I find Dell's monitors have good price/ performance ratio. They might not be as cheap as the Koreans, but last a while longer and have better support. When will they have 4K monitors...
Agreed, if you are doing professional work and using the monitor day in and day out what's a couple hundred extra dollars? For gaming and casual stuff, then sure....take a chance.
A couple hundred? Probably nothing. But when you can get a roughly equivalent monitor from Korea for ~$320, the extra $380 dollars is enough to buy a second 2560x1440 display and run them in a dual-monitor setup.
I've got one on order and I hope these are going to last as long as the several HP LP2465 monitors that I've been using for most of a decade. The USB hubs in those were incredibly reliably as well, and I'm hoping that the all-USB 3.0 hub in this Dell 27" model is up to the task.
As far as value goes, sure the Korean models might be good for a second or third monitor, but with the Dell you *should* get grade A quality (at least for an enthusiast, if not for the professional), under a fairly full kit of options and functionality.
For something that I'm hoping might last 10 or 15 years, like my other monitors, the probable annual amortized cost difference is fairly negligible.
Too bad they had to drop to 24-bit (from 30-bit) to get the cost under control. Still, if the USB 3.0 hub can handle everything I throw at it and the monitor can still offer up better resolution than my existing 1920 x 1200 monitors, then its a great value.
The Korean monitors (Achieva, Yamasaki... just to name a few) you're talking about use LG eIPS display. Actually those LG displays are rejects or did not meet quality requirements for Dell or HP. You'll probably get at least a couple dead pixels on those Korean monitors. Who knows what other defects they might have. That's why they're much cheaper.
Not accurate it in the slightest. A lot of them actually have perfect pixels without you even buying into the perfect pixel markup scam. When Dell/HP/etc. reject the displays, it doesn't at all mean that they had dead pixels. There might have been other defects with DELL'S PCB's or other internal components, and then these Korean manufacturers buy all those monitors deemed as defective and pull the panels (that are just fine) to put into their own monitors.
ROFL@anyone willing to give their CC# to a Korean company from ebay etc. Even the ones on Amazon have 1 review, a Gmail address for returns/help, no about page, a blank faq page, no phone# to call etc. How dumb can you be to buy one of these? If you don't even own a domain I can't be bothered to even think about your company as relevant to my purchases...LOL.
The only way this would be an option is if I WAS IN KOREA and down the street from your company :)
Dell is the wiser choice here (or any other US based company with an actual website and a phone#).
How do you know the Dell lasts a while longer? Like we know everything about the Korean monitors.
It's double price. If it was 100 or 150$ more, we could talk, but double price? Certainly I'd prefer a Korean monitor, but unfortunately a little hard to find in my country, yet...
Doesn't last shit longer. I've had my Crossover going just fine for over a year and I don't even turn it off (something a lot of paranoid owners do to increase its lifespan).
I completly disagree with your coment, we had expensive Dell monitors at my previous workplace, and performance wise i could not see any distinct visual increment in performance from dell screens at our work from any other screens. (Maybe they weren't that good). But my point is that Dell screens when they are better they are never much better (if we consider day-to-day usage not with synthetic benchmarks) which to me does not justify the premium that these screens cost. I have found to be honest Dell screens always too expensive, for what they offer since their performance is just marginally better to the koreans screens you mention, but with a premium price when compared to these.
With respect to the korean comments, i still have working 17" LG on a spare PC, screen thats is almost 7years old. I have also a 21" samsung that is 3 years old which has never gave a problem or even dead pixels.
I also have 2 19" Asus (which are not korean) that i used for 6years non stop without ever gaving a problem or even dead pixels which are now stored since i got two phillips screens 23".
Well, I think by "Korean" Deo didn't mean Samsung or LG, but those brands that you have never or hardly heard of. Sam & LG are not that cheap (and therefore quite reliable too)
Too expensive? Dell monitors are about the most reasonable priced among monitors, and it's competitors aren't normally cheaper. My Samsung has a Taiwanese panel btw so I'm not sure why your on about brands. Brands it self doesn't mean quality. Most has used awful components like faulty Taiwanese caps that give up in a couple of years (I have changed some of mines). The OP was talking about no-name Korean brands like Yamakasi, Achieva Shimian etc. They could be seen equal to say a Meizu M9 Android phone or Ainol tablets and even lesser know stuff i.e. is produced by lesser skilled teams with no markups/margins to speak of. With no manufacturing capabilities of their own in most cases. In most cases with some drawbacks. With screens there is also other grades/classifications too. Backlight and the panel assembly might not be as good either. Philips doesn't produce monitors btw it's the Hong-Kong based TPV that does so since about 2005, which now also holds the stake in designing/development of, and most of the assembly of (which are quite popular in Europe btw) Philips television sets.
At least here in Sweden Dell's aren't more expensive and rather cheap compared to the same class HP, Asus, Acer, NEC, LG, BenQ, Samsung, Eizo etc. Any Asus that uses a IPS-panel will have a Korean panel in it for that matter. You don't have much to choose from here except LG Display and Samsung Display when it comes to [IPS-based] desktop monitors, which also happens to be the biggest of the manufacturers. Those that orders the panels as components and puts together their own stuff like the no-names though can half the price of these monitors. But they use much worse electronics and IC's driving the monitors and is much less engineered. They simply can't spend 50-100 dollar on those parts.
You see instantly the difference when your on a none-TN monitor compared to TN monitors with poor viewing angles and you should definitely be capable to tell the difference in an office environment, as they was out when viewed from an angle and the colors shift terribly just sitting straight in front of it, unless you used cheap monitors. Cheap monitors doesn't in many cases even have proper adjustable stands for that matter. It's not like you need the whole AdobeRGB color space when your in an Office document either. But it also is the whole of the sums that counts decent adjustable stands, panel quality and type, inputs and input lag, viewing angles and resolution. Backlight also impacts on power consumption if that is important. You don't get all of that in cheaper alternatives if you don't want to make some fairly large compromises, you won't get the same amount of control over the monitor and it's only recently you have been able to get high-res panels in those no-name monitors. If that is not what you want then why wouldn't you just buy some lower res 1920x1080 MVA or e-IPS monitor? They are also easier to drive from notebooks. Plus cheaper than Ebay imports. But you might need to accept dithering there if your not careful.
I disagree here; the price is far too high in light of the competition. Dell makes nice monitors (I have a U2711 that I'm quite fond of), but there is no way I'd buy this over the HP ZR2740w. It is very clear to me that Americans and Europeans are paying a higher price just becasue they have more money in their collective pockets, and we shouldn't stand for it.
Perhaps this monitor will see deep discounts from other retailers that bring it within range of the HP, but right now I'd go ahead and buy another U2711 from Newegg for $850 instead of this one. These monitors should sell for around $500-550, not $650-800.
Dell likes to inflate MSRP and do some pretty hefty sales. They constantly have very competitive deals and I dont know if its still the same but if you buy their premium monitors (which include their much cheaper eIPS monitors) they come with a solid warranty - i havent been in the market for years but it used to be a 3 year 0 dead pixel policy.
The first high end LCD I bought was a Dell 2407, back in 06 or 07 and it still runs today problem free managing my servers. I don't have any other LCDs of that age still running, though I'm sure somebody does but that may say something to their quality.
But my main reason for buying Dell then, as it is today is their advance replacement warranty service. I use a U2711 on my main system today and I had some issues with the card reader flaking out on me (would stop reading my SD card half way through transferring data), then a week later it up and died so I went on the chat service and explained the issue. They asked for some information from me about the monitor (serial, model, etc) and the next day the replacement monitor was at my door. I popped the new monitor on my wall bracket, dropped the defective one in the same box, applied the pre-paid sticker and instead of calling Fedex to pick it up (which I could have) I just dropped it off myself. Job done, no RMA numbers, no emails, no phone calls, just 10 minutes of web chat and no real down time.
