The 20" LCD Shootout: Dell versus Apple

Subjective Analysis

For this portion of the benchmark, we will pit the Dell UltraSharp 2005FP and Apple Cinema 20" display against monitors that we have looked at recently. This is a subjective test that relies on our overall experience with the monitor after several hours of casual and thorough use. We also use test patterns and guidelines from the VESA FPDM 2.0 to rate each unit as fairly as possible.

Generally, here is how we rate a category:

5 - Outstanding; we have not seen anything to date that could rival our impression of this monitor's performance.
4 - Good, but room for improvement. There are units on the market that perform better.
3 - Average; this monitor performs well enough to maintain the status quo, but does not excel.
2 - Improvement needed; this monitor performs poorly in performance of this category.
1 - Unacceptable; this product does not pass even basic performance requirements.

DisplayMate / CheckScreen / VESA FPDM 2.0
	Dell 2005FPW	Apple Cinema 20"	Samsung 193P	ViewSonic Q190MB	Dell 2001FP
Intensity Range Check	5	4.5	5	4	5
Black Level Adjustment	4.5	4.5	5	5	4.5
Wide Angle Viewing	5	5	4	3	3
Defocusing, Blooming, Halos	5	5	5	5	5
Screen Uniformity and Color Purity	5	5	5	5	4.5
Dark Screen Glare Test	4.5	4.5	4.5	4	4.5
Primary Colors	4.5	4.5	4	4	4
Color Scales	4	4.5	4	4	4
16 Color Intensity Levels	4	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5
Screen Regulation	5	5	5	5	5
Streaking, Ghosting*	5	5	5	5	5
*Note: the streaking/ghosting mentioned in this portion of the analysis refers to streaking and ghosting interference, not as a byproduct of poor response time.

Notes From the Lab

It is slightly unfair for us to give either 20" display only a rating of 4 for motion blur, but given some of the interesting technologies that we have seen in development over the last six months, we are fairly confident that single digit response times will start making more of a difference and, in fact, give that elite core of enthusiasts more reason to contemplate LCD over CRT. Both displays scored a 5 on streaking and ghosting, although this is slightly unfair as well, since we are not counting the score of the analog connector. Over analog, we had fair results on the Dell 2005FPW, although we could certainly notice artifacts when playing a game like World of Warcraft on higher resolutions. Apple does not have an analog signal.

Apple deserves a slightly lower rating on the intensity range than Dell for the difference in contrast ratios. The 2005FPW began to wash out at very high intensities, but our Apple Cinema 20" washed out at low intensities as well. Measuring how far these intensities were from the extremes, we found the Dell to be just slightly ahead of the Apple with this respect.

Another Special Note about Gaming

Gaming on the Dell 2005FPW and the Apple 20" Cinema display was really a treat. We are bombarded by "low" response time LCDs constantly, so we feel the need to always put a little bit of a warning in each display review. Attempting to quantify response times subjectively for everybody is a dangerous practice - comments like "16ms response time is fast enough for anyone" are just opinions and therefore, we don't actively preach them. We recently took a look at the Dell 1905FP, which uses a 20ms 8-bit PVA panel, and we were on the threshold of experiencing little to no motion blur. With training, we can spot what to look for between two LCDs when comparing them head to head, and when we compared the Dell 2005FPW to the Dell 1905FP, it became very clear that these displays used different display modes and different response times. It may just be our personal opinion that the Dell 2005FPW (and Apple Cinema 20") display produced a crisper display during fast motion gaming, but we should be able to infer that from some of the other things that we know about LCDs as well. Traditionally, all Super IPS displays perform "faster" than their PVA or MVA counterparts - particularly on gray-to-gray transient times.

Another critical note for gamers interested in these displays is the aspect ratio. 1680x1050 is not a very common aspect ratio (16:10). We can watch unscaled 720p inside a window on either display, or scaled 720p with black bars across the bottom of our screen, but it isn't native. Very few games support 1680x1050 as a resolution (with the exception Half Life 2 and Far Cry), so no matter what you play, you will be playing on a scaled signal. Scaled signals degrade play quality as one pixel becomes stretched or compressed to account for the screen size. Dell has an ace up their sleeve with the ability to unscale the signal and have it display as it truly should in native form in the center of the screen (the Dell 2001FP also did this). Apple's Cinema display does not have the circuitry to do this. Several games support a 1600x900 resolution, which on the Dell 2005FPW, only leaves a few pixels along each side uncropped.

If you don't mind the slight scaling issues, widescreen games become incredibly immersive. Unreal Tournament 2004 and World of Warcraft are two of our favorite games of all time, and both include widescreen display modes (16:9). As a not-so-odd coincidence, we have noticed that most cross platform (PC-Mac) games usually support widescreen formats.