20" Dell Flat Panel - $679 shipped - UPDATE $599

Coskesh · Post by **Coskesh** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 3:05 pm

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/Prod ... l=en&cs=19

Ends today, and my mouse finger is itching over the order button.

You guys think this is a good deal?

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 3:15 pm

Coskesh wrote:http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/Prod ... l=en&cs=19

Ends today, and my mouse finger is itching over the order button.

You guys think this is a good deal?

I'm ordering one now. I already have a few of them at the office. This is a pretty good deal. IMHO

Rip

Boudreaux · Post by **Boudreaux** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 3:43 pm

I'm typing this on a Dell 20" LCD flat panel right now. Fantastic monitor. If you're at all interested, that's the lowest price I've ever seen it (previous record was $749).

Charlatan · Post by **Charlatan** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 4:34 pm

Boudreaux wrote:I'm typing this on a Dell 20" LCD flat panel right now. Fantastic monitor. If you're at all interested, that's the lowest price I've ever seen it (previous record was $749).

Stop it all of you or I may have to kill every one of you! Someone please post how the monitor sucks so I can squelch the urge to get one.

Edited to say: this is the NEW WIDESCREEN monitor, not the old standby 20.1FP one. It's this:

Dell 2005FPW 20.1" Widescreen 1680 x 1050 LCD Monitor with 12ms Response for $679.15 with FREE Shipping!

Rubyeye · Post by **Rubyeye** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 5:46 pm

/me oogles

Coskesh · Post by **Coskesh** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 6:27 pm

Yeah the older monitor with 16ms response was on sale for 609$ a few days ago.

I tried to submit my order a few times, but the site is just hanging.

Maybe I should reconsider :p.

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 12:52 pm

So have they finally made LCD monitors look good with games? (No trails, etc.)

I haven't really followed this technology much, but I just remember not being happy about that whenever I used to look at LCDs.

It does look like a cool monitor!

Coskesh · Post by **Coskesh** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 1:42 pm

Yeah, I don't know about the trails. You probably still get them with an FPS type game even with a 12 ms response. I'll let you know in 5-7 days

.

shaggydoug · Post by **shaggydoug** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 2:27 pm

My 21" CRT started flipping out last night so I see this as a sign. I've got the 2001FP at work and really like it. However, I gotta ask, exactly how useful is the "widescreen" functionality of the monitor in normal day-to-day non-gaming operations? Is it actually a drawback to have widescreen because I see you give up 150 pixels in vertical height while gaining 80 horizontal? Is it worth the extra $40 to get the widescreen that is 4 ms faster on the refresh? Note that I do play games on the system as well, just not as often I would like to.

- shaggy

gorham09 · Post by **gorham09** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 4:43 pm

But what about gaming with a widescreen? Most games don't support widescreen, so how does the game end up being rendered? Are there bars on the sides of the screen?

Moreover how does scaling work with this monitor? I don't have a videocard powerful enough to run FPS at resolutions as high as the native resolution on this one (1600 x 1200 or the widescreen variant thereof).

I like the idea and the specs of this monitor are great, but I am concerned that it is not a practical gaming monitor. Any insights from folks that have one of these would be appreciated.

Coskesh · Post by **Coskesh** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:11 pm

Damn, I didn't even notice the wide screen stuff!

I know alot of games support the non traditional 1280 x xxx formats (960, 768). I'm guessing that is for wide screen monitors?

gorham09 · Post by **gorham09** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:46 pm

Well the problem with changing resolutions is that once you're outside the native resolution, you're scaling (and while the only LCD I have ever used is my Dell 17" at work) and scaling reduces the image quality. CRT's operate without distinction at different resolutions, however, my understanding of LCD's is that each one operates at a particular resolution. (In this case 1680 x1050) Once you venture outside that resolution, the monitor is scaling down or up to whatever resolution you choose and the image quality is reduced.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong here but I don't think that many games support widescreen gaming and even some of the ones that due don't do it natively, but rather stretch the screen, in the same manner that most widescreen tv's do with 4:3 broadcasts. As a result you get an image that's distorted. (People look short and squat, for example).

The biggest hurdle I am having in buying a nice LCD is the resolution issue. The native resolutions just seem to high for effective gaming and I've never seen how games look for example in 1024 x768 on an lcd whose native resolution is 1600 x 1200. I would love to hear from people that have first-hand experience.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 11:08 pm

gorham09 wrote:The biggest hurdle I am having in buying a nice LCD is the resolution issue. The native resolutions just seem to high for effective gaming and I've never seen how games look for example in 1024 x768 on an lcd whose native resolution is 1600 x 1200. I would love to hear from people that have first-hand experience.

My laptop is native 1600x1200 and looks just fine when gaming.

gorham09 · Post by **gorham09** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:25 am

That's good to know Jeff. I really wanted to hear from someone who runs games non-native resolutions. What resolution do you run your games in?

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 11:29 am

My laptop is widescreen. It distorts things slightly. Never really bothered me much.

We will see how bad it is with this monitor as I have one on the way. When I ordered it I thought it was a 1600x1200 native. I still would have got it, but didn't look that close.

shaggydoug · Post by **shaggydoug** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:49 pm

I ended up picking up the 2001FP for $239 instead of the widescreen 2005FPW. The loss in real estate wasn't worth the other "bonuses" for me.

- shaggy

Coskesh · Post by **Coskesh** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:40 pm

shaggydoug wrote:I ended up picking up the 2001FP for $239 instead of the widescreen 2005FPW. The loss in real estate wasn't worth the other "bonuses" for me.

