Dell is not a brand you will find many Mac users buying. In fact, I try to avoid Dell at all costs, even walking on the other side of the walkway when passing a Dell store at the mall. However, when it comes to my hard-earned green and keeping a budget, I start to view things in a new light. Yes, I bought a Dell monitor for my Power Mac G5, and aside from that ugly Dell logo on the front, I love it. I needed a widescreen monitor to go with my new setup for video editing, Photoshop, word processing, and web browsing-all things it really helps to have a widescreen monitor format. So naturally, I looked towards Apple's 20-inch Cinema Display. But at a price tag of $800, I decided to check out my other options.
A quick Google search revealed Dell's 20-inch widescreen 2005FPW. As it turns out, these two displays use exactly the same Phillips-branded LCD panel. The only difference is the backlight module and the casing. Oh yeah, and the Dell's selling price was $480. It was a difficult decision, giving up that beautiful, aluminum-enclosed, Apple-logoed display, but I did it. This decision saved me $350, and also gained me a few features.
The Dell display has four total inputs-a DVI, VGA, S-video, and composite video. That means that you can switch between any of these four sources with the push of a button on the front of the monitor. Additionally, the Dell can move in ways the Apple 20-inch only dreams of-up, down, left, right, back and forth, side to side. The Dell has performed great for me over the past six months I've had it. It gives great color accuracy along with my Gretag-Macbeth display calibrator, which is much needed for my digital video and photography work. If your interested in a new widescreen monitor, check out Dell.com. When you're at the checkout page, it will have a spot to enter a Dell coupon code. A quick Googling of “dell coupon codes” returns plenty of money-saving numbers. Entering a coupon code saved me $70 off the price of my monitor. Now if only I could get past that ugly little Dell symbol staring me in the face…
