Construction (continued)

In fact, the only major change that occurred to the aesthetics of the monitor is on the height adjustment stand. The stand looks very similar to the original one, but it looks like Dell ditched the rounded design for a slightly different structure. The universal joint on the back actually pivots much easier than the one on our 2001FP, a plus for the 1905FP thus far.


Click to enlarge.


Dell completely redesigned the cable management in the rear, but in our opinion, plastic housing isn't much of an improvement over the previous attempt (which we didn't find very useful either). The monitor still features a quick release for a VESA wall mount. You can also see a button that activates the vertical height adjustment in the picture above.


Dell 1905FP inputs
Click to enlarge.


From the inputs above, you can see that Dell ditched the brick power supply. The 1905FP houses the AC to DC inverter inside the rear panel and hooks up using a standard three-prong 120V AC cable. For comparison, we included a snapshot of the Dell 2001FP input set below.


Dell 2001FP inputs
Click to enlarge.


After a few hours of operation, we recorded the air temperature near the exhausts of the LCD around 28 degrees Celsius with an ambient air temperature of 23 degrees Celsius. This is several degrees cooler than some of the other monitors that we have in the lab, like the Dell 2001FP and NuTech L921G.


Bleeding Light

Several of our forum members are fairly upset about UltraSharp 2005FPW models that have intermittent backlight problems. With this subject in mind, we paid extra attention to backlight issues in case there might be problems on the 1905FP as well. While we did not detect any problems on our panel (screen uniformity was perfect), we did notice that we could actually see the backlights from outside the monitor!


Click to enlarge.


In the image above, you can see the light of the backlights reflecting off something metal. We could not detect the light without looking carefully into the monitor. The obvious problem here is that the electrical components and backlights are exposed to the elements - even if that might be an office environment. If dust settles on the backlights, we could have a big problem with screen uniformity and brightness. Remember the Samsung 193P that uses the same panel? When we tested that LCD, we thought it was innovative that the monitor completely enclosed the LCD panel without any openings. In retrospect, Samsung's decision to do that might have been more function than form.


Opening it Up

After benchmarking this monitor, we opened it up to get a more in-depth look at the individual apparatus. Doing this will certainly void your warranty.


Separating the electronic components from the panel, we can see the underside of the digital/analog PCB on the left and the power inverters on the right. The entire electrical packaging behind the panel is less than an inch thick, which is impressive considering that inverters typically take up bulkier packaging - we refer to power bricks as "bricks" for a reason. We have always applauded integrated inverters in LCDs because they are more efficient. When we have external inverters leading to the monitor, the DC must be modulated and inverted back to AC for the florescent backlights.


Construction DSP & Panel Details
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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.

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