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[Updated]Review: Dell 1900FP vs Planar 191M 19inch LCDs

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Originally posted by: RossMAN
What kind of warranty does the Dell 1900FP carry?
Click to expand...

Ross, are you thinking about getting this monitor as well? I got on this deal couple weeks ago, this monitor is basically the same size as my old Sony 21" G500 🙁. Its huge. i'm very pleased with the quality of the 1900FP. I'm cutting back on my lunch money to get this monitor 😛 but its worth it.


--Scsi
 
Yes, this is an excellent monitor. I'll never go back to CRT again, and I consider myself to be a hardcore gamer. The only times there are any negative differences are in games and in DVD playback, but it isn't too bad at all. There is some ghosting in older FPS games, mostly b/c of the color pallettes used back then I guess.

Newer games run very well, with no glaring ghosting, just a few traces here and there with fast movements. As for DVDs, dark scenes don't have great contrast, but I found a lot of it went away when I upgraded from WinDVD 3 to WinDVD 4. The best thing about this monitor is that it really illuminates whatever is on the screen, so bright scenes are absolutely brilliant, whereas darker ones aren't as spectacular. This is the case though even on most TVs out there. Bright scenes are just spectacular though. You will notice some differences from a CRT at first, but after about a week you don't notice the negatives as they are far-outweighed by the positives.

Chiz

Edit: Oh yah, I also wish it would support more than 1280x1024. That resolution is fine for FPS and 2D Windows apps., but I miss 1600+ in WC3 🙁 and also for photo editing.
 
When I was making the decision to purchase the 1900FP I checked Dell's sight for the warrenty. I remeber clearly finding a page that stated it had a 3 year warrenty, although it took some effort to find it. I just looked on Dell's sight and could not find that link... hmmm.. strange.

I might kick an e-mail off to Dell and see what their response is and post back...
 
Originally posted by: SCSIfreek
Originally posted by: RossMAN
What kind of warranty does the Dell 1900FP carry?
Click to expand...

Ross, are you thinking about getting this monitor as well? I got on this deal couple weeks ago, this monitor is basically the same size as my old Sony 21" G500 🙁. Its huge. i'm very pleased with the quality of the 1900FP. I'm cutting back on my lunch money to get this monitor 😛 but its worth it.


--Scsi
Click to expand...

I bought it about 2 weeks ago for $680 after coupon & eBates with free shipping. So far I like it a lot and I'm using analog (graphics card doesn't have DVI, I dunno which to get and analog looks fine to me).

It's encouraging that everyone is saying this has a 3 year warranty, however no one is able to provide a link?

I think I'll either call or e-mail Dell asking where the warranty info is.

BTW - It appears I only have 1 dead pixel, it's smack dab in the center but you can barely notice it unless it's a black screen or if you really LOOK for it (sort of LOOKING for the damper wires on an FD Trinitron monitor).
 
I remember I once saw somewhere on Dell's website says monitor warranty length is same as the system warranty length if you buy them together on 1 bill, otherwise the monitor warranty will be on its own.
 
From Dells site:
All Dell system flat panel monitors are covered by up to a 3-year limited warranty and backed by Dell service and support
Click to expand...

Click on the Dell Monitor Info Center on the left hand side of the screen. The 'up to' is not very specific...

Dave
 
The keyword here is "system" flat panel, that means you buy with system, you get up to 3 yr warranty, since system could have 1 yr, 2 yr or 3 yr warranty.

I think Dell brand monitor alone just get 1 yr warranty, HP/Compaq LCD only has 1 yr warranty if buying alone, 3 yr if buying with business line pc, 1 yr if buying with home line pc.
Please check if Dell is also like that before making the purchase.
 
Originally posted by: Kingofcomputer
The keyword here is "system" flat panel, that means you buy with system, you get up to 3 yr warranty, since system could have 1 yr, 2 yr or 3 yr warranty.
Click to expand...

You have a good point. When I bought and paid too much for two Dell Dimension 4100 systems with two Dell P991 monitors back in October 2000 the monitors were covered for 3 years since I purchased them with the PC's and 3 year warranty.

I would feel a lot more comfortable if I knew for sure that the 1900FP had a 3 year warranty.
 
About switching between the analog and digital inputs on the Planar....

It's done so by going to the OSD->Port Select: which toggles between analog and DVI input ports

Does the samsung have a dedicated button or is it a similar procedure.
 
I use 19" CRT's at 1600x1200 resolution. I am considering moving to a flat-panel, but from what I can see, 1280x1024 is the maximum resolution that they support. I don't understand this. The flat-panel actually has more real-estate to work with, but the resolution is limited for some reason.

Am I missing something or does this seem strange?
 
Originally posted by: bluesky
People, take look at your manual came with the lcd.
Here is a linky for people who already tossed it to a garbage can.

1900FP Manual
Click to expand...

Thanks for the definate warrenty info... I knew that I had read about the 3 year warrenty somwhere, but I just couldn't remember where. 😉
 
Originally posted by: boggsie
I use 19" CRT's at 1600x1200 resolution. I am considering moving to a flat-panel, but from what I can see, 1280x1024 is the maximum resolution that they support. I don't understand this. The flat-panel actually has more real-estate to work with, but the resolution is limited for some reason.

Am I missing something or does this seem strange?
Click to expand...

