Topic Title

I am looking at buying a new Dell UltaSharp 2005FPW 20" LCD monitor. Does anyone have any experience with this one or suggestions.
My current CRT monitor is starting to make popping sounds and flickering. I think it may go at any time now. It is only 12 years old.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Jeff,

I have no direct experience with that monitor, but from what I hear, they are fine monitors. I have a couple of questions that may help you decide, though:

Is that model a widescreen (~16:10) aspect ratio, or 5:4, or 4:3 (which is the aspect of most CRT's), and what is the native resolution?

Does it have a DVI input, as well as an RGB (analog) input?

If your current video card has a DVI output, and/or if it supports the native resolution, then you are all set. If it doesn't have a DVI output, or if it won't support the native resolution, then I highly recommend that you also upgrade the video card to something that does.

Because, an LCD monitor should really always be used at its native resolution -- and if things are too small, then use the Display Properties/Appearance/Advanced large/extra large schemes to correct this. Down-sizing the resolution will almost certainly result in a fuzzier image than the native one does. And using DVI is the way to get the absolute best image quality w/o having to futz...

Yeah, it sounds like your 12 year old CRT is about to go into forced retirement...

[Edit: The maximum resolution of an LCD monitor is, by definition, the native resolution. ]

Edit 2: if the cost of two 19" and a dual DVI-D video card is in your budget, then I would definitely recommend getting that set up instead of a single 20", with a new DVI-D video card.

Hi Neal,
The monitor is a wide screen. 16:10 aspect ratio. I can't find what the native resolution is on the spec sheet, only that the max. resolution is 1680x1050.
It does have DVI-D and VGA connector types.

Thanks.

I looked real hard at purchasing that monitor, and instead elected to go with 2 - Dell 19" monitors. They are great monitors, look nice, narrow bezel, and they have 4 usb ports built in to the bezel . Every review I have seen has been positive and I have no doubt you will be happy with the 20". I think I paid about $430 for each of the monitors. If your diligent, you can catch Dell with a sale or discount going on.

EDIT

I just looked at the Dell website and they are listed at $383.20!

Thanks Neil & Robert for your advise and comments. I may check out the 19" monitors as well.

We have a couple of stations running the Dell 2005FPW monitor and are extremely happy with them. They are running at 1680 x 1050, which is the native resolution. I strongly urge that you run them with a graphics card that supports this resolution through DVI. Ifthis is an upgrade to an existing system, the graphics card is probably not capable of doing theis. There is notable lessening of image quality at lower resolutions and with analog input.

We also have several people running dual 17" versions of the same monitor - again with appropriate graphics cards and DVI input. Each 17" is running at 1280 x 1024.

The 20" people chose that option because they are in DatCAD most of the time and like the big image. The dual 17" people tend to run multiple applications at the same time and like to have DataCAD on one screen and othe application(s) on the other screen. It is just a matter of preference and how you are most comfortable working.

Again, using the correct graphics card is key to maximizing the performance of these monitors.

Hope this helps.