Dell Ships UltraSharp 2005FPW Widescreen 20″ LCD Display

Announced and shipping today, the new UltraSharp 2005FPW display is Dell’s first entry into large primary-use LCDs.

The new UltraSharp 2005FPW is a departure from previous Dell widescreen LCDs, which were generally integrated TV models, and going directly after the competition like Apple’s 20″ Cinema Display panel. Of course, at a pricepoint of $799, the Dell 2005FPW could take a chunk out of Apple’s market –since the newest version of the Apple 20″ display prices out at $1299. The difference between the displays is small, and likely has more to do with panel technologies and pricing drops than anything else. We’ve previously , and we love it, but we’re open to seeing some real price-competition! If you want one right now, just click through our Dell Home link (helps out CHAITGEAR!), and buy one alone or bundled with a new PC.

Like the Apple Cinema Display, the new Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW has a nice 1680x1050 resolution and average 16ms refresh (12ms gray-to-gray), which is perfect for both gaming and business applications – not to mention a ton of open web browser windows! Also, with a 16:10 aspect ratio, the 2005FPW is great for watching DVDs or other video content in native widescreen (well, stretched slightly).

And that’s where the similarities end. The Apple has 2 USB2.0 ports, 2 FireWire 400 ports – the Dell has 4 USB2.0 ports, which is actually better for most consumers. The Apple 20″ Cinema Display has a .258 pixel pitch, 170 degree view angle, 250 nits brightness, and 400:1 contrast ratio. The Dell on the other hand is .255 pixel pitch, 176 degree view angle, 300 nits brightness, 600:1 contrast. Both are rated at 16ms, 1680x1050. While the actual visual quality of the Dell isn’t yet known, from history their panels are generally good corner to corner, decent quality. And with both brightness and contrast above the Apple, one would think the resulting picture quality should be as good, if not better in many situations.

The 2005FPW comes with both analog (VGA) and digital (DVI) inputs, as well as video inputs for S-video and composite connections. And with both Picture-in-Picture and picture-by-picture support, you can work and watch at the same time. The simliar Apple display just offers DVI input. If you’re paying attention, by now you should be starting to see why this is an incredible deal.

Like other Dell UltraSharp displays, the 2005FPW also supports rotating into a portrait display position, perfect for showing off pictures or otherwise working with tall documents – in combination with the high contrast and decent brightness, this could be great for graphic artists and photographers. Especially if you’re on a budget and looking for a deal (and a ).

If you have money, and want even more pixels, I can also recommend the HP L2335 23″ LCD, which can be found for $1500-1700 and boasts 1900x1200 resolution, plus component inputs in addition to composite, VGA and DVI–we’ll hopefully have a review of in the weeks ahead. It’s an awesome display for artists and photographers, and with component inputs it doubles as an HD set.

Anyway, read on for the full press release on the Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW – in case I missed any details.