10 Responses to “DELL UltraSharp 2007WFP 20.1-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand”

1. Martina Sanchez
   July 1st, 2010 @ 2:12 am

   Review by Martina Sanchez for DELL UltraSharp 2007WFP 20.1-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
   Rating:
   This monitor is one of the best models you can buy for the money! The S-IPS monitors are getting rare these days and are more and more replaced by the cheaper to manufacture TN-Panels. S-IPS panel monitors are known to have excellent viewing angles and color reproduction. They are most suitable for photo/ video editing.

   The earlier models (Rev. 02) of the 2007wfp monitors had some problems with banding issues. These issues seem to be mostly fixed in the Rev. 03 models. There have been 2 different panels used in this monitor. S-PVA and S-IPS. The S-PVA panels are also very good, but have slightly different specs.
   
   To find out what panel your 2007wfp has, you can go into the monitor setup menu:

   1- Turn off your screen
   
   2- Press simultaneously the ‘Menu’ and ‘+’ button of the screen.
   
   3- While holding the 2 buttons, press now the ‘Power’ button.
   
   4- Once the screen in ON, unpress the 3 buttons.
   
   5- Just press ‘-’ button.

   You can run a search on the panel code that is listed in the menu and find out what you received!
   
   Best of luck!

2. Sara Heinrichs
   July 1st, 2010 @ 2:37 am

   Review by Sara Heinrichs for DELL UltraSharp 2007WFP 20.1-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
   Rating:
   After reading that these monitors were made by the same manufacturer that makes the Apple Cinema displays, I purchased this monitor to replace my dying CRT. While watching DVDs nice and widescreen was a pleasure, I quickly noticed some problems that led me to return the monitor and go back to the drawing board.

   The four corners of the monitor had bright spots like a light leak at each corner, and the contrast adjustments were insufficient to calibrate the monitor for photo editing, with shadows that were too dark. Reducing contrast so reduced the overall brightness that everything took on a grey muddy feel. After fiddling with it for a week, I returned the monitor and am back on the hunt.

   Loved the look, the swivel screen, controls were easy to figure out, screen was nice and sharp and color was tasty, but this is not a budget alternative to a higher end display for anyone interested it using it for photo editing.

3. D. ross
   July 1st, 2010 @ 3:06 am

   Review by D. ross for DELL UltraSharp 2007WFP 20.1-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
   Rating:
   I wanted a display for my screen writing so I could see three pages on one screen, plus, plugged into my Powerbook, I can have the “index card” view on that screen. It’s an amazing set up.

   I wasn’t happy with the way the color or fonts were until i brought the mini DVI to DVI connector…. WOW!! SOOO much better. Throw out that analog connector you get with the PB!!

   This LCD display uses the same panel as the Apple Cinema display but uses a different lamp, so you are basically getting the same screen for half the price…. the only draw back is the bezel doesn’t match the color my AI Book(!) but who cares!!!

4. Mike
   July 1st, 2010 @ 3:19 am

   Review by Mike for DELL UltraSharp 2007WFP 20.1-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
   Rating:
   I just purchased this monitor (got it 10 Mar 08) from the Dell website …so if you’re in the market that is the place to go. I did a lot of research, review and fact-finding and I assessed my needs (I’m not a “gamer” and this is definitly not the screen to get for hardcore gaming) before I chose the Dell. My monitor arrived safe and sound, set-up was easy and the screen has no aberrations that I can see or find (dead pixels, back light leakage, etc).

   The 2007WFP uses the S-IPS style of LCD …some of the older 2007WFP’s used either the S-IPS or S-PVA screen but the current lot are all S-IPS. The LCD screens are supposedly made by LG or Samsung and the screen is the same as the highly touted Apple Cinema series. If you do an online search for these types of display technologies, S-IPS and S-PVA, you will find them rated much better than the more prevalent and less expensive TN style of LCD. And finding an LCD with S-IPS or S-PVA technology is becoming more difficult especially at the Dell’s price point. The 2007FPW monitor is replacing my aging Samsung Sync-Master 17 inch CRT. The image is beautiful and for basic PC operations (non-photographic or movie) this monitor is much better than my CRT …the extra “real estate” on the 20 inch screen is great.

