Date: July 6, 2006 - Author: Greg King - Editor: Rob Williams
A few weeks ago we took the 1907FB for a spin, and now it's the E196FPs turn. It features a bright 19" viewing area and supports up to 1280*1024 at 75Hz. Let's see how it performs..
It's time here at the Techgage labs to take a look at another LCD monitor. If you'll remember, we took a look at the Dell 1907fp last week and now it's time to take a look at that same monitor's 'budget' sibling, the Dell e196fp.
As I have stated before, the monitor is often overlooked when most people are building a new PC. Judging by most people who ask me to price a PC build for them, they are most concerned with the processor and the video card(s). This is a safe assumption across the board and I fall into this group as well. I have always opted to save a few pennies on the monitor and get a better CPU or video card. One way to cut corners is to get a CRT monitor. You all know what these beasts are. We have been using them for a very long time and only recently have we had alternate options in LCD screens.
It is true that a LCD's equivalent in a CRT costs a bit more. You can pick up a nice 19' CRT monitor now for around 200 dollars. Should you want a nice 19' LCD however, you are going to have to pay a bit more. Yes there are exceptions to the rule and yes you will find CRT that out price LCD's but in the end, it comes down to this. You get what you pay for. CRT's have long been preferred over LCD's by some because of the crisp picture that they provide and the gaming properties of them.
For one, there is no 'ghosting' that takes place and this is desired by gamers. Ghosting is basically when a pixel cannot change, or turn off or on, fast enough to keep up with the image being displayed on the monitor. For this reason, CRT's have been the kings of gamer's monitors for quite some time. As time has gone on though, the response time of LCD's has dropped to an acceptable level and gamers have adopted LCD screens in droves.
The 196fp is Dell's budget offering to those who want a 19' LCD screen, but do not need any extra's such as DVI output and USB ports galore. What the 196fp does offer is a native resolution of 1280x1024 @ 75 Hz. While this is not near what a 19' CRT can offer in resolution, this is good and I intend to set out to determine just how good, or bad, this monitor is.
To start out, let's take a look at the 196fp.
As you can see, the front of the monitor is simple but elegant. There is nothing there that does not need to be and everything that needs to be. This will be proven true or false later in the review.
At the lower right hand of the monitor are the buttons that will allow you to control the display of the 196fp. From left to right, the buttons are: menu, contrast/brightness, auto adjust and finally the power button. The contrast/brightness and auto adjust buttons will also allow you to navigate through the menu when it is brought up.
In the center of the bottom of the front side of the 196fp, you also have a small and simple Dell logo.
Moving to the back of the monitor, we see the inset area where you will connect the stand to the back of the 196fp. We also see the connectors and the slots intended to help heat move away from the monitor to keep it at an operational temperature.
Here we see the back of the monitor in all its glory.
As stated earlier, there is an inset on the back of the monitor that is there to allow you to connect the stand to the monitor.
If you noticed, there is a button on the bottom of the stand mount. This allows you to remove the stand once it's installed. All you do is push it in and remove the stand; it's as simple as that.
Moving on to the connectors, we see that there is only one analog out connector and one power connector. In an earlier review, I looked at the 1907fp by Dell and it provided you with a DVI out as well as an analog out. This was nice because one could hook the monitor up to two separate video sources if they so desired and change between those same two video sources with a touch of a button. As stated earlier in the review, this is a 'budget' display from Dell and therefore does not have all those bells and whistles that the 1907 does.
We can see a better example of the connectors in the following pictures.
The final picture is that of the vent slots on the back of the monitor. These allow heat that is generated by the monitor to escape out and away of the monitor. This helps in keeping the monitor within an acceptable thermal range.
Moving away from the monitor itself, I want to take a look at the stand that the 196fp sits on.
The stand is a robust little piece of hardware comprised of metal and plastic. Starting with the base of the stand, we see that the stand has a rather large footprint and has rubber pads on the bottom for added stability and to insure that the stand does not slide around on your desk, scratching it up.
Well, that was a rather suggestive picture, was it not?
From there we move to the area of the stand that connects directly to the back of the 196fp. On the top of this piece, there are 2 flat metal prongs that stick out of the top. These are positioned into place and then the bottom of the plate locks into the bottom of the inset on the back of the monitor itself. As mentioned earlier, the stand can be removed by pressing the small black button on the back of the monitor, releasing the bottom of the mounting bracket and then rotating the stand upward to pull out the two metal tabs from the back of monitor.
On the next of the stand, there is an open hole, allowing you to route your cables through, keeping your monitor cables together and keeping your desk somewhat less cluttered. I for one, appreciate this.
There is also a swivel at the top of the neck of the stand, allowing one to rotate the 196fp vertically up and down. This is nice to use to position the 196fp at an angle that is comfortable for you to view.
Resolution and Picture Quality:
Before we get to deep into the review, I want to share with you the specs of the 196fp, provided by Dell themselves.
As the specs share, the 196fp has a native resolution of 1280x1024. This is the sweet spot of the monitor where the picture will look its best but the 196fp is not limited to just this one resolution. You can select resolution under 1280x1024 but for me, I personally prefer 1280x1024. A nice feature of this monitor it the auto adjust option. With just a push of a button, the screen will stretch out vertically and horizontally to fill the screen completely. No more scroll wheels or manual adjustments for me please.
Below is a screen shot of the 196fp's on screen menu. From this menu, you can adjust a number of things including positioning, image settings, cooler settings, OCD settings and language. There is also an option to return all settings to the factory stock settings. This might be used if you get frustrated adjusting your screen and just mess everything up. While very few people will have this problem, the option is there and that is good.
Picture quality is good as well. I am happy overall with the bright colors, as well as the crisp text. Pictures do not do this justice but I will attempt to show you how the picture looks.
I have mentioned earlier in the review that we took a look at the Dell 1907fp last week and had a lot of nice things to say about it. It is good in a sense that we have the ability to compare these two monitors side by side and see just how the 196fp performs when stacked up next to its superior brother, the 1907fp.
From an appearance standpoint, the 196fp is just as good as its brother, the 1907fp. The picture quality is just as good which is good as the 1907fp is a great monitor to begin with.
Some of those cons were just me nitpicking. The only major gripe I have with this monitor is the lack of DVI output. This is not a huge deal as I cannot tell much of a difference at all, if any, between the DVI 1907fp and the Analog e196fp. All of the other complaints that I have with this monitor can be corrected with a different stand. While these extra features that another stand might create, not having them with the 196fp helps to keep the price down, making the 196fp that much more affordable.
I would not have any reservations at all in recommending the 196fp to anyone looking for a good, solid LCD display but that does not need the all the extra bells and whistles of a monitor like the 1907fp. In keeping in perspective, I gave the 1907fp 9 out of 10 with my editor's choice, I have to give this screen an 8. I would like to give it a 7.5 but with the picture quality being as good as it is and the response time being 8ms, I feel that 8 out of 10 is a lot more fair of a score than a 7.
This is a good monitor that you can order direct from Dell and it comes with a 3 year warranty to boot. You can even do what I have done and pick up a couple for multi-display gaming goodness. Whatever you do though, keep this monitor in mind if you are in the market for a decent 19' LCD screen.
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