Dell U2713HM - Unbeatable performance out of the box
by Chris Heinonen on October 4, 2012 12:00 AM EST
Dell U2713HM Brightness and Contrast
Last review I changed how I measured brightness and contrast to use a 5x5 ANSI grid instead of solid black and white screens in order to provide more accurate data. I wasn’t sure how this would impact screens, making comparisons between models harder. Measuring the center square of the 5x5 ANSI grid, the maximum brightness I could obtain from the U2713HM is 343 nits, which is very close to the 350 nits listed in the specs. With the backlight set to minimum that drops down to 28 nits, giving you a wide range of brightness levels to choose from.
Black levels are where I expected the most impact with the new testing, since an