Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW Widescreen Display

It’s as though someone took a rolling pin to our beloved Dell 2001FP 20-inch LCD and extended its proportions. The 2405FPW sports similar styling to its 4:3 kin, the same wide range of ergonomic adjustability, and a bounty of extras, including four USB 2.0 ports and a built-in 9-in-1 media reader.

OSD controls are up front and intuitive, and while some options are disabled with the digital interface, color temperature presets and RGB sliders are fully functional. We like that.

Our infatuation was somewhat tempered when evaluating the 2405FPW’s black level. LCDs are inherently challenged in this respect because of their ever-present backlight, but even with the brightness turned all the way down, the 2405FPW’s black wasn’t quite as dark or deep as the 243T’s. Fortunately, the drop in brightness didn’t diminish the distinction between black and dark grays.

In fact, the 2405FPW performed quite well in all of DisplayMate’s gray-scale scripts, nearly matching the 243T’s superb performance. The 2405FPW’s only shortcoming was in the 256-step scales, where subtle signs of compression and expansion were evident at various steps. But unless you’re doing exacting color matching, you probably won’t notice this in real-world use—we certainly didn’t when viewing digital images, DVDs, and games. All of the above looked gorgeous on the 2405FPW’s ultra-expansive screen.

Indeed, despite the 2405FPW’s minor foibles, we’re declaring it the winner in this contest. The 2405FPW might not have as strong a black level or as exact a gray-scale as Samsung’s 243T, but it tops the latter with more image-adjustment options, a slew of inputs, and a picture-in-picture feature—all at an unbelievable price.
--Katherine Stevenson

+ CINEMATIC: A big, beautiful screen, extra features, and a killer price make this one hell of a fine widescreen.
- PANCREATIC: Black level lacks depth.

Month Reviewed: September 2005
Verdict: 9
URL: www.dell.com

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