Widescreen monitor selection...Help!

[AndyO]

Hi all once again,

Sorry in advance for what will clearly be a long post/gripe

As I stated on my earlier post I'm currently trying to find a monitor to accompany my new PC which is pretty highly spec'd. As I'm getting a 7800GTX in it (just the one for now, but I think SLI in 6 months is feasible!) I'm keen to get a stonking monitor to show it off.

I would *like* to say I'd settled on the Dell 2405FPW, but sadly I can't make my mind up whether a 20" would suit me better.

I think the 24" is just too big and would be a bit OTT for me, especially as I sit quite close. I've given it a lot of thought and a decent 20" 1600x1200 jobby would set me back enough cash that I would just jump to the Dell 24" anyway, so I've ruled them out! I figure a 20" widescreen would completely fill my field of vision from where I sit, so I just don't need a bigger screen - and I don't want to sit further back.

Now obviously this means losing out on some pixels to coluor in which in the longer term means I'll be able to run future games at native 1680x1050 on high detail for longer than I could have run them at 1920 on the 24" monitor (without upgrading my gfx setup)....and the more I think about it I probably wouldn't notice the difference with decent AA turned on anyhow. So its cost effective on two fronts!

So I have a couple of questions!!!...
1) Am I being a muppet and should I just get the massive 2405? And if so, does anyone still sell it for under £600 as I've not seen it in stock at that price for a long time

2) If I'm actually being sensible (it'd be a first), then I have a massive problem...

I've read every review going and I've not found a 20" widescreen that stands head and shoulders above the pack at around the £400 price point...if I'm spending more then my "why the **** don't I get the 2405" sense will kick in....and the 24" seems to get much broader praise on response times, backlight bleed, colour etc than any of the 20" models. But it's too big! Grrrrrrr.

I've read a lot of mixed and conflicting reviews about almost every model in the marketplace including the Dell, Philips, Belinea, AOG, Asus, Acer...you name it. Nothing jumps out as the winner!

I'd recently read what I thought was a definitive review of a new Gateway widescreen in the US but the first forum posting I found was basically 'it was cr@p and I sent it back two days in'. So currently my hopes are pinned on the new Viewsonic (2012?) but I've not seen a review of it

But if anyone can put me out of my misery and help here, I'd massively appreciate it! In fact, congratulations to reading to the end of my musings

[schmunk]

Buy David's 2405 second hand for £525 delivered - he's the Hexus bossman, so he can be trusted

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=66409

[AndyO]

Hehe,

Thx for the tip schmunk. Not a bad idea, though for some reason I can't access that link?

At any rate I think I need to buy a new monitor as I need a VAT receipt for it so afraid I can't go down the ebay or 2nd hand route! Sorry David...sounds a bargain too

Any advice on the plethora of 20" options? I finally found a review of the Viewsonic 2012W and it seems distinctly mediocre! I'm tempted by the Belinea 102035 or the Dell 2005 at present but I keep looking overreviews and changing my mind. :S

[FLuff_eei]

Hit the nail on the head. I'd go for the Belinea or the Dell.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/lcd20.html

£50 difference. 1 year more warranty on the Dell, Belinea is 8ms whereas Dell is 16ms (not sure how much difference that makes).

Fluff_eei

[AndyO]

Cheers for the backup Fluff_eei.

A bit of progress...due to the lower response time I'm taking the 2005FPW out of the equation.

So it's down to the Belinea 102035 or the Dell 2405FPW!!!

I'd settled on the Belinea on Friday but then read a series of forum posts about the dreaded backlight bleed once again, and quite a few reporting dead pixels to boot.

I'm still paralysed by my own indecision! I looked at some 20/23" displays at the weekend and the 23" didn't look TOO huge - though I was about a meter and a half away I guess.

I'd go for the 24" if I could find it under £600 but nowhere around seems to do those sorts of prices any more (as noted above has to be retailer as I need a VAT receipt)...so at present its still the Belinea but I'm keen to see if:

Anyone actually has the belinea and how good it is?!?
Anyone has seen any good deals on the 2405FPW? What's the best price folks have seen at present (preferably with stock!!)?

Cheers in advance for the advice and thoughts!

[MSIC]

I am using the 2005FPW right now, including for gaming and movie watching, and i can tell you - it is brilliant. Maybe some benchmarking software would show where there could be improvement, but i can promise you that all is good in use.
I guess it's a bit like sitting in a TVR, feeling that you are really shifting, but someone tells you that so-and-so a car can get to 60 mph in 0.1 seconds less - so what? The TVR is quick. My point - if you get the Dell 2005FPW you will be DELIGHTED.
I keep recommending this website - why isn't everyone else yet? I have bought 2 from it now and can vouch for them:
ITCSales. Have just checked however, they don't have any stock right now... Boo.

[AndyO]

Cheers for the swift reponse MSIC!

Main rationale for dropping the 2005 was the marginally lower reponse times and the fact that it was moderately more expensive. You've just blown my expense argument out of the water with that site so I guess its worth evaluating on its merits again and the better colour reproduction might factor in. The Dell warranty is probably not something to lightly discount either.

...and £598 on that site for the 2405?!? Urgh. Gotta be worth checking when they'll get stock

Anyone else have two cents to contribute?

