Dell U2412M - 16:10 IPS without Breaking the Bank
by Chris Heinonen on February 28, 2012 9:00 AM ESTDell U2412M Color Quality
With that long write-up out of the way, you might expect that there was something in particular to the U2412M that led me to explain our testing and results. There initially was but it actually proved to be a software issue; still, I thought the explanation on the previous page would be useful for everyone. For our uncalibrated measurements, I used the profile included on the CD, set the brightness to 200 nits, and then measured using the i1Pro meter.
Here we see a score over 7, which is about what we expect to see on a monitor straight out of the box. Comparing this to previous displays isn’t easy to do as most of those used the i1Display2, which isn’t nearly as accurate as the i1Pro is. Of course, all displays do better once calibrated, so I kept the brightness target at 200 nits, with a white point target of D65, gamma of 2.2, and minimum black target.
The errors for the Dell look very similar to what we have seen on other monitors. The color gamut is not AdobeRGB, so some of the patches are outside of the range for the display and can’t be rendered correctly. This leads to the spikes in the chart for blue samples and the higher average dE. We included the median dE number so you can see that the value drops quite a bit if we look at that. Everything other than blue is pretty good, and the grayscale is right around 1. So this is nice overall, though not perfectly accurate due to the color gamut and possibly due to the 6-bit panel. Now we will profile again to see if the results are similar with a target of 100 nits instead of 200 nits.
The error seems to rise a bit here, most notably in the grayscale that you would want to keep very neutral for print work. Most colors stay below 3.0 in their error (which is considered the threshold of being visible to the naked eye in motion) but again the blues are past that and errors would be visible to someone that was looking. For serious print work, you probably need to look for something that can use the full AdobeRGB gamut.
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Finraziel - Friday, March 2, 2012 - link
Perhaps if all you do on that screen is play games, yes... Personally, I'd LOVE 120 hz, I can often still see chopping at 60hz and hate it. But, so far, getting a 120hz monitor means you have to compromise at just about everything else. I also hate the colourshifts in TN screens and I do other stuff on my system as well for which I really don't want to go to a 1080p screen (yes, I'd miss those 120 lines). If anything, if I'm buying a new screen, I want more desktop space, not less.Maybe new display technologies will make it possible to offer 120 hz at higher resolutions and better display quality. Until then I guess I'll stick with my old dell 2405FPW...
T2k - Thursday, March 1, 2012 - link
You must be blind.Sabresiberian - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
This IS a review of a quality monitor. It might not fit your needs, but it is above any TN screen, and priced in the ballpark of the best of those. It isn't intended to be the best out there, but provide a decent 16:10 at a relatively low price point.Anandtech.com reviews a wide variety of monitor qualities, if you think they just do low-quality monitors you must have just started reading here and need to learn how to look up past articles. It's not hard.
;)
toyotabedzrock - Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - link
He/She wasn't attacking anantech.And this screen is not much better than a TN monitor except in viewing angles.
seapeople - Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - link
Wow, you screen snobs are getting overbearing.SlyNine - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link
Yea, because saying this screen isn't much better then a TN monitor makes him a screen snob...You don't own a Dell U2412M by any chance do you ?
DarkUltra - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
It should have said so in the header. Now it says only IPS which is misleading, aka getting more hopeful visitors.Visual - Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - link
Totally agree, calling eIPS IPS is downright lieing to your readers.Tetracycloide - Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - link
Panel Type eIPSWhat are you on about exactly?
Visual - Thursday, March 1, 2012 - link
Article title.