Dell UltraSharp 1905FP: Setting the Bar for New 19" LCDs
by Kristopher Kubicki on January 29, 2005 12:35 AM EST- Posted in
- Displays
Quantitative Analysis
For the duration of this review, we connected the UltraSharp 1905FP to a Radeon X800 Pro with factory default settings on the DVI connection unless stated otherwise. Brightness has been set to maximum as well.
Luminance
Brightness ranked as one of our most important display qualities. 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, but it also unnecessarily offsets hues; a blue screen in a dark room doesn't look the same as a blue screen in a well lit one! Staring at your monitor shouldn't feel like staring into the sun. If you have plenty of ambient light around, you would be surprised by how much different a 250 nit LCD looks compared to a 300 nit LCD.
Below, you can see a comparison of the brightness for each of our LCD monitors.
The 1905FP sits right in the middle of the pack for brightness.
Our Contrast Ratio
We will the same observation from the 19" LCD Roundup two months ago. Using PreCal and our ColorVision Spyder, we will measure the luminance of a pure white image and a pure black image on the LCD monitor. The observed contrast ratio is simply the highest recorded luminance divided by the lowest. All measurements are in candela per meter squared; larger contrast ratios are more desirable.
| Observed Contrast Ratio | |||
| Highest Recorded (white image) |
Lowest Recorded (black image) |
Observed Contrast Ratio | |
| BenQ FP931 | 256.4 | 3.6 | 71.2 |
| Dell 1905FP | 234.6 | 2.6 | 90.2 |
| NuTech L921G | 278.2 | 2.6 | 107.0 |
| Planar PE191M | 234.0 | 3.0 | 78.0 |
| Samsung 193P | 230.4 | 2.2 | 104.7 |
| Samsung 910V | 219.8 | 2.6 | 84.5 |
| Sony SDM S94 | 233.8 | 3.0 | 77.9 |
| ViewSonic Q190MB | 261.8 | 2.6 | 100.7 |
The Dell 1905FP emits a brighter image than the Samsung 193P, but at the same time, it also has a slightly higher darkest dark. Even though the Samsung 193P and Dell 1905FP are using the same panels, Dell may be giving the backlights a little bit of a boost in power to increase brightness. Both LCDs appear in the middle of the pack for contrast ratio.
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hoppa - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
i hardly see the point in spending so much extra money going from 17" to 19" if you are not going to be afforded any extra resolution.Thermopyle - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
"It's my personal belief that the transient time between two current generation LCD monitors is practically impossible in real world applications, but everyone has different levels of sensitivity on the matter."This sentence is confusing. I assume by transient time you mean response time, but I don't understand what the "transient time between two LCD monitors" means. Then you say the transient time is "impossible". Huh? What is impossible?
The whole sentence makes me want to cry.
KristopherKubicki - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
It is 5:4 not 4:3 - this has been updated.Dell did not have any samples of the 2005FPW for us. I am guessing if they don't have samples for PR, they are probably changing something on the monitor.
Hope that helps,
Kristopher
drifter106 - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
I am somewhat puzzled by this statement...We were not able to get a sample of the 2005FPW in time for this review
I am sitting here looking at one and I know they have been out for some time. I am disappointed that you would make a statement like that. Could a better choice of words been used to substantiate as to why you chose NOT to include the 2005? The last thing I would hope to hear from this site is something that makes me doubt your authenticity.
jd
Fionavar - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
Thanks for the review. I do want to echo someone earlier - where is the long for and much anticipated review of the 2005FPW? This monitor is clogging others boards with discussions and it would WONDERFUL to have something definitive from AnandTech!REMF - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
i wouldn't touch a dell box, but i will happily buy their excellent screens.i wouldn't buy any M$ software, but they make bloody good mice.
even bad companies (subjective opinion) can make great products.
Mojo027 - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
I wish you guys wouldn't rip on the BenQ monitor so much, it's really a great monitor. You should be comparing the FP937 12ms monitor to these models, not the FP931 16ms...However, great article, and I'm sure the Dell models are great.
Gnoad - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
Why? Dell makes quality LCD screens and cheap basic computers for the average person. Just because we can build our own for the same price with twice the performance does't mean they're a bad company.TwistyKat - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
I don't care how great it might be - I would never buy anything Dell.Spacecomber - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
Like #11, I too found the sentence he or she quoted ambiquous.I'm glad to hear, as noted in the review, that there continue to be LCDs affordable monitors being produced that are closing the gap between a LCD that produces a full range of color and LCDs that are fast enough for gaming.
It will be intresting to see if Dell can do a good job of keeping up with the demand for this monitor and resist the temptation to raise the price as its popularity grows. Anandtech's reviews no doubt carry a fair amount of clout when it comes to influencing consumers. I'm sure many others also noticed how quickly the NuTech L921G sold out just about everywhere and how the Viewsonic Q190MB went from being a bargain priced monitor to a premium priced model.
My guess is that someone else is putting together the L921G for Nutech. It would be very interesting to know who this and who else they are providing monitors to.