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wPod

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 19, 2003
1,654
0
Denver, CO
I have been shopping around for a flat pannel monitor for a while, and have pretty much decided on getting a Dell monitor. Simply because you get the most for the money (aside from hunting for some unheard of brand name that has an unknown history). I noticed how the prices at Dell fluctuate so I was waiting for a really good price, thinking it wouldn't happen for a while. Well, today is the day. All sizes of the monitors I was looking at 17", 19" and 20" wide screen have dropped into my willing to pay price for each size. So, I of course want to have the best and get the 20" WS but I am not sure if my 12" PB will power the huge monitor! In tech specs for my PB (its the Rev A ) I noticed that it supports external monitors up to "1600x1200" I then noticed that the dell monitor (2005FPW 20.1") is optimized at "1680x1050" so, does anyone know for sure if the rev A powerbooks will work with this dell monitor? anyone have experience? Thanks for your input!!!
 

notjustjay

macrumors 603
Sep 19, 2003
6,056
167
Canada, eh?
Well, my Rev. B 12" Powerbook handles it just fine. Graphically intensive things like Expose are a tad choppy, but they already were choppy when I was running a 17" LCD running 1280x1024, it doesn't seem any more so now.

You'll like the Dell 20". :)
 

Eastend

macrumors 6502
Aug 1, 2004
378
8
Nara, Japan
wPod said:
I have been shopping around for a flat pannel monitor for a while, and have pretty much decided on getting a Dell monitor. does anyone know for sure if the rev A powerbooks will work with this dell monitor? anyone have experience? Thanks for your input!!!

I cannot know for sure, but I think your Book has 32 MB of Video Memory, I think it will work, but do not quote me. My Mac Mini can drive it and it has 32 MB of memory also.

Brian
 

feakbeak

macrumors 6502a
Oct 16, 2003
925
1
Michigan
Eastend said:
I cannot know for sure, but I think your Book has 32 MB of Video Memory, I think it will work, but do not quote me. My Mac Mini can drive it and it has 32 MB of memory also.
I'm not positive of the rev. A iBook specs either, but I thought it had the same 32MB 9200 as the Mac mini. My mini pushes the 2001FP (1600x1200) without issue, not even choppy with Expose.
 

cr2sh

macrumors 68030
May 28, 2002
2,554
3
downtown
I have a revision A 17" powerbook and it works wonderfully with my FPW2005.

The only problem you'll find is that the brightness and contrast of the 2005 is SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than the one on your powerbook, that you'll be disgusted just looking at the apple screen.

I'm not over-stating this. The Dell screens are vastly superior to the one our powerbooks.
 

jscheiman

macrumors member
Mar 21, 2005
68
0
Phoenix, Arizona
cr2sh said:
I have a revision A 17" powerbook and it works wonderfully with my FPW2005.

The only problem you'll find is that the brightness and contrast of the 2005 is SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than the one on your powerbook, that you'll be disgusted just looking at the apple screen.

I'm not over-stating this. The Dell screens are vastly superior to the one our powerbooks.

You are absolutely correct on this. Before I bought my new PM a couple days ago, I have my Dell 2005FPW hooked up to my 15" 667 Ti PB and it is much nicer, brighter, crisper. Of course, it's almost 4 years newer, but still, the difference is astonishing.

So, yes, your PB will be able to support this monitor, and you'll probably find yourself doing what I did with my PB, using the Dell monitor as your primary, and your PB screen as the secondary monitor!

Now that I have my Dell hooked up to my PM and my PB sitting above it on a shelf, you can really see just how dim and dull my Apple display really is.
 

wPod

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 19, 2003
1,654
0
Denver, CO
cool, i just ordered the 2005FPW and now i cant wait for it to be shipped! does the PIP work well? can i watch tv or play PS2 hooked up through the s-vidoe or composite video ports?

Thanks everyone for your input!
 

Flyinace2000

macrumors 6502a
Sep 28, 2004
666
0
wPod said:
cool, i just ordered the 2005FPW and now i cant wait for it to be shipped! does the PIP work well? can i watch tv or play PS2 hooked up through the s-vidoe or composite video ports?

Thanks everyone for your input!


I got the same deal yesterday. I was gonna just resell it on ebay to make a bit a profit.