So that type of service is something that really should be noted right up there with features like USB 3.0, more inputs, better calibration, etc. Quality service and warranty can mean less downtime should the unthinkable occur. Included 3 years, expandable to 5 year and you can even choose to cover accidental damage for additional fee. Honestly that is probably a rip off, I'll have to see what the fine print says on that one...
In that case, you're still using the monitors internal scaler, which is what is causing the lag. You need to have them at the same identical resolution to have an apples-to-apples comparison.
Great review! I'm in the market for a 27" LED/IPS professional monitor. A tad for gaming, but mostly programming and graphics. This monitor was on my short list, so I'm thrilled you reviewed it.
In my research the only other monitor really on my list is the Asus PB278Q which will be released on 10/8. I've been hearing some good rumors about this one (and for $699). http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
How great would it be if you reviewed this guy as well :) For me the brightness and color uniformity are a couple of the biggest details. I saw some pictures of this Dell in a dark room with a black screen and there was too much light bleed, horrible really. I'm not sure if in real life you would notice that, but it put a bad taste in my mouth. I have other Dell IPS monitors that I still love!
I ran the benchmarks on the ASUS today, so the review is a bit out as I haven't written anything on it yet, and still have a couple tests to do, but it's coming shortly.
In Australia, Dell have these on special at 559 AUD until Oct 5 (about 250 AUD discount). I snapped one up yesterday, and it arrived today. Haven't hooked it up yet. It feels good to read a good review of it the very next day !
Problem is you need basically quad-link DVI-D to do 1600p at 120Hz (or 1440p at 120Hz). I think DisplayPort can handle it, but no one has made such a display that I'm aware of (overclocking/hacking of Korean panels notwithstanding).
The results are almost always the last 12 displays tested, as older ones rotate out of the spreadsheet and newer models rotate in. I'll try to grab the U2711 numbers for some of those, but the lag testing has totally changed since that was done, so the numbers might not be as accurate as they are now.
I agree with EnzoFX. Because this is Dell who update their monitor lines every couple of years, a comparison with their previous models is important to see what improvements they've been able to make (if any) and also to see if it's worth aiming for the previous model if its still 'good enough' but cheaper.
Comparison with the U2711 is also interesting because uses CCFL (usually wider gamut) as opposed to WLED and will continue to be sold alongside the U2713HM.
We compare the iphone 5 with the 4S and the galaxy S3 with the S2 and the 7970 with the 6970 so why not the same with the monitor lines?
While it's nice to see Dell dropping the price below the $1,000 mark, I lost interest in this article when I saw that the price was still over twice that of a Korean 27" IPS LCD monitor off of eBay. It is true that you are rolling the dice when you purchase one, are getting fewer features, and poorly translated documentation but at that large of a difference, I'll go for it. I've also heard that MicroCenter is offering these Korean 27" IPS monitors in their stores, with the return policy that you'd expect from a local store, so I may stop inside the next time I'm near one of their stores and pick one up.
Dell Monitors in Australia are super cheap. I don't expect this monitor to drop much below $700 in the United States from the Dell website. You can get a Korean Catleap or Yamakasi for $290 shipped using fedex express 2 day from Korea. Or if you go to Microcenter they have the $400 models with extra ports and a scalar for $400 + tax.
It'd be quite useful if there was a standardized test for optical distortion. The last Dell U2711 I tried had really bad distortion from the anti-glare coating. I ended up going with the Apple 27" display even though it is something of a pain to use with Windows 7. It is amazing to see the quality of ClearType without the distortion of today's low quality anti-glare coatings. I'd have to think there would be some tests that could be developed to test optical distortion that would give readers an objective measure of the quality of the anti-glare coatings in common use today.
I've read that there are some Korean companies offering 27" displays that have no front glass and no AG coatings. That might be ideal for optical quality, but cleaning the screen would be perilous.
It'd be great if Dell, HP, or another company would offer a quality 27" display without an anti-glare coating. Anyone know of a non-Apple 27" 2560x1440 display that has a glass panel but no anti-glare coating and has a no bad pixel warranty?
yeah I use the u2711, the antiglare coating is ridiculous. To this day I still see the 'sandy' look, its easily visible and obvious from the white textbox im typing this message from.
Who knows what dell was thinking. Id prefer 0 anti glare over this any day of the week.
I've been keeping an eye on 27" monitors for a while. I want a wide-gamut one, but for a long time all the complaining about the anti-glare coating held me back from making a purchase because otherwise the U2711 was the obvious best choice for me.
Then one day I had a flash and did a search on the U2410, which I've been using for years, and found that the same complaint was being leveled against it too. I was basically like, "WHAT!? THIS is what you people have been b------- about!?"
I mean, don't get me wrong, the coating is a little aggressive. Do I mind how it looks? Heck no. Have I started watching LogicBuy for U2711 sales? Yup, I sure have.
It may be that there is lack of uniformity in the application of the anti-glare coating so one monitor of the same brand/model may be a lot worse than one from a different batch, or perhaps just the next one on the assembly line.
I have some older Samsung PVA monitors with anti-glare coatings that don't have the problems I've seen on newer monitors. It isn't just Dell with the overly sandy/grainy/sparkly anti-glare coatings. Not too long ago I ordered two HP monitors that had the same problem, so I sent them back. Even in the reviews of NEC's expensive professional monitors, the optical distortion from the anti-glare coatings has been noted by the reviewers.
At the end of the day, it seems no one except for Apple has the strength of will to make a monitor without an anti-glare coating. It is not surprising that Apple is doing well and virtually every other computer company is flailing. Revenue growth is correlated with innovation growth. And the inability to innovate even in small details shows how moribund and obsolete traditional PC hardware companies are becoming.
No anti-glare coating is innovation now? No. The anti-glare coating was added because using monitors without it in professional settings (which have lots of fluorescent lights) is unbearable.
I have a U3011 at home and the only place I can put my desk is right next to a window. The anti-glare coating is a lifesaver. I'd go insane if it was glossy are reflected everything from outside.
While that may be true of a lot of things... Glossy screens are the devil in many professional and indoor overhead-lit environments; even amongst MBP users a lot of people end opting for or wishing for anti glare displays... It's more of a personal choice than anything. I
can't stand glossy displays on my desk but it's possible I've never adjusted the room lighting enough to really be able to adjust to a glassy display. I'm definitely hoping for a matte one my next laptop, although I don't use it much at home (still bothers me elsewhere).
Thunderbolt!! It's 2012 and I'm done with Apple BS with their $1000 display solution? Why Dell did not going all out and kill Apple Thunderbolt Display? It has USB 3.0 and a few PC mainboards also popping out with TB port. So it's a good time to show Apple is not the only one!
This has DisplayPort which is the video tech used in thunderbolt. USB 3.0 would be useless for this monitor other than being used for the USB hub (which it is)
1) Whether the Displayport interface carries sound to the monitor, when connected to a Dell laptop. My U3011 doesnt (though HDMI does). Well known problem.
2) Do (or can) the USB ports remain powered/active when the panel is off? This has bugged me forever on other Dell monitors which don't allow this - makes them next to useless if you like to turn your monitor (but not laptop) off to save energy sometimes.
3) Long shot, but is CEC supported on DP/HDMI, or is there any other way to turn the monitor on/off, switch inputs, etc, automatically or remotely, and is there an auto-power off timer function? Some folks have their big monitors do double duty as HTPC screens, for which this is useful.
Note to Dell: since I imagine the answer to the above is 'no', please consider making it 'yes' on a future revision! :)
1 - I didn't try the audio out, so I don't know, but I can try to check and see 2 - I didn't turn the panel off, since the power draw in energy saving mode is less than a watt 3 - This I'm almost certain won't work. There isn't auto-detection for a signal on inputs coming from a PC, so I'm assuming there is no CEC support if it doesn't even have that signal detection.
My U3011 carries sound over DisplayPort. I've only tested it with an HP 2740p tablet though. I have never tried any Dell laptops. My old Studio XPS 1340 has DisplayPort but I gave that to my father and my newer Latitude XT3 only has a DisplayPort on the docking station which I do not own.
