Dell 19" 1905 LCD Monitor $299

[drandy1]

I am very much in two minds on this monitor. I currently have a large 19" CRT Samsung monitor (5 years old but calibrated regularly). I have read some very positive reviews on this LCD monitor but not necessarily aimed at Photoshop applications. If I go with this monitor I will have to install a new AGP graphics cards for the DVI option as well. My questions:

Is anyone using this monitor for Photoshop? Thoughts, comments?
If so, what graphics card are you using? Digital or analog hook-up?
Are there better 19" LCD monitors out there at reasonable cost (<$500)

Any prompt answers will be appreciated as the Dell offer finishes at midnight tonight.

Many thanks,

[Hellashot]

19" LCD monitors regularly go for between $500 and $700. So $300 is a steal, but I cannot speak for quality of any Dell products. You should know that Dell doesn't manufactuer printers or monitors, they just have their name slapped on someone else's monitor.

[thomasrhee]

I believe the 1905 is a Philips branded monitor, which IMO is a good thing. At $299, I'd jump on deal.

[lost]

Wow, I just swapped out my moniter at work from a Dell 1901 to a 1905 and there is a huge difference. The 1905 is much more saturated and generally better looking.

[md_129]

I am very much in two minds on this monitor. I currently have a large 19" CRT Samsung monitor (5 years old but calibrated regularly). I have read some very positive reviews on this LCD monitor but not necessarily aimed at Photoshop applications. If I go with this monitor I will have to install a new AGP graphics cards for the DVI option as well. My questions:

Is anyone using this monitor for Photoshop? Thoughts, comments?
If so, what graphics card are you using? Digital or analog hook-up?
Are there better 19" LCD monitors out there at reasonable cost (<$500)

Any prompt answers will be appreciated as the Dell offer finishes at midnight tonight.

Many thanks,

I use this monitor setup with an Radeon X300 graphics card on an daily basis with Photoshop CS2. It is an excellent combo for the price.

You must make sure you have some type of calibration software like MonacoEZcolor, to change the default monitor settings though. For some reason dell does not let you change it manually.

[Jack W.]

Last month I bought 2 new Dell XPS400 systems, one for me and one for my wife.
I got hers with the 1905FP. She's running on analog at 1024x768 and it looks great. Photoshop and all other programs also look great.
Yesterday I added a second one for her.
I agree, $299 is a steal.
Jack

[DavidW]

The Dell 1905FP, like the 17xxFP series, are 1280 x 1024 monitors, and should be run as such. Ideally, drive them with DVI. LCD monitors have a set number of pixels, and the monitor has to interpolate if you run it at anything other than the native resolution.

If you find things are too small on screen in 1280 x 1024, bump up the screen DPI in the operating system to make things larger. In Windows, go into the Settings tab of the Display control panel, and press Advanced... - the setting you're after is on the General tab. I have successfully run a 1703FP (same resolution as a 1905FP, but smaller pixels) at the normal 96dpi - as I now do with a 2005FPW. However, I have good eyesight.


Try it - I think you'll find the display superior at the native resolution, with a higher DPI value if things are too small at the default.



David