Dell U2412M - 16:10 IPS without Breaking the Bank
by Chris Heinonen on February 28, 2012 9:00 AM ESTDell U2412M Brightness and Contrast
Despite the larger size of the display compared to recent 23” monitors I have reviewed, the U2412M says it can produce 300 nits of light at maximum output, which should certainly be bright enough for anyone to use. It’s worth noting that I usually set the display around 5 nits too high before calibration, to allow for a little headroom when ColorEyes generates the curves. However this also means that maximum light output, once calibrated, might be around 5% lower than maximum due to the curves inside the ICC profile.
Despite this possible limitation, the Dell still put out 294 nits at maximum brightness after calibration, and 39 nits at minimum brightness. This was plenty bright for my work area, even with bright overhead lights, and the combination of the high brightness and anti-glare coating made it easy to see the screen.
The weak area for IPS screens has always been the black levels, with them being much higher than those from VA based displays. The U2412M did well here, out performing all recent non-VA displays with a nice, low black level.
With this combination of black level and a very bright screen, we would expect to see a decent contrast ratio to come out as well, and the Dell delivers here.
Beating the specified number by over 10% is always nice to see, and the contrast on the Dell is very nice. It easily outperforms most TN displays, though it's not able to compete with the combination of LED lighting and a VA panel from BenQ. It was also very stable across the spectrum, with virtually identical ratios at maximum and minimum brightness.
While the center stayed nice and bright, the edges showed a good amount of fall off in comparison, and an overall variance of around 6%. The areas with higher brightness uniformity issues were also the areas with higher dE values on the uniformity testing, just as we expected. Looking at black uniformity, thanks to the bright corners this wound up even worse, with a variance of around 14%.
Taken as a whole, the contrast ratios are good, and while there is light fall-off at the edges of the display, it does not seem to have a noticeable effect on color quality.
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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.