Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW 20" Widescreen LCD

By reloaded2003
in Member Reviews

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Neowinian

noudont

Posted
Posted

tried to play a movie...still have backlight so...ordering a third.

after some searching i found some sites with 1680x1050 wallpapers. enjoy.

http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/

http://www.cognitivedistortion.com/

http://xxlwallpapers.com/

http://downloads.teamxbox.com/xbox/782/Hit...-Wallpapers/p1/

my favorite is the last one. i don't play hitman but the paper is out of control and great quality. :woot:

Neowinian

Platypus Stan

Posted
Posted

People, you can fix the backlight issue yourself.

When I received my 2005FPW, it had backlight bleeding that was just as bad as or worse than any of the pictures I've seen posted in this thread. Since I was getting it replaced anyway, I figured I couldn't mess it up any more and decided to see if I could do anything about it. I took a paper towel and started pressing various areas of the screen to see what effect it had. What I found was that firmly pressing on an area with backlight bleeding and dragging toward the center of the screen got rid of the bleeding. It takes some patience and finesse, but it does work.

My screen lighting is now uniform and looks exactly like a quality LCD should. It still has two stuck pixels so I don't feel too stupid about getting the replacement anyway, but if you have a screen that's perfect except for the backlighting, you could be about five minutes away from perfection.

Hope this helps some people out...

Rising Star

nuscur

Posted
Posted
my 3rd monitor is on its way, and they still aint picked up the first

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careful they place temp charges on ur card.. you have to call them to tell them you need them to come pick it up.. go check ur dell "my account" ull see the non-posted charges

Apprentice

Foxhound

Posted
Posted

Hi i got a 25% coupon but for me i have to pay like $50 in taxes :angry: so the total is around $655.00 :( . Right now that is just a bit too high for me.Can someone send me a stackable coupon that could get this in the low $600 or high $500 range please.

Rising Star

nuscur

Posted
Posted
Hey everyone i'm 15 years old and just ordered this monitor...after reading through all 30-something pacges of this topic i've came out with a few things:

1) THIS MONITOR ROCKS!  :D 

2) Once i get mine in about a week there may be a few dead pixels or uneven backlighting.

3) Though i most likely will not, if there is any dead pixels i can return it for another (even if i need to go through mounds of hassle, luckily i have a Media Center edition pc from Dell...so i get transfered to the MCE help wich is all-american)

4) it DOES include a DVI cord

5) You must use DVI to get the right quiality

I'm so pumped to get this screen, i ordered it yesterday (12/29/04) and it was 600 something with tax and i got the 25% off and free shipping.  I CAN'T WAIT TO GET THIS MONITOR! :D:D:D:D:D Lets see...i'll post pics as soon as i get it all set up! PS does anyone know if the 5.1 speakers from dell (the center one) will fit on this panel? Also, anyone know the specs for what kinda graphics cards i can get that Media Center will still support...i think it should be any of the AIW's with the tv tuner. Well...just figured i'd post a lil something since the is the only review on the net for this monitor!

585193828[/snapback]

you dont HAVE to use dvi to get the right quality.. some people like the way vga looks colorwise, i run 1 dvi and 1 vga and vga has more tone when dealing with digital images (digi cam pics)

i have logitech 5500s and the center channel does fit but not exactly flat its like 1/2cm to big.. ;0 so i just put it in between my 2 montiors

you punched it didnt you, focker  :D

sorry, movie is stick in my head...that blows though dude

585211200[/snapback]

ROFL!~

Veteran

darkmark327

Posted
Posted
you dont HAVE to use dvi to get the right quality.. some people like the way vga looks colorwise, i run 1 dvi and 1 vga and vga has more tone when dealing with digital images (digi cam pics)

585211969[/snapback]

Bah, that's like people who say records "sound better" than CDs. BTW VGA only gets worse with higher resolutions as the limited bandwidth of VGA becomes more and more of an issue.

Bottom line, I think anyone who spends $600+ on a high-res LCD display but doesn't splurge on a DVI-based video card is nuts.

Experienced

ike

Posted
Posted
People, you can fix the backlight issue yourself.

When I received my 2005FPW, it had backlight bleeding that was just as bad as or worse than any of the pictures I've seen posted in this thread.  Since I was getting it replaced anyway, I figured I couldn't mess it up any more and decided to see if I could do anything about it.  I took a paper towel and started pressing various areas of the screen to see what effect it had.  What I found was that firmly pressing on an area with backlight bleeding and dragging toward the center of the screen got rid of the bleeding.  It takes some patience and finesse, but it does work.