I'd never buy a Dell display ever again. I bought a 3008wfp back in 2008 and it recently failed due to poor component choice by Dell in putting together the PSU (a particular diode fails http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1419... ). It seems to be a very common problem, with numerous people having the exact same symptoms.
Dell basically told me to bin it and buy a new one as they don't offer a repair service.
Yea, thanks for that. Way to keep customers who buy your expensive high end stuff sweet. I'll take a punt on one of those Korean Ebay specials, at least you know they wont care.
yeah that´s bad.. i currentyl have 3 samsung 24 inch displays.
during the three year warranty i send one of them in 3 times the other 2 times for repair. defective powerboard each time. if they die again im out of luck.
that´s why i am frightened to buy expensive gear. it will only last for the warranty period.... :(
Dell's customer service is great considering you have reasonable expectations.
Did your Dell equipment break while in warranty? If so, then call Dell, *boom* they give you a new one, and if they don't have that model, they give you the newer version of that model.
Did your Dell equipment break while not in warranty? If so, then you're on your own. If that bothers you, then buy the extended warranty, or otherwise buy something you can afford to replace on the chance it breaks out of warranty.
The reviewed monitor is gone in the processing lag chart, unless it's name was changed to the U2412 which has the correct value from the chart above.
For power usage, "Even with the backlight at maximum and the screen pure white". Normally in TN panels a black pixel uses slightly more power than a white one (how negligible is this btw?). Is it different for IPS, or have they changed it?
Yeah this is indeed reversed for both VA and IPS in theory (TN needs active transistor to block light, VA and IPS need active transistor to let light through - this is also the reason dead pixels are more likely to be always lit with TN but always black with IPS/VA). That said though the difference should be pretty minimal - if you'd have a dynamic backlight that would far outweigh such effects.
Almost all previous models were measured using a XR Pro or an i1Display2, which are colorimeters that are subject to drift over time, and inherently not as accurate as a spectrometer. They also have issues with non-traditional CCFL lighting, which can include wide gamut CCFL, LED, and OLED. Last year I moved all display reviews to use an i1Pro spectrometer, which does not have these issues at all and is NIST certified to have a maximum error of 1.0 dE across the spectrum.
The i1Pro isn't as good at measuring minimum black levels so for those I use an i1DisplayPro or C6 colorimeter, as we are only measuring luminance and not dE values. The move to the i1Pro also means that we have numbers that are more accurate, but not subject to direct comparisons with older measurements. I did some testing of the i1Display2 to the i1Pro, and they could have a difference of over 10 dE with the same pattern, so some values could be off. Using an i1Display2 is better than using nothing, but I trust the i1Pro numbers from the past year more than anything else.
Folks keep comparing this to no name Korean monitors where you have to "roll the dice" to see if you have a god one. This has a 3 year warranty and in my experience with several premium Dell monitors-if anything goes wrong with it a new monitor will appear at your door within 24-48 hours. This is a deal if you can get it at $559.
I've had many Dell Ultrasharp monitors ever since my first 2007wfp, and I have never seen a monitor that I liked better, all the way up through the 24" I had until last month. They just make great monitors, if you get the Ultrasharp models. They're a little more expensive, but they're worth it.
Last month, I made the mistake of getting an HP 27" just because it was $150 cheaper than the Dell U2711. Oh, sure, it looks great, but it only has a DL-DVI or a DisplayPort input, and no adjustment at all. There are buttons, but they don't seem to do anything other than switch inputs or turn it off. On top of that, the first one I got went bad after a week. The backlight went out. However, I spent too much on it to give up on it now. I do wish I had gone with the Dell.
However, in all those Dell monitors I had, there is one very annoying aspect: archaic card readers. They've always been out of date right out of the box, and use up two drive letters for nothing. Even on my newest 24" monitor, they wouldn't read the current mainstream size SD cards. The 20" wouldn't read anything higher than a 256MB, the 22" wouldn't read over 512MB, and the 24" wouldn't ready anything over 2GB. I've tried removing the drive letters, but Windows grips about it. I tried just disabling the devices in the device manager, but Windows gripes about that too. I do like that one aspect of the HP. At least there's no useless card reader. It looks like they finally dropped the stupid card reader from this one. I like that.
As someone who games a lot but wants a nice 8-bit panel, would it be possible to simple add panel type in parenthesis to the graph? It would be helpful in indicating comparable monitors, as TN panels have very low input lag but are not necessarily what you'd be in the market for if you were looking for an 8 bit panel suitable for gaming. As it is, I have to look up each monitor and find out which panel its using, which is difficult given so many sites like to hide it as far down as possible.
I've been on the hunt for a ~$600-$700 8-bit panel that has virtually no input lag, to no avail. I had to buy a TN after buying a S-PVA because the input lag is so bad that lips don't sync up with talking/singing in shows viewed on the monitor. Worst $700 I ever spent.
I bought a GTX680 so that I can render frame rates in games above 60. It is time for the video viewing hardware to catch up to the video rendering hardware. For $799, 120hz is a must.
There are sold by http://120hz.net/ and http://www.overlordcomputer.com/. Most of the Yamazaki 27" 2560x1440 monitors that you see on ebay and alibaba are capable of more than 60Hz, and the " 2B" PCB can reach 120hz.
even if they cant overclock, like the Achivea Shimean on ebay, without a scaler and using only DL-DVI they have much less input lag, and all the glory of 1440p IPS.
I'd love to see a heat temperature number and opinion given with each monitor after a few hours of use. I have a smallish office and my current 26" CCFL monitor get rather warm, it heats up my whole office and is annoying. My face gets warm due to the heat radiating from the front of the screen as well.
This is honestly the MAIN reason I want to move to an LED backlighting. It would be an interesting side note in the reviews. You never see specs on how much heat a monitor throws off. I bet this Dell stays pretty cool considering the low power draw.
Is nobody else bothered by the fact that for the past 2 high-res monitor reviews the reviewer has resorted to testing at 1080p for gaming and input lag? I understand the desire to compare it to the end all be all of monitors -- a crt from somewhere around 2005, but i find it absolutely ridiculous that you don't even hook it up at 2550x1440 and play a few games on it.
How about a "feel" for the input lag if you can't give us exact numbers. If it is terrible you will notice it on a fast-paced shooter. I have seen plenty of other monitor reviews and no one resorts to the lame line of" i don't have a crt that does 1140p so i cant measure the input lag at native resolutions." You go on to say that there "might be some additional lag" since you are testing a t 1080p...is that the scientific term? Just seems ridiculous. How are these other reviewers testing input lag?
Also your input lag numbers seem high compared to what we are seeing around the web with these 2560x1440 monitors. The general consensus is that on models with no scaler, there is 1-2ms lag. On the models with a scaler we are seeing 3-4ms. Not really enough to be concerned about. But your numbers here seem really high...How is that happening?
I don't know how everyone else is testing lag on their displays. I know some use an oscilloscope for it, which is going to be the most accurate method, but a very cost prohibitive one. Some use a very simple web lag timer, which has multiple flaws as well. I'm using SMTT because it is very fast, very accurate, and has very little margin for error. The highest error I can accidentally record from it is 1ms due to how it works, and averaged out over a dozen or more readings, I can live with that margin of error.
It also allows for reading of pixel rise and fall times in addition to input lag, instead of having them combined as one number. This makes it easy to see the clear difference in results between the HP with no scaler and the 27" displays that have to use the scaler. Nothing else has changed in the setup, only the display, so I'm confident about the input lag numbers.
I also know that in playing games, I'm not going to be able to tell the difference between 2ms of lag and 18ms of lag. That's under a frame and I'm not a big enough gamer, or a good enough one, to notice that difference. My subjective opinion there would offer nothing over the objective measures that would be of any use, and so I don't contribute it.
There is a lot of talk that imput lag may be due scaler. Any chance of getting allso 1440 mode imput lag in comparison. Not all monitors can do it, but it would be nice to see... or is is impossible because you can not get comparison from ctr?
No 1440p CRT available means no available no-lag reference display unfortunately. I'll be done with 27" displays here soon I imagine and back to displays that can be tested for lag.
