Polyview V293 19" OR Dell 1800FP 18.1" LCD??

[heat23]

I need to buy an LCD for my mom and I am looking at these two montors. I can get both for the same price, but I am not sure which one to pick. I already have an 1800FP and I love it, but I dont have any experience with the Polyview. Can someone help me make a decision?

BTW: I will be using a 32MB ATI AIW with DVI

Thanks
heat

 

[ChuckHsiao]

Well I've always liked the Polyview, but that's because I used to work for the company that sells it in the United States. I'm fairly sure it's an MVA panel due to the specs. It really depends on what you're looking for. Specs are here:

Dell 1800FP specs: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/product...p?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~tab=specstab#tabtop
Polyview V293: http://www.amptron.com/html/monitor_v293.html

The V293 comes with a DVI cable as well as a VGA cable (for DVI monitors, I always advise checking out whether or not they come with the cable; some companies save by not providing the cable). It's a pretty light monitor; once I removed the stand, I was surprised as how light the monitor part really was (the stand was a quarter of the overall weight). I got no idea why the Dell says the 1800FP is 17.2 lb. Maybe that's the package weight? That or it uses lead shielding. The speakers are crap, but they're just meant for general office use, not to make your bones vibrate with their bass, so don't expect too much out of them. Hope you're not expecting much when they're 2.5 W. The monitor has VESA mounting holes if you want to put it on a mount (you'll need to remove the stand but I can tell you how), and it also has some mounting holes to hang from the wall directly with screws. Not recommended for that if you're in an earthquake zone. If you can come up with a better name than "mounting holes" then let me know, because I didn't know what to call it when I updated the specs. Amptron's dead pixel policy is 3 bright, 3 dark, or 5 total sub-pixels; Dell's is 6 total.

Amptron can sell the V293 for a low price because it doesn't engage in marketing. It's an amazingly small company so there's very little overhead. No questionable rebates to worry about (many companies in its niche survive by putting out rebates that you'll have to harass them to get; Amptron survives by keeping overhead low). It's been around since 1986 (Dell's been around since 1984) and is located in Southern California. Amptron doesn't actually manufacture the monitors; they're originally manufactured by Chi Mei Optoelectronics (the 3rd or 4th largest LCD manufacturer in the world depending on how you count). So it's essentially a reseller (wholesaler I think), except that it also handles the repairs and stuff for CMO. Dell doesn't manufacture its own monitors either, most of its monitors are from Samsung (the largest), I'm not sure who makes the 1800FP because I haven't looked into it.

Um. That's about all I can think of. Let me know if you're looking for any other details on the V293.

 

[heat23]

Originally posted by: ChuckHsiao
Well I've always liked the Polyview, but that's because I used to work for the company that sells it in the United States. I'm fairly sure it's an MVA panel due to the specs. It really depends on what you're looking for. Specs are here:

Dell 1800FP specs: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/product...p?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~tab=specstab#tabtop
Polyview V293: http://www.amptron.com/html/monitor_v293.html

The V293 comes with a DVI cable as well as a VGA cable (for DVI monitors, I always advise checking out whether or not they come with the cable; some companies save by not providing the cable). It's a pretty light monitor; once I removed the stand, I was surprised as how light the monitor part really was (the stand was a quarter of the overall weight). I got no idea why the Dell says the 1800FP is 17.2 lb. Maybe that's the package weight? That or it uses lead shielding. The speakers are crap, but they're just meant for general office use, not to make your bones vibrate with their bass, so don't expect too much out of them. Hope you're not expecting much when they're 2.5 W. The monitor has VESA mounting holes if you want to put it on a mount (you'll need to remove the stand but I can tell you how), and it also has some mounting holes to hang from the wall directly with screws. Not recommended for that if you're in an earthquake zone. If you can come up with a better name than "mounting holes" then let me know, because I didn't know what to call it when I updated the specs. Amptron's dead pixel policy is 3 bright, 3 dark, or 5 total sub-pixels; Dell's is 6 total.

Amptron can sell the V293 for a low price because it doesn't engage in marketing. It's an amazingly small company so there's very little overhead. No questionable rebates to worry about (many companies in its niche survive by putting out rebates that you'll have to harass them to get; Amptron survives by keeping overhead low). It's been around since 1986 (Dell's been around since 1984) and is located in Southern California. Amptron doesn't actually manufacture the monitors; they're originally manufactured by Chi Mei Optoelectronics (the 3rd or 4th largest LCD manufacturer in the world depending on how you count). So it's essentially a reseller (wholesaler I think), except that it also handles the repairs and stuff for CMO. Dell doesn't manufacture its own monitors either, most of its monitors are from Samsung (the largest), I'm not sure who makes the 1800FP because I haven't looked into it.

Um. That's about all I can think of. Let me know if you're looking for any other details on the V293.

That is awesome information, I really appreciate it. How does the picture quality and overall reliability of the monitors compare?

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Also, with Dell you get a 21-day 'no questions asked' return. So that is basically a short term 0 dead pixels policy... Just make sure to do a good check right on delivery.

 

[heat23]

Actually I am looking to buy the monitor from the FS/T section here.

 

[ChuckHsiao]

Well if I were still working there I'd be able to check the monitor beforehand for dead pixels for you (I used to do that occasionally). I don't work there now though and am nowhere close to the company now so that's out of the question. Same goes for FS/T stuff heh.

Picture quality, MVA's have better picture quality than the more widespread TN panels. TN panels' best selling quality is their response time, but otherwise, they're worse than other panels (such as MVA) in almost every respect, i.e. viewing angle, contrast, etc. Except for price -- one of the reasons why TN panels dominate the market now is that they're the cheapest to make (and because people are so concerned with response time and letting themselves get hoodwinked by misleading stats). I've never noticed any ghosting with the V293, though admittedly I never tested it out for ghosting -- mostly I was just looking at the Aquarium screensaver wondering if I was about to blow out our demonstration model while fiddling around with the controls in the back (that's not recommended by the way). Some of the reviewers on Newegg reported that it's a 6-bit monitor, which I find surprising, because Chi Mei's own site says it's 8-bit (16.7M colors) and they're not shy about admitting 6-bit. Now that I'm not working there though I can't test it out personally, so I can't give a conclusive answer on that. It's unfortunate that they didn't say anything conclusive -- I got no idea if it might be a resolution (hence interpolation) issue or video card issue or whatnot since one merely says it's a 6-bit without any qualifications and another says there's video artifacts (this is out of over 100 reviews). Otherwise though, I used to be against 6-bit monitors but now I'm kinda unsure because I recently found out that my laptop is 6-bit...after it tested perfectly fine on those varying shades tests that are supposed to make 6-bit artifacts show up (it failed my 252-255 brightness test though, which was how I found out). So I'm not sure if that would be a concern. Otherwise, the screen really is bright, and the contrast really is really good. Some people complain about the bright blue power LED at the bottom of the screen; some people also complained then covered it with tape.

As for reliability, all I think I'm allowed to say is that the defect rate for Chi Mei monitors (or at least, the ones Amptron sells) is below 1%. Actually, it's far less than that (I've seen the RMA stats) but that 1% figure is stated on the website so I'll assume that's public =P until I see it get pulled. I have no idea on Dell's. The majority of our returns actually work perfectly fine, which annoys the head of the RMA Department to no end (people always think the monitor is the cause of the problem, even if it's something dumb like the video cable's not properly connected). The most common defect off the top of my head is a bright (or dark for MVA panels such as the V293) vertical or horizontal line of pixels, which is because the scan or data connection got screwed up. But that shows up soon as you turn on the monitor so it doesn't show up over time, so no worries about stuff like that for FS/T unless they ripped you off.

Amptron only provides warranty service to the first consumer purchaser. So if you get it from FS/T then um...make sure you get the original sales receipt as well. And pay attention to the name on the receipt if you ever need to return it. Heh.

Oh yeah. One of the monitors at work had a green dead pixel. I took a piece of paper to cover it (so I don't ruin the screen's finish) and rubbed it with my thumb. It went away and hasn't come back since, so now I think that the whole rubbing thing really does work sometimes. I'm guessing it works if the particle is loose, but won't work if the particle is stuck or if the pixel's dead because the assembly failed in the first place.

And I just looked at Dell's specs for the 1800FP ( http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/m...nglish/specs.htm?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19 ) and it really does say that the 1800FP is 17 lb (with packaging it's 22 lb), so I'm at a loss to explain that, since I measured the V293 myself and it was only 10 lb with the stand. I got no idea why the physical dimensions are so similar either (I measured those myself as well when I was at Amptron; note Chi Mei's don't give info for if you take the stand off).

Okay enough rambling for now.

 

[purplehippo]

Hi,

I was hoping you could give me a hand. I am in a trade with mkoc77 which has gone sour. I have been mediating with the Mods on Anandtech and it is still ongoing. The most recent decision was that it was his resposibility and that it was on him.

To let you know what happend he shipped an external HDD to me first before payment. He sent me tracking for the package. But 2 days after the package was supposedly delivered he PM's me and says he made a mistake on the tracking. The package shows being delivered 2 days earlier. I never received the package and have been in constant contact with him about it. I even went to the mods and asked them to mediate it for us.

Let me know what you think. It is clear I don't deserve a negative HEAT.

Thanks

Jeff

 

[blckgrffn]

LOL, I was like, "WOW, Jeff, where did that come from?" A little more looking and I figured it out, but man did that seem to come from nowhere!

Wow, Chuck, if you are still around, I am sold on Polyview now

Nat

 

[ChuckHsiao]

Heh I still can't figure out where Jeff's thing is from so you'll have to PM me and clue me in if you wanted my comments about it.

Regarding the Polyview, I'm still waiting for a reply to my email to Amptron from three weeks ago, so their customer support is somewhat finicky at times. I did frame it as "do it when you have some free time" though so it might've gotten filed away and forgotten. Oh well. On the other hand, I know the monitor itself is top-notch, since as I've said the RMA rates are really low.

Oh yeah, I finally figured out why the Dell 18.1" LCD is so heavy. It's a pretty old model. Monitors back then were pretty much all heavy. Heh. Also, the Polyview uses a plastic casing, which makes it really light compared with monitors that use metal casings (the stand is 1/4 of the total weight of the monitor because it has a metal plate in the base). On the other hand, that also means it doesn't look as sleek or "solid" as ones that use metal casings. So it's rather up to what you're looking for, form or function.