I have my own consulting business doing large commercial furniture projects around the country. So, I do alot of CAD work, specifications, PDF creation of all sorts of stuff, blah blah blah. Since I got this laptop last August (ZT3000 ), I've been using it exclusively for all my stuff. I got it with the fastest processor available at the time, biggest HDD, and a gig of RAM (can add another gig), DVD burner, etc - also a 15.4" widescreen, so I'm not roughing it too bad. For me, it's a good balance of portability and power.

One of my customers showed me how to use the laptop monitor and an external monitor simultaneously about 4 months ago. I'm not talking about having the external monitor mirror the laptop display, but extend the desktop to the external monitor so I can have a CAD drawing on the external screen and specs or something else on the laptop display at the same time. So I've been holding out for the big LCD's to come down a little in price and for them to get a decent review. I also wanted a widescreen since I've become accustomed to the format.

So, since these old eyes aren't getting any better, I bit the bullet last week and got a Dell monitor (2405FPW). I have other Dell LCD's and have been happy with them, so a good rating at CNET pushed me over the edge. It arrived today and I've been using it for about 4 hours now. All I can say is WOW! This thing is going to save me some serious time and my eyesight... My desk is a little tight now with this behemoth, but I'll survive. I have a bigger desk in storage that I might need to pull out earlier than later to accommodate this stuff.

Anyone else running dual monitors set up this way?

 

Mike, congrats on the Dell.
That model and the smaller 2005FPW 20.1" LCD both get high scores.

In fact the 2005FPW beat out the Apple display that is the same size, and they use the same TFT panels (LG.Philips LCD LM201W01 panel)
The Dell is cheaper and better!
http://www.anandtech.com/displays/showdoc.aspx?i=2400

 

Wow, cool job. Nice monitor too. That's the one I came this ][ close to getting last week through the techbargains.com coupon code. Dell gave a free top of the line XPS desktop worth about $1,200 with that monitor for $1,150. When I went to order the coupon had expired not by time but by # of uses. Glad you like it, I'm still looking to run a similar setup with my ATI 9800 card and Catalyst Control Center.

 

That's an awesome monitor! I'm definitely going Dell LCD when I replace my trusty old NEC CRT.

 

BTW - I got the monitor on eBay (NIB) for $800 + shipping.

My laptop has an ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 for graphics. It has been pretty flawless. My laptop display is running 1680 x 1050 and the Dell is running 1920 x 1200 at 32 bit.

 

Pssssst...
Look what my youngest son got me through his stepdad.
His stepdad got two of these on a great deal, and gave me one about 2 weeks ago.

Dell 2005 FPW 1

Dell 2005 FPW 2

Dell 2005 FPW 3

All I can say is I am amazed.
There is zero ghosting in UT 2004, one of the fastest first person shooters out there.
Movies, TV, all look great.

I am running my desktop at 1680x1050, its native resolution.
It works perfect with my ATI 9600 Pro and Cat 5.7 drivers.

I can only imagine Mike the bigger difference of yours.

 

Mike, great deal. Was that a Dell offer w/warranty? My plan with the sold-out deal last week was to sell the new computer to defray the monitor costs.

Question: I have a need for hi-res photo editing. Is the LCD detail as good as the best CRT's at the same resolutions?

Corey, very nice setup!

 

Full Dell warranty. I think Dell has a 3 week wait on these currently (if buying direct from Dell).

As far as detail, I'm not a good judge of that. I've had flat panels exclusively since 2002, so its tough for me to guage anymore. I was viewing some 4 MP pics on it and they looked really good FWIW.

 

I have the Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW 24-inch running aside a LCD 19" for a dual setup here at work. Its nice.....

 

i run a viewsonic G220fb for most of my usage (21" CRT with 1920x1440 as the max resolution..i keep it at 1280x960 because i sit pretty far from it.

big monitors rock!

anyways..you know with AutoCAD you can run all of you controls on one monitor and the drawing on the other one?
we used to be able to do that it school sometimes.

 

Been doing that all day.

 

For those of you who haven't seen it: http://www.go-l.com/home/index.htm

These guys have about the coolest multi-panel rigs I've seen. And fashionable too!

 

I will take a tripple shot please.
http://www.go-l.com/monitors/cineram...ures/index.htm