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Dell LCD Panels? HD TVs? OMG OMG!

kalisphoenix

kalisphoenix

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 26, 2005
1,231
1
I was adding up my cash last night, and wondering if it was possible to replace our 19" 4:3 ORION television with a snazzy new LCD/plasma sort of thing.

The problem is that I know absolutely nothing about this.

I was looking on eBay at LCD panels. I've heard the Dell ones discussed, and I've found their 20" panels selling for around $250. That sounds great, but it's not that much of an improvement over 19". The picture quality would be immensely better, I'm sure.

The Dell UltraSharp 2407fpw 24" panel also looks great. It's bigger, has a higher resolution, and is still relatively affordable at $650 or so. On Dell's refurb site they're roughly the same price.

There are also TV's like this one for $900. It's not 1080 (1366 X 768), but it's very big (to me at least), at 37".

Basically, I'm lost. I'm getting a Mac mini and we probably won't get a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player for several years, until they're mainstream. I'm strictly a DVD guy, but I'm yearning for a bigger screen and better clarity. With that in mind, I don't guess

Can anyone recommend a good LCD TV/monitor that isn't too expensive but is big? I don't guess I need anything more than 720p, but something in the 30" range might be really cool. Is there a way to get the 24" Dell display for cheaper?

Any recommendations?

Thanks, guys and gals :)
 
i have a dell lcd monitor and they're really not all that bad considering the bad stigma ppl get when they hear "dell"
 
Mac'Mo said:
i have a dell lcd monitor and they're really not all that bad considering the bad stigma ppl get when they hear "dell"
Click to expand...

I've heard good things. Not great things, but.... it's a 20" for like $250. That's awesome to me. Especially since it's just going to be a TV.

I'm thinking about getting the 20", unless someone has a really good suggestion on an HD TV of some kind. Since I'm selling my iBook and getting $1700 in mid-January, that means I could get a refurbed MacBook, refurbed/new Mac mini, and a new HD TV (effectively) for around $1100, assuming the iBook sells for a decent price. Then I can help my wife buy her MacBook and buy a few goats from Heifer International.

103348_Picture574.jpg


I get a lot of gear, my wife gets a much-needed portable, and some brown people get goats. Everyone benefits!
 
kalisphoenix said:
I've heard good things. Not great things, but.... it's a 20" for like $250. That's awesome to me. Especially since it's just going to be a TV.
Click to expand...


Funny you should ask this. About 20 minutes ago, I've just taken delivery of a new Dell 20" 2007WFP and have had it up and running for the last 5.

First impressions? I hate LCDs. Seriously... I'm used to CRTs for design work in the studio, but this is for home and at the price is a steal. Got the one with the black bezel. It was less than half the price of the 20" ACD.

Anyway, not a dead pixel, slight banding but acceptable colour, narrowish viewing angle, have no idea what it's like on video yet as I've been looking at Quark and Photoshop. Reasonably good-looking and at least the mount is more adjustable than an ACD... perfectly simple set-up with the Mac which auto-recognised it straight away and loaded the colour profile.

I'll post more after I've used it for a bit longer and will run a DVD on it.
 
Go with a Dell LCD. The image quality is fantastic (if you go with an Ultrasharp with DVI) and the price is unbeatable. I've owned several in the last few years and while Dell's PCs may not be the greatest, their LCDs are top notch.
 
OK, I've just run a couple of DVDs through it and they look great although I have to say the panel is rather revealing of crappy encoding. Trainspotting was OK, Three Colours Blue looks awful but that's not the fault of the monitor at all. Of course, the picture is much bigger on a wide-screen as the aspect ratio isn't squeezed into that 4:3 and can go the full width.

For this model and for video, buy with confidence at that price. :)
 
I've hadd the older version Dell 20" 2005FPW for the last two years I think? I love it, much easier on the eyes than a CRT and looks great as well. I have a 19" NEC flat CRT beside it that rarely gets turned on anymore.
 
i have the dell 2405fpw. it is perfect for computing. its extremely bright and crisp and clear and i love it...but

it has component inputs and i'll hook up my ps2, and it looks like utter crap...dear god its awful, i cant stand it...some people can, but i cant
i also hook up my xbox360 via component, and its beautiful so yeah.

i have it hooked up to a mac mini, so i use the mini to play dvds, and they look just fine so yeah, just you might want to reconsider if you are an avid ps2 gamer and plan on using this as your primary monitor
 
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