2 x Acer AL1916W vs 1 x Dell 2405FPW - Please help

danderson

danderson

danderson

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Hello all,

Well, this is my first post and I would just like to say that I am very impressed with this forum and the levels of knowledge shown :)

As the title suggests, I'm in the wake of getting either 2 x Acer AL1916W or 1 x Dell 2405FPW. What would your opinions be on this?

There is, however, a slight twist to this...I have just bought 2 x Acer AL1916W! The combined price I paid was £336 inc VAT, which I must admit was a significant factor in me going for two (together, it's cheaper than 1 x Belinea 102035W at around the £340 mark).

I received the goods on 20/01/06 and tested the two Acer's out. At the mo, I'm waiting on other PC bits (GC, etc) to arrive for my new PC build. My current PC is so old that it doesn't support the 1440x900 resolution, so I can only view it at 1024x768. Nor does it support dual inputs (for my intended dual monitor use), so I'm only running one and have no idea what it'd look like at optimum resolution.

Having opened it and had a look, I just feel that it looks pretty small compared to even a standard 1280x1024 19" TFT. I guess this is because of the slight loss in vertical height.

This brings about the thought of getting a single refurbished Dell 2405FPW @ around £570 instead. But I guess I just need some reassurance as to whether I am thinking straight or whether I should stick to what I have and save the 200 odd quid.

The other thing is that if I wish to make use of the DSA for the Acers then I basically have 9 days to go and counting before I can submit a request for an RMA. My initial intentions of the dual Acer setup was to have perhaps TV, MSN or video tutorials running on one monitor whilst I worked/followed the tutorials on the other. Then I think to myself that maybe the Dell will satisfy this..?

Please help me...I'm so confused I feel like pulling my hair out :confused:

I don't think I can sleep tonight - I'm just gonna sit here all night hitting F5 :(

Thanks in advance,

D
 
Hi and welcome to the forums, hope you did manage to get some sleep last night :D

Checking the spec of the Acer monitors I see the viewing angles are 150/130 and this is pretty restrictive especially for running a pair of them side by side. If you were sat in front of one screen I think you would have problems being able to see the image on the other, and if you were sat inbetween the 2 you probably would have problems with image clarity on either side.

So out of the options you list you're best bet would be the 2405 though it sticks in my craw to advise anyone to buy Dell.
 
Hi PieEater, thanks for the welcome and replying :)

Lol you've confirmed my worse fears in that I would probably bow before the 2405 :p :confused:

Having said that, I'm sitting here typing on one of the Acers. I forgot to add that I have 2 Ergotron NeoFlex Monitor arms, upon which this monitor is mouted upon one of them. Tbh, looking at it, the viewing angle for me is not really affected because the monitor is bang on eye level and I'm sitting about a foot and a bit away from the monitor.

I've also checked the Dell 2405 and it seems that its viewing angles are 88/89, so I guess the relative viewing ratio between the two makes and setups works out to be about the same? Please correct me if I'm wrong...

Does anyone else have any opinions on this thread? Badass? I would welcome any comments...
 
Hi again.

I understood from your post that you would want to run the 2 Acers together so looking at one head-on is not going to give you an indication of the problem. Instead of sitting at the monitor head on, measure out where the centre of the other monitor would be if you had them set up together and then sit in front of that spot and see what the image is like on your current monitor. That's the best you can do to see for yourself if there is likely to be a problem.

The way Dell have listed the viewing angles is different to the way most other manufacturers list theirs, in comparison with the Acer the angles would be listed as 176/176.
 
Hiya,

Yep, that is right - I want to run the 2 Acers together. It's funny you should mention that technique about not sitting at the monitor head on. After I read your first post, I decided to sit in front of the right hand edge of the screen bezel to measure how much of an effect the viewing angle would affect things. Needless to say, I did notice some minor discolouration on the left extreme side of the screen, but not too much that it would cause a major problem I suppose...

The monitor arm actually allows me to turn the monitor left and right (as well as adjust the height), so what I may plan to do is to turn the screens inwards a little towards the middle so as to close the gap on the viewing angle. I guess this would work...but having read all the good things that have been said about the Dell I just can't help but think to myself what it'd be like to have a single 2405. I know I "can't buy Dell in the shops", so I guess I can only dream about what it'd be like to have a 24" WS TFT instead. Also, the Dell investment would also cost me another 200 or so pounds.

Based on what I have at the moment, if you were in my shoes, would you still go for the Dell?
 
There's a big long thread on the 2405, if you haven't already perhaps you could scan down it to see what owners think about it and any problems they've had that might effect you.

It's probably easier for you to come to a conclusion as to whether the 2 Acers would suit your purposes without causing problems. It's not a setup I would personally choose as I'd be dubious about the viewing angles and you'll have a lot of width but not a lot of height. Still £200 is £200 and it's a fair whack if what you have already fills your needs.
 
Yeah, I've been an active reader of the 2405 thread, which has partly caused some of my obvious indecisiveness...Ok, thanks for that PieEater, your input has been valuable.
 
danderson said:
My current PC is so old that it doesn't support the 1440x900 resolution, so I can only view it at 1024x768.
Click to expand...

quick question for you.... how does this work. does the screen stretch to fit or does it run 1:1 ratio with black borders around the edges. thanks..... :cool:
 
Hi Marc,

The screen actually stretches to fit which I thought was pretty neat - no black borders at all. Unfortunately, I've been unable to appreciate the 1440x900 res because I haven't seen it in front of me.

