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You want test how bad Dell monitors are?

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I

Iyan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2005
18
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For lots of Dell LCD owners and praisers, you want to know how bad your LCD panels are before you blar, blar?
1. Go home tonight,
2. Turn off every light during night, switch your Dell monitor to a black background, and...
3. Have fun and see virtually every Dell monitor has a dirty face with different uneven backlight all over the screen!!!!
4. Report on this forum your experience.
 
I often times turn off all my lights at night, kick back and watch my favorite black screen saver.
 
Just about every LCD near the Dell displays' price points has a similar amount of backlight bleed - and in many cases it is negligible.

Apple's 20" Cinema Display uses the same LCD panel. Read Anandtech's review and notice that performance-wise there is very little to choose between the two. The Dell has more inputs and a brighter backlight while the Apple has a much cleaner design and cable management. There is a pretty big price difference in favor of the Dell though.

Dell makes some crap LCDs, make no mistake. At work we have several analog (VGA-only) Dell 15" and 17" LCD panels that have dim backlights, uneven color and what I would call major backlight bleed.

But most of Dell's higher-end displays are vey competitive, even with the likes of Apple and Sony. I have a 2005FPW and it performs basically just as well as Apple's 20", has more ports and cost $400 less. If I had more money to spend I would have bought the Apple but I have no regrets over my 2005FPW.

From a purely quantitative and objective perspective, the higher-end Dell displays are very good, and anyone saying otherwise either has a defective unit or is just trolling. Dell does have a reputation for slipshod build quality (I've seen plenty of examples where I work), but reviews and consumer opinions seem to indicate that the bigger flat panels don't suffer from this as much.

FWIW, I use both the 2005FPW and Apple's 20" Cinema Display on a daily basis. The Apple has less backlight bleed but is not as bright. In both cases the faults are not significant enough to recommend one unit over the other based soley on image quality.

I think you're over-reacting, unless you have one of their super-cheap 15"/17" VGA analog flat panels, in which case you get what you pay for.
 
Iyan said:
For lots of Dell LCD owners and praisers, you want to know how bad your LCD panels are before you blar, blar?
1. Go home tonight,
2. Turn off every light during night, switch your Dell monitor to a black background, and...
3. Have fun and see virtually every Dell monitor has a dirty face with different uneven backlight all over the screen!!!!
4. Report on this forum your experience.
Click to expand...


Yeah, Dell monitors suck because this is what a monitor is meant to be used for. WTF... who the heck actually sits in the dark and stares at their montor. Give me a break. The 20" panels are the same.
 
cycocelica said:
Want to test how stupid this is?

How many people sit and watch a black screen?

The answer will astound you Iyan.
Click to expand...

Speak for yourself!! Last night I sat watching five hours of blackness on my screen. I cracked a beer open, relaxed and stared at it for hours. I'm trying to organise a six hour screening of nothingness for my mates next week. Its going to rock!!
 
Iyan said:
For lots of Dell LCD owners and praisers, you want to know how bad your LCD panels are before you blar, blar?
1. Go home tonight,
2. Turn off every light during night, switch your Dell monitor to a black background, and...
3. Have fun and see virtually every Dell monitor has a dirty face with different uneven backlight all over the screen!!!!
4. Report on this forum your experience.
Click to expand...


If this is an attempt at a smear campaign against dell it's rather misguided and stupid. I suggest you try again, unless this is an attempt at humour...in which case you should also try again.
 
I payed $3200 for a 17" powerbook a couple years ago and used it right up until I bought a Dell 2001FPW.

The screen on the powerbook was so dark, lacking sharpness and pathetic looking compared to the dell... that I got rid of the powerbook. I couldn't stand to look at it after that.

Seriously.

My new 20" iMac is a differet story.. but to pretend that apple's LCDs are some ****ing marvel of modern science... is nonsense.
 
cycocelica said:
Want to test how stupid this is?

How many people sit and watch a black screen?

The answer will astound you Iyan.
Click to expand...

To be fair...this is a way of seeing a problem that exists with almost all LCDs from almost all manufacturers. And it *is* a problem. When LCD TV's started coming out, this was the biggest issue, that being lost in the movie got interrupted whenever they faded to black because you were very aware of the TV....

But I think aiming this criticism at Dell is unfair. If you don't like this, get a CRT.

But also the OP has 10 posts and is probably a troll. :eek: ;) :D
 
I'm so glad you guys brought this up. I just picked up my new Dell monitor and threw it at the wall. It's black now and I reckon it'll stay that way. You guys should do the same, they're not very heavy. :cool:
 
Apple LCDs = Overpriced junk, for the most part. Look at all the issues with the various Apple displays.

Now look for any complaints about Dell LCDs, and then imagine 1) how many more displays they sell than Apple, and 2) how much cheaper they are.
 
I really don't see what this has to do with the useablilty of the monitor. I'm all for disgruntled customers getting a little displeasure in crappily made products off their chests, but this complaint makes no sense. Perhaps explain what is so horrible about this.

