![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
lphatlanta
n00b
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2004
- Messages
- 20
I bought the Dell 2001FP for my custom machine at home which I built for multimedia. I wanted a large format high-resolution display for under $1000 but didnt want a 16:9 format screen.
Decided I'd do a review for the forum.
I had some doubts about the monitor when I bought it...was even considering canceling the order after reading a slightly negative review but now I'm glad I didn't.
The 2001FP 's picture had initially disappointed me until I tweaked my video card settings on the ATI9800Pro AIW.
You absolutely have to enable "reduce DVI frequency on high-resolution displays" under the OPTIONS tab of the ATI properties.
Viola! Made a huge difference. Text became crystal clear, colors more saturated and contrast was improved. Im not sure if the Nvidia cards have this adjustment or not but most all of the newer ATI cards do. I will check the Nvidia card properties on the CAD machines at work and post that later.
This might be the reason why some on this forum have experienced screen flicker and/or blurring on this display.
I have a Samsung 193P, Sony HS94P/S, and two Eizo CG18s on machines in my office. I almost purchased a 193P for this home machine but wanted a 20 screen and quite frankly was curious about the Dell.
Since the Eizo display is professional grade and the fact that it is more than double the cost of the 2001FP Im not going to use it in my comparison. Even tough I will say that the Dell came damn close in many respects, especially color reproduction.
Compared to the 193P and the HS94P the 2001FP is right in there with them if not superior in several ways.
The text reproduction is outstanding...as good as the 193P and far better than the Sony.
Colors are almost as good as the Samsung and again every bit as good as the Sony. Gamma is very good at default...this time besting the Sony and the Samsung. Color calibration using Natural Color software confirmed that the default settings using the Dells ICM profile were extremely accurate.
Even under bright (although color corrected) fluorescent lighting the screen is well lit and easy on the eyes. There is no eyestrain viewing this monitor either the Sony and its XtraBright mirrored coating make it hard to read text for any length of time. And yes the surface of the Sony is like a mirror when at black and yes you can see some reflections even when its in use.
Of course I view the monitors under normal incandescent lighting as well especially while watching DVDs and gaming.
As for Game play...fantastic!
Doom3 is AMAZING at 1600 x 1200 resolution with the ATI 3D engine at maxed out settings. Ghosting was minimal...as good or better than the Sony or the Samsung. There was no perceptible blurring or screen flicker. The same was true for Far Cry and even though the games a snooze, URUs graphics were really spectacular also.
Its not quite CRT quality when it comes to game play but neither is the $1700 Eizo reference LCD! The technologys just not quite there yet. But CRTs are big, hot and the eyestrain is a killer.
The main feature that makes the Dell display shine is its high resolution of 1600 x 1200 and 20.5 inch screen size.
This is the preferred resolution for most graphic designers and CAD operators. It is also considerably more important for serious gamers. The detail reproduction is superior and the larger screen size does make a difference!
The Sony and Samsungs native resolution is 1280 x 1024...no comparison there. Of course some games require a drop in resolution as well as some apps even then the 2001FP displayed a very nice image.
Inputs on the Dell are amazing also: Analog RGB, Digital DVI-D, TMDS, S-Video, and Composite Video. You can even add a sound bar to the bottom of the display but its not something I would ever use. The sound quality isnt supposed to be that great.
Controls are onboard and concise, with an input selector on the front panel! Some settings are not available in DVI mode as opposed to VGA. I have not tested this monitor in VGA mode, but why would anyone want to run a display with this resolution on VGA in the first place?
Another lesser-known feature is that this display supports PIP. It has a good size stationary window at the upper right corner of the screen. I connected a VCR and a Digital Camcorder to the inputs and it worked beautifully.
Im going to purchase a mini-cam and hook up to the input as a security monitor in the future. This is a feature usually found only in $1000+ displays.
There are also 4 USB 2.0 connections on the display, two on the back and two on the side for easy access even though I dont use them.
The pivot feature to portrait mode is most excellent and using the ATI built in rotation adjustment makes it a snap.
It makes web pages with lots of text a breeze to read...same for accounting software.
DVD playback was excellent. Very smooth and clean.
The Sony was the leader of the pack until I saw The Matrix on the Dell display.
The 16ms response rate is every bit as good as the Sony's 12ms...if not better. And YES, the Dell's response time is 16ms. I talked to Dell's tech support (good luck understanding them) and they said the 24ms posted on the web site a while back was an error.
The black level could have been a little better. It was definitely better than the Sony...with only a slight amount of backlighting showing thru at the perimeter. This is only really noticeable viewing a DVD in letterbox, but even then it wasnt that distracting.
The Samsung has slightly superior blacks, though.
Even though the Dells design is a little on the clunky side compared to the Sony and not as simple and elegant as the Samsung, it is still pleasing to look at. The quality is excellent and the base is extremely stable much more so than the Sony, which the cat toppled over just by brushing by it.
Cable control could be better but about the same as the Sony. The Samsung again was superior there.
The great thing about the design though, is that the display is a completely separate unit from the base. It can be detached and wall mounted with a standard VESA mount (not included).
There were no dead or stuck pixels on the 2001FP, but this was true of the Samsung and Sony as well.
Lastly, viewing angle is extremely good again besting both the Sony and the Samsung. The base adjusts in height an impressive 6 inches and the display tilts forward and backwards for easy viewing.
To sum up, the Dell 2001FP is a great display especially when you consider the wealth of features, inputs, screen size and the screen resolution of 1600 X 1200.
