Dell Ultrasharp 1707FP 17" LCD

Reviews: Multimedia

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Anthony Fiti
Kurtis
Dell
Jun. 14, 2006

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Testing: Display

I did not use any fancy tools to calibrate the display. I examined and adjusted the brightness, contrast and colors until I found the picture to be correct. It is unlikely that many folks have the necessary equipment to calibrate the monitor, so I forgo the use of such equipment to make my experience similar to yours.

The first DVD I watched was my Superbit copy of The Fifth Element. Superbit DVDs are movies that are encoded at a higher bitrate than traditional DVDs. In order to do this, they usually cut out all the extras on the disc. The goal is to make the DVD transfer as close to the original film as possible. This is one of the standard benchmark discs used by many audio and video professionals to check the quality of displays. The movie contains a wide variety of scenes, from ships in space to very colorful scenes. Typical with most LCDs, the black produced by the monitor is not all that dark. In a well lit room the lack of a deep black was not that much of a big deal. However when I watched the same scenes at night in a dark room the lack of a deep black was very apparent. I would say that this monitor does have an adequate black level compared to other LCDs in the same range. Also, it was about the same black level as my Dell 2005FPW, and the monitors both advertise a contrast ratio of 600:1.

The next DVD I watched was a 22 minute episode of Futurama ("Space Pilot 3000"). I was interested in testing out the color reproduction as well as how large blocks of color would look on the display. The display's performance was excellent. There was not much noise in the color at all when hooked up using VGA, even with my face only a foot away from the display.

Overall, I was very pleased with the color replication and the clarity of the display, even over a VGA connection. I will admit that I tested the VGA connection a little more than the DVI. Due to the position of the display in the marketplace, it's very likely that those who buy this monitor will be hooking it up to an on-board video display solution, which is typically VGA and not DVI.

The only real display artifact I could pick out on the device was some kind of dithering of certain colors on the display. The default gray color that is seen as the background of the taskbar at the bottom of a Windows desktop seems to be a darker shade than I've had on other LCD monitors. It was on both VGA and DVI, however it did seem a little better on DVI (I had set both monitors to clone the desktop and switched back and forth between VGA and DVI). I would attribute this directly to the fact that the Dell Ultrasharp 1707FP uses a 6-bit color LCD panel, as opposed to an 8-bit color LCD panel. The tradeoff is that the display will have a quicker response time, resulting in less ghosting and streaking, neither of which I noticed on the Dell Ultrasharp 1707FP Display.

The biggest flaw I could find is in the viewing angle of the display. It did not take much in terms of being off center for the display's color to start to change. I could walk around the room and watch the screen change colors as my viewing angle became further away from center, both horizontally and vertically. However, when I was sitting directly in front of the monitor the picture looked just fine. The Dell 1707FP's viewing angles were 130° and 140° for the vertical and horizontal, respectively. For comparison's sake, the Dell 2005FPW has viewing angles of 176° both vertically and horizontally.

Testing: Features

The Dell Ultrasharp 1707FP monitor sports an aspect ratio of 4:3 with a resolution of 1280x1024 pixels. It doesn't have a lot of the bells and whistles found on some of the higher-end displays. There is no Video-In to speak of, and you can forget about any Picture in Picture (PiP) features.

The monitor can twist to allow you to run the monitor in portrait mode, assuming your computer's on-board video or your add-on video card will support it (most do, though you will need to go in and manually change the display rotation angle in the driver software). I briefly tested the monitor in portrait mode, and it performed as expected. Portrait mode is useful in particular situations, however since the monitor's aspect ratio is 4:3, portrait vs. landscape mode is not that much of a change, at least when compared to LCDs that have 5:4 or 16:10 aspect ratios.

The integrated four port USB 2.0 hub functioned perfectly. I was able to move files to and from my USB flash drive attached to the side of the monitor just as fast as I was when it was hooked to the back of my computer. I also verified that I was able to hook in my mouse, keyboard and joystick and they all worked properly.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks
Page 3: Taking a Closer Look & Setup
Page 4: Testing: Display & Features
Page 5: Conclusion

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8 User Comments

1 - Posted by jdtart on June 15, 2006 - 12:41 pm

Why would I buy a 17in at $200+ when I could get the 2007FPW 20.1 inch WIDE screen for ~$350??

2 - Posted by Kurtis on June 15, 2006 - 12:50 pm

Because $350 is almost twice as much as $200 perhaps? we recommended it to people on a budget... as in people who don't have more than $200 to spend. :-P

that said, i personally agree with you - i would buy the 20.1" over the 17" any day of the week (and I think Anthony would agree as well). but like i said, some people have a budget, and for them this is a great monitor.

3 - Posted by PennyManDeux on June 15, 2006 - 12:56 pm

I don't know why you would buy it... it doesn't really matter. As for other consumers...

Not everyone wants or needs a 20" monitor. 17" is plenty of space for the average Joe and $200 is a much better price for those who are on a budget.

4 - Posted by Rich on June 15, 2006 - 1:27 pm

I have always been partial to the 1905 FP's myself.

5 - Posted by Anthony on June 16, 2006 - 12:10 pm

Indeed. Its good for those who really cant or dont care to spend more than $200 on a monitor (my parents, for example).

For myself, a power user, I'd definately stay with monitors 19"+.

6 - Posted by Nick on June 16, 2006 - 4:48 pm

Also a good second monitor for dual monitor or another machine.

7 - Posted by latitude on July 6, 2006 - 11:39 pm

can a latitude x1 with a VGA connection support the ultrasharp 2007 fpw 20.1 inch monitor? Please let me know.

8 - Posted by CTM420 on July 7, 2006 - 11:57 pm

You hit the nail on the head. :-)

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