Used 2005FPW vs new anything?

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playrh8r

Gawd
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Aug 18, 2004
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I'm in the market for a sub $300 monitor to be used for gaming and web surfing. I'm frustrated in the lower quality panels dell is offering in the ultrasharp seriers (TN Panels) and have been looking around for alternatives.

I found a 2005FPW on craigslist locally for $275. The buyer claims there are no issues, no dead pixels etc.

My question is do you think its worth paying $275 for a 3 year old S-IPS monitor, or should I play it safe and get a LG TN, or even a Dell Ultrasharp TN , both with strong warranties.

Jeff
 
My experience with 2005FPWs (2) has been really positive; they're good panels. HOWEVER, one of the two I had, after two years and ten months (of the 3-year warranty), starting exhibiting some heavy blotching along the top and bottom. Dell support immediately knew what I was talking about when I described the spots-- they're not pixels that burn out or something, they look like dirt on the screen. They said it was panel delamination caused by the heat the panel generates. I didn't have anything on top of the screen or similar, but the computer room isn't the coolest room in the house either. I would check the panel carefully while it is turned on. Delamination spots are easiest to see on a uniform light gray (not white or black) background. Look for areas of uneven color before you purchase.

If the panel looks good, the backlight likely has several years of life left at a minimum. It's rated for several hundred thousand hours.

That said, have you considered a 2007FPW? Mine still has an S-IPS (not TN) panel and I just got it in May.

If you get either one, make sure to color calibrate it. All three Dell panels I've had have had terribly bad default configs.
 
Hmm your story worries me about the monitor because he told me it was 3 years old.

What about a sp2008wfp or a 2208wfp? I realize these are TN panels but are they any good? Dell offeres an awesome 3 year advanced exchange policy for dead pixels.

Jeff
 
I currently own and posting from a 2005FPW and bought it three years ago. Still no dead pixels, no blotching, no nothing. Perfect shape. This monitor will become a second monitor for dual screen in the next few months because I love it so much. :)

$300 is a bit much in my opinion. I got mine for around $500 brand new when Dell was having a fire sale.
 
I remember I got mine 3 years ago on one of those sales for $471 shipped. I didn't know anything about the different panels back then and I happened to have bought the right one :-D. I love mine.. it has absolutely no problems.
 
Bought mine in December 2005 and it's still going pretty strong.

I recently hooked it up to my Xbox 360 for $h1tz and giggles through HDMI > DVI and it worked perfectly, which surprised me. It downscaled 1920x1080 resolution to 1680x1050 BETTER than any 20", 22" or most 24" do these days. It won't work with PS3 or any other hardcore HDCP device, but after two years and 5 months of pretty hardcore use it has been great.

No dead pixels or other issues. The only issue I ever had was after hours straight of playing Oblivion, the HUD would burn in, but it went away after a few hours of normal usage.

Regards,

10e
 
I just bought a used 2007WFP for $250. Personally, I find TN panels very annoying. I like the 2007WFP way better than the 1908WFP it replaced.
 
I have one of the very first generation 2005FPW monitors (Mfg. October 2004) and I have had zero problems with it. In fact, I generally consider it the nicest piece of computer equipment I've ever bought.

I'm learning a lot about this LCD technology from [H]ard|Forum over the last few days. Suffice to say, I was shocked to learn that the 2005FPW uses S-IPS technology rather than TN. Now I'm totally skeptical about the V2400W I just ordered. However, I'll fully utilize BenQ's 30-day return policy if I'm not happy.
 
Well the time has come for me to upgrade to a 24" monitor. I loved my 2005FPW, it's never done me wrong over the 3 years that I've had it. But, like I said it's time for a 24".

Obviously, I'm thinking of the new BenQ v2400w. Will I be surely disappointed by the image quality of the TN panel, or is this newer tech TN panel image quality nearing that of my older S-IPS panel?

Will I be less shell shocked if I went for the 2408WFP dell? I might be able to snag a great deal on one of them, through a corporate hook up.
 
Urraca said:
Well the time has come for me to upgrade to a 24" monitor. I loved my 2005FPW, it's never done me wrong over the 3 years that I've had it. But, like I said it's time for a 24".
Click to expand...

Funny, we're in the exact same camp. I will let you know how the V2400W works out. I should have it by Friday.
 
Perini said:
If it weren't for input lag on the 2408, it'd be a great monitor.

Alas...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnApFzmd9NY
Click to expand...


I keep hearing about the input lag issue, watching your video brought me to a second video of CoD4 action on the Dell, and it doesn't seem like there is much of a difference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eQU7u1geKA&NR=1

Having said that, my main concern isn't gaming anymore, if it was, I'd be getting a TN panel. Minimal 'lag' doesn't seem like a concern to me, and if I do game, it's just WoW and only Noobs use their mouse ;)
 
well wsad for movement, and keyboard for action binds, right click on mouse for camera movement/strafing/mouse look etc.
 
playrh8r said:
My question is do you think its worth paying $275 for a 3 year old S-IPS monitor, or should I play it safe and get a LG TN, or even a Dell Ultrasharp TN , both with strong warranties.

Jeff
Click to expand...
I made that choice 6 months ago - new monitors are crap. Why would you pay more for a 256k color monitor? Buying a used LCD also has the advantage of being able to get a monitor without dead pixels. With a new monitor, I imagine you have a 1/3 chance of getting something without a permanent defect. Forget that!

The low response times of TN are also falsified - the agreed upon standard is a joke! Manufacturers take the lowest response time across the entire color spectrum and report this. S-IPS panels typically offer linear response times across the spectrum, while TN panels typically have one color that excels. In reality their average response times are much higher.
 
Urraca said:
well wsad for movement, and keyboard for action binds, right click on mouse for camera movement/strafing/mouse look etc.
Click to expand...

Ahh, I get ya. I thought for some reason that you play completely without the mouse.

Jeff
 
It's not a bad idea to buy an older monitor. However, you shouldn't pay anywhere over $200 for it. The going rate for 2007wfp is $200. Therefore, 2005wfp should be slightly less.
 
Ok one more ripple to this. I found an Apple Cinema display 20", newest version for $300. How is this display for gaming?

Jeff
 
Are there any issues with using the Apple Display on a Vista only computer? I know some of the older cinema displays did not have hardware controls, making them useless on windows boxes.

Can I get all the functionality of this monitor with Vista?

Jeff
 
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