Subject: Dell 1704FPT
Opponent: Dell P1130 (refurbished)
[INTRODUCTION]
I've been called a CRT Nazi before. At that stage, I though that because of LCD?s inferior technology to CRTs, that when I upgrade, it would be to the new OLEDs. There were just too many disadvantages to owning an LCD. That was about 1-2 years ago. But reality has been setting in and the technology has been enhanced a lot since then. And it seems that the market is quickly moving away from CRTs as manufacturers prefer LCD?s cheaper shipping costs. They almost don't seem like they?re worth buying anymore with their decrease in quality control, where even the praised Mitsubishi has had issues.
Before today, I was always reluctant to recommend an LCD to people because I've never tried one, or rather; I've never had time to get intimate with one. (Don't get any ideas.) I have sometimes made recommendations in the forums, but that was only because those people were looking for an LCD and nothing else. I wasn't going to change their mind. Even in these forums, gamers have gained wide appreciation from them. It seems everyday less and less people own CRTs. I had to see for myself what is all the fuss about. Is ghosting really a non-issue? Is the lack of contrast going to leave me with a hurt in my head and my pocket?
I haven't bought an LCD before because I thought they were too much money to just try out. But they are much cheaper now and I feel that I can throw away about 300 dollars just for experimentation. I bought one basically for just a review and if I don't like it, I'm probably going to sell it to someone I know for half price. I'm a very curious dude, but I'm not rich. I can only hope to have deep pockets like Rollo.
I chose Dell. Why did I choose Dell? In a poll initiated by me a few months ago, people chose Dell twice as much as the next leading manufacturer. I also read a review here at Anandtech where Dell was compared to Apple. When you are good enough to be compared to Apple quality -you are good! Plus there are the sales, I was able to get the 1704FPT for $244 down from $349, tax included and free shipping. I saved about 30% off the original price. And there is always that full satisfaction guarantee that they offer. If the display comes with any dead pixels, I could just return it for another. So the dead pixel issue is defeated leaving me feeling more secure buying it.
[OUT DA BOX]
Being that weight was a big issue between CRTs and LCDs, I thought the box seemed a bit heavy at first, for such a thin panel. Everything came nicely packaged, but Dell still doesn?t put the monitor drivers in the included CD. When I pulled the panel from the box, I was surprised to see how big it was. For 17?, I wasn?t expecting such a big screen. I had no problem setting it up and it came fully calibrated right out of the box. I think that it has to be in DVI mode for the out of the box calibration however. For some strange reason, Dell recommended I use the VGA adapter, but I don't think so. It may be for those people that are technologically challenged, but I not sure. There were NO dead pixels on this display, which was a relief. It looks nice!
[USAGE]
After using it to play a game and surf the Internet for a while, I was left with a few gripes. My biggest gripe has to be the viewing angles. The horizontal ones aren't that bad if you stay right in the middle, but the vertical ones are always going to show incorrect color/contrast. It doesn?t matter which angle I looked at it, the same color at the top would never look the same at the bottom. I notice this anytime there is a solid color on the screen that goes from top to bottom. At the moment, the gray in this window looks gray at the bottom, but starts to get a tint of red halfway up the screen. Granted, I'm slouching, but if I sit up straight, so that the top looks gray, now the bottom gray is too light/bright. If you look from the bottom, the top part tints red. If you look from the top, the bottom part tints blue. It?s a no-win situation. It is through gaming experience that I learned it is better to be able to see the top part as gray however. To show gray at the top, my eyes have to be level with the screen about 85% of the way up and the panel has to be almost, if not, perpendicular to the stand; barely tilted. Because of the high black point and low viewing angles, the picture didn't seem to have much contrast making it seem like glare on a low brightness CRT. And this is where I learned that having the top part faithfully display colors is better. The loss of contrast due to low viewing angles would block picture for about a centimeter from the top of the screen. This didn't happen to the bottom however. Moving the monitor away from my face helped the viewing angle dilemma a bit. Only now, instead of standing within a foot of my face, it is now standing within 2 feet.
I was left with a few gripes, but also with a few praises. The brightness isn't too bright and there is no flickering whatsoever. The monitor image quality is so crisp that I feel like I've noticed new details in games. Such as in HL2, I didn't know that the enemy's uniform was glossy. Or that Alex had blue and red highlights in the front of her hair; I thought it was all brown.
