Viewsonic VP171B or Dell 2001FP?

[MrPabulum]

Hey all,

I've decided to replace my CRT with an LCD, and after much research, have narrowed it down to two choices: Dell's 2001FP and Viewsonic's 171B. Now I know that Dell currently has the 2001FP on sale for $800, while the VP171B is about $550.

I know that both are excellent LCDs, but is the image quality better on either one? Is the Dell worth the additional money? I though maybe obtaining the Vp171B and getting a second one in half a year for even cheaper. Any thoughts? :beer:

 

[Corporate Thug]

i have absolutely no complaint about the 2001FP, hightly recommend it

 

[MrPabulum]

up for more answers Thanks Shady!

 

[jose]

I have 3 viewsonics (vg171, vg191, vx900) & the dell 2001fp. The dell is so much nicer, the colors are so rich. Get the dell if you can afford it.
Regards,
Jose

 

[sodcha0s]

Have a vp171b here and love it. Have never seen the Dell so I can't say which is better, but my Viewsonic is very crisp and clear, vibrant and text is perfect. (using DVI)

 

[MrPabulum]

Jose, I think you mean the VG710 and VG910. Unless it is the Pro Series to which you are referring. Does anyone know if there is a marked difference in IQ among Viewsonic LCDs?

 

[jose]

Nope, it's the VG171 & VG191 cost me $750, $1000, $850, $850 when I got them. All three Viewsonics are pretty good & look the same image wise. But the Dell's color is significantly much better.

Regards,
Jose

 

[Schnieds]

I have the Dell 2001FP and absolutely love it. I am playing Far Cry on it right now and also using it for full time software development. There is nothing I don't like about this monitor...

Schnieds

 

[MrPabulum]

One other question came to mind: does the 2001FP scale effectively to 1280 x 1024? For that matter does the VP171B?

 

[eLiu]

Hm...I'd like to add an extra question here...
I'm also looking at the VP171B. How does it stand up against the Dell 1801FP or 1901FP?

Also...for 19" LCDs in general, how do they stand up at lower resolutions (1024x768 and 800x600)? I read that the VP171B does ok, but I don't know about 19 inchers--the Samsung 192T to be specific.

-Eric

 

[jose]

Don't use a LCD if your not going to use it at it's native resolution. All my viewsonics start to get fuzzy when not at their native rez. The Dell does a better job of scaling than the viewsonics, but you can still see a noticable diff. between it's scaled output & native rez.

Regards,
Jose

 

[AndyD2k]

Originally posted by: Schnieds
I have the Dell 2001FP and absolutely love it. I am playing Far Cry on it right now and also using it for full time software development. There is nothing I don't like about this monitor...

Schnieds

Mind if I ask if you've played UT2K4 on it?? If it can manage the insanity that goes on during a match, then I'm sold

 

[Schnieds]

Originally posted by: AndyD2k

Originally posted by: Schnieds
I have the Dell 2001FP and absolutely love it. I am playing Far Cry on it right now and also using it for full time software development. There is nothing I don't like about this monitor...

Schnieds

Mind if I ask if you've played UT2K4 on it?? If it can manage the insanity that goes on during a match, then I'm sold

Wish I could say that I have. I have been meaning to pick up a copy, but haven't gotten around to it yet as Far Cry has taken up any and all gaming time I have. I have tried UT2K3 on it and it looked GREAT. I haven't noticed any ghosting on any game I have played (Max Payne 2, Warcraft III, Far Cry, Splinter Cell, Rise of Nations, etc.) So I really doubt UT2K4 will exhibit any...

Schnieds

 

[MrPabulum]

Schnieds,

Do you run your games at 1600 x 1200, or do you lower the resolution at all? I know Jose mentioned that native res. was best on his Viewsonic, but what were your experiences with the 2001FP?

 

[Schnieds]

Originally posted by: MrPabulum
Schnieds,

Do you run your games at 1600 x 1200, or do you lower the resolution at all? I know Jose mentioned that native res. was best on his Viewsonic, but what were your experiences with the 2001FP?

No, most of the games I play I cannot run in 16x12 because my video card can't handle it (Far Cry.) Running at non-native resolutions only causes image degredation on your desktop and 2D applications, not in 3D applications, this is a common mis-understanding people have about LCD resolution scaling. You can run 3D games at any resolution you want on an LCD and you will not see any scaling issues, the only things to watch out for on LCDs are ghosting, brightness and colors all of which the 2001FP is a champ at.