Since you are running several color calibrations with extremely expensive tools, why not provide the resulting ICC profiles to readers on the website? I'm certain the demand is there.
I don't provide an ICC profile for a simple reason: Monitors (and projectors and TVs and everything else I review and calibrate) are manufactured with a certain tolerance on every component inside of them. If I pull 10 displays off the line and put the same settings into them, I'm almost certain to get 10 different results. I have no way of knowing if the settings from one display are going to benefit or detract from another display.
I fully realize I can put up the ICC file and say "Here it is, use at your own risk", but I also know that same ICC file is going to wind up hosted somewhere, or passed to someone as an "AnandTech U2713HM Calibration File" with no explanation as to the fact that it might make your display less accurate, and then a user will either wonder why their display is worse than before, or believe that the review it came from was obviously flawed because that file didn't work for them.
Basically, there's no way to get a display more accurate aside from having your display calibrated, and sharing settings is just as likely to make a display worse as to making it better. I always mention the preset mode I used for testing, as I try to find the most accurate one, but that's the long reason behind no ICC profiles being shared.
It's bizarre that this review does not compare against what is quite possibly the most relevant monitor to compare against, the U2711, which the U2713HM would seem to replace. Dell still sells the U2711, for that matter. Surely it's relevant to see how this model compares to the previous model, since this review gives no indication beyond cost of why somebody should choose the U2713HM over the U2711.
Hey, I might have missed this mentioned in the article. Does it have the same antiglare coating that the U2412M has? I have one, and the spotty/blur that it causes on white backgrounds can be pretty annoying.
Thanks for the review. I was wondering what options the scaler offers?
I have a U2412M and an old 2709W. The 2709W offers proper scaling while maintaining aspect ratio. Strangely, the newer 2412M does not, it only stretches and is very annoying if you feed it a 16:9 signal.
I don't understand why Dell is doing this. I've had a U2410 for years now -- I'm STILL waiting for an UPGRADE to it!
They keep releasing these awesome budget monitors but they are actually worse in tech specs than the previous model -- oh it's got USB3 but the color isn't as good and the resolution is the same as the model that came out 2 years ago.. what the fuck!?
Why is Apple the only one who actually cares about display quality? Dell keeps sending me emails saying to use my buying power (dell account) to upgrade -- and I awlays reply to their customer service team, I'll upgrade when you come out with a product thats WORTH UPGRADING TO.
How about 120hz, higher resolution \ pixel density!? All we get is a shitty USB 3 hub and a lower quality display compared to the U2711. BOO!
There's a thread in a Swedish forum about units suffering from severe backlight bleed. Another common problem is a yellow color cast in the lower left corner. It seems to be quite common, but the Dell representative I've been in contact with says that they've only had complaints from Sweden. I have two of these monitors and both suffer from yellow color cast in the lower left corner. What you make of this? The posts in the forum are in swedish but there are images: http://www.sweclockers.com/forum/101-skarmar-och-t...
I would love to see a direct comparison between this and the recently released ASUS PB278Q 27'' 2560-1440 monitor. The Asus seems to be a decent monitor that is geared toward gaming. Thoughts?
One problem with the Ausus is they use that stupid PWM backlight flashing to set the brightness. It can tire your eyes and some people are sensitive to it. This Dell monitor is one of the very few that don't use that old backlight technology.
I wish I knew in real life how this felt. The PWM is supposed to be even more noticable with PED backlit monitors, so I'm leaning towards the Dell right now as a result.
Hi, I use the monitor with a macbook pro and in the sRGB mode. With the EDID override method I get RBG colors. So far so good.
But it seems that some light grey colors are more yellow. I notice this first as I look at the Apple website. They use a lot of shadows and these shadows have a yellow tinge. So the shadow effect is looking really bad. WIth the MacBook display everything looks fine and grey is grey. On every other display I have tested the Apple website and the grey tones look normal.
In the multimedia mode there is no yellow tinge. Is this normal for the sRGB mode? Or what could be the problem here?
I have also tested the monitor with a windows laptop. The same problem. So it has nothing to do with the macbook pro and the RGB problem.
I just did my own unboxing and as impressive on how they packaged the monitor I suffers from some serious weaknesses such as IPS glow and backlight bleed that is out of control!
Thank you for a great and very usefull review. I would like to make shure what " These only apply to the included sRGB mode in the display, so you should make sure to use that, and reset your video card LUT, to achieve these results." in case of my mac mini (late 2012). Do I understand i correctly, that I should go to Display/Profile menu of MacOs and select the option "Adobe sRGB ..."? Thank you in advance for your reply.
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101 Comments
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blackmagnum - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I find Dell's monitors have good price/ performance ratio. They might not be as cheap as the Koreans, but last a while longer and have better support. When will they have 4K monitors...p05esto - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Agreed, if you are doing professional work and using the monitor day in and day out what's a couple hundred extra dollars? For gaming and casual stuff, then sure....take a chance.rs2 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
A couple hundred? Probably nothing. But when you can get a roughly equivalent monitor from Korea for ~$320, the extra $380 dollars is enough to buy a second 2560x1440 display and run them in a dual-monitor setup.hrrmph - Saturday, October 6, 2012 - link
First 27" with an all-USB 3.0 Hub. That alone is worth something.Amazon has them available for pre-order at $705:
http://www.amazon.com/Dell-U2713HM-CVN85-27-Inch-L...
I've got one on order and I hope these are going to last as long as the several HP LP2465 monitors that I've been using for most of a decade. The USB hubs in those were incredibly reliably as well, and I'm hoping that the all-USB 3.0 hub in this Dell 27" model is up to the task.
As far as value goes, sure the Korean models might be good for a second or third monitor, but with the Dell you *should* get grade A quality (at least for an enthusiast, if not for the professional), under a fairly full kit of options and functionality.
For something that I'm hoping might last 10 or 15 years, like my other monitors, the probable annual amortized cost difference is fairly negligible.
Too bad they had to drop to 24-bit (from 30-bit) to get the cost under control. Still, if the USB 3.0 hub can handle everything I throw at it and the monitor can still offer up better resolution than my existing 1920 x 1200 monitors, then its a great value.
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sonny73n - Sunday, October 7, 2012 - link
The Korean monitors (Achieva, Yamasaki... just to name a few) you're talking about use LG eIPS display. Actually those LG displays are rejects or did not meet quality requirements for Dell or HP. You'll probably get at least a couple dead pixels on those Korean monitors. Who knows what other defects they might have. That's why they're much cheaper.Ever heard of Dell Zero dead pixel policy?
Stealth Pyro - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
Not accurate it in the slightest. A lot of them actually have perfect pixels without you even buying into the perfect pixel markup scam. When Dell/HP/etc. reject the displays, it doesn't at all mean that they had dead pixels. There might have been other defects with DELL'S PCB's or other internal components, and then these Korean manufacturers buy all those monitors deemed as defective and pull the panels (that are just fine) to put into their own monitors.TheJian - Monday, October 8, 2012 - link
ROFL@anyone willing to give their CC# to a Korean company from ebay etc. Even the ones on Amazon have 1 review, a Gmail address for returns/help, no about page, a blank faq page, no phone# to call etc. How dumb can you be to buy one of these? If you don't even own a domain I can't be bothered to even think about your company as relevant to my purchases...LOL.The only way this would be an option is if I WAS IN KOREA and down the street from your company :)
Dell is the wiser choice here (or any other US based company with an actual website and a phone#).
Stealth Pyro - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
-_- eBay sellers don't get your credit card number when you buy from them. Money is transferred via PayPal.Deo Domuique - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
How do you know the Dell lasts a while longer? Like we know everything about the Korean monitors.It's double price. If it was 100 or 150$ more, we could talk, but double price? Certainly I'd prefer a Korean monitor, but unfortunately a little hard to find in my country, yet...