   I am an amateur photographer and one of the reasons I bought this monitor was to be able to use it in photo editing with Photoshop. This monitor came up many times in online recommendations as a best “bang of the buck” LCD monitor for digital photography work. Is it the best? No, but then the best will run you well over a grand or two. To get the best image on any of these LCD screens, connect them using the highest quality signal available which for the 2007 is via a DVI cable (included in the box). If your video card doesn’t have a DVI output, upgrade your card …don’t use the VGA connection or you’ll be selling yourself short and probably won’t be happy with what you see. Also, make sure your video card has the latest factory drivers. Another factor in maximizing your image, especially for photo work, is to use a color calibration tool (Spyder, etc).

   Equally as handsome as the image is the overall physical appearance of the monitor; is it well built and has an incredibly rugged and versatile stand. The screen is anti-glare, having a matte finish to as opposed to some LCD screens that are glossy (such as the HP line); this will cut down reflected glare from desk lamps, etc.

   Overall I am very satisfied with my purchase. Time will tell as to how my satisfaction continues but right now this Dell 2007FPW monitor is a winner.

5. Andrew
   July 1st, 2010 @ 3:56 am

   Review by Andrew for DELL UltraSharp 2007WFP 20.1-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
   Rating:
   This monitor was the last of its kind. After this, Dell monitors (all of them) took a downturn. People no longer care about picture quality or color reproduction as long as their monitor is bigger than the guy’s (or gal’s) next to them. They are all crappy TN panels now with great response times, but if you move your head 1/4″ the colors change drastically because the viewing angles are horrible and the color sucks to boot.

   2007wfp Pros:
   
   1. This monitor has extremely fast response times. I use it for gaming and there’s no ghosting whatsoever.
   
   2. The color is beautiful. With most LCDs, you have to tweak with the color a bunch to even get a somewhat decent picture. This monitor had no problems like this…I plugged it in and the color was great. I’m a web designer and one of my many criteria for a monitor was good color. This monitor definitely passed the test.
   
   3. The size is great. With most 22-24″ monitors, they take the same panel and stretch it out a few inches. The result? Take a small picture and blow it up to 1 1/3 its original size. It looks like junk. The 20″ screen on this monitor has a perfect picture because Dell didn’t try to fool anyone by making the screen bigger.

   cons:
   
   1. In general (not with my model) there are some problems with back lights bleeding through more in certain areas than others.
   
   2. Banding. With fine gradients, looking closely enough will reveal that the gradient is not smooth, but has bands running through it. This is ignorable.
   
   3. By default, the monitor has an “auto color adjust” thing. It changes your colors and brightness and just every time the screen changes significantly. This is extremely obnoxious, but can be turned off through the menu.

   All in all, the best < 30" LCD money can no longer buy (except on ebay). If you have a chance to get one and don't easily get penis envy about monitor size, get it.
   

6. Tim E Robertson
   July 1st, 2010 @ 4:52 am

   Review by Tim E Robertson for DELL UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1-inch Wide Aspect Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
   Rating:
   
   What’s the best thing about going into an Apple store? The hordes of black-shirted dudes with gleaming iPods round their necks? The Genius Bar answering any and every question that might come up in the Apple universe? Well, in my book it’s the rows of Macs with those killer large TFT screens. Even if a lowly Mac Mini is out on display, it will be connected to a gleaming Apple Cinema Display, and even the iMac G5s seem to favour the 20″ models. As for the Power Macs, a pair of 24″ or 30″ screens seems to be the only way to truly show off Final Cut Pro or Logic.

   Cinema Displays are killer cool, with their gleaming aluminium cases and fabulous industrial design. They are priced as a premium product, and they look like they are worth every penny but that doesn’t make it any easier to afford one. I’d always thought that I would never be able to aspire to such a fine window to OS X. However, I have recently discovered that this is not the case. This technology is now available to us mere mortals, for little more than half the price that Apple charges.

   Come Over to the Dark Side
   
   You see, there is only one supplier of 20″ 1680×1050 resolution panels that manufactures in volume – LG.Philips. Accordingly, Dell’s 20″ 2005FPW panel uses exactly the same LCD panel as Apple’s 20″ Cinema Display. Dell prices for monitors start out somewhat less expensive than Apple, but are frequently discounted by massive percentages, something Apple is not known for.

