I use an
HP LP2065 20" display and I like it a lot.
Had it for over a year with no issues.
Using the multiple inputs is very easy as well.
Dell or HP or Apple are all large, established manufacturers. Find the best deal you can get and if you need ports or like the look of one better, get that.
I think having multiple inputs would make it more useful, and if its the same price as the dell, and you like the looks, then get the HP one.
As far as HP monitors are concerned, I have an HP 23in LP2365 hooked up as a second monitor to my iMac. I can honesly say that it flat out sucks!
First, the colors are completely off. When people look at both screens side-by-side they can't believe the horrible pink cast on the HP display. No amount of color calibration or custom monitor profiles has been able to fix the problem.
Second, the brightness is nowhere near that of the iMac's. I literally have to crank the HP brightness on full and lower the iMac brightness to almost the lowest setting to have both monitors match and even then the iMac is way brighter. (Mind you this is an "older" iMac G5 iSight which doesn't even have the newer, brighter screen the later Mactels are supposed to have).
Third, the HP puts out a HORRENDOUS amount of heat. I literally start sweating in from of this display. In fact, I have to place a floor fan beside my computer desk to help me cool off. This thing is just as a efficient as a space heater and my computer room is usually at least 5-10 degrees hotter than the rest of the house when the monitor is on. (Did I mention this thing is hot?)
Yes, the HP has a bunch of extra inputs, and picture-in-picture. But I can honestly say that I have never plugged anything into them and I don't see myself doing so in the future, so having these features is wasted on someone like me.
I paid a lot for this HP panel when I first bought it. I first had it hooked up to my old XP box and I didn't think it was that bad. I thought having all that real estate was great and I didn't have anything else to compare it to at the time. Since switching over to the Mac, I now realize just how sucky the HP panel really is by comparison. I will NOT buy another HP monitor.
BTW: HP used to be a great company back in the 70's and 80's. They put out some really great quality stuff back then. Their calculators, scopes, test equipment, and workstations at the time were without equal. Since the late 90's, however, their consumer stuff has really taken a nosedive in quality. Case in point, when researching consumer laser printers, I was steered away from the HP models after reading the horror stories on epinnions and similar sites - many complaints on flimsy plastics, poor quality control, etc. I guess this is the price of trying to remain competitive. It seems that the merger with Compaq actually lowered HP's quality. Reminds me of what happened to Mercedes Benz quality after Daimler joined Chrysler. Hmm...
Questionable at best...for example, he says "Apple has more tilt," except for the fact that you can *tilt* the Dell much more easily side to side and up and down, which you can't with the ACD, and he can't even refute the fact that the Dell has better anti-aliasing, he simply swears about it and says how uneducated reviewers are for noting that and the kid says the anti-aliasing doesn't effect one's ability to read text or anything, he clearly doesn't know what he's talking about...I mean it's clearly some biased high schooler swearing his love for Apple.
