get your brand new Porsche with a big scratch in the paint. "It's only 1 of a billion of the paint missing!"

Of course it's not acceptable with a dead pixel! It's a freakin NEW monitor. If Dell sold used stuff it would be acceptable.

BTW: I just bought 2pcs to be used in dual-setup :woot:

[Berek Halfhand]

I just received them, finally!!!

I'll make a short review.

First, I received Rev. A01 :(, NOT A02. Shouldn't they be selling the latest?

As for this revision all three monitors had backlight bleeding, but you know what, it doesn't really matter. Blacks are never going to be black and the only game that I notice this in is Doom 3... and thats really not even an issue.

One monitor has a dark red pixel and a black, hardly noticeable on either unless you are looking directly at both. I'm not going to return this I dont think because its not worth paying 20 bucks or whatever to ship it back... I hardly notice it when I look at it and I can only really tell against a white background.

As for color, clarity, depth... its WONDERFUL! Even better than my CRTs dare I say. Colors are vibrant, sharp, clear. Text is great and these widescreens are wonderful for spreadsheets, movies, games, everything. Contrast seems fine.

Response time seems fine as I can not tell any ghosting in UT2004 or Doom3 or any game really. If there is its negligable.

Viewing angle is great. There is a pink hue if your monitor is set on black when you view especially from the corner angles, otherwise if something is on the screen you can view it almost dead sideways and it only just starts to get milky ghosty white, but not by much.

Movement of base and turning monitor to potrait is slightly clumsy but thats minor. How often will I really move it. I'd say this is probably typical simply because of weight and such.

As for size, resolution, etc., its big. Definately more real estate than my 19 inch CRTs. A bang for the buck for sure. I'd say these monitors were definately worth it. I just hope Dells customer service and return/exchange policies are as good as these monitors themselves.

2004FPW Overall: 9 out of 10

Color/Depth/Clarity: 10 out of 10

Ghosting/Streaking issues: 9 out of 10

Viewing angle: 8 out of 10

Dead pixel issue extremity: 9 out of 10