My screen lighting is now uniform and looks exactly like a quality LCD should.  It still has two stuck pixels so I don't feel too stupid about getting the replacement anyway, but if you have a screen that's perfect except for the backlighting, you could be about five minutes away from perfection.

Hope this helps some people out...

585209368[/snapback]

so who else wants to try this out? :wacko:

if anyone else tries this and it has positive results, please post!

Mentor

SonComet

Posted
Posted
you dont HAVE to use dvi to get the right quality.. some people like the way vga looks colorwise, i run 1 dvi and 1 vga and vga has more tone when dealing with digital images (digi cam pics)

i have logitech 5500s and the center channel does fit but not exactly flat its like 1/2cm to big.. ;0 so i just put it in between my 2 montiors

ROFL!~

585211969[/snapback]

Any tone that you are seeing is just interference. You may think that you see more shades but it is just the signal messing up and being interfered with.

Neowinian

Platypus Stan

Posted
Posted
so who else wants to try this out?  :wacko:

if anyone else tries this and it has positive results, please post!

585212105[/snapback]

I know it seems ridiculous, but it did work for me. I do have some before and after pictures, but the quality is pretty bad. The "before" picture looks quite a bit worse than the screen really looked.

Before: Major bleeding in the upper right, significant bleeding in the lower left, and minor bleeding in the lower right. The upper left was absolutely perfect.

pict0001large1ko.jpg

After: This is a picture of a 16:9 movie running. In reality, the black bars at the top and bottom are clearly distinguishable from the monitor's bezel, but no more so than on any other LCD I've seen.

pict0012large8kz.jpg

Neowinian

Platypus Stan

Posted
Posted
so who else wants to try this out?  :wacko:

if anyone else tries this and it has positive results, please post!

585212105[/snapback]

Me again. :) I just found another 2005FPW thread full of people playing musical monitors.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=838487

I'll take the liberty of quoting a couple people:

"I have dual 2001FPs, both had backlighting issues when I took them out of the box. I fixed both of them myself by displaying a blank screen screen saver, which made the bad areas visble, and pressing all over the screen, very firmly, with my fingers. After about 5-10 minutes I had evened out the backlight leakage so it was no longer very noticable at all. I probably reduced it by 70 to 80%. I just double checked and over time the pressure has evened out. I can safely say that my monitors now have a very uniform backlighting." - zan780

...and...

"THANKS ZAN780!

my monitor exhibited a slight backlight problem after it warmed up on 3 corners... but pushing around on the screen almost got rid of it all! I did notice when I pressed on the 4th quarter of the screen.. and let go.. you can hear the lcd "pop" back into place... which was weird. But yes.. this does work.. at least for mine.. it's practically gone.. I wanted to whole heartedly send this back like everyone else.. but after messing with it.. I am gonna keep it.

I used a microfiber rag to push around the screen instead of my fingers because if I got smudges on it.. I would probably have to start over after I cleaned it. lol.

when I read your post at work.. I couldn't wait to get home and try it... PROPS 2 U." - magnetik

So I'm not the only one out there who has managed to fix this problem. Of course, it's not all good news. The fact that the problem is fixable (and unfixable if you do the opposite of what I described) leads me to believe it's a design issue with all 2005FPW and 2001FP monitors, not just certain batches. Still, they're absurdly nice monitors for the price. If I can get one with no obvious dead pixels, I'll definitely be keeping it for quite a while.

Rookie

killemdaggett

Posted
Posted

My Guide to the Dell 2005FP Widescreen

Hi all -- I've been reading this hardware forum since I decided to take the plunge on a new LCD panel, and this review was the major factor in making up my mind to get the Dell 2005FPW. So I wanted to give back a little with regards to my experiences on this loverly piece of technology.

Buying:

I'm Canadian, so most of the prices quoted here make me drool (no tax? wow. that's awesome. you ******s :) ). But after reading Steven's thread on the Dellf game, I decided to try and plow through the coupon method to try and drop Dell's $999 (CDN) price to something my wife would find palatable. [NB: They are currently listing the monitor at $899 -- a price drop that went into effect two days after my order, but more on that later]. So I played the Dellf game [until my eyes bled] and I won a 25% off a Dell LCD coupon. I added the coupon to my dell.ca account, but it wouldn't accept it at checkout time. I found frustration and dismay at being yet another non-American customer of an American online company.

