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Nice!

I believe they use the same screen and backlight as the apple Displays do.  The only difference is the external case.

Yeah, sad how apple charges so much.

Azizza wrote:

I believe they use the same screen and backlight as the apple Displays do.  The only difference is the external case.

That is the HP one, which is cheaper than Apple's 23".  I think this Dell is a 24", so it is different.

Yeah, the 2005fpw is a 20" like Apples, it is the 2405fpw that has an inch and better contrast ratio over the Apple's 23".

I really don't think dell is using the same parts. Put a comparable Dell monitor next to an Apple monitor and you can really see the difference.

Avari wrote:

I really don't think dell is using the same parts. Put a comparable Dell monitor next to an Apple monitor and you can really see the difference.

It's been confirmed by a take-apart of both displays. They use the same LCD. However, that's where the similarities stop. Different backlights, power supplies, cases, etc...

Avari wrote:

I really don't think dell is using the same parts. Put a comparable Dell monitor next to an Apple monitor and you can really see the difference.

Better watch out with that can of worms.  Last time someone went there, a 2-week debate broke out about whether the same LCD panel means the same quality of monitor, and whether 2 monitors made by the same assembler in China can end up with different qualities if the specs are different or if the designs are different.  Then the price was debated for 2 weeks - is the Dell crazy occasional sale price verus apple full price, or Dell list price, versus Apple student discount, and then ultimately the PCGuy price that no one could find on the web, but he swears he got fot $189 or something crazy.  The difference in price could be $199 or it could be $599 depending.  It was quite fun, indeed!

What I took away from that last debate is that the Dell tested out by Anandtech as being nearly the same quality as the Apple out of the box (if not slightly better, although some of the Dells they tested had major lighting consistency issues), but the Dells are much cheaper, and therefore a much better value.  However, although the Apple is probably more expensive partially because of Apple's higher mark-up, it is also probably because they spec'd slightly better components (like the backlight and power supply), and the Apple design is little more industrial, sturdy and pretty.  Are these things worth whatever the current price difference is? (debate ensues).  For most no.  For me, yes.

Last edited by Czachorski (2005-12-27 9:23 pm)

Contrast ratio is a useless metric. There is no standardized way of measuring, and there's no standardized unit of measuring in. Samsung has a display that they rate for 30,000:1 contrast ratio, but it's BS, because that display doesn't look like what you would expect from a display with 30,000:1 contrast ration (it's one of their plasmas, IIRC). This has a good run down: http://blog.hometheatermag.com/geoffrey … 5contrast/

I'm sure the Dell looks great, but you can't tell how a monitor looks from specs. It's impossible. You have to look at reviews (which both Dell and Apple do very well in, the Dell usually rates as being brighter).

Personally, I don't trust what anyone says about monitors, unless I know that person personally, because I seem to see things other people don't.

One thing about viewing angle too... it's conventionally defined as the angle where the brightness reaches 50%, but with LCDs, what they don't take in to account is where the colors shift as to be ridiculous to watch a monitor. Every LCD panel ever made WILL shift colors off a straight-forward angle, and the colors shift significantly before the manufacturer's rated viewing angle. Sony's nicer LCD panels are usually the best for not shifting too badly, Toshiba's cheaper LCD panels are the worst. My 17" Powerbook is very good, but I couldn't say where Apple's LCDs or Dell's LCDs stand. But, viewing angle is also pretty much a useless metric too.

Nice.  Good catch. 

mo' ron wrote:

I'm sure the Dell looks great, but you can't tell how a monitor looks from specs. It's impossible. You have to look at reviews (which both Dell and Apple do very well in, the Dell usually rates as being brighter).

I don't know how Dell or Apple monitors can "usually" appear a certain way.

Neither Dell or Apple produces LCD modules. They buy them from 3rd party manufacturers and place them in fancy cases. Apple and Dell could very well be selling the exact same CRT / LCD modules from time to time. Actually, they've probably done so

Specs can be quite useful if you know what you're doing. Specs can be used to finger print a particular LCD module, view the reviews of other monitors with the same module, and track down the original manufacturer. 

Seeing that a monitor is made buy "Dell" is nice...but if the module is produced by "Klackity Klacks Discount Monitor Depot".... you might have a problem.

That being said, I have heard good things about some of the latest monitors Dell has been selling.

Apple supposedly hand picks their displays.  Dunno about Dell.