Dell Inspiron 5000 (15" SXGA)

[mark at buttery.org (Mark J. Dulcey)]

On Thu, 17 Aug 2000, Derek Martin wrote:

> On Wed, 16 Aug 2000 SiriPro at aol.com wrote:
> 
> > I saw your post on "BLU Users' Group" saying you have the Inspiron 5000 with 
> > the 15" SXGA LCD screen.  I just purchased the same and I have complained to 
> > Dell that the screen appears soft focus, and I'm having trouble viewing the 
> > screen with equally full saturation of colors and contrast which varies 
> > drastically from top to bottom of the screen.  There is no optimum viewing 
> > angle to see the full screen.  I must tilt it to see the bottom...then the 
> > top fades away.

I have one of these, too, and I like it a lot. It's not perfect, but it's
really good...

The viewing angle is a bit critical. Because the screen is big, and
because this LCD doesn't have as wide a viewing angle as some recent
designs, you do have to get the screen tilt just right for all of the
screen to look good.

The panel also has a bit of trouble producing a really deep black. This is
a limitation of LCD technology. It's not a problem for most data uses, but
it does make DVDs (using another OS that I won't name, since there is no
Linux DVD software yet) look a bit faded. Colors, as with any LCD, won't
look like the colors on a monitor; LCD technology is a different beast.

The display really only looks good at maximum resolution (1400x1050); all
other resolutions are scaled by the Rage Mobility chipset, and don't look
nearly as good. Set your font sizes to match your vision, and you'll be
happy. You do need a patched X server (or perhaps XFree86 4.0, which I
haven't tried yet) to get that resolution.

Mine also has a bit of a problem with the backlight being dim at the two
lower corners. Annoying, but livable. On the other hand, it has NO bad
pixels that I have been able to find - amazing for a screen of this
resolution.


-- 
Mark J. Dulcey               mark at buttery.org
Visit my house's home page:  http://www.buttery.org/
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