While widescreen displays are very common for notebook computer systems, they have not caught on very quickly with desktop displays. Those displays that do offer the wide aspect ratio typically are reserved for large screen displays intended for desktop video production work. This changed with the release the more reasonably priced 20.1” LCD panel from Philips that was first used in the Apple Cinema display. Now that same panel is being offered in the Dell 2005FPW 20.1” LCD monitor.
Much comparison will be made between the Apple Cinema 20” monitor and the Dell 2005FPW because they use the same basic panel but Dell has included a number of features that make it more appealing to the PC user than the Apple display. Most notable of these is the inclusion of an analog VGA connector on the Dell 2005FPW that allows it to be used with older video cards in addition to those that support the DVI standard.
The Dell 2005FPW has a native resolution of 1680 by 1050 that gives it a slightly unusual 16:10 aspect ratio rather than the more typical 16:9 used for high definition TV. This isn't really a problem at all with the panel but the odd resolution can make support for some things like PC games somewhat difficult. Most PC games do not have support written into them for widescreen displays so it is necessary to use work arounds to make them use the full resolution.
