Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW 20" Widescreen LCD


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Hi everyone.. This is my first review and first post on Neowin.net..

I decided to write this review for many reasons:

1- I?m a big Neowin fan

2- I searched everywhere for a review on Dell?s UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1-inch Widescreen LCD, but I didn?t find any!

3- I recived the monitor 4 days ago, and decided to post this review in hope that it might help someone out there!

Now, I ordered and paid about US $670 for this new screen from dell. I received it within 5 days and shipping was free..

I really wanted a widescreen LCD, I looked at Apple?s 20-inch WS LCD and HP?s 23-inch WS LCD, but the price was prohibiting! ($1,300 for Apple?s and $1,900 for HP?s)..

I currently own a ViewSonic VP171s 17-inch LCD monitor, I really like it, and it?s great for gaming (16ms response time and 1280x1024 nativeThe official specs for Dell?s UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1-inch LCD are:-inch LCD are:

20.1-inch, Wide Aspect (16:9), Active Matrix TFT, Midnight Gray, 1680x1050 Pixels, 300 cd/m? Brightness, 600:1 Contrast Ratio, 12ms response time, VGA / DVI-D / S-Video Connectors, 4 USB 2.0 Ports, 100 Hardware:t

Hardware:

The package looked really cheap! but after opening the box, I fell in love immediately!! The screen wasn?t much heavier than my previous 17-inch LCD. There are 4 inputs in the lower rare end of the LCD: DVI, S-Video, analog VGA, and composite video. There is also a USB hub to connect up to 4 USB devices.

On the stand, there is a cable organizer (just 2 long clips to hold the power cord, DVI cable, and so on).

On the lower right corner of the LCD, there is 6 buttons for accessing the OSD, changing input, and Picture-in-Picture.

2005FPW-1.th.jpg2005FPW-2.th.jpg 2005FPW-3.th.jpg

There is no manual with the LCD, just a CD and an installation flyer. There is an HTML manual in the CD which I didn?t even look at. I just plugged the monitor and updated Windows XP with the monitor?s driverDesktop Usage:D.

Desktop Usage:

The screen is simply marvelous, the work space is enjoyable, and you can easily open more than one program horizontally. MS Word and Photoshop CS never looked better! Colors were even better than ViewSonic?s VP171s, shiny and vibrant colors, excellent brightness, and silveresh colors never looked better. The screen is huge! I mean it?s really huge!!

One more thing: in Photoshop CS, the program asked me if I wanted to change the color profile to the one supplied by Dell. I accepted but found that the colors weren?t that good! So I changed the profile back to Photoshop?s default and everything looked great.

desktop33.th.jpg 2005FPW-6.th.jpg 2005FPW-7.th.jpg b]8.th.jpg

Gaming (HL2)

This is the ultimate gaming LCD, I used it with Half Life 2 and I couldn't be happier. I was really surprised by HL2?s ability to display the game in widescreen; it gave me the option to display the game in widescreen (16:10) using a resolution of 1680x1050!! The display was amazing and the view is simply stunning! No ghosting or frame drops, but you have to choose ?wait for V-Sync? in the game's video options menu.

hl2_2005FPW-1.th.jpg hl2_2005FPW-2.th.jpg hl2_2005FPW-3.th.jpg

hl2_2005FPW-4.th.jpg hl2_2005FPW-5.th.jpg

hl2_01.th.jpg hl2_02.th.jpg hl2_03.th.jpg

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That's all folks, hope that I helpe:unsure:e oVerdict ide on this monitor :unsure:

Verdict

- Design 9/10

- Display quality 10/10

- Gaming Quality 9/10

- Overall 9/10

- Installation 8/10

- Packaging 4/10 (cheap box and packing materials and no printed manual, but I guess that what makes Dell's products cheaper than the competition)

Edited by reloaded2003
i was looking for a new monitor and was thinking about the 20.1" by Dell but this one looks nice and its not as much either.

do most games support widescreen modes now?

584959740[/snapback]

Half-Life 2 has a section where you can choose 16:10

- Thank you all for your support and kind words... I really wanted to help others who were searching for a review for this LCD but didn't find any on the Internet...

- larry k., you got a sweet deal on this monitor... Hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

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