Every troll deserves a chance
 
Notice how the original poster posted once, people jumped and now the crazy 12 year old is sitting in his room laughing at himself inbetween restarting his windows ME home edition compaq machine.
 
mad jew said:
I'm so glad you guys brought this up. I just picked up my new Dell monitor and threw it at the wall. It's black now and I reckon it'll stay that way. You guys should do the same, they're not very heavy. :cool:
Click to expand...

Wow, you're right! There's no backlight bleed now! Thanks!
 
It's so funny when an obvious Dell LCD monitor issue (serious backlight uneven) was brought, some Dell monitor owners have such strong reaction to defend their products.
The most important thing about LCD backlight uneven is do side by side comparison:
Apple 20-inch: very even backlight under black background,
Dell 20-inch: what a dirty, uneven backlight, can see several huge bulb halos.

Apple 23-inch: backlight is not uniform,
Apple's frumpier Dell cousin: much much worse than Apple's.

Apple 30-inch: decent enough.
Dell 30-inch: bad, another dirty face under dark condition.

Well, some people buy $20 underwear named Banana Rebublic, some people buy $10 Old Navy. They are made with same fabrics, or even maybe same OEM, do you think they are the same? I guess not every one likes to be cheap A_ss!

LIFE IS PRECIOUS, DON'T BE CHEAP IF YOU HAVE OPPORTUNITY.
_________________________
Powerbook Pismo G3 400
iBook G3 366 Clamshell
iBook G3 466 Clamshell
G4 Cube 450
Powermac G4 dual 1.25, ACD 20-inch
 
"It's so funny when an obvious Dell LCD monitor issue (serious backlight uneven) was brought, some Dell monitor owners have such strong reaction to defend their products."

I don't own a Dell monitor. What is funny is that you think this is a real concern. I grant you the fact that apple monitor is of slightly better build quality. This does not make the very simalar Dell version "frumpy" or crappy or a piece of crap. I can not see any reason why someone would be sitting looking at a black background with no picture in a dark room. This is like a synthetic bench mark of a cpu, it means nothing.

I am glad you can afford a $700 monitor from apple. I will be buying a cheaper model that will display the same picture just as well.
 
Trashing these displays just comes off as complete elitism on your part - most of us can't afford Apple's asking price for a display PLUS the cost of a computer. In case you have forgotten, Apple's cheapest display, the 20" costs about $800 before tax or shipping...that is a lot of money. The 23" and massive 30" each cost as much as a decently configured iMac or G5 tower by themselves.

Why don't you mention the infamous pink tint on the Apple 23" LCD that everyone knows about? I'm one of the last people who would gratuitously bash Apple hardware but it's odd that you left that little issue out of a discussion of comparative image quality...

The Dell displays have a more lax QA process, resulting in significantly more variable build quality. You have a greater chance of getting a lemon, but they are a good design with a good feature set - superior to Apple in some respects.

Since you've neglected to address the points raised in my earlier post (which doubtless you haven't bothered to read :rolleyes: ), I don't see the point of continuing this discussion other than to remark that calling us all cheap for buying a Dell display is hardly the best way to ingratiate yourself around here...
 
Iyan said:
It's so funny when an obvious Dell LCD monitor issue (serious backlight uneven) was brought, some Dell monitor owners have such strong reaction to defend their products.
The most important thing about LCD backlight uneven is do side by side comparison:
Apple 20-inch: very even backlight under black background,
Dell 20-inch: what a dirty, uneven backlight, can see several huge bulb halos.

Apple 23-inch: backlight is not uniform,
Apple's frumpier Dell cousin: much much worse than Apple's.

Apple 30-inch: decent enough.
Dell 30-inch: bad, another dirty face under dark condition.

Well, some people buy $20 underwear named Banana Rebublic, some people buy $10 Old Navy. They are made with same fabrics, or even maybe same OEM, do you think they are the same? I guess not every one likes to be cheap A_ss!

LIFE IS PRECIOUS, DON'T BE CHEAP IF YOU HAVE OPPORTUNITY.
_________________________
Powerbook Pismo G3 400
iBook G3 366 Clamshell
iBook G3 466 Clamshell
G4 Cube 450
Powermac G4 dual 1.25, ACD 20-inch
Click to expand...


Ok I believe you... Dell monitors are crap.

Oh wait no I dont. For you to do those side by side comparsion you have to be made of money because I dont know of any place that would sell both Dell and Apple monitors much less let you look at them side by side in a dark room.

Yeah the guy is a troll and you last post proves that he is full of it. Even being cheap on using low ball numbers to do those test we are looking at over 10 grand in just monitors that he would have to own.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Trashing these displays just comes off as complete elitism on your part - most of us can't afford Apple's asking price for a display PLUS the cost of a computer. In case you have forgotten, Apple's cheapest display, the 20" costs about $800 before tax or shipping...that is a lot of money. The 23" and massive 30" each cost as much as a decently configured iMac or G5 tower by themselves.