Then I sent a note about the problem to Dell.ca's support email address for Canada (CA_Canadacs@Dell.com). They gave me a 1-800 sales number to contact regarding the coupon. Rang the number, and after politely describing the situation (hey, I did say I was Canadian), the Indian customer rep said "OK", but that the coupon was not valid with any other promotions (so for those of you who calculated 25% off the $899 price, sorry, you're out of luck). This also meant I had to pay shipping ($15 bucks for shipping? To Canada? Hell, I'm lucky if I buy a DVD from the US and it comes in under $15 to ship.), and also the heinous 7% GST and 8% Provincial sales taxes. All told though, it was < $900 CDN after shipping and taxes, so I said go for it and gave him my CC number.

[so all you Canucks -- take heart and give it your best -- you can make it happen for you! I've already shown one other neowin member how, and he's gotten through it too, so it's not just me.]

This was on the 20th of December, and I entered the limbo of Dell shipping.

Shipping:

The Dell shipping site is terrible -- I don't know if it's only for Canadian shipments, but I still don't see my tracking number or my current delivery status on the site, and I've had the thing for almost 2 days.

During the shipping, I called the Customer Care line a couple of times. Once, two days after ordering, when the site status just said "Order Processing" for 2 days straight -- the woman assured me that it was in the system, and things would proceed as expected. Then a few days later, I got the Dell invoice in the mail. "Great -- I've paid for it, but where is it?!!!" By the 22nd, the site had progressed to say that the order had been shipped, but didn't give me a tracking number, or any information on what company was shipping it. I still didn't have it on the 27th and I was really starting to hyperventilate. Purolator called on the 28th, but it was for something else I ordered online on Boxing Day (two days? now that's good shipping -- thanks bestbuy.ca!!) So I called Dell Customer Care again on the 29th -- she said that the shipper was probably backlogged from Christmas, but there would be a tracking number after it was processed at the border. [side rant: shouldn't they have a tracking number as soon as it leaves the Dell shipment depot? I mean what kind of slack business transaction is this? Doesn't anyone know where the damn thing is??]. On the 30th, I come back home to find that Purolator tried to drop off another package. Since it's late and the shipment depot is like an hour away, I call Purolator and tell them to put it back on the truck for tomorrow (the 31st). Not really thinking clearly -- if I miss the driver on the 31st, it won't be until after the whole weekend, plus the statutory holiday on the 3rd, before he comes back. Thankfully, the driver comes at a decent hour on the 31st and gives over that sweet package into my over-stressed, anxiety-sweat-soaked hands. Heaven!

First opinions:

Sweeeeeeeeet. I'm a sucker for slick looking technology, and this is as slick as it gets. Even my wife (who has put up with a fair share of wasted techology spending over the years) is impressed when I pull the screen out of the box. I know that if she's into it, it's gotta be some impressive design. I managed to get the physical monitor setup done in about 2 minutes -- Dell's "idiot manual page" included in the box was very well done. Good graphics and descriptions on how to attach the screen to the base, and set up the cables.

Power on.

"Cannot display this resolution" AUGH! Hook up back to the old CRT and browse the included documentation CD. Not as clear as the "idiot manual page". Definitely needs some better navigation and simple step-by-step instructions for people like my mom and dad, who would have been on the phone to me like 10 minutes ago. Finally realize that the drivers need installing (I know -- duh -- but hey, I'm still over-stressed from the shipping adventures, remember?). Install the Windows XP driver (Windows Update also suggests a driver, but it's the same version as the one on the CD), and restart the system. After rebooting, set the Display resolution to 1680x1050 in the Windows Display options. Disconnect the CRT and hook up the LCD.

[cue angels, dramatic "Halleluija" chorus]

Beatiful. Even using the VGA connector, this is fantastic. Bright. Very clear. Minor ghosting of icons (I expected that having seen more than one LCD setup in Best Buy that was done with VGA instead of DVI). And more screen space than you can shake a stick at. The monitor ran a couple of "automatic adjustment" algorithms on the screen and then I was left with a big, bright view. I actually clapped and giggled like a 3 year old girl.

But, having been an avid reader of this thread, I knew that potential dangers lurked. I brought up the C:\windows\system32\scrnsave.scr to look for dead pixels and light bleeding. I found two pixels, one stuck on light blue, one on darker blue -- but as many have said, they are very hard to see during normal usage. The light bleeding didn't seem to be bad -- maybe a bit in one corner, but not really anything noticable.