As a bit of advice for everyone else, based on my experiences with it, I would say that this Acer monitor is, or at least seems to be compatible with older PCs with lower resolutions (For example, my current PC is a P3 1GHz with an unknown MB with integrated graphics...please don't laugh lol). The objects on the screen appear a little bigger without the screen/images looking too dodgy. So I suppose if you have an older PC and want to transition into WS then this Acer may be an option for you.

However, I'm sure everyone would agree that running it natively is the way to go.

Btw, what screen have you got Marc?
 
i have a 17in crt at the moment.... :( :p

i started a thread here asking about this monitor and the fact it seems to like stretching everything to fit. not a problem as most pcs, except yours (:D), can display the native res of 1440x900 in windows.

what is putting me off slightly is that it stretches games if you can't run at native res. and this is turn seems to be causing glitches in game - there's a another thread here where someone has problems playing pes5 on this monitor. in an ideal world i'd like to be able to play games at a 1:1 ratio with black borders if necessary without the monitor scaling for me - something this monitor does not seem to be capable of....
 
danderson said:
I've also checked the Dell 2405 and it seems that its viewing angles are 88/89, so I guess the relative viewing ratio between the two makes and setups works out to be about the same? Please correct me if I'm wrong...

Does anyone else have any opinions on this thread? Badass? I would welcome any comments...
Click to expand...


Welcome to OcUK mate :)

The 2405FPW has truly wide viewing angles thanks to it's PVA panel from Samsung, and they quote them differently sometimes. Most places, the conventional quoting for it would be about 178 / 178, ie pretty much the whole 180 degree range provides a good image. On the Acer's, the TN Film panel is much more restrictive, and true viewing angles are probably about 150 horizontal and more like 100 vertical, if that. However, the values quoted for modern panels, which can often reach up to 160 / 160 or even 170 / 170, are exagerated greatly and are based on lapse measurement techniques. Anyway, neither here nor there since you find the viewing angles the be fine on the Acers anyway, just expect even better and certainly wider angles if you7 do decide to move to the Dell.

Regarding your dilema, i think it might come down to money at the end of the day. While having two screens is nice for multitasking, the Dell 2405FPW offers such a high resolution that you can happily do this from the one screen anyway. The 2405FPW is obviously much better for movies since you have a single massive screen, and gaming is the same. It's very hard to set up dual screens to really be good for gaming or movies, and the Dell really has the advantage here. The Dell is a fantastic monitor and offers a much more rounded panel than the Acers with some top notch performance to boot. I think you really would be better with the Dell tbh.
 
Hmmm...food for thought I suppose...I found this thread on another site: http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2228

Non-widescreen complient games don't have to be stretched on a widescreen monitor. Most monitors will let you preserve the standard aspect ratio and put black bars on the left and right. And for the ones that don't, you can set your video card to do that for you.
Click to expand...

It seems that nVidia video cards can preserve aspect ratio even if the monitor can't. I don't know how this would work tho...

While we're still on the subject, what would you go for? 2 x AL1916W Acers (as described previously with the desk mounts) or 1 x Dell 2405?
 
1x 2405FPW every time for me, for movies and gaming it's fantastic, and you can always mount it on those arms too :) The Dell let's you keep the aspect ratio on games btw and is controlled by the monitor itself
 
Cheers for replying Badass.

You know what, I think you kinda hit the nail on the head. Money does play a big part I agree. I guess I'm just trying to justify the extra £200 in my head, but my wallet can't seem to get round it. I guess we all have specific uses for the monitors, and I like the idea of multitasking across both, and perhaps watch a DVD or TV on one and do other stuff on the other.

I have seriously thought long and hard about getting as much desktop space for the money, and I just felt that getting both Acer's @ £168 each inc VAT and Del was too good to miss (£336 in total). I mean, I even considered the 20" Belinea @ around £340 inc VAT but I couldn't justify the extra inch when I could get the 2 Acer's for cheaper than 1 Belinea. Even based on native resolutions, the 2 Acers have more pixel resolution in total than the single Dell 2405 at almost half the cost, but this extra pixel res is only marginal.

But I reckon the Dell has a presence about it that can probably make you forget about all of this...
 
You have onboard graphics and are looking at a 24" monitor that does 1920x1200,you would be happy running 1024x768 or the nearest reso to your highest with the same aspect ratio even though the monitor would have to scale it up at 1:1???

I would personally get a 2005 and a new videocard but i cant see any post where you game and i assume that you dont game with onboard graphics.

IF you can justify paying for the 2405 then get it,its truely a god like monitor but im not too sure on this max 1024x768 stuff.
 
Jonny,

Lol I fully well know that I won't be running 1920x1200 on onboard graphics! :) In my first post I said :
At the mo, I'm waiting on other PC bits (GC, etc) to arrive for my new PC build.
Click to expand...
I'm getting a XFX DDR3 6600GT card btw...

You're right, I'm not much of a gamer, but that's mostly because I've never had a PC that could handle anything more than a quiet game of Solitaire :p - depressing I know...but hopefully I may be able to dabble in a bit of gaming with this new rig.
 
Try downloading Powerstrip to get the res you need for the widescreen, it won't work for games but should give you an idea of how the res looks in windows.
 
Hi Fuz,

Yeah I tried that too, but it only lets me select what I have at the moment (1024x768) without going any higher...its a real pony PC I have here...:(
 
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