Just my opinion.... Hope it helps

Schnieds

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: Schnieds

Originally posted by: MrPabulum
Schnieds,

Do you run your games at 1600 x 1200, or do you lower the resolution at all? I know Jose mentioned that native res. was best on his Viewsonic, but what were your experiences with the 2001FP?

No, most of the games I play I cannot run in 16x12 because my video card can't handle it (Far Cry.) Running at non-native resolutions only causes image degredation on your desktop and 2D applications, not in 3D applications, this is a common mis-understanding people have about LCD resolution scaling. You can run 3D games at any resolution you want on an LCD and you will not see any scaling issues, the only things to watch out for on LCDs are ghosting, brightness and colors all of which the 2001FP is a champ at.

Just my opinion.... Hope it helps

Schnieds

According to Tom's Hardware, games begin to look worse at lower resolutions--Command and Conquer Generals came up fairly often as one that got real ugly at like 800x600. They said the FPS games showed a little degradation at lower resolutions too (depending on the monitor)

-Eric

 

[AndyD2k]

Originally posted by: Schnieds

Originally posted by: MrPabulum
Schnieds,

Do you run your games at 1600 x 1200, or do you lower the resolution at all? I know Jose mentioned that native res. was best on his Viewsonic, but what were your experiences with the 2001FP?

No, most of the games I play I cannot run in 16x12 because my video card can't handle it (Far Cry.) Running at non-native resolutions only causes image degredation on your desktop and 2D applications, not in 3D applications, this is a common mis-understanding people have about LCD resolution scaling. You can run 3D games at any resolution you want on an LCD and you will not see any scaling issues, the only things to watch out for on LCDs are ghosting, brightness and colors all of which the 2001FP is a champ at.

Just my opinion.... Hope it helps

Schnieds

Another question for you

What is Dell's dead pixel policy??

 

[Schnieds]

Originally posted by: eLiu

Originally posted by: Schnieds

Originally posted by: MrPabulum
Schnieds,

Do you run your games at 1600 x 1200, or do you lower the resolution at all? I know Jose mentioned that native res. was best on his Viewsonic, but what were your experiences with the 2001FP?

No, most of the games I play I cannot run in 16x12 because my video card can't handle it (Far Cry.) Running at non-native resolutions only causes image degredation on your desktop and 2D applications, not in 3D applications, this is a common mis-understanding people have about LCD resolution scaling. You can run 3D games at any resolution you want on an LCD and you will not see any scaling issues, the only things to watch out for on LCDs are ghosting, brightness and colors all of which the 2001FP is a champ at.

Just my opinion.... Hope it helps

Schnieds

According to Tom's Hardware, games begin to look worse at lower resolutions--Command and Conquer Generals came up fairly often as one that got real ugly at like 800x600. They said the FPS games showed a little degradation at lower resolutions too (depending on the monitor)

-Eric

Well truthfully, I don't give Tom's much credit for good reviews... IMHO it is better to stick to Anand for information as Tom's quality of review has been reduced drastically in the last few years. I would imagine that the loss of image quality they witnessed was more of a problem with the 800x600 resolution rather than the LCD panel scaling the image poorly. Also, it depends on the LCD you use, if it was a bad LCD it may have looked bad on any resolution.

If you read around you will find a lot of information supporting my claim that LCDs do not suffer from scaling issues in 3D games...

Schnieds

 

[Schnieds]

Originally posted by: AndyD2k

Originally posted by: Schnieds

Originally posted by: MrPabulum
Schnieds,

Do you run your games at 1600 x 1200, or do you lower the resolution at all? I know Jose mentioned that native res. was best on his Viewsonic, but what were your experiences with the 2001FP?

No, most of the games I play I cannot run in 16x12 because my video card can't handle it (Far Cry.) Running at non-native resolutions only causes image degredation on your desktop and 2D applications, not in 3D applications, this is a common mis-understanding people have about LCD resolution scaling. You can run 3D games at any resolution you want on an LCD and you will not see any scaling issues, the only things to watch out for on LCDs are ghosting, brightness and colors all of which the 2001FP is a champ at.

Just my opinion.... Hope it helps

Schnieds

Another question for you

What is Dell's dead pixel policy??

I think they will replace with 3 or more dead pixels, but I wouldn't take my word for it. Check out Dell's site or kick off an e-mail to their customer service to make sure. Since they have a 30 days "no questions asked" return policy it kinda gaurantees you can get a panel with no dead pixels if you are willing to go through the trouble...

I didn't have any dead pixels so I didn't have to worry about it.