- shaggy

$239?!?!?! WOW. I would have gone that route. Damn, I hope this monitor fits the bill. I prob won't order another one for atleast 4 - 5years. Hopefully, games will start supporting wide screen

.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 9:48 pm

gorham09 wrote:That's good to know Jeff. I really wanted to hear from someone who runs games non-native resolutions. What resolution do you run your games in?

Usually, if it doesn't just adopt the desktop resolution, I'll pick 1024x768. In fact, I had to drop it to that res for Rise of Nations because at 1600x1200, some of the detail was too tiny for my ancient eyes to read comfortably.

My mother uses a 15" NEC flat panel that has a native resolution of 1024x768, but she drops it at the desktop to 800x600 because that is too small for her. While clearly not optimal at that resolution (which these days is cumbersome no matter what equipment you have), it is perfectly serviceable and isn't really noticeable once in a game.

FWIW, I briefly had a widescreen laptop as Dell attempted to buy off my rage by sending me a 8500 to replace a 8200 they can't seem to fix. I couldn't warm up to the wide screen display at all, and the kicker was when I played a wide screen DVD and the image was still significantly banded. I wound up telling Dell the thing was functionally useless and sent it back.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 9:56 pm

shaggydoug wrote:I ended up picking up the 2001FP for $239 instead of the widescreen 2005FPW. The loss in real estate wasn't worth the other "bonuses" for me.

- shaggy

Where did you find it for $239? The Dell website lists it at $719.

gorham09 · Post by **gorham09** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 11:16 am

I really do appreciate these comments. I have been teetering on the brink of getting one of these for a long time, but have always been worried about the scaling issue and ghosting. Now that resopnse times are lightning quick, ghosting has become much less of an issue, so the main thing holding me back is the resolution. I can see having my desktop at 1600 x1200 but I can never see gaming at that resolution. My eyes just can't take it. Hearing from people with practical experience though it sounds like scaling isn't an issue when gaming.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 1:40 pm

I am considering hooking up my old 19" Samsung CRT to my vid card in addition to my current Dell LCD, for two reasons:

1. Scaling: SOME games, like Silent Storm for one, and many others, do not support the native resolution of my LCD (1280x1024). Result? Crap. Sure, I can get around it by just cranking the in game resolution, and maxxing out the AA and AF, but my current rig cannot handle that in many cases.

2. Dark games: Painkiller on my lcd...just awful. The inherent nature of LCD tech, though improved greatly in past couple of years, can still not match the deep blacks of a CRT, and makes the game almost unplayable IMO (I played Painkiller on both CRT and LCD, so I could compare) Buyer beware: contrast ratio is crucial if you are shopping for an LCD to game on.

Coskesh · Post by **Coskesh** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 1:41 pm

Anyone know Dell's return policy off hand? If I can't return the thing opened, I might just send it back and wait for a non-wide screen sale.

I'd like to give it a shot, but not at the expense of having to keep it.

shaggydoug · Post by **shaggydoug** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:02 pm

Decided to check this to see if anyone had gotten there displays yet and noticed all the commotion I caused. Sorry, I typoed. $639, not $239. Big, big typo.

- shaggy

Bad Demographic · Post by **Bad Demographic** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:13 pm

I saw the $239 but figured it was a typo.

I did get one of these monitors - in response to a thread started elsewhere (General Computing?) and am really pleased with it. My desk wasn't deep enough for to put the 17" crt monitor on it in a "normal" position and then put the keyboard in front. So the old monitor sat in a corner, facing toward the diametrically opposite corner and I sat sideways to the desk. The mouse sat beside me, so using it was hard on my shoulder. Now, with the flat panel, the keyboard is right in front of the monitor. I sit the way you're supposed to sit at a desk and on top of everything else, the picture is much bigger.

Thanks!

Coskesh · Post by **Coskesh** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 3:38 pm

Just got the widescreen one, and loving it! Only game I have installed atm is EQ2, and it supports the 1600x1050 res.

Sample Screenshot here.

EDIT: Running EQ2 with medium textures ingame, performance options in the ATI panel, so don't base EQ2's graphics on this shot.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 9:17 pm

If you get the "Delff" coupon code, you can get the non widescreen 20" LCD (16ms response) for $549 shipped from Dell...not shabby at all.

I also have a problem with the fixed native resolution of 1600x1200 though...I have seen several Dell LCD monitors scale to playable resolutions in games and it wasn't pretty.

Coskesh · Post by **Coskesh** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:24 am

Was playing Vampire Bloodlines last night at 1280x1024 resolution on the 1600x1050 native widescreen, game looked great.

The 1024 and lower resolutions do look noticibly worse though quality wise. The edge of text and stuff looks like projection TV quality.

Coskesh · Post by **Coskesh** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:54 pm

For anyone interested, Dell is now offering the 20.1" 16:10 widescreen flatpanel LCD for $599.

I've played EQ2, Vampire, and now HalfLife2 without any ghosting. Both EQ and HL2 support 1600x1050, Vampire looks good running 1280x1024.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/Prod ... sting.aspx to order, then enter

Code: Select all

SGS8?T0JFVF1CR

as a coupon to get $290 off.

Can probably use it for the 20.1" 1600x1280 native resolution 4:3 flatpanel as well.

Octopus Overlords

20" Dell Flat Panel - $679 shipped - UPDATE $599

20" Dell Flat Panel - $679 shipped - UPDATE $599

Re: 20" Dell Flat Panel - $679 shipped