20 inch LCD: Dell or Viewsonic?

[FCBarca]

Trying to decide between a few LCD monitors for my new build and vascillating based on reviews here and there...Want to stay under $400.

Dell 2007WFP

Viewsonic VP2030B


Also looked at the Sceptre model but reviews were too inconsistent (Especially after a year)...Looking for mainly multimedia purposes, no gaming (Other than Freecell)...Good response time, widescreen a plus, clarity etc.

Thoughts?

 

[mshan]

Viewsonic 2025vm seems the one that gets recommended a lot, in addition to the Dell you refer to.

 

[MrUniq]

Read this about Dell and then you decide

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=27&threadid=1933789&enterthread=y

 

[dBTelos]

PC World magazine does lots of LCD reviews, you might want to check them out.

 

[xtknight]

Dell by a landslide IMO. I haven't heard enough about people having backlight problems with the Dell to just stop recommending it. Everything else about the Dell is better than the ViewSonic (I'm not even sure if ViewSonic uses better inverters).

 

[MrX8503]

The Viewsonic will run you about 300 and the dell would be around 400.

In my opinon you get what you pay for. The viewsonic is a pretty good monitor and the dell is probably one of the best 20 inchers.

 

[SparkyJJO]

What is this "everything else" that dell is better than viewsonic on?

I remember when I bought my VX2025wm that the comparable dell LCD was crap in comparison (severe backlight bleeding, reddish tint to the picture, color banding... I read a LOT before buying my first LCD). I figured Dell would fix all that soon but I wanted an LCD then not a couple months down the road. OK so the Dell rotates to portrait mode..... What else is better over the viewsonic? I'm curious because I'm tending to recommend viewsonic (I love mine )

 

[edmundoab]

DELL probably gets a contract from Top Victory Electronics to make their LCD monitors.
Not sure about the 20 inches ones. I'd rather go for the viewsonic. At least they are the ODM.
Dell assigns other ODM to make for em, hence after mark-up profit. of course DELL is going to be more expensive.

 

[kenji4life]

Originally posted by: xtknight
Dell by a landslide IMO. I haven't heard enough about people having backlight problems with the Dell to just stop recommending it. Everything else about the Dell is better than the ViewSonic (I'm not even sure if ViewSonic uses better inverters).

It's in your best interests to listen to what xtknight has to say, imho he's the authority on lcd screens.

 

[Mem]

It's in your best interests to listen to what xtknight has to say, imho he's the authority on lcd screens.

You should only use members comments here as a guide(with all due respect to xtknight),end of the day try and see if you can see the LCDs with your own eyes,remember you are buying the LCD and will have to live with it, not other members here,we all have different expectations,requirements,standards.

 

[fire400]

get a dell monitor, the quality is slightly different, but not necessarily better or worse. for enthusiast taste, I'd say the dell matches a bit more things in the roundup for a lot of people who experience their lcd's for the first time.

 

[xtknight]

http://www.lesnumeriques.com/duels.php?...08&p1=1073&ma2=88&mo2=106&p2=1042&ph=1

You can compare the two for yourself here. The ViewSonic has a slight response time advantage on the second pic, but the rest are equal or better on the Dell, including viewing angles. The Dell uses either a Samsung S-PVA or LG Philips S-IPS, both of which have better color gamma settings than the AU Optronics P-MVA used in the ViewSonic [1]. If you don't own a color calibrator, you're going to have a washed out picture. That's the main advantage of going with the Dell. The Dell has more inputs (S-Video or composite) and scaling features (4:3, Fill, 1:1). The ViewSonic only has a "Fill" scaling option. The 2007WFP is also $50+ cheaper. On sale for $359.10 here: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod...tail.aspx?sku=320-4688&cs=19&c=us&l=en

Also you're aware the VP2030b is a 1600x1200 4:3 aspect screen and the 2007WFP is a 1680x1050 16:10 widescreen.

The ViewSonics are notorious for poor response time control (inky smear) in dark areas. Take a look:

Samsung 193P: http://www.flatpanels.dk/billeder/193Ptrailinglille.jpg
ViewSonic VP930: http://www.flatpanels.dk/billeder/VP930trailinglille.jpg

My VP930 had the same issue. I've tested a Dell 2007FP and it did not have the problem. Oh, the Dell has HDCP support too, as well as PIP.

[1] http://www.behardware.com/articles/626-1/monitor-calibration-for-0-to-100.html

There are some improvements as we notice each month in our surveys. However, this progress comes more from an evolution of the panel manufacturer rather than monitors assemblers. LG-Philips now sells IPS panels that are the most accurate with standard parameters.

They are followed by Samsung. It has been over a year since their panels appeared to be correctly adjusted. Then comes CMO and AU Optronics, who haven´t realised how important it is to have accurate colors. Generally, too many monitors are sold with poor standard parameters. And even if some new monitors have satisfactory results there is still an enormous amount of monitors that display wrong colours.

I do know both the VP930b and VX2025WM suffer from this. It's extremely likely the VP2030b does as well. You can see the default color adjustments (delta E (difference from desired color)) in the first link are worse on the ViewSonic. (The lower the delta E the closer the color is to the desired one.)

 

[Skott]

The Dell has more features. The ViewSonic 2025 is cheaper and just as good, if not better, quality wise IMO. If you want the extra features, get the Dell. If you dont need the extra features, get the ViewSonic. Just my two coppers on it.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Interesting.... However (no offense) I don't see that with my vx2025wm at all. Colors are better than the LCD on my dell laptop that I had and aren't washed out (inspiron 9300, samsung panel, 6-bit - that might be part of it, my viewsonic has 8-bit), and the response time control leaves me with no smears (and I game alot).

Maybe this is just personal taste. Comparing my viewsonic to my friend's dell non widscreen 19" I'm glad I got viewsonic (better color, less ghosting by far). But then his is a little older maybe so that might be part of it. I have to say the image scaling and fixed aspect ratio would be nice sometimes but it isn't too big a deal for me (again personal taste).

All I know is the vx2025wm destroyed the comparable dell screen when it came out in terms of color, viewing angles, response time, etc. but since then Dell has fixed those issues. I don't regret getting my viewsonic though

xtknight, you know your stuff, I envy you. I guess I don't look at it all that much now though since I have an LCD I don't plan to change for awhile.