   I needed to replace the 17″ Acer panel I was using on my Power Mac G5. It showed poor colour registration and some fuzziness, principally because it only had a captive analogue connector, and no DVI input. It was playing havoc with my digital photography work, and was quite uncomfortable to use for long periods. I decided to get a DVI display, and when I got wind that Dell had a sale on their widescreen displays, I got my credit card revved. Three days later, a courier delivered my new screen.

   Now, with Dell you get good value, a three-year warranty and industrial design that is firmly placed in the mid-nineties. The 2005FPW is dressed in a plastic shell in standard Dell dark grey, with the occasional silver highlight. However, build quality is very good, and the monitor ships with a robust grey and silver stand with cable management and height adjustment. The stand also allows the display to be rotated through ninety degrees to display a portrait image, though I have not tried this myself as I do not have enough vertical room on my desk. I believe this functionality will work without additional software on any Mac that is running OS X 10.4 Tiger and has an ATI graphics card.

   As well as this feature, the monitor is stuffed with other goodies as well. There are four inputs (DVI, VGA, RGB and Composite) as well as a plethora of display modes, including a very funky picture-in-picture mode, which allows TV monitoring or multiple PCs to be used in you have them cabled correctly. The monitor has four USB ports, and acts as a USB hub – two are on the back and two are on the side. Dell also throws in power, DVI and VGA cables in the box but as you might expect on a higher-end product, none of the cables are captive to the monitor.

   The only thing that is missing are speakers. I personally see this as no great loss, as monitor speakers are rarely of good quality. Dell will send a media bar with speakers as an add on to the monitor if required,

   Yada, Yada, Yada – What Does It Look Like?
   
   In a word & superb! Connected via DVI, a bright and clear image of my Tiger desktop is displayed, and running through the calibration screens shows that no changes are necessary. Backlighting is strong and even across the display, and contrast looks fine. DVD and video playback shows little smearing to my jaded eyes, though I have to admit I am not a big movie watcher while I sit in front of my computer. Of course, DVDs play back in the 16:9 aspect ratio they were designed for, and the excellent contrast ratio means that blacks look black and a ‘washed-out’ image is not seen.

   I do play the occasional game, though, so I fired up Halo to see how the Dell performed. After adjusting the monitor to display the image in the centre of the screen rather than stretching it to fill the display, I was pleased to see that here too the image was bright and showed little ghosting.

   What I was really pleased with was the way this display affects my workflow. In Photoshop, you can push the took palettes to the edge of the screen while working on a large representation of your image, browsing images is a much nicer experience as well, and iPhoto really works best on a widescreen display. The Finder takes on a new ease of use as it is easier to drag and drop between two windows that you can actually see, and applications like Mail, iTunes or NetNewsWire really benefit from the extra real estate.

   The Bottom Line
   
   Of course, it makes sense that the extra screen real estate that a 1680×1050 display gives you will improve your computing experience, and it s a no-brainer if the price is right. Here in the UK, you can pick up a decent, brand name 17″ 1280×1024 4:3 ratio panel for around £170, or US$300. A 19″ 4:3 panel will give you the same resolution for around £240, or US$425. This panel lists with Dell at £507 (US$900), which is £40 less than the price for a 20″ Apple Cinema Display. However, I got it from Dell at £325 (US$575), substantially less than the Apple product. I am lead to believe from some of the posts I see online that in the US, rebates can bring the price below the $400 mark!

   I can remember just a few years ago that 17″ CRTs or 15″ TFT flat panels were priced at just over £300. The fact that for a little more you can today get such a fantastic display amazes me. As you spend all of your computing time looking at your monitor, and such a device should last longer than your current Macintosh, I feel that these displays represent excellent value for money.

   MyMac Rating:
   
   At this sort of price, I have no hesitation at all at giving the Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW 20″ Widescreen Display a mark of five out five.

   5 out of 5

7. Isaac B. Powell
   July 1st, 2010 @ 5:21 am

   Review by Isaac B. Powell for DELL UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1-inch Wide Aspect Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
   Rating:
   I write this review while using this gorgeous monitor… I am a bit of a hardware snob – I’ve really only been impressed with the flatscreen monitors that Apple has put out. Until i bought this one (it took some impressive online reviews to convince me) – and i am more than really impressed with it!
   
