PDA

View Full Version : Dell 2405FP Mini Review

GlowStick
03-09-05, 09:13 PM
After receiving the Dell 2405FP i decided to do some tests and take some pictures of it. Also after noticing a lot of compatibility threads asking about compatibility with monitors that require reduced blanking. Here is the break down of the setups i had access to.

http://home.insightbb.com/~glowstick/2405fp/comp.png
N/A dose not indicate it will not work with Linux, I just did not have a system ready to test it

I am very pleased to say that all of my current video cards did not have any issue with useing reduced blanking with the Dell 2405FP monitor. This indicates to me that it follows all standards for monitors to tell the card it needs reduced blanking. I was also suprized that both ports would support 1920x1200, some people reported that only one port would drive that resolution.

Assembly
After receiving the huge box, I found that it was nicely packaged with all of the accessories you need. The accessories were 1 DVi cable, 1 VGA cable, 1 USB cable and 1 Power cable. The panel came in two parts, the panel unit, and the stand.

The stand is a great addition to the monitor. It offers a full range of adjustments. Up/Down, Tilt Up/Down, Tilt Left/Right and swivel 90 degrees. I have owned a cuple LCD's previous to this one, and none of them offered anything close to the flexibility of the dell. Its quite a treat to turn the monitor 90 degrees and see how much text you can read! Its springs are also perfectly balanced.

The panel it self is also well designed. No cables are attached to the unit. That is nice because if the cable get accidentally tugged on it dose not have to bring down the whole monitor, and the cable can be easily replaced if it is damaged. The head also attaches to the base very elegantly. It simply snaps on. To detach you hold in the small button at the back and it comes off with ease. That makes transporting the monitor very easy. However it is difficult to move with the base attached.

http://home.insightbb.com/~gshost/P3150001.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~gshost/P3150002.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~glowstick/2405fp/P3160012.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~glowstick/2405fp/P3160013.png

Inputs

There is not much to say about this, other than the 2405FP supports them all! It supports DVi, VGA, Composite in and RCA in. It also has a 4 port USB hub, two ports are on the left side and are extremely useful for USB flash memory devices. On the left side is also a memory card reader that supports the most popular formats out there today.

http://home.insightbb.com/~gshost/P3150004.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~gshost/P3150006.png

Play Testing
I am very impressed with how well the 2405FP has been holding up with play testing. I have played Divx HDTV rips, DVD's and video games and it all displayed them superbly. The only downfall is it did have a bit of trouble displaying very dark scenes. Overall it was quite satisfactory. In video games I also did not notice much ghosting. However there was some blurriness when doing quick 180 turns in Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. However it was quite fun to play at that large resolution and on a huge montior! I have tired to take pictures of the monitor in action, but be warned they are not as good as quality as seeing it in live action. However I have decided to post them anyways.


http://home.insightbb.com/~glowstick/2405fp/P3160014.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~glowstick/2405fp/P3160015.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~glowstick/2405fp/P3160017.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~gshost/P3160009.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~gshost/P3160010.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~gshost/P3150007.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~gshost/P3160002.png


In conclusion I am quite pleased with the Dell 2405FP, it seems to be a great monitor that can duble as a tv, espcialy with all of its inputs.
hazindu
03-11-05, 07:33 AM
wow! that thing is awesome. I'm seriously considering the 2005 (little brother version) after my tax refund comes in.
JoKeRr
03-11-05, 10:19 AM
man, thanx for the pics. Btw, you should seriously clean up your desk. One of my buddy messed up his keyboard after spilling coke. Damn I wish I had that puppy too
GlowStick
03-11-05, 11:36 AM
man, thanx for the pics. Btw, you should seriously clean up your desk. One of my buddy messed up his keyboard after spilling coke. Damn I wish I had that puppy too
That is my desk on a good day, usually there is pop cans overflowing on it!
six_storm
03-11-05, 12:12 PM
Wow, thats a nice monitor man. I have never seen a monitor with all of those inputs! I might get my buddy at Dell to see if I can't grab a discount on that. Nice review GlowStick!
GlowStick
03-11-05, 12:28 PM
Wow, thats a nice monitor man. I have never seen a monitor with all of those inputs! I might get my buddy at Dell to see if I can't grab a discount on that. Nice review GlowStick!
Yeah the inputs are definatly great. Ive already been useing the usb port and the card reader (to get the pics to my machine) so its defiantly a handy device to have!
pooter
03-11-05, 01:33 PM
I love all the inputs myself.
My old CRT was sharing with my PC and XBox via VGA Box. I could only use one or the other at the time, so if I was playing an XBox game and needed something on my PC, I'd boot up a PC and VNC into my PC.

Now, I just hit a button on the monitor and I can switch between the two. :)
GlowStick
03-11-05, 01:37 PM
I love all the inputs myself.
My old CRT was sharing with my PC and XBox via VGA Box. I could only use one or the other at the time, so if I was playing an XBox game and needed something on my PC, I'd boot up a PC and VNC into my PC.

Now, I just hit a button on the monitor and I can switch between the two. :)
Yes i love that feature also. It allows quick and easy switching between inputs, no need for a KVM : ) however you just need mor keyboards... and mice hehe.
jAkUp
03-12-05, 12:20 AM
yes that is an awesome monitor.. and awesome room! ;) BTW what kinda mousepad is that?
GlowStick
03-12-05, 12:35 AM
yes that is an awesome monitor.. and awesome room! ;) BTW what kinda mousepad is that?
That is the everglide Giganta. It replaced my turst ratpad wtich has worn down spots now. However im looking into getting a X-ray thunder 8 soon!
jAkUp
03-12-05, 12:36 AM
how is the everglide compared to your ratpad?

I've only used Func and Ratpadz... I prefer the ratpadz
Riptide
03-12-05, 12:41 AM
Hey guys try these settings out. They look pretty good to me. You'll have to adjust gamma down to .9 as well w/your video driver but it looks good I think. This is from arstechnica.

Using my Pantone Colorvision USB color calibration unit, here are the settings I came up with for my particular unit. YMMV based on manufacturing variability, but for those without a calibration unit this is probably a good start.

Since this is supposedly an sRGB compliant monitor, normally just setting sRGB should be perfect, but that wasn't the case. These settings work much better:

(target sRGB 6500K of course)

Brightness 27
Contrast N/A (not available in DVI)
Color: User Preset
Red 36
Green 33
Blue 32

With any brightness setting the gamma was still too low (i.e. too bright) around 1.89. I solved this by using the nVidia driver color adjustment page to set the gamma slider to 0.91 which gave me a measured gamma of 2.05. This is still a touch brighter than sRGB but I couldn't get it any higher, and as the page below notes, 2.0 is a good compromise between Mac (1.8) and PC (2.2) gamma.

There is a good gamma adjustment page here:

http://www.photoscientia.co.uk/Gamma.htm
XP_GUN
03-15-05, 11:47 PM
Hey thanks for puting my computer on your LCD :p , I will soon I hope be upgrading to a bigger LCD before the SLI jump.
Sazar
03-15-05, 11:53 PM
n1 Glow :)

Going to go frag some people in CS:S and then I'll be on IRC later.
GlowStick
03-16-05, 01:00 AM
n1 Glow :)

Going to go frag some people in CS:S and then I'll be on IRC later.
Danke Serh!

Im still lovein the monitor, after doing a bit more thouro dead pixel check it seems i may have one sub pixel stuck on the top righthand corner, however it tooks me a while to find it, and am not exactly sure if it really is dead heh. Overall in my mind its a perfect unit!