To widescreen or not to widescreen (HELP !!)

Hi All,

I am in search of a new LCD monitor. Initially I was targeting the new VP930B (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824116365). But I've seen no reviews from the usual sites (Tom's Hardware , Anandtech etc.) . This is freakin' me out I need the warm comfort of a review or reviews to tell me that its OK to part with my money for this product.

Note: I am currently using a Envision 7410 17" LCD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824197006 ) and before that I had a viewsonice vp171b-2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824116347) and I noticed no Ghosting with either of these two monitors.

Enter the Dell 2005FPW , goes for a little less on Dell's site than the Viewsonic and is widescreen ... Yayyyy !!

My questions are :

1) Is the Dell good for gaming ? I paly a lot of FPS games (far cry , halo , HL2 etc. ) and RPGs (Morrowind) and I'm worried about ghosting . Any comments from anyone ?

2) I expect to drive this monitor with a Geforce 6600GT (PCI-E) , can it handle this monitor at its widescreen resolution for gaming ?

3) I seen compalints of flaws in the Dell (Dead pixels , backlighting issues) in this forum. This is also scary , As I'd hate to have to do returns (I live in Jamaica) . As you can imagine that would be a real hassle. Any views/comments on this matter ?

Long and short is : Which do I go with given my concerns the VP930B or The Dell 2005FPW ?

Any advice/comments or tips are most welcome.

Best Regards,
Caspanis

Widescreen is the way to go. Especially in light of the new technologies coming out (bluray hddvd) even with Tv's because of the High def revolution coming up they are all headed widescreen as well. I would strongly suggest My new monitor to you. it's the Gateway FPD2185W. It beats the Dell 2005 by a landslide. My buddy who has the 2005fpw is hating me right now but he's getting the same monitor as me to have 2 monitors. I suggest you do a side by side comparison with the dell 2005fpw vs the Gateway FPD2185w.

One major feature for the Gateway is HDCP a feature that is paramount if you are going to expect to play HD content on a windows environment in the future.

Here is a interesting article about the above mentioned HDCP Tech.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122738,00.asp

I forgot to address a major question, I appologize. This monitor is fabulous for gaming. 0 Ghosting. It is the total package
L.E.

I can't imagine a monitor beating the 2005FPW by a "landslide" as I am extremely happy with mine, probably my favorite purchase on my rig.

ill butt in with saying that my 2005fpw is perfect and there is absolute no ghosting and games in widescreen is just amazing and also its the wave of the future

Maybe the landslide thing was a bit extreme. I just compared specs side by side and the Gateway FPD2185W beats the dell 2005FPW in every single category On top of that it has HDCD and the dell doesn't. The correct wording would be that the new gateway is slightly better in all regards not to mention it's a inch bigger. The dell would make anyone happy as well as it's a great pannel but the gateway monitor is superior.

L.E.

Gosh,

Thanks for all the comments , I really appreciate it. I'll check out the gateway.

my BIGGEST problem now is WHERE to get either of these monitors from.

I spoke to s Dell rep. today and they said the Jamaica thing is not possible even using a freight forwarder.

At this point , seems like I'm stuck

P.S. Any views on the 6600GT with any of these monitors ?

Best Regards,
Caspanis

You can get the gateway monitor at your local Best Buy or at www.gateway.com.

L.E.

PM me when you get it and let me know what you think.

Originally Posted by Lord_Exodia

You can get the gateway monitor at your local Best Buy or at www.gateway.com.

L.E.

PM me when you get it and let me know what you think.

Last I looked, there are no Best Buy stores in Jamaica. You can have a friend buy it for you at a US or Canada store then ship it to you. They could also buy it directly from Gateway.com, but they will not ship it internationally. You would also have to have a friend pass it on to you. I would recommend having them take it out of the box, check it out, then double box it to make sure it survives the international shipping.

Originally Posted by Strykar

I can't imagine a monitor beating the 2005FPW by a "landslide" as I am extremely happy with mine, probably my favorite purchase on my rig.

Exactly. I have no regrets buying mine for $400. Matter of fact I just bought my 2nd. Excellent, affordable monitors.

And btw once you own a widescreen monitor, all others will look funny.
And you will never go back!

Go Wide!

I love my 2005fpw....one word of caution though : Once you get a 20" widescreen...you will wish you got a 24" widescreen (2405fpw)

OK folks widescreen it is . Now to actually get it ..................

Originally Posted by Erasmus354

I love my 2005fpw....one word of caution though : Once you get a 20" widescreen...you will wish you got a 24" widescreen (2405fpw)

Yea, I was very tempted this week when it dropped down to $790ish, gotta have willpower!

Originally Posted by Erasmus354

I love my 2005fpw....one word of caution though : Once you get a 20" widescreen...you will wish you got a 24" widescreen (2405fpw)

yeah... that alway a problem... especially with all these ppl here in these forums with "team2405" egging us on

Originally Posted by Asian Dub Foundation

yeah... that alway a problem... especially with all these ppl here in these forums with "team2405" egging us on

QFT!

Originally Posted by Erasmus354

I love my 2005fpw....one word of caution though : Once you get a 20" widescreen...you will wish you got a 24" widescreen (2405fpw)

It's everything I can do to keep myself from buying a 2405... if I had to do it all over again, I would definitely pay the extra couple hundred

Either way, you can't really go wrong. Both the 2005 and the 2405 are great monitors, and once you go widescreen you'll never go back.

As for the new Gateway monitor, look at the thread about it. Lots of information there (including pics)

Ok ,

I pride myself as being an LCD n00bie . does anyone have pictures showing really bad backlighting issues that they wouldn't mind posting or a link to some representative pictures on this site or elsewhere ? I mean send back the monitor quality backlighting !!

If it's already on this site somewhere , my apologies.

Widescreen or not doesn't matter

Best Regards,
Caspanis

get a 2005fpw from dell. mine is perfect for gaming and the size is just right for sitting close to it. im never going back to a nonwidescreen display

Originally Posted by qbackin

Exactly. I have no regrets buying mine for $400. Matter of fact I just bought my 2nd. Excellent, affordable monitors.

And btw once you own a widescreen monitor, all others will look funny.
And you will never go back!

Go Wide!

where do you find those for $400?

Hey caspanis! Have you decided which widescreen you want yet? I live in Jamaica as well and I am pondering this very question lol. But that representative from dell was wrong, I buy from dell usa all the time and have it freight forwarded here. And I DEFINITELY understand ur anxiety with dead pixels and what not, because to return it from here is VERY expensive. I have a 1905fp that I ordered from dell and was afraid, but it reached here with zero dead pixels and all was well lol. I had to have my x50v repaired though, and it cost close to $10,000 to have it shipped up and back.

pm me and I can tell you how to go about it!! I have my eye on the fpd2185w from gateway as well, but can't find any reviews yet

$10,000?!!!!?!?!?! Are you kidding, couldn't you have just bought, like, 25 new ones? I am guessing that is either not in American dollars, or not what you wanted to write.

As for Widescreen, well it also has to do with your rig. My X850XTPE can run HL2 at 1680x1050 maxed out, but I have to turn off some things in BF2, FEAR, and Quake 4. But they all run smooth at that level (I turn off Shadows and such, 4xAA)
You should also check out what your card can do in terms of different resolutions. I run Quake 4 at 14XX x 9XX, I am not sure of the exact numbers, but its is a wide screen res and looks just as good. This just makes the game run smoother.

But my card is better than yours so you should take that into consideration when thinking about gaming down the road.