I came down the next day, after burning it in overnight, and the bleeding had gotten more noticable in two other corners. Damn.

So I re-read this post and came across the "wipe your screen" method for fixing the backlighting. I'll be damned if it didn't actually work. It sort of "chases" the bleed around a bit, but it's definitely improved. If it gets worse again in the next few days, I'll contact Dell about a replacement, but I've heard from others that this model is getting seriously backordered, and the shipping fiasco of the original did nothing for my nerves.

Sharpness:

My wife noticed this morning that the text in her email client wasn't particularly sharp. I thought it was just because of the fact that I haven't installed the DVI video card yet, and my VGA connection goes through a KVM switch box. But when I took a closer look, I found that the screen actually was sharper at the sides than in the middle. At first I was horrified -- the improved text sharpness was a major factor for buying an LCD over staying with my CRT (a 21" HP P1100, if you're interested). I do a lot of web surfing, development programming and writing, so I like my text sharp as a tack. However, I went into the on-screen menu, hit "Screen Settings", then "Auto Adjust" and bingo -- the sharpness was definitely clearer, and went from edge to edge. There is still a bit of ghosting on the screen icons, but I'm certain that'll disappear once I get the DVI setup and going straight into the monitor.

Wallpapers:

Best place for any screen art is deviantart.com -- absolutely the best. You can even set browse options to only look at 1680x1050 wallpapers (makes it quick and easy). Although you can guest browse, or get a free user account, if you find yourself coming back there, try to find some spare cash and subscribe (NB: I am in no way affiliated with deviantart.com, nor do I post there. They're just folks sharing their stuff for all to see).

Linux:

My primary workstation is a Windows XP SP2 setup, but my server is a Fedora Core 3 box, and the card is an old 16 MB VGA-only card. I'm still working on setting up the x.org configuration for the 2005FP, but it didn't like it first time around, even though it was set at 1024x768. I'll update this information as I can. I may just wait and put in the current video card from my Windows box after I upgrade it with the DVI card that's sitting on my desk. Who needs a GUI on Linux though -- all you need is a command line :D , and I can get that on the 2005FP no problem.

Overall

I hope these tidbits have helped, entertained and enlightened you regarding the purchase of a Dell 2005FP Widescreen. On the whole, I'm very pleased (90-95%) with buying it, and I'd probably buy another if I could afford it.

Cheers!

Grand Master

iconboy

Posted
Posted

thanks for the heads up killemdaggett, Im a fellow Canadian who will also soon take the LCD plunge ;) good to know that with a little effort we can also take advantage of the dell coupons north of the border... i know people are sick of this, but... pictures!? :)

Rookie

killemdaggett

Posted
Posted
thanks for the heads up killemdaggett, Im  a fellow Canadian who will also soon take the LCD plunge ;) good to know that with a little effort we can also take advantage of the dell coupons north of the border... i know people are sick of this, but... pictures!? :)

585214360[/snapback]

Pics:

Vertical orientation:

(I'm finding this a very handy orientation for web browsing -- does anyone know how to get my video card to automatically detect when I swing from horizontal to vertical (using NVidia software)?)

post-86507-1104695144_thumb.jpg

Horizontal orientation:

post-86507-1104695131_thumb.jpg

[sorry about the quality -- my next purchase is going to be a decent 5+ MP digital camera, instead of this 2MP dinosaur]

Cheers!

Contributor

larry k.

Posted
Posted

i also did this not long after i had it and it fixed mine quite a bit. i was cleaning the screen and noticed pressing certain ways would make the backlight show through more. after evening it out for a few minutes i got it to where there was almost no leakage at all. just set the screen to a black background and get a cleaning cloth and press firmly on the edges of the screen and you will be able to see how it affects it.

Me again.  :)  I just found another 2005FPW thread full of people playing musical monitors.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=838487

I'll take the liberty of quoting a couple people:

"I have dual 2001FPs, both had backlighting issues when I took them out of the box. I fixed both of them myself by displaying a blank screen screen saver, which made the bad areas visble, and pressing all over the screen, very firmly, with my fingers. After about 5-10 minutes I had evened out the backlight leakage so it was no longer very noticable at all. I probably reduced it by 70 to 80%. I just double checked and over time the pressure has evened out. I can safely say that my monitors now have a very uniform backlighting." - zan780

...and...