Why don't you mention the infamous pink tint on the Apple 23" LCD that everyone knows about? I'm one of the last people who would gratuitously bash Apple hardware but it's odd that you left that little issue out of a discussion of comparative image quality...

The Dell displays have a more lax QA process, resulting in significantly more variable build quality. You have a greater chance of getting a lemon, but They are a good design with a good feature set - superior to Apple in some respects.

Since you've neglected to address the points raised in my earlier post (which doubtless you haven't bothered to read :rolleyes: ), I don't see the point of continuing this discussion other than to remark that calling us all cheap for buying a Dell display is hardly the best way to ingratiate yourself around here...
Click to expand...

In the famous "Anandtech's review of Apple 20-inch and Dell 20-inch", they do point out that Dell 20-inch has one significant defect (or I should say shortcoming) among three reported deficiency: The Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW had severe screen uniformity problems.

As to Apple's 23-inch: I originally bought one last November but I didn't like the fact that it does have some uneven backlight, so I returned it and got a 20-inch instead. The pinkish issue was not present since last summer. The one I briefly had didn't show any pinkish issue.

You think uniformed backlight is not important? How about playing Doom 3 or dark background image display? Let along to mention playing widescreen DVD on your monitor with dim room light.

My company was trying to save 200 bucks to buy a Dell instead of buying an Apple. Unfortunately even under regular daylight condition you can see the huge backlight halo when the monitor was set to Windows XP (blue background). It's such an unpleasant experience for image capture and editing.

As to describing Dell's products as frumpy. It's not from me, it was from the famous Apple basher: CNET. Even they describe Dell's products as the frumpier, country cousin of Apple. Go to cnet.com anf read its review about Dell's 30-inch monitor.

The bottom line: Dell does not do good QA on their product in order to save money. Even the famous "Anandtech's review of Apple 20-inch and Dell 20-inch" admits it's the case.

As to Taiwanese OEM, in order to sqeeze profit from making Dell products. They rountinely use parts which can't pass Apple. IBM, Fujisu's QC and have the potential (just potential) to fail. Plain and simple.

Besides, good LCD panel design needs good firmware/hardware engineer, I am afraid that Dell does not have that. It's not you buy parts and put it together then you wil have a famous Dell-branded LCD.
 
Iyan said:
In the famous "Anandtech's review of Apple 20-inch and Dell 20-inch", they do point out that Dell 20-inch has one significant defect (or I should say shortcoming) among three reported deficiency: The Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW had severe screen uniformity problems.
Click to expand...

If you read the article a little more closely, you'll see that the problems you refer to are user reported problems within the first few months of availability, a time when issues are much more likely to occur than after the product has been on the market for some time. Additionally, on the previous page from these mentioned issues you'll see that Anandtech (despite mentionioning the user supported issues) gave both displays the same high rating for screen uniformity and lack of halos. Additionally, the Dell appeared to have more correct color reproduction out of the box, according to their calibrator. Also, many of the screen uniformity problemscould be the result of a sketchy analog VGA signal - the difference in quality between VGA and DVI-D can be vast, even on the same display.

I use these examples to point out that the *extreme* issues you seem to be having are not reproduced by me in my experience or Anandtech in theirs. Frankly (no offense), I trust my own eyes plus Anandtech's more than yours.

As far as looks go, they're totally subjective and nobody can definitively claim one is better, since there is no right or wrong here. Personally, I think that the Apple is miles better looking than the Dell, and most people around here agree. But it really doesn't mean much to me - I'm too busy looking at the screen output to notice the screen itself. The Dell is unobtrusive and has good ergonomics - and that's good enough.

Did I mention that I got my 2005FPW for $400 less than the Apple 20"? You may think I'm cheap, but If I had to pay Apple's prices I'd still be nursing along my old 19" CRT, or getting some analog-only LCD that really does have all the issues you claim the Dells have. For what you get that the 2005FPW is excellent value - if the snob appeal costs $400 extra I'll happily give it a miss. I love the Apple Cinema Displays, but can't afford them - many of us can't.
 
cr2sh said:
I payed $3200 for a 17" powerbook a couple years ago and used it right up until I bought a Dell 2001FPW.

The screen on the powerbook was so dark, lacking sharpness and pathetic looking compared to the dell... that I got rid of the powerbook. I couldn't stand to look at it after that.

Seriously.

My new 20" iMac is a differet story.. but to pretend that apple's LCDs are some ****ing marvel of modern science... is nonsense.
Click to expand...
Thats exactly how I am. I was exceptionally pleased with my PB until I got my 2005FPW. The PB screen looks pathetic comparatively.
 
bursty said:
Thats exactly how I am. I was exceptionally pleased with my PB until I got my 2005FPW. The PB screen looks pathetic comparatively.
Click to expand...

I was in Microcenter recently and seeing the MacBook Pro's screen next to a 15" PowerBook G4 was a revelation - the MacBook is worlds brighter. I had to check the brightness because I thought somebody turned the G4 down but no, there's that much difference.
 
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