Stealth Pyro - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
Doesn't last shit longer. I've had my Crossover going just fine for over a year and I don't even turn it off (something a lot of paranoid owners do to increase its lifespan).ricardoduarte - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I completly disagree with your coment, we had expensive Dell monitors at my previous workplace, and performance wise i could not see any distinct visual increment in performance from dell screens at our work from any other screens. (Maybe they weren't that good). But my point is that Dell screens when they are better they are never much better (if we consider day-to-day usage not with synthetic benchmarks) which to me does not justify the premium that these screens cost. I have found to be honest Dell screens always too expensive, for what they offer since their performance is just marginally better to the koreans screens you mention, but with a premium price when compared to these.With respect to the korean comments, i still have working 17" LG on a spare PC, screen thats is almost 7years old. I have also a 21" samsung that is 3 years old which has never gave a problem or even dead pixels.
I also have 2 19" Asus (which are not korean) that i used for 6years non stop without ever gaving a problem or even dead pixels which are now stored since i got two phillips screens 23".
rituraj - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Well, I think by "Korean" Deo didn't mean Samsung or LG, but those brands that you have never or hardly heard of. Sam & LG are not that cheap (and therefore quite reliable too)Penti - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Too expensive? Dell monitors are about the most reasonable priced among monitors, and it's competitors aren't normally cheaper. My Samsung has a Taiwanese panel btw so I'm not sure why your on about brands. Brands it self doesn't mean quality. Most has used awful components like faulty Taiwanese caps that give up in a couple of years (I have changed some of mines). The OP was talking about no-name Korean brands like Yamakasi, Achieva Shimian etc. They could be seen equal to say a Meizu M9 Android phone or Ainol tablets and even lesser know stuff i.e. is produced by lesser skilled teams with no markups/margins to speak of. With no manufacturing capabilities of their own in most cases. In most cases with some drawbacks. With screens there is also other grades/classifications too. Backlight and the panel assembly might not be as good either. Philips doesn't produce monitors btw it's the Hong-Kong based TPV that does so since about 2005, which now also holds the stake in designing/development of, and most of the assembly of (which are quite popular in Europe btw) Philips television sets.At least here in Sweden Dell's aren't more expensive and rather cheap compared to the same class HP, Asus, Acer, NEC, LG, BenQ, Samsung, Eizo etc. Any Asus that uses a IPS-panel will have a Korean panel in it for that matter. You don't have much to choose from here except LG Display and Samsung Display when it comes to [IPS-based] desktop monitors, which also happens to be the biggest of the manufacturers. Those that orders the panels as components and puts together their own stuff like the no-names though can half the price of these monitors. But they use much worse electronics and IC's driving the monitors and is much less engineered. They simply can't spend 50-100 dollar on those parts.
You see instantly the difference when your on a none-TN monitor compared to TN monitors with poor viewing angles and you should definitely be capable to tell the difference in an office environment, as they was out when viewed from an angle and the colors shift terribly just sitting straight in front of it, unless you used cheap monitors. Cheap monitors doesn't in many cases even have proper adjustable stands for that matter. It's not like you need the whole AdobeRGB color space when your in an Office document either. But it also is the whole of the sums that counts decent adjustable stands, panel quality and type, inputs and input lag, viewing angles and resolution. Backlight also impacts on power consumption if that is important. You don't get all of that in cheaper alternatives if you don't want to make some fairly large compromises, you won't get the same amount of control over the monitor and it's only recently you have been able to get high-res panels in those no-name monitors. If that is not what you want then why wouldn't you just buy some lower res 1920x1080 MVA or e-IPS monitor? They are also easier to drive from notebooks. Plus cheaper than Ebay imports. But you might need to accept dithering there if your not careful.
mcnabney - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
They will have 4K monitors eleven years ago.Have you already forgotten the IBM T220/T221 and its 204 ppi glory?
Sabresiberian - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I disagree here; the price is far too high in light of the competition. Dell makes nice monitors (I have a U2711 that I'm quite fond of), but there is no way I'd buy this over the HP ZR2740w. It is very clear to me that Americans and Europeans are paying a higher price just becasue they have more money in their collective pockets, and we shouldn't stand for it.Perhaps this monitor will see deep discounts from other retailers that bring it within range of the HP, but right now I'd go ahead and buy another U2711 from Newegg for $850 instead of this one. These monitors should sell for around $500-550, not $650-800.
;)
atticus14 - Friday, October 5, 2012 - link
Dell likes to inflate MSRP and do some pretty hefty sales. They constantly have very competitive deals and I dont know if its still the same but if you buy their premium monitors (which include their much cheaper eIPS monitors) they come with a solid warranty - i havent been in the market for years but it used to be a 3 year 0 dead pixel policy.You just got to look for deals.
wickman - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
The first high end LCD I bought was a Dell 2407, back in 06 or 07 and it still runs today problem free managing my servers. I don't have any other LCDs of that age still running, though I'm sure somebody does but that may say something to their quality.But my main reason for buying Dell then, as it is today is their advance replacement warranty service. I use a U2711 on my main system today and I had some issues with the card reader flaking out on me (would stop reading my SD card half way through transferring data), then a week later it up and died so I went on the chat service and explained the issue. They asked for some information from me about the monitor (serial, model, etc) and the next day the replacement monitor was at my door. I popped the new monitor on my wall bracket, dropped the defective one in the same box, applied the pre-paid sticker and instead of calling Fedex to pick it up (which I could have) I just dropped it off myself. Job done, no RMA numbers, no emails, no phone calls, just 10 minutes of web chat and no real down time.
So that type of service is something that really should be noted right up there with features like USB 3.0, more inputs, better calibration, etc. Quality service and warranty can mean less downtime should the unthinkable occur. Included 3 years, expandable to 5 year and you can even choose to cover accidental damage for additional fee. Honestly that is probably a rip off, I'll have to see what the fine print says on that one...
Chillin1248 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Could the input lag results be skewed due to the fact that you were using Startech adapter or because the way your Macbook was behaving?cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Lag results are done on a PC, straight from the video card, as SMTT is a Windows program. I'll make that more clear in the text.silverblue - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Excuse my ignorance, but if you don't have a CRT that can work at 1440p, how about dropping it to 720p, or would that be an invalid testing scenario?cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
In that case, you're still using the monitors internal scaler, which is what is causing the lag. You need to have them at the same identical resolution to have an apples-to-apples comparison.p05esto - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Great review! I'm in the market for a 27" LED/IPS professional monitor. A tad for gaming, but mostly programming and graphics. This monitor was on my short list, so I'm thrilled you reviewed it.In my research the only other monitor really on my list is the Asus PB278Q which will be released on 10/8. I've been hearing some good rumors about this one (and for $699).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
How great would it be if you reviewed this guy as well :) For me the brightness and color uniformity are a couple of the biggest details. I saw some pictures of this Dell in a dark room with a black screen and there was too much light bleed, horrible really. I'm not sure if in real life you would notice that, but it put a bad taste in my mouth. I have other Dell IPS monitors that I still love!
cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I ran the benchmarks on the ASUS today, so the review is a bit out as I haven't written anything on it yet, and still have a couple tests to do, but it's coming shortly.p05esto - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Great news! I will be patiently waiting (would wait for a sale anyhow).lukechip - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
In Australia, Dell have these on special at 559 AUD until Oct 5 (about 250 AUD discount). I snapped one up yesterday, and it arrived today. Haven't hooked it up yet. It feels good to read a good review of it the very next day !peterfares - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
For some reason Dell monitors are far cheaper in Australia than in the United States.ComputerGuy2006 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Im tired of 1440p and im tired of 60hz.Time for 1600p at 120hz.... or better.