"THANKS ZAN780!

my monitor exhibited a slight backlight problem after it warmed up on 3 corners... but pushing around on the screen almost got rid of it all! I did notice when I pressed on the 4th quarter of the screen.. and let go.. you can hear the lcd "pop" back into place... which was weird. But yes.. this does work.. at least for mine.. it's practically gone.. I wanted to whole heartedly send this back like everyone else.. but after messing with it.. I am gonna keep it.

I used a microfiber rag to push around the screen instead of my fingers because if I got smudges on it.. I would probably have to start over after I cleaned it. lol.

when I read your post at work.. I couldn't wait to get home and try it... PROPS 2 U." - magnetik

So I'm not the only one out there who has managed to fix this problem.  Of course, it's not all good news.  The fact that the problem is fixable (and unfixable if you do the opposite of what I described) leads me to believe it's a design issue with all 2005FPW and 2001FP monitors, not just certain batches.  Still, they're absurdly nice monitors for the price.  If I can get one with no obvious dead pixels, I'll definitely be keeping it for quite a while.

585213708[/snapback]

Rising Star

nuscur

Posted
Posted
Pics:

Vertical orientation:

(I'm finding this a very handy orientation for web browsing -- does anyone know how to get my video card to automatically detect when I swing from horizontal to vertical (using NVidia software)?)

post-86507-1104695144_thumb.jpg

Horizontal orientation:

post-86507-1104695131_thumb.jpg

[sorry about the quality -- my next purchase is going to be a decent 5+ MP digital camera, instead of this 2MP dinosaur]

Cheers!

585217230[/snapback]

right click the icon in ur systray and rotate :p

Rookie

killemdaggett

Posted
Posted
right click the icon in ur systray and rotate :p

585218089[/snapback]

Heh -- it's hard to move the mouse around when the monitor orientation is already rotated. ;)

I set up hotkeys to do the switching via the NVidia software, but I was just wondering if there was a way to have the system detect when I make the manual rotation and then do the desktop shift for me.

Also, as a follow up, anyone know how to get the desktop icons from being reset, and/or how to get the wallpaper to rotate as well?

Cheers.

Rookie

killemdaggett

Posted
Posted

Linux:

My primary workstation is a Windows XP SP2 setup, but my server is a Fedora Core 3 box, and the card is an old 16 MB VGA-only card. I'm still working on setting up the x.org configuration for the 2005FP, but it didn't like it first time around, even though it was set at 1024x768. I'll update this information as I can. I may just wait and put in the current video card from my Windows box after I upgrade it with the DVI card that's sitting on my desk. Who needs a GUI on Linux though -- all you need is a command line  :D , and I can get that on the 2005FP no problem.

585214000[/snapback]

Forgot to update this:

To get the Dell 2005FP Widescreen working on Fedora Core 3 Linux, I added the following to my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file (my thanks to "General Schvantzkoph" on the www.webservertalk.com forum site for his/her post, which got me headed in the right direction):

Section "Modes"
        Identifier "16:10"
        # This modeline should be all on one line
        Modeline "1680x1050"  147.14  1680 1784 1968 2256  1050 1051 1054 1087
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Dell"
        ModelName    "2005FP Widescreen"
        UseModes     "16:10"
        HorizSync    30.0 - 83.0
        VertRefresh  56.0 - 75.0
        Option      "dpms"
EndSection

And changed the Modes line in the "Screen" section, under the "Display" subsection, adding the "1680x1050" mode as the first available mode.

Then I logged into my X windows GUI and used xvidtune to nudge it left and right and come up with the exact mode line I needed to get it just right:

Section "Modes"
        Identifier "16:10"
        # This modeline should be all on one line
        ModeLine "1680x1050" 146.20 1680 1776 1950 2256 1050 1056 1062 1089  -hsync -vsync
EndSection

All set up, restarted X and bingo -- Linux in glorious 1680x1050 brilliance.

Hope this helps all the Linux heads out there.

Cheers!

Proficient

Cyrana

Posted
Posted

Yeah, but I was only able to try with a composite cable (my Comcast cable box doesnt have DVI or SVideo). It looked -ok- but not so hot, and you have to sit a few feet back.

If anyone has done the same with SVideo or DVI, report if it looks better.

has anyone tried watching tv on this?.. im debating on hooking up a vcr to it so i can get tv but i dunno how itd look and id rather not go through all the hassle to be disappointed

585218078[/snapback]

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