Viewsonic VX2025wm 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor vs Dell 2007WFP

Chronictank · 25 Jul 2006 at 10:41

I have seen good reviews about this (£293.69 on this week only), but i thought i would check before i go and buy it, but i have seen a lot of people recommend a Dell 2007WFP (£293.69) instead
I cant decide between the 2, can anyone advise which is the better please

Thanks in advance

James81 · 25 Jul 2006 at 12:01

The DELL customer support is non existant it's in India somewhere and there is no direct tech line for DELL monitors so you have to bounce around the system.

My first DELL sent to me was a 'refurbished' one from April 2006 that had the firmware updates, for me this is unacceptable I wouldn't buy a brand new car that had been 'refurbished' so why should I accept it for this?

Also there are sections in the OSD menu that can't be selected Wide Mode and Sharpness, also there is a sctatch along the top of the casing.

They are sending me a replacement on Wednesday and if it isn't new it's going back for good and I'll carry on using my 17 inch CRT untill the new 22" 23" models come out in the next few months.

The blacks and darkness of dark colours are nowhere near as deep and dark as that of my old 17" CRT, however I don't know if it's lke that for all 20" TFT's or just mine.

Dark_Angel · 25 Jul 2006 at 12:09

Well, My monitor is perfect.

Via DVI, of course you won't be able to select sharpness or wide mood. It is mapping 1680x1050. It can change the aspect of that. Via VGA these options are right there (not sure about sharpness, not checked. will do later).

Composite and S-video everything is there. I have perfect gradients, and NOT any dead or dying pixels, and more so I dont have ANY backlight bleed.

the 2007FWP is now coming to OCuk anyway, so even if you dont trust dell, ya can trust overclockers.

Blacks for me are pretty good... esepcially if you turn down the brightness a bit (about 38 - 40 is good). If you order now, you will get a A02 revision monitor.

More over, there is a large thread will people... almost all loving the monitor

James81 · 25 Jul 2006 at 12:24

Dark_Angel said:
Well, My monitor is perfect.

Via DVI, of course you won't be able to select sharpness or wide mood. It is mapping 1680x1050. It can change the aspect of that. Via VGA these options are right there (not sure about sharpness, not checked. will do later).

The tech support never told me that and he hadn't even heard of the REV-A02 and whilst my monitor may have parts that are A02 it certainly isn't new.

Dark_Angel · 25 Jul 2006 at 12:28

James81 said:
The tech support never told me that and he hadn't even heard of the REV-A02 and whilst my monitor may have parts that are A02 it certainly isn't new.

If I go to "menu" and then "display" I get those 2 dimmed out. Under VGA, sharpness and mode are both highlighted (I use that for my 360).

Truthfully, it just sounded like the guy you spoken to didn't know much.

*EDIT*

At the back of your monitor, it should say Revision.... you should do that. Mine shipped in a A00 box, but the monitor itself has A02 on it.

davidstone28 · 25 Jul 2006 at 12:32

It all depends on what your planning to use your monitor for.

If video playback is your main thing, the Viewsonic in all likelihood will provide a better picture because it won't have the twinkling effect of the Dell's S-IPS panel.

If youre planning to play a lot of games that dont support widescreen, you may well be favouring the Dell because of its 1:1 pixel mapping compatibility. For photography, I suspect the Dell may also be preferred since it doesnt have the Viewsonics frosty coating.

Otherwise, theres not much between them. Neither monitor is perfect, but neither will they disappoint.

Chronictank · 25 Jul 2006 at 16:54

are there any better options above these two?
My primary use will be gaming, but im looking for a good quality reliable one tbh

Kreeeee · 25 Jul 2006 at 17:09

Chronictank said:
are there any better options above these two?
My primary use will be gaming, but im looking for a good quality reliable one tbh

The viewsonic is more reliable than the dell monitors.

James81 · 25 Jul 2006 at 17:15

Yes it does say REV-02 on the back as it does also say made in China April 2006.

It now seems that the new DELL 2007 WFP panels are now being shipped NOT with the LG.Philips S-IPS but with the Samsung S-PVA LTM201U1 at least that is acording to DELL and the DELL forums.

I've just checked the service menu and mine says V1B11 LPL and WSXGA LM 201W01 which would suggest that it is a LG S-IPS but mine is the old one so people who have a monitor that was made in the last month will probably have the S-PVA.

MacX · 25 Jul 2006 at 17:16

davidstone28 said:
It all depends on what your planning to use your monitor for.