JarredWalton - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Problem is you need basically quad-link DVI-D to do 1600p at 120Hz (or 1440p at 120Hz). I think DisplayPort can handle it, but no one has made such a display that I'm aware of (overclocking/hacking of Korean panels notwithstanding).Ryan Smith - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
DisplayPort 1.2 could in fact do it. It has almost exactly twice the bandwidth of DL-DVI.EnzoFX - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I don't understand why obvious comparable monitors are left out sometimes in these graphs. I notice this a lot. Why isn't the U2711 in the input lag?cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
The results are almost always the last 12 displays tested, as older ones rotate out of the spreadsheet and newer models rotate in. I'll try to grab the U2711 numbers for some of those, but the lag testing has totally changed since that was done, so the numbers might not be as accurate as they are now.JNo - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I agree with EnzoFX. Because this is Dell who update their monitor lines every couple of years, a comparison with their previous models is important to see what improvements they've been able to make (if any) and also to see if it's worth aiming for the previous model if its still 'good enough' but cheaper.Comparison with the U2711 is also interesting because uses CCFL (usually wider gamut) as opposed to WLED and will continue to be sold alongside the U2713HM.
We compare the iphone 5 with the 4S and the galaxy S3 with the S2 and the 7970 with the 6970 so why not the same with the monitor lines?
ChuckDriver - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
While it's nice to see Dell dropping the price below the $1,000 mark, I lost interest in this article when I saw that the price was still over twice that of a Korean 27" IPS LCD monitor off of eBay. It is true that you are rolling the dice when you purchase one, are getting fewer features, and poorly translated documentation but at that large of a difference, I'll go for it. I've also heard that MicroCenter is offering these Korean 27" IPS monitors in their stores, with the return policy that you'd expect from a local store, so I may stop inside the next time I'm near one of their stores and pick one up.mevans336 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Dell currently has this one sale for $559 USD.http://accessories.ap.dell.com/sna/productdetail.a...
Despoiler - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Ahh yah in Australia.peterfares - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Dell Monitors in Australia are super cheap. I don't expect this monitor to drop much below $700 in the United States from the Dell website. You can get a Korean Catleap or Yamakasi for $290 shipped using fedex express 2 day from Korea. Or if you go to Microcenter they have the $400 models with extra ports and a scalar for $400 + tax.10101010 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
It'd be quite useful if there was a standardized test for optical distortion. The last Dell U2711 I tried had really bad distortion from the anti-glare coating. I ended up going with the Apple 27" display even though it is something of a pain to use with Windows 7. It is amazing to see the quality of ClearType without the distortion of today's low quality anti-glare coatings. I'd have to think there would be some tests that could be developed to test optical distortion that would give readers an objective measure of the quality of the anti-glare coatings in common use today.I've read that there are some Korean companies offering 27" displays that have no front glass and no AG coatings. That might be ideal for optical quality, but cleaning the screen would be perilous.
It'd be great if Dell, HP, or another company would offer a quality 27" display without an anti-glare coating. Anyone know of a non-Apple 27" 2560x1440 display that has a glass panel but no anti-glare coating and has a no bad pixel warranty?
ComputerGuy2006 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
yeah I use the u2711, the antiglare coating is ridiculous. To this day I still see the 'sandy' look, its easily visible and obvious from the white textbox im typing this message from.Who knows what dell was thinking. Id prefer 0 anti glare over this any day of the week.
piroroadkill - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
It's actually on the LG panels, it's not Dell that applies it.Honestly, I think it's absolutely fine, and I prefer it to glossy by far.
Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I've been keeping an eye on 27" monitors for a while. I want a wide-gamut one, but for a long time all the complaining about the anti-glare coating held me back from making a purchase because otherwise the U2711 was the obvious best choice for me.Then one day I had a flash and did a search on the U2410, which I've been using for years, and found that the same complaint was being leveled against it too. I was basically like, "WHAT!? THIS is what you people have been b------- about!?"
I mean, don't get me wrong, the coating is a little aggressive. Do I mind how it looks? Heck no. Have I started watching LogicBuy for U2711 sales? Yup, I sure have.
10101010 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
It may be that there is lack of uniformity in the application of the anti-glare coating so one monitor of the same brand/model may be a lot worse than one from a different batch, or perhaps just the next one on the assembly line.I have some older Samsung PVA monitors with anti-glare coatings that don't have the problems I've seen on newer monitors. It isn't just Dell with the overly sandy/grainy/sparkly anti-glare coatings. Not too long ago I ordered two HP monitors that had the same problem, so I sent them back. Even in the reviews of NEC's expensive professional monitors, the optical distortion from the anti-glare coatings has been noted by the reviewers.
At the end of the day, it seems no one except for Apple has the strength of will to make a monitor without an anti-glare coating. It is not surprising that Apple is doing well and virtually every other computer company is flailing. Revenue growth is correlated with innovation growth. And the inability to innovate even in small details shows how moribund and obsolete traditional PC hardware companies are becoming.
peterfares - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
No anti-glare coating is innovation now? No. The anti-glare coating was added because using monitors without it in professional settings (which have lots of fluorescent lights) is unbearable.I have a U3011 at home and the only place I can put my desk is right next to a window. The anti-glare coating is a lifesaver. I'd go insane if it was glossy are reflected everything from outside.
Impulses - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
While that may be true of a lot of things... Glossy screens are the devil in many professional and indoor overhead-lit environments; even amongst MBP users a lot of people end opting for or wishing for anti glare displays... It's more of a personal choice than anything. Ican't stand glossy displays on my desk but it's possible I've never adjusted the room lighting enough to really be able to adjust to a glassy display. I'm definitely hoping for a matte one my next laptop, although I don't use it much at home (still bothers me elsewhere).
iSayuSay - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Thunderbolt!! It's 2012 and I'm done with Apple BS with their $1000 display solution? Why Dell did not going all out and kill Apple Thunderbolt Display? It has USB 3.0 and a few PC mainboards also popping out with TB port. So it's a good time to show Apple is not the only one!peterfares - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
This has DisplayPort which is the video tech used in thunderbolt. USB 3.0 would be useless for this monitor other than being used for the USB hub (which it is)Gothmoth - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
i looked at amazon here and the u2711 cost 20 euro LESS then the 2713HM.so what to buy if they both cost nearly the same?
NeBlackCat - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
1) Whether the Displayport interface carries sound to the monitor, when connected to a Dell laptop. My U3011 doesnt (though HDMI does). Well known problem.
2) Do (or can) the USB ports remain powered/active when the panel is off? This has bugged me forever on other Dell monitors which don't allow this - makes them next to useless if you like to turn your monitor (but not laptop) off to save energy sometimes.
3) Long shot, but is CEC supported on DP/HDMI, or is there any other way to turn the monitor on/off, switch inputs, etc, automatically or remotely, and is there an auto-power off timer function? Some folks have their big monitors do double duty as HTPC screens, for which this is useful.
Note to Dell: since I imagine the answer to the above is 'no', please consider making it 'yes' on a future revision! :)
cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
1 - I didn't try the audio out, so I don't know, but I can try to check and see2 - I didn't turn the panel off, since the power draw in energy saving mode is less than a watt
3 - This I'm almost certain won't work. There isn't auto-detection for a signal on inputs coming from a PC, so I'm assuming there is no CEC support if it doesn't even have that signal detection.
peterfares - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
My U3011 carries sound over DisplayPort. I've only tested it with an HP 2740p tablet though. I have never tried any Dell laptops. My old Studio XPS 1340 has DisplayPort but I gave that to my father and my newer Latitude XT3 only has a DisplayPort on the docking station which I do not own.layte - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I'd never buy a Dell display ever again. I bought a 3008wfp back in 2008 and it recently failed due to poor component choice by Dell in putting together the PSU (a particular diode fails http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1419... ). It seems to be a very common problem, with numerous people having the exact same symptoms.Dell basically told me to bin it and buy a new one as they don't offer a repair service.
Yea, thanks for that. Way to keep customers who buy your expensive high end stuff sweet. I'll take a punt on one of those Korean Ebay specials, at least you know they wont care.