I purchased it for $719 from dell with free shipping. That deal is still good on Dells Home and Small Business website as of this date.
I hope this little review helps someone in making an informed buying decision.
Decided I'd do a review for the forum.
I had some doubts about the monitor when I bought it...was even considering canceling the order after reading a slightly negative review but now I'm glad I didn't.
The 2001FP 's picture had initially disappointed me until I tweaked my video card settings on the ATI9800Pro AIW.
You absolutely have to enable "reduce DVI frequency on high-resolution displays" under the OPTIONS tab of the ATI properties.
Viola! Made a huge difference. Text became crystal clear, colors more saturated and contrast was improved. Im not sure if the Nvidia cards have this adjustment or not but most all of the newer ATI cards do. I will check the Nvidia card properties on the CAD machines at work and post that later.
This might be the reason why some on this forum have experienced screen flicker and/or blurring on this display.
I have a Samsung 193P, Sony HS94P/S, and two Eizo CG18s on machines in my office. I almost purchased a 193P for this home machine but wanted a 20 screen and quite frankly was curious about the Dell.
Since the Eizo display is professional grade and the fact that it is more than double the cost of the 2001FP Im not going to use it in my comparison. Even tough I will say that the Dell came damn close in many respects, especially color reproduction.
Compared to the 193P and the HS94P the 2001FP is right in there with them if not superior in several ways.
The text reproduction is outstanding...as good as the 193P and far better than the Sony.
Colors are almost as good as the Samsung and again every bit as good as the Sony. Gamma is very good at default...this time besting the Sony and the Samsung. Color calibration using Natural Color software confirmed that the default settings using the Dells ICM profile were extremely accurate.
Even under bright (although color corrected) fluorescent lighting the screen is well lit and easy on the eyes. There is no eyestrain viewing this monitor either the Sony and its XtraBright mirrored coating make it hard to read text for any length of time. And yes the surface of the Sony is like a mirror when at black and yes you can see some reflections even when its in use.
Of course I view the monitors under normal incandescent lighting as well especially while watching DVDs and gaming.
As for Game play...fantastic!
Doom3 is AMAZING at 1600 x 1200 resolution with the ATI 3D engine at maxed out settings. Ghosting was minimal...as good or better than the Sony or the Samsung. There was no perceptible blurring or screen flicker. The same was true for Far Cry and even though the games a snooze, URUs graphics were really spectacular also.
Its not quite CRT quality when it comes to game play but neither is the $1700 Eizo reference LCD! The technologys just not quite there yet. But CRTs are big, hot and the eyestrain is a killer.
The main feature that makes the Dell display shine is its high resolution of 1600 x 1200 and 20.5 inch screen size.
This is the preferred resolution for most graphic designers and CAD operators. It is also considerably more important for serious gamers. The detail reproduction is superior and the larger screen size does make a difference!
The Sony and Samsungs native resolution is 1280 x 1024...no comparison there. Of course some games require a drop in resolution as well as some apps even then the 2001FP displayed a very nice image.
Inputs on the Dell are amazing also: Analog RGB, Digital DVI-D, TMDS, S-Video, and Composite Video. You can even add a sound bar to the bottom of the display but its not something I would ever use. The sound quality isnt supposed to be that great.
Controls are onboard and concise, with an input selector on the front panel! Some settings are not available in DVI mode as opposed to VGA. I have not tested this monitor in VGA mode, but why would anyone want to run a display with this resolution on VGA in the first place?
Another lesser-known feature is that this display supports PIP. It has a good size stationary window at the upper right corner of the screen. I connected a VCR and a Digital Camcorder to the inputs and it worked beautifully.
Im going to purchase a mini-cam and hook up to the input as a security monitor in the future. This is a feature usually found only in $1000+ displays.
There are also 4 USB 2.0 connections on the display, two on the back and two on the side for easy access even though I dont use them.
The pivot feature to portrait mode is most excellent and using the ATI built in rotation adjustment makes it a snap.
It makes web pages with lots of text a breeze to read...same for accounting software.
DVD playback was excellent. Very smooth and clean.
The Sony was the leader of the pack until I saw The Matrix on the Dell display.
The 16ms response rate is every bit as good as the Sony's 12ms...if not better. And YES, the Dell's response time is 16ms. I talked to Dell's tech support (good luck understanding them) and they said the 24ms posted on the web site a while back was an error.
The black level could have been a little better. It was definitely better than the Sony...with only a slight amount of backlighting showing thru at the perimeter. This is only really noticeable viewing a DVD in letterbox, but even then it wasnt that distracting.
The Samsung has slightly superior blacks, though.
Even though the Dells design is a little on the clunky side compared to the Sony and not as simple and elegant as the Samsung, it is still pleasing to look at. The quality is excellent and the base is extremely stable much more so than the Sony, which the cat toppled over just by brushing by it.
Cable control could be better but about the same as the Sony. The Samsung again was superior there.
The great thing about the design though, is that the display is a completely separate unit from the base. It can be detached and wall mounted with a standard VESA mount (not included).
There were no dead or stuck pixels on the 2001FP, but this was true of the Samsung and Sony as well.
Lastly, viewing angle is extremely good again besting both the Sony and the Samsung. The base adjusts in height an impressive 6 inches and the display tilts forward and backwards for easy viewing.
To sum up, the Dell 2001FP is a great display especially when you consider the wealth of features, inputs, screen size and the screen resolution of 1600 X 1200.
I purchased it for $719 from dell with free shipping. That deal is still good on Dells Home and Small Business website as of this date.
I hope this little review helps someone in making an informed buying decision.