If video playback is your main thing, the Viewsonic in all likelihood will provide a better picture because it won't have the twinkling effect of the Dell's S-IPS panel.

If youre planning to play a lot of games that dont support widescreen, you may well be favouring the Dell because of its 1:1 pixel mapping compatibility. For photography, I suspect the Dell may also be preferred since it doesnt have the Viewsonics frosty coating.

Otherwise, theres not much between them. Neither monitor is perfect, but neither will they disappoint.

Strangely, of the above, video is one thing I don't use the Viewsonic for.

The frosty coating doesn't bother me for all the photo stuff I do, and it calibrates very well with a Spyder 2.

And although not as fast as my old CRT, only the more hardcore FPS players would be bothered by the speed in games.

As for not running games in widescreen, I haven't had any problems. View these pictures where I have my VX2025 scaling Oblivion quite nicely thank you very much.

Although I have heard people have had problems getting it working.

davidstone28 · 25 Jul 2006 at 19:43

Yes, I suspect the whole 20" WS debate is splitting hairs. The usual 'suspects' = the NEC, Dell, VS2025, Philips etc, are all good monitors with not a huge amount between them.

Incidentally MacX, you never did clarify that point about whether you have to continually switch DVI connections, or whether a single swap sets everything for numerous driver switching from them on......

MacX · 25 Jul 2006 at 19:48

davidstone28 said:
Incidentally MacX, you never did clarify that point about whether you have to continually switch DVI connections, or whether a single swap sets everything for numerous driver switching from them on......

I thought I had. Silly me!

For me, once it was set up I didn't have to swap cables again. It will scale or play widescreen at my will.

MacX · 25 Jul 2006 at 19:50

davidstone28 said:
Yes, I suspect the whole 20" WS debate is splitting hairs. The usual 'suspects' = the NEC, Dell, VS2025, Philips etc, are all good monitors with not a huge amount between them.

I have to agree somewhat regarding the state of the 20" ws debate. I made my decision based mostly on the colour fidelity scores at behardware and tomshardware. Oh, and the rather smashing price.

Chronictank · 25 Jul 2006 at 20:26

different discussion, but is the delay in widescreen LCD's significant? or is it just splitting hairs?
According to:
http://www.vnunet.com/personal-computer-world/analysis/2046097/head-head-displays-lcd-vs-crt

FPDs can scale lower resolutions with varying success, but strange artefacts quickly crop up. A 1024 x 768 FPD should be run at that resolution, or you may be disappointed. Two-one to CRT.

to get descent performance out for your LCD you have ot run at 1024x786 :S???
Thanks in advance

MacX · 25 Jul 2006 at 20:47

Chronictank said:
According to:
http://www.vnunet.com/personal-computer-world/analysis/2046097/head-head-displays-lcd-vs-crt

to get descent performance out for your LCD you have ot run at 1024x786 :S???
Thanks in advance

That is dated August 1999!

A bit out of date methinks.

eggcup · 25 Jul 2006 at 21:00

I just got my vx2025wm yesterday (this week only price) and it really good, better than my old vx912b and all the games i have played so far (FEAR, Hitman Bloodmoney, Prey) are all widescreen compatible so im really happy. Films look great and Games look great!

Highly Recommend!!

(why do you need to scale oblivion?? i thought it worked in widescreen?)

MacX · 25 Jul 2006 at 21:09

eggcup said:
Highly Recommend!!

(why do you need to scale oblivion?? i thought it worked in widescreen?)

Partly to prove the point, and secondly I started playing in 4:3 on a 4:3 monitor and wasn't willing to take the performance hit those extra inches caused. I like Oblivion pretty, and I'll have to wait for a small graphics update before I go WS on that particular game. HL2 ep 1 on the other hand, AA, Aniso and HDR in all it's WS glory.

James81 · 26 Jul 2006 at 16:18

I just took delivery of another DELL 2007WFP and it says made in Czech Reepublic and manufactured May 2006.

I've been doing tests and I have 1 pixel that is present during white, green, red, blue and yellow tests when I look at it so I'm going to return it and try monitor number 3.

daveyg · 26 Jul 2006 at 17:56

Having looked closely at both Monitors I chose the Dell. It has better features (although can't comment on video).

The ergonoics are better, it is HD ready and it will scale without th use of Nvidia fixed aspect/ centre aspect timing.

Like someone else said, its splitting hairs, but I'd choose the Dell.

As for reliability, someone will always get a duff and moan about it on forums. Go with your own experience, not that of others - unless everyone is saying they are poor.