Gothmoth - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
yeah that´s bad.. i currentyl have 3 samsung 24 inch displays.during the three year warranty i send one of them in 3 times the other 2 times for repair.
defective powerboard each time. if they die again im out of luck.
that´s why i am frightened to buy expensive gear.
it will only last for the warranty period.... :(
peterfares - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Did you fix it according to the directions on that site? Seems like an easy fix, just need to change out one large through-hole component.layte - Friday, October 5, 2012 - link
I have the parts arriving shortly. Looks like getting into it will be just as difficult as the soldering job.seapeople - Monday, October 8, 2012 - link
Dell's customer service is great considering you have reasonable expectations.Did your Dell equipment break while in warranty? If so, then call Dell, *boom* they give you a new one, and if they don't have that model, they give you the newer version of that model.
Did your Dell equipment break while not in warranty? If so, then you're on your own. If that bothers you, then buy the extended warranty, or otherwise buy something you can afford to replace on the chance it breaks out of warranty.
ajp_anton - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
The reviewed monitor is gone in the processing lag chart, unless it's name was changed to the U2412 which has the correct value from the chart above.For power usage, "Even with the backlight at maximum and the screen pure white".
Normally in TN panels a black pixel uses slightly more power than a white one (how negligible is this btw?). Is it different for IPS, or have they changed it?
mczak - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Yeah this is indeed reversed for both VA and IPS in theory (TN needs active transistor to block light, VA and IPS need active transistor to let light through - this is also the reason dead pixels are more likely to be always lit with TN but always black with IPS/VA).That said though the difference should be pretty minimal - if you'd have a dynamic backlight that would far outweigh such effects.
TheManWithThePlan - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
This monitor seems to have worse calibration out of the box. The U2711 review had an uncalibrated 2.24 DeltaE.http://www.anandtech.com/show/2922/3
Have the testing methodologies changed or are the monitors objectively worse measuring?
cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Almost all previous models were measured using a XR Pro or an i1Display2, which are colorimeters that are subject to drift over time, and inherently not as accurate as a spectrometer. They also have issues with non-traditional CCFL lighting, which can include wide gamut CCFL, LED, and OLED. Last year I moved all display reviews to use an i1Pro spectrometer, which does not have these issues at all and is NIST certified to have a maximum error of 1.0 dE across the spectrum.The i1Pro isn't as good at measuring minimum black levels so for those I use an i1DisplayPro or C6 colorimeter, as we are only measuring luminance and not dE values. The move to the i1Pro also means that we have numbers that are more accurate, but not subject to direct comparisons with older measurements. I did some testing of the i1Display2 to the i1Pro, and they could have a difference of over 10 dE with the same pattern, so some values could be off. Using an i1Display2 is better than using nothing, but I trust the i1Pro numbers from the past year more than anything else.
rickon66 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Folks keep comparing this to no name Korean monitors where you have to "roll the dice" to see if you have a god one. This has a 3 year warranty and in my experience with several premium Dell monitors-if anything goes wrong with it a new monitor will appear at your door within 24-48 hours. This is a deal if you can get it at $559.Despoiler - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
$559 in Australia.Dug - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I agree.Not only are the Korean monitors a crap shoot for quality, they look so frickin cheap I would be embarrassed to have one on my desk.
dgingeri - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I've had many Dell Ultrasharp monitors ever since my first 2007wfp, and I have never seen a monitor that I liked better, all the way up through the 24" I had until last month. They just make great monitors, if you get the Ultrasharp models. They're a little more expensive, but they're worth it.Last month, I made the mistake of getting an HP 27" just because it was $150 cheaper than the Dell U2711. Oh, sure, it looks great, but it only has a DL-DVI or a DisplayPort input, and no adjustment at all. There are buttons, but they don't seem to do anything other than switch inputs or turn it off. On top of that, the first one I got went bad after a week. The backlight went out. However, I spent too much on it to give up on it now. I do wish I had gone with the Dell.
However, in all those Dell monitors I had, there is one very annoying aspect: archaic card readers. They've always been out of date right out of the box, and use up two drive letters for nothing. Even on my newest 24" monitor, they wouldn't read the current mainstream size SD cards. The 20" wouldn't read anything higher than a 256MB, the 22" wouldn't read over 512MB, and the 24" wouldn't ready anything over 2GB. I've tried removing the drive letters, but Windows grips about it. I tried just disabling the devices in the device manager, but Windows gripes about that too. I do like that one aspect of the HP. At least there's no useless card reader. It looks like they finally dropped the stupid card reader from this one. I like that.
PPalmgren - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
As someone who games a lot but wants a nice 8-bit panel, would it be possible to simple add panel type in parenthesis to the graph? It would be helpful in indicating comparable monitors, as TN panels have very low input lag but are not necessarily what you'd be in the market for if you were looking for an 8 bit panel suitable for gaming. As it is, I have to look up each monitor and find out which panel its using, which is difficult given so many sites like to hide it as far down as possible.I've been on the hunt for a ~$600-$700 8-bit panel that has virtually no input lag, to no avail. I had to buy a TN after buying a S-PVA because the input lag is so bad that lips don't sync up with talking/singing in shows viewed on the monitor. Worst $700 I ever spent.
faster - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I bought a GTX680 so that I can render frame rates in games above 60.It is time for the video viewing hardware to catch up to the video rendering hardware.
For $799, 120hz is a must.
p05esto - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Does an IPS, LED, 27"+ monitor exist with 120hz? I'm game, but don't think we are there yet.geok1ng - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
There are sold by http://120hz.net/ and http://www.overlordcomputer.com/.Most of the Yamazaki 27" 2560x1440 monitors that you see on ebay and alibaba are capable of more than 60Hz, and the " 2B" PCB can reach 120hz.
even if they cant overclock, like the Achivea Shimean on ebay, without a scaler and using only DL-DVI they have much less input lag, and all the glory of 1440p IPS.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1675393&...
p05esto - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I'd love to see a heat temperature number and opinion given with each monitor after a few hours of use. I have a smallish office and my current 26" CCFL monitor get rather warm, it heats up my whole office and is annoying. My face gets warm due to the heat radiating from the front of the screen as well.This is honestly the MAIN reason I want to move to an LED backlighting. It would be an interesting side note in the reviews. You never see specs on how much heat a monitor throws off. I bet this Dell stays pretty cool considering the low power draw.
Olaf van der Spek - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Power in is heat out, so look at the power consumption graph.ryko - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Is nobody else bothered by the fact that for the past 2 high-res monitor reviews the reviewer has resorted to testing at 1080p for gaming and input lag? I understand the desire to compare it to the end all be all of monitors -- a crt from somewhere around 2005, but i find it absolutely ridiculous that you don't even hook it up at 2550x1440 and play a few games on it.How about a "feel" for the input lag if you can't give us exact numbers. If it is terrible you will notice it on a fast-paced shooter. I have seen plenty of other monitor reviews and no one resorts to the lame line of" i don't have a crt that does 1140p so i cant measure the input lag at native resolutions." You go on to say that there "might be some additional lag" since you are testing a t 1080p...is that the scientific term? Just seems ridiculous. How are these other reviewers testing input lag?
Also your input lag numbers seem high compared to what we are seeing around the web with these 2560x1440 monitors. The general consensus is that on models with no scaler, there is 1-2ms lag. On the models with a scaler we are seeing 3-4ms. Not really enough to be concerned about. But your numbers here seem really high...How is that happening?
cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I don't know how everyone else is testing lag on their displays. I know some use an oscilloscope for it, which is going to be the most accurate method, but a very cost prohibitive one. Some use a very simple web lag timer, which has multiple flaws as well. I'm using SMTT because it is very fast, very accurate, and has very little margin for error. The highest error I can accidentally record from it is 1ms due to how it works, and averaged out over a dozen or more readings, I can live with that margin of error.It also allows for reading of pixel rise and fall times in addition to input lag, instead of having them combined as one number. This makes it easy to see the clear difference in results between the HP with no scaler and the 27" displays that have to use the scaler. Nothing else has changed in the setup, only the display, so I'm confident about the input lag numbers.
I also know that in playing games, I'm not going to be able to tell the difference between 2ms of lag and 18ms of lag. That's under a frame and I'm not a big enough gamer, or a good enough one, to notice that difference. My subjective opinion there would offer nothing over the objective measures that would be of any use, and so I don't contribute it.