EDIT: Argh, just phoned them and they're expecting stock 2nd/3rd week of Feb....but getting my new PC next week! Not sure I can wait that long! Great recommendation MSIC, thanks. Where's a flippin' Dell Coupon when you need one - that might just clinch the deal Anyone aware of any other sites with similar prices?

[MSIC]

Absolutely - i know i keep going on about it (Dell - seriously - i am up for a few kickbacks here!) but I love it. I used to think that the only purpose of a monitor was to display a picture (well, i guess strictly it IS), but the fact that i can tilt and adjust my screen in virtually any direction is cool and occasionally useful. Having a DVI AND VGA adaptor plugged in was great when i built a second machine for a mate - plugged them both into the Dell and switched between them. I also really appreciate having two spare USB ports on the side, my webcam lead isn't stretched to buggery any more. It's also a smallish bezel that doesn't intrude but to my eyes is just the right amount of black for 'cool'. Subjective, but there you go.

If they were the same price, i may well go for the 2405. Or to be honest the new 30" version! But for the money, it's all good. Shame it's not in stock right now, but they keep getting 30+ in at a time so fingers crossed.
PS Very quick delivery time, and yes, full 3 year warranty. Can't argue with that!

[GingerNinja.net]

Heh, I was about to say that Dell are offering the 2005FPW for £381 delivered.

[MSIC]

Actually, if it's in stock, it might be worth it....

[AndyO]

Gutted

Cheers for all the help thus far guys, the forum's been a goldmine of info

I just called Dell directly to see if they could get close to the ITCSales price of £598 for the 2405....it was a firm no!

Although given that the sales guy had such a thick accent that I could barely understand him, and kept on saying 'this excellent monitor comes complete with'...then reading the full spec sheet to me (got it for the 2005, 2405 and he tried talking over me a third time about the 30" before I said ), I suspect I got the standard call centre drone rather than a human being.

He also tried to sell me the sound bar three times even when I said 'no, I've got perfectly serviceable surround sound thanks'....the response was "yes I understand sir, but these excellent speakers connect directly to the monitor and we can sell them at the price of only £36 if you order this excellent monitor". Excellent indeed If I wasn't grimacing at the awful sales stereotype I would have been laughing quite hard

One bit of news for people that I did get out of my new best friend at the call centre - Dell are going to do the usual 25% discount on the list price from Feb 1st (it's only on the 2005 at present). He offered me that (£708 inc VAT I think). No thanks

So, no monitor ordered yet!!! And I'd got all psyched up for the 24" too!

Help, anyone?!? I'm starting to really fancy the 24" again (I knew this would happen!)

[PenguinJim]

I'm with MSIC. I got my 2005FPW for £330 delivered from ITC, and I am a big gamer (tall, too). I simply cannot fault this screen - excellent viewing angles, response times, colour, and gaming in widescreen is simply fantastic. I was looking at spending £200 max on a decent 19" TFT, but I'm glad I went a bit crazy and ordered the 2005FPW.

And that stand! I know I shouldn't be excited by a monitor stand, but it really is just superb. Rotating the screen easily to Tallscreen™ just makes vertical-scrolling shoot-em-ups come alive! (Well, probably. I haven't played any vertical-scrolling shoot-em-ups in about ten years, but I can imagine they look good. Tallscreen™ is also good for looking at an A4 document, like, hugely )

USB ports (2 on the side, 2 on the back), DVI, RGB, Composite, S-Video... what would make this monitor better? Well, most games (at least 90%) can either natively support widescreen resolutions (16:9 or 16:10) or can be rejiggled to do so fairly easily (use widescreengamingforums for advice). But there are a couple of titles that remain a little bit stretched. I've had my monitor for three months now, and I am a very keen gamer, and so far I've only had trouble with Dawn of War (my CD contains version 1.40, and only DoW up to 1.30 supports widescreen, for some reason :|). Oh, and Space Rangers only supports up to 1024x768. But most games run fantastically in widescreen, so it's not that much of a problem.

Go and order a 2005FPW from ITC.

(Edit: and just wait for it to be back in stock)

[MSIC]

I only play 2 games in non-widescreen - Battlefield 2 (i've emailed them too....as PenguinJim says, read here) and Star Trek Birth Of The Federation (what can i say - the classics don't die!).
But the Dell is even good here - i have mine set on 'Aspect' display in the menu and can't see a reason to have it on any other - it'll display any widescreen content correctly as you'd expect but also keeps 4:3 (or 5:4) content at the correct scale, it just expands it to fill (the top and bottom of) the screen. Just perfect.
OK Dell, i've earnt my money now...

[AndyO]

Yeah I've heard the scaling on the Dells is very good - prad.de do close ups and it looks very decent on their shots of HL2....

pcbuyit.co.uk have stock of the 2405 at £662 (£674 delivered I think) which is tempting for the sake of waiting 2+ weeks (ITCsales said 2nd or 3rd week of Feb). Anyone know of any better deals than this? Or are they an awful retailer?!

Cheers!

[jimborae]

another vote for the Dell 2005 here, just make sure you get one that doesn't suffer backlight bleed.

[PenguinJim]

another vote for the Dell 2005 here, just make sure you get one that doesn't suffer backlight bleed.

Yes! Absolutely make sure to leave the 'Backlight Bleed?' option UNTICKED! I thought it sounded cool so I ticked it. But I haven't noticed it apart from when Windows is loading.