User Interface
Apple and Dell are very different with regard to how they approach technology. The ever conservative Dell would rather not change things, particularly things that work, while Apple seems to enjoy completely changing everything in every iteration of any technology. Neither one of these strategies is bad, nor wrong. Dell has thousands of consumer-hardened products under its belt while Apple has thousands of design and creativity awards. Apple does make things pretty easy for us. There are only three options: on/off, brighter or darker.
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The touch sensitive controls give the Cinema 20” a feel that can only be described as “Mac-esque” while still retaining enough functionality on the display to not be totally removed from its operation (like with the
Samsung 193P). Ultimately, one of the reasons why sales of the SyncMaster 193P stagnated for several months was due to the fact that users don’t particularly like giving up 100% of their control features to the OS. With digital signal, a user can only really affect the backlight intensity anyway – and fortunately, Apple gives us control of that. Although simple, the Cinema 20” gives a good balance of control.
However, when you have four inputs, three of which are analog, user control is almost absolutely necessary. From left to right, the buttons on the Dell 2005FPW are identified as such: Input Select, Picture In Picture, Menu, Adjust down, Adjust up, and Power.
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Most of these are basically transplanted from the Dell 2001FP. The 2005FPW and 2001FP utilize the same inputs and, more or less, behave in the same manner with input selection. The real kicker to us came when we started playing around with the Picture In Picture button. Not only does Dell give us the opportunity to place an analog signal (S-Video, Composite) inside a D-sub or DVI signal, but they also allow us to go one step further and split screen (PBP - picture by picture) it as well! We lose a lot of desk space, but since the image can be swapped very quickly or screened from the control buttons, it is still very practical.
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The other key feature in the Dell 2005FPW interface is the scaling selector. Under Image properties in the Dell OSD, we were allowed to modify the scaling to 1:1 (excellent for gamers), Fit, or Aspect.
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intellon - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
Oh why oh why did you leave out a small paragraph of comment on the composite input or the s-video one... If you can update the review by connecting xbox to it and playing halo on the xbox, and commenting on the playability in just one itsy bitsy paragraph that would make this head to head review complete...Lots of students with cramped space dream about using computer monitor as a display for their consoles.
jasonsRX7 - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
Lots of Mac users love the Dell widescreen displays, they're great for the money. I'm a Mac user and I thought a lot about getting a Dell widescreen but ended up with a 30" Apple Cinema display instead. There are tons of people in the Mac forums I visit that use the Dell 20" and 24" monitors, though.Chuckles - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
Hey #11: Try $799.http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/A...
#13:
As long as your video card has the S-Video Port between the DVI ports, two connectors will fit. If they are crammed next to each other, they won't.
xsilver - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
"The largest mistake that we see people make when they buy a new LCD is to put their new, bright LCD in a dim, dark room (and then turn the LCD down to 25% brightness). Not only is this terrible for your eyes,"can you clarify this? why is this so bad? you mention colour offset, but if this is changed accordingly, what is different?
lebe0024 - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
This has nothing to do with MAC vs. PC. This is a display manufactured by Apple, which has nothing to do with Apple's "Macintosh" computer line, other than the fact that they're sold together.MIDIman - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
An absolutely superb real down to earth mac vs. pc comparison.Reminds me of the millions of times I've been confronted by mac-lovers saying that the Apple Cinema Display is the only good LCD on the market and is "worth" the extra cost. Nowadays, I just send them to anandtech!
hirschma - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
A couple of quick comments:* I have two OLD Apple DVI monitors hooked to my PC. While they work great, there is no software for the PC to control anything except the backlight controls, like the model reviewed here. I'm guessing that the new model still doesn't come with anything in that regard.
* The Apple DVI cable head looks too "fat" to use with Dual DVI cards - looks like one port will be partially blocked. Is that accurate?
I'd like to have heard more about the Apple monitor's suitability for use with Windows.
JH
cHodAXUK - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
Dell UK are charging nearly £600 for the 2005, thats $1000 the cheeky mofos. Looks like Dell are another company exploiting the ripoff Britian mentality.DCstewieG - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
I'm surprised the price of the Apple display is never mentioned. If the Dell is $486 at the outlet store online you figure the Apple name will cost maybe $100 or so more? So about $600.Try $999.
Geez, I think that thing is as sexy as anyone else, but holy crap is that a premium. And without the possibility of analog! $350 for the Dell on the right day makes a hell of a lot more sense to me, even if roles were reversed and it had been rated slightly worse than the Apple.
DeanO - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
Good review Kristopher :)Personally, I've seen photos that show some serious backlight leakage on these things, so I'm still a little hesitant, though it's reassuring that you guys haven't had this problem.
Hope the upcoming reviews of bigger screens include the Dell 2405FPW. That screen looks fantastic!