Dug - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Thanks for doing this review. I appreciate the time and work put into it.This is exactly what I've been looking for.
ryko - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
sorry i meant we are seeing 10-20ms on models with a scaler...still not enough to be that concerned abouthaukionkannel - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
There is a lot of talk that imput lag may be due scaler. Any chance of getting allso 1440 mode imput lag in comparison. Not all monitors can do it, but it would be nice to see... or is is impossible because you can not get comparison from ctr?cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
No 1440p CRT available means no available no-lag reference display unfortunately. I'll be done with 27" displays here soon I imagine and back to displays that can be tested for lag.Pessimism - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Since you are running several color calibrations with extremely expensive tools, why not provide the resulting ICC profiles to readers on the website? I'm certain the demand is there.cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I don't provide an ICC profile for a simple reason: Monitors (and projectors and TVs and everything else I review and calibrate) are manufactured with a certain tolerance on every component inside of them. If I pull 10 displays off the line and put the same settings into them, I'm almost certain to get 10 different results. I have no way of knowing if the settings from one display are going to benefit or detract from another display.I fully realize I can put up the ICC file and say "Here it is, use at your own risk", but I also know that same ICC file is going to wind up hosted somewhere, or passed to someone as an "AnandTech U2713HM Calibration File" with no explanation as to the fact that it might make your display less accurate, and then a user will either wonder why their display is worse than before, or believe that the review it came from was obviously flawed because that file didn't work for them.
Basically, there's no way to get a display more accurate aside from having your display calibrated, and sharing settings is just as likely to make a display worse as to making it better. I always mention the preset mode I used for testing, as I try to find the most accurate one, but that's the long reason behind no ICC profiles being shared.
Despoiler - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
TFT Central has a review of this monitor and they put up their calibrated ICC files for download.Guspaz - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
It's bizarre that this review does not compare against what is quite possibly the most relevant monitor to compare against, the U2711, which the U2713HM would seem to replace. Dell still sells the U2711, for that matter. Surely it's relevant to see how this model compares to the previous model, since this review gives no indication beyond cost of why somebody should choose the U2713HM over the U2711.twtech - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Dell usually runs periodic sales though, so I'm hoping I can do it for under $2k.secretmanofagent - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Hey, I might have missed this mentioned in the article. Does it have the same antiglare coating that the U2412M has? I have one, and the spotty/blur that it causes on white backgrounds can be pretty annoying.landerf - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
so it's officially confirmed their AG coating is improved to samsung levels now? no more having to remove it to make a bearably unblurry image?khanov - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Thanks for the review. I was wondering what options the scaler offers?I have a U2412M and an old 2709W. The 2709W offers proper scaling while maintaining aspect ratio.
Strangely, the newer 2412M does not, it only stretches and is very annoying if you feed it a 16:9 signal.
Strulf - Friday, October 5, 2012 - link
How many Hz does it do? I presume it's not 120, right?IceDread - Friday, October 5, 2012 - link
The input lag makes the screen a deal breaker if you ever want to play a game where reaction time matters.swindmill - Saturday, October 6, 2012 - link
We can sell these monitors for around $600 USD + shipping. Send an email to delldeal@circu.it for more information.Wkstar - Saturday, October 6, 2012 - link
I paid $300.oo delivered each for my Catleap 2703's. To me they are wonderful.I do not need USB builtin or OSD or pivot, rotate
They do get my Tea on the morning
I guess if you want USB, OSD, Pivot, Rotate etc. Then it would be worth an extra $30.oo
To pay anything more for a screen would be Crazy ! !
Wellsoul2 - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - link
I also bought a Catleap 2703 for $295 shipped.No bad pixels I can see.
The base isn't great but I don't move it anyway.
It doesn't look cheap.
It has glossy gorilla glass in front.
It only has DVI-D and no OSD . Just adjust backlight basically.
Colors and Contrast (Black) is awesome.
So many people have bought these and had great luck.
surgex - Monday, October 8, 2012 - link
I don't understand why Dell is doing this.I've had a U2410 for years now -- I'm STILL waiting for an UPGRADE to it!
They keep releasing these awesome budget monitors but they are actually worse in tech specs than the previous model -- oh it's got USB3 but the color isn't as good and the resolution is the same as the model that came out 2 years ago.. what the fuck!?
Why is Apple the only one who actually cares about display quality?
Dell keeps sending me emails saying to use my buying power (dell account) to upgrade -- and I awlays reply to their customer service team, I'll upgrade when you come out with a product thats WORTH UPGRADING TO.
How about 120hz, higher resolution \ pixel density!? All we get is a shitty USB 3 hub and a lower quality display compared to the U2711. BOO!
serons - Thursday, October 11, 2012 - link
There's a thread in a Swedish forum about units suffering from severe backlight bleed. Another common problem is a yellow color cast in the lower left corner. It seems to be quite common, but the Dell representative I've been in contact with says that they've only had complaints from Sweden. I have two of these monitors and both suffer from yellow color cast in the lower left corner. What you make of this? The posts in the forum are in swedish but there are images: http://www.sweclockers.com/forum/101-skarmar-och-t...jacknhut - Saturday, October 13, 2012 - link
I would love to see a direct comparison between this and the recently released ASUS PB278Q 27'' 2560-1440 monitor. The Asus seems to be a decent monitor that is geared toward gaming. Thoughts?p05esto - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
One problem with the Ausus is they use that stupid PWM backlight flashing to set the brightness. It can tire your eyes and some people are sensitive to it. This Dell monitor is one of the very few that don't use that old backlight technology.Read more here:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/pulse_width_m...
I wish I knew in real life how this felt. The PWM is supposed to be even more noticable with PED backlit monitors, so I'm leaning towards the Dell right now as a result.
johan05156150 - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link
I had a major backlight bleeding:http://i.imgur.com/YqH5e.jpg
Fartunately I could retourn it.
July 2012, Rev A00
anuprav - Saturday, November 10, 2012 - link
On 07.11.2012 I have ordered DELL U2713HM after doing lots of survey over the net and found this Monitor to be good choice.Eagerly waiting for the delivery and will write comments about it.
Calon - Wednesday, December 12, 2012 - link
Expires Thursday, December 13, 2012 this sale, but it is now $630 at dell's site:http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.a...
with coupon code: GXGR7B6RJP354G
And ironically on the sales page they quote this review of the product from this site, "Unbeatable performance out of the box", lol.
Calon - Wednesday, December 12, 2012 - link
clicked the submit button too fast before editjwardell - Monday, December 24, 2012 - link
Costco.com is selling it for 649.99 inc shippingandreas12941 - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - link
The YCbCr problem can be fixed by overriding the EDID data of the display:http://embdev.net/topic/284710
Bodo - Sunday, February 3, 2013 - link
Hi,I use the monitor with a macbook pro and in the sRGB mode. With the EDID override method I get RBG colors. So far so good.
But it seems that some light grey colors are more yellow. I notice this first as I look at the Apple website. They use a lot of shadows and these shadows have a yellow tinge. So the shadow effect is looking really bad. WIth the MacBook display everything looks fine and grey is grey. On every other display I have tested the Apple website and the grey tones look normal.
In the multimedia mode there is no yellow tinge.
Is this normal for the sRGB mode?
Or what could be the problem here?
I have also tested the monitor with a windows laptop. The same problem. So it has nothing to do with
the macbook pro and the RGB problem.
davidm71 - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
I just did my own unboxing and as impressive on how they packaged the monitor I suffers from some serious weaknesses such as IPS glow and backlight bleed that is out of control!alesgola - Thursday, August 21, 2014 - link
Thank you for a great and very usefull review. I would like to make shure what " These only apply to the included sRGB mode in the display, so you should make sure to use that, and reset your video card LUT, to achieve these results." in case of my mac mini (late 2012). Do I understand i correctly, that I should go to Display/Profile menu of MacOs and select the option "Adobe sRGB ..."? Thank you in advance for your reply.Sanchez_1 - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
I think it is a bit expensive quality/price but it has a good amount of colors.