   The colours are so clean and bright – at first it kind of looks surreal, there is almost no loss of colour or brightness at a range of angles (and it is amazingly bright). it raises up and down, swivels 90 degrees (in case you want to view two pages vertically) has a heap of inputs, and is quite attractive also.

   So, for anyone who wants a good widescreen monitor (a really good one!) get this baby! You will not be disappointed at all! And i really do mean that.

8. R. Kelkar
   July 1st, 2010 @ 5:53 am

   Review by R. Kelkar for DELL UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1-inch Wide Aspect Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
   Rating:
   Just bought a brand new one off eBay for about 375 bucks. Lovin it. Im getting rid of my original Dell FP17in. INterestingly, I am running both on a dual monitor card and the differences in clarity owing to the contract ratio are amazing. (I am cheating a bit because the old on is running off analog and this one has the DVI interface.)

   I love the fact that it has a 4 port USB hub on the monitor, as that helps me from having to fumble behind the desktop.
   
   Excellent reproduction of bright and dark colors. Love the fact that it can be rotated, but havent really used the feature much.

   Cons:
   
   - Not really a fault of the monitor, but several applications cant really take advantage of the wide aspect ratio hence its a waste of white space at times.

   Never thought Dell could make a decent cheap monitor to compete with Samsung, but they did it again.

9. Sazar
   July 1st, 2010 @ 6:15 am

   Review by Sazar for DELL UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1-inch Wide Aspect Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
   Rating:
   I bought this monitor a week ago from Amazon when the price was listed @ $549, which is a pretty decent price I think considering everything.

   The monitor I got was a newer revision and had excellent quality. No dead pixels, very limited backlight bleed and excellent packaging. Delivery was prompt.

   The monitor is very easy to “put together” and the stand and the swivel/raise features really add to the overall feel of the system. I moved from a 19″ crt and while it seems to be about the same size, it adds a tremendous amount of desktop viewing space by virtue of being wide. Smaller than I thought it was going to, it is still a big step up for me.

   Color reproduction is excellent and FEAR and Half Life 2 play flawlessly. No ghosting. PBP/PIP features help and I am able to connect my XBOX directly and picture quality is pretty good.

   Complementing my X2 4400+, 2GB Corsair XMS Pro, AIW x800xt card very nicely. The tv output from my AIW is well reproduced and now I can use the widescreen format without stretching issues as were evident on my CRT.

   Highly recommended.

10. Canasta Owen
    July 1st, 2010 @ 7:08 am

    Review by Canasta Owen for DELL UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1-inch Wide Aspect Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
    Rating:
    These Dell monitors are the bargain of the wide screen LCDs available–sort of. While the price can’t be beat, many buyers (myself included) have had issues with backlight bleeding.

    Backlights are what make the picture visible on a LCD. They are positioned behind the screen to provide the illumination, since liquid crystals emit no light in and of themselves. LCDs are not very proficient at blocking the backlights entirely, and so this type of monitor in general is not able to display very deep blacks. Backlight bleeding occurs when the lights shine through or *around* the screen, spilling over onto the display. The result is non-uniform illumination, and sometimes, hot-spots. This is most noticeable during game play in a dark environment or when viewing movies that have dark scenes, especially when the room lights are low. In my case, it is extremely noticeable and bothersome when viewing and editing photos. I tried two of these monitors and sent them both back.

    If you work in a brightly lit office setting and rarely look at content that is mostly shadow (tending toward black), you may never even notice the problem. You might even get a 2005FPW that does not suffer from backlight bleeding, although that would be a stroke of luck. Some estimates say that well over half of these screens have this condition. I found one gentleman who auditioned FOUR of them and did not find a good one.

    As always, your mileage may vary. Caveat Emptor.

    EDIT: The previous reviewer’s comment about contacting tech support (the Service Tag problem) is a valid point. It took me nearly three hours to arrange for a replacement. This process is much more painful than it needs to be.

    EDIT 2: I allowed Dell to send me a third screen and I’ll be keeping it. It also has some bleeding, but I have to look at a black screen in an unlit room to be bothered by it… something I can live with. If all the monitors in this model line were as good as the one I now have, this would easily be at least a 4 star product.

    Speaking of stars, I have to give Dell one for working with me on this, but the initial annoyance over the difficulty in reaching anyone helpful won’t soon be forgotten.

Leave a Reply