I currently have a Samsung 191T. If I sold it on ebay for 250 then the monitor would only cost me about 100 bucks. Worth the upgrade? or F it and just make some profits.
 

wPod

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 19, 2003
1,654
0
Denver, CO
make a bit of a profit, hmmm thats an interesting idea. but i want the monitor for my own use. but you could make some money off of any of the dell monitors right now if you really wanted to try!
 

joepunk

macrumors 68030
Aug 5, 2004
2,553
13
a profane existence
Can't... resist....temptation :D

Quite a deal for the monitor and I was so ready to plop down the credit card but, I have to look at "do I really need it at this moment?" and the answer is no. :(

Anyway, enjoy your new monitor.
 

ravenvii

macrumors 604
Mar 17, 2004
7,585
492
Melenkurion Skyweir
The mini works great at 1280x1024, no choppiness in the GUI. The only choppiness I see is in Fast User Switching, with the cube effect. But at least it actually showed! (didn't with my old iBook G3 900... Short solace of "all effects shown" until Tiger comes, then I'm back to the iBook days... Grr :( :D )
 

Lancetx

macrumors 68000
Aug 11, 2003
1,991
619
cr2sh said:
What is this great price? :confused:

I think I payed $486... maybe.

They had them on sale yesterday briefly (literally for only about 5 hours before the coupons expired) for $384. It was definitely too great for me to resist.
 

debroglie

macrumors 6502a
Aug 19, 2004
607
0
Philadelphia, PA
wPod said:
cool, i just ordered the 2005FPW and now i cant wait for it to be shipped! does the PIP work well? can i watch tv or play PS2 hooked up through the s-vidoe or composite video ports?

Thanks everyone for your input!


It works great, I play gamecube on PIP with mine all the time
 

Flyinace2000

macrumors 6502a
Sep 28, 2004
666
0
debroglie said:
It works great, I play gamecube on PIP with mine all the time

I got mine for 366 after tax and free shipping using a 10% of with a Dell Credit Account
 

cr2sh

macrumors 68030
May 28, 2002
2,554
3
downtown
Flyinace2000 said:
I got mine for 366 after tax and free shipping using a 10% of with a Dell Credit Account

****! I have one of those and didn't even think about using it when I ordered mine!
 

joepunk

macrumors 68030
Aug 5, 2004
2,553
13
a profane existence
cr2sh said:
What is this great price?

I think I payed $486... maybe.

I was thinking about the price w/o the state tax. But, your right.

$486.85 + about $42 tax for Everett WA or about $40 tax for Bellingham WA.
about $528 (about 60 miles apart from each city, interesting)

Plus, I did not see the other deal that expired until now

Granted, there will be better deals and other monitors.
 

wPod

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 19, 2003
1,654
0
Denver, CO
mine was 486. wow, i dont know what i would have done if i had seen it under 400!!! i was shooting for under 500 so i was pleased. still a LOT cheaper than the list price of 750, which i have seen it priced at within the past week! i dont know how/when/what determines dell's pricing, but i guess everyone will get what they want when it hits their price (YIKES visions of econ 101 flashing through my head, make it stop!!! heh its good being an engineer not having to take any more econ classes!!!)
 

wPod

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 19, 2003
1,654
0
Denver, CO
WOO HOO!!!! just got it in the mail this thing rocks! works great with my PB rev A :) a little shakey when i expose with a lot of windows, but other than that it works well!!
 

jinny1

macrumors member
Jun 1, 2004
53
0
Helping solve my delimma

What, other than style, does the apple monitor offer for $500+?
Better contrast?
Better color balance?
Better interface?
Slicing-Dicing-Julienne fries?

I've been looking at monitors for my G5, wide screen specifically, and this Dell seems like a great deal. What's the catch?
Jinny
 

wPod

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 19, 2003
1,654
0
Denver, CO
dell has 4 inputs (VGA, DVI-D, composite and s-video) with PIP (picture in picture so you can view 2 at once)

image brightness is different Apple = 250 Dell = 300 cd/m^2
contrast ration Apple = 400:1 Dell = 600:1
dell weighs a little more and is a little laller (but has adjustable height)

i cant seem to find the specs on the response time for the dell. i know that is a significant statistic for gamers.

i am not sure which is better in each of these cases but those were the # differences i saw in the specs of each. you do lose a bit of styl with the dell, and as PC of a name as dell is some apple people may not want to be seen with such a product! but, i ended up paying less than HALF of the price of the Apple monitor so i am quite pleased.
 

feakbeak

macrumors 6502a
Oct 16, 2003
925
1
Michigan
Apple's displays have 16 ms response time. Dell's 2005FPW has 12 ms and 2001FP has 16 ms response time. Usually anything 16 ms or lower is considered good.
 

jinny1

macrumors member
Jun 1, 2004
53
0
dell, and as PC of a name as dell is some apple people may not want to be seen with such a product!

That's what duct-tape is for. :rolleyes:

With the extra $500 I can get an external hard drive and a Tiger family pack!

Thanks for the info, the Dell seems like a better deal all the way around.
 
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