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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IceWindius - Sunday, January 30, 2005 - link
I"ll wait for SED displays to come out, it will kick OLED's assMrEMan - Sunday, January 30, 2005 - link
Are there people here who actually believe Dell manufactures any components (monitors, drives, motherboards, video cards, etc) in their systems?I would really be surprised if they actually do.
My guess is that the specify which OEM products they want, and then, have them tweaked to make them proprietary.
avijay - Sunday, January 30, 2005 - link
Great review!#31, that lady might get a few extra bucks based on her ratings, and to be honest, those guys try to get as much info as possible, but it doesn't quite work out all the time. I should know, I used to work in a place like that.
BTW, any chance of reviewing the Sony SDM-P234/B 23". I've been trying to find a good review on that LCD for quite a while, but unable to do so. I'd really appreciate it if kristopher can review one and let everyone know the good and the bad about that monitor. Thanks.
najames - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
I agree with TwistyKat. I have had enough Dell for a lifetime and I have never even technically ordered from them. I put in a Viewsonic monitor order 1/5 to ship on 1/28, the system was so screwed up my account had somebody elses name attached. After 10 emails, one long call to Mumbai, and another call where the guy basically just sat there didn't answer questions, and said nothing, then cut me off, I gave up and canceled my order on 1/26. They never did get the account fixed so the account linked with the order. It was always my responsibility to fix their problems, including filling out forms for the "webmaster", even though Dell reps could see it was hosed. When I called to cancel the US staff told me my VIEWSONIC monitor was in production at DELL (WTF?), requiring yet another call to Mumbai. The lady in Mumbai did tell me that she wanted me to give her a good rating on service, 1 being poor and 9 being excellent.HeatMiser - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
Link to Samsung's panel here: http://www.samsung.com/Products/TFTLCD/Monitors_n_...pxc - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
The 1905FP's LCD is 376mm x 301mm, a 5:4 aspect ratio. That fits perfectly with the 5:4 native resolution (1280x1024).http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/r83...
reactor - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
good review, good timing too, was looking at getting a 19" lcd.would like to see a review of the Philips 190S5FB, or an updated roundup, as people on newegg are raving about it.
MAME - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
"Fast motion was on par with what we expected for this game; we certainly didn't notice any motion blur, but if the Dell 1905FP is your first LCD, then you will notice a difference immediately."What do you mean by "difference"? Not as good as a CRT?
MadAd - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
As well as reviews of other popular models (like the 2005FPW, the HP L2335) are we going to one day get at least *one* set of reliable benchmarks at resolutions up and above 1600x1200 please please!!!!Just a quick roundup of available dx9 cards with mid-high range amd/intel at resolutions up to 1920x1200 - is that too much to ask from your favourite hardware site? :)
Wide screen gaming seems to be taking off and Id really like to know what kind of performance im going to need to run at good frame rates if I do get say the dell, or the hp. Will my 9700pro cut it? Probably not but do I need as much as an xt850?
Go on, I know youd love to do them :)
Thanks
robl - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
Great article, thanks! Any chance of reviewing the Apple 30" HD display? I'd love to see how it compares, especially with which video cards support it on a pc. most sites I've seen only talk about it on the apple platform.