The screen door effect on this LCD is only noticeable when details start to get too small for the pixels. The anti-glare coating show blotches like tape that isn?t completely pressed onto the surface. It?s easier to notice when playing dark games. It gives the game the grainy film effect.
What is every LCD trying to excel at? Response time. An increase in response time decreases ghosting. This means clearer picture quality. This monitor shows minimal ghosting that doesn't detract from your gaming experience at all during play at 30fps. I was completely immersed during BF2. There is more noticeable ghosting at 60fps, but still doesn?t detract from game play. It's a hell of a lot better than PSP screens that many people seem to be ok with. Overall, ghosting shouldn?t be a worry when purchasing this screen.
The 1704FPT monitor scales resolutions probably just as good as other LCDs. It's blurrier compared to the native resolution. I play with non-native sometimes and I don?t think it?s that bad.
[CONCLUSION]
I've decided to keep the monitor. There are a few reasons why I don't want to go back to the CRT:
-The image quality is clean and crisp compared to that of the CRT. I just dread thinking about the blurry text at the corner of my CRT. (Update: Due to my CRT being refurbished, it displayed sub-standard image quality. The text is still blurrier in the corner of CRTs, but not to the extent that I experience with my monitor.)
-My eyes feel a bit more relaxed with absolutely no flickering. It also adds to the cleanliness of the image.
-There is less warming up time. The CRT requires warm-up time, where the settings are a little shifted and it doesn't give out the best picture quality until half-an-hour to an hour later. The LCD on the other hand doesn't spend as much time doing it, which helps you get immersed in a game quicker.
-Now that I've experienced the extra space on my desk the LCD has to offer, it's difficult to go back. I would feel cluttered.
-My room has been less hot. The CRT radiates a lot of heat and always made my room much hotter as a result.
These were the big deciders to keeping the display. All the shortcomings of the LCD seemed to be acceptable when I thought of all these really positive things the LCD has going for it.
[PROLONGED USE]
After a few months' use, the viewing angles are almost of thing of the past. With 2d applications, the viewing angle problem is akin to Trinitron technology having the wires; you forget it's there. Although in gaming, there is that constant reminder at the top of the screen where if you move your head too low with respect to the screen, the picture starts to fade out for the centimeter. That's in darker games. But that is less of a problem than it initially was.
I still have no dead pixels and ghosting still isn't a problem.
Opponent: Dell P1130 (refurbished)
[INTRODUCTION]
I've been called a CRT Nazi before. At that stage, I though that because of LCD?s inferior technology to CRTs, that when I upgrade, it would be to the new OLEDs. There were just too many disadvantages to owning an LCD. That was about 1-2 years ago. But reality has been setting in and the technology has been enhanced a lot since then. And it seems that the market is quickly moving away from CRTs as manufacturers prefer LCD?s cheaper shipping costs. They almost don't seem like they?re worth buying anymore with their decrease in quality control, where even the praised Mitsubishi has had issues.
Before today, I was always reluctant to recommend an LCD to people because I've never tried one, or rather; I've never had time to get intimate with one. (Don't get any ideas.) I have sometimes made recommendations in the forums, but that was only because those people were looking for an LCD and nothing else. I wasn't going to change their mind. Even in these forums, gamers have gained wide appreciation from them. It seems everyday less and less people own CRTs. I had to see for myself what is all the fuss about. Is ghosting really a non-issue? Is the lack of contrast going to leave me with a hurt in my head and my pocket?
I haven't bought an LCD before because I thought they were too much money to just try out. But they are much cheaper now and I feel that I can throw away about 300 dollars just for experimentation. I bought one basically for just a review and if I don't like it, I'm probably going to sell it to someone I know for half price. I'm a very curious dude, but I'm not rich. I can only hope to have deep pockets like Rollo.
I chose Dell. Why did I choose Dell? In a poll initiated by me a few months ago, people chose Dell twice as much as the next leading manufacturer. I also read a review here at Anandtech where Dell was compared to Apple. When you are good enough to be compared to Apple quality -you are good! Plus there are the sales, I was able to get the 1704FPT for $244 down from $349, tax included and free shipping. I saved about 30% off the original price. And there is always that full satisfaction guarantee that they offer. If the display comes with any dead pixels, I could just return it for another. So the dead pixel issue is defeated leaving me feeling more secure buying it.
[OUT DA BOX]
Being that weight was a big issue between CRTs and LCDs, I thought the box seemed a bit heavy at first, for such a thin panel. Everything came nicely packaged, but Dell still doesn?t put the monitor drivers in the included CD. When I pulled the panel from the box, I was surprised to see how big it was. For 17?, I wasn?t expecting such a big screen. I had no problem setting it up and it came fully calibrated right out of the box. I think that it has to be in DVI mode for the out of the box calibration however. For some strange reason, Dell recommended I use the VGA adapter, but I don't think so. It may be for those people that are technologically challenged, but I not sure. There were NO dead pixels on this display, which was a relief. It looks nice!
[USAGE]
After using it to play a game and surf the Internet for a while, I was left with a few gripes. My biggest gripe has to be the viewing angles. The horizontal ones aren't that bad if you stay right in the middle, but the vertical ones are always going to show incorrect color/contrast. It doesn?t matter which angle I looked at it, the same color at the top would never look the same at the bottom. I notice this anytime there is a solid color on the screen that goes from top to bottom. At the moment, the gray in this window looks gray at the bottom, but starts to get a tint of red halfway up the screen. Granted, I'm slouching, but if I sit up straight, so that the top looks gray, now the bottom gray is too light/bright. If you look from the bottom, the top part tints red. If you look from the top, the bottom part tints blue. It?s a no-win situation. It is through gaming experience that I learned it is better to be able to see the top part as gray however. To show gray at the top, my eyes have to be level with the screen about 85% of the way up and the panel has to be almost, if not, perpendicular to the stand; barely tilted. Because of the high black point and low viewing angles, the picture didn't seem to have much contrast making it seem like glare on a low brightness CRT. And this is where I learned that having the top part faithfully display colors is better. The loss of contrast due to low viewing angles would block picture for about a centimeter from the top of the screen. This didn't happen to the bottom however. Moving the monitor away from my face helped the viewing angle dilemma a bit. Only now, instead of standing within a foot of my face, it is now standing within 2 feet.
I was left with a few gripes, but also with a few praises. The brightness isn't too bright and there is no flickering whatsoever. The monitor image quality is so crisp that I feel like I've noticed new details in games. Such as in HL2, I didn't know that the enemy's uniform was glossy. Or that Alex had blue and red highlights in the front of her hair; I thought it was all brown.
The screen door effect on this LCD is only noticeable when details start to get too small for the pixels. The anti-glare coating show blotches like tape that isn?t completely pressed onto the surface. It?s easier to notice when playing dark games. It gives the game the grainy film effect.
What is every LCD trying to excel at? Response time. An increase in response time decreases ghosting. This means clearer picture quality. This monitor shows minimal ghosting that doesn't detract from your gaming experience at all during play at 30fps. I was completely immersed during BF2. There is more noticeable ghosting at 60fps, but still doesn?t detract from game play. It's a hell of a lot better than PSP screens that many people seem to be ok with. Overall, ghosting shouldn?t be a worry when purchasing this screen.
The 1704FPT monitor scales resolutions probably just as good as other LCDs. It's blurrier compared to the native resolution. I play with non-native sometimes and I don?t think it?s that bad.
[CONCLUSION]
I've decided to keep the monitor. There are a few reasons why I don't want to go back to the CRT:
-The image quality is clean and crisp compared to that of the CRT. I just dread thinking about the blurry text at the corner of my CRT. (Update: Due to my CRT being refurbished, it displayed sub-standard image quality. The text is still blurrier in the corner of CRTs, but not to the extent that I experience with my monitor.)
-My eyes feel a bit more relaxed with absolutely no flickering. It also adds to the cleanliness of the image.
-There is less warming up time. The CRT requires warm-up time, where the settings are a little shifted and it doesn't give out the best picture quality until half-an-hour to an hour later. The LCD on the other hand doesn't spend as much time doing it, which helps you get immersed in a game quicker.
-Now that I've experienced the extra space on my desk the LCD has to offer, it's difficult to go back. I would feel cluttered.
-My room has been less hot. The CRT radiates a lot of heat and always made my room much hotter as a result.
These were the big deciders to keeping the display. All the shortcomings of the LCD seemed to be acceptable when I thought of all these really positive things the LCD has going for it.
[PROLONGED USE]
After a few months' use, the viewing angles are almost of thing of the past. With 2d applications, the viewing angle problem is akin to Trinitron technology having the wires; you forget it's there. Although in gaming, there is that constant reminder at the top of the screen where if you move your head too low with respect to the screen, the picture starts to fade out for the centimeter. That's in darker games. But that is less of a problem than it initially was.
I still have no dead pixels and ghosting still isn't a problem.
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