The limit of 12x10 is a limit that is imposed because of the LCD technology. Panels in the future will not be limted by the resolution as much, but for now most panel suffer from the LCD limits. The other annoying factoid is that LCD's really only look sharp in their native resolutions. I.e. the 1900FP doesn't look right unless you run it at 12x10 on your desktop, if you go any lower it will get skewed. This is not prohibitive in games however, you can use any resolution.

The up side is that 12x10 on the 1900FP is still a LOT of real estate, plenty in my opinion. I use a 21 inch Dell Trinitron at work for software development at 16x12. To tell the truth I don't even notice that my home 1900FP panel has less real estate. There are so many benefits of using a sweet LCD like the 1900FP you quickly forget about the 12x10 limitation.

If you really need the 16x12 resolution, you can go with a larger panel, such as the Planar 20inch or the Dell 2000FP, which will provide you with more real estate (althought it will cost you more.)

Here is a detailed explanation about LCD scaling and resolution that I *borrowed* from Tech-Report.com

Resolution scaling - A TFT LCD monitor's maximum resolution refers to the actual number of pixels present on the display. An LCD is really only designed to be run at one particular resolution. If you try to display something at a resolution of 1024x768 on a screen with a maximum resolution of 1280x1024, the display will actually stretch your 1024x768 image over the full 1280x1024 pixels. Stretching requires interpolation, which inevitably degrades image quality, especially noticeable when displaying text. (CRTs, by contrast, are capable of syncing to multiple scan modes and showing multiple resolutions natively.)
One minor area where resolution scaling doesn't exhibit problems is perfect geometric scaling. If, for example, you had an LCD screen whose maximum resolution was 1600x1200, you could display images at 800x600 without experiencing the detrimental effects of image stretching. Because 1600x1200 is exactly four times the resolution of 800x600 in terms of the actual pixels required, a 1600x1200 display simply uses four pixels to represent a single 800x600 pixel.




 
Originally posted by: Schnieds

Ascetics:

Winner: Dell 1900FP

I love the tiny silver bezel on the 1900FP. It just looks darn cool. I also perceive the 1900FP to be a little bigger (optical illusion only) than the 191M because of the smaller bezel. The 1900FP rocks! I should not however, that I had a friend over to check them both out and he liked the look of the Planar better and felt it looked bigger, so this is very much personal preference.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly certain that you meant "aesthetics" and not "ascetics". Unless you're into self-denial. 😀
 
Flat panel displays are all set up like a grid. Unlike CRTs, which have 1800 or more physical pixels, virtually all 14" and 15" panels are 1024 physical pixels wide and 768 pixels high. This is why all vendors of flat panel displays suggest using the 1024 x 768 resolution exclusively for 14" and 15" panels. By the same token, the best resolution for 18" panels is 1280 x 1024, because of their physical size. Using a lower resolution such as 800 x 600 reduces the physical pixels to the center 800 x 600 pixels in the middle of the display; making the viewing area significantly smaller or using a smoothing algorithm to strectch the image, degrading clarity.
from Hitachi
 
Originally posted by: Kingofcomputer
Flat panel displays are all set up like a grid. Unlike CRTs, which have 1800 or more physical pixels, virtually all 14" and 15" panels are 1024 physical pixels wide and 768 pixels high. This is why all vendors of flat panel displays suggest using the 1024 x 768 resolution exclusively for 14" and 15" panels. By the same token, the best resolution for 18" panels is 1280 x 1024, because of their physical size. Using a lower resolution such as 800 x 600 reduces the physical pixels to the center 800 x 600 pixels in the middle of the display; making the viewing area significantly smaller or using a smoothing algorithm to strectch the image, degrading clarity.
from Hitachi
Click to expand...

Yep, this is actually the biggest reason why I won't buy a flat panel for gaming. Too many games require varying resolutions that just causes blurriness on flat panels.
 
Originally posted by: kgraeme
Originally posted by: Schnieds

Ascetics:

Winner: Dell 1900FP

I love the tiny silver bezel on the 1900FP. It just looks darn cool. I also perceive the 1900FP to be a little bigger (optical illusion only) than the 191M because of the smaller bezel. The 1900FP rocks! I should not however, that I had a friend over to check them both out and he liked the look of the Planar better and felt it looked bigger, so this is very much personal preference.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly certain that you meant "aesthetics" and not "ascetics". Unless you're into self-denial. 😀
Click to expand...

Hehe.. thanks... edited and fixed (since I bought the 1900FP for fun, I must not be into ascetics. =) )

 
hi,

i was thinking about getting the samsung from BestBuy this weekend when they have their 10% preferred customer coupon, but when i asked a best buy employee about it, he told me that you can't use these coupons on the monitors! argh! has anybody had success in using these coupons for monitors?

 
Just wanted to re-iterate how much of a difference DVI makes over a VGA connection. I just got another new DVI card to replace the VGA card I was forced to use for a while... it's like night and day. 😉
 
Originally posted by: Schnieds
Just wanted to re-iterate how much of a difference DVI makes over a VGA connection. I just got another new DVI card to replace the VGA card I was forced to use for a while... it's like night and day. 😉
Click to expand...

I don't really notice the difference. A friend of mine just bought an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro for $349 from Fry's B&M and sold me his GF Ti4200 64MB which came with his Dell Dimension 4500. My current GF2MX doesn't have DVI so when I install the card I'll switch to DVI. Maybe after using DVI for a while and switching back to VGA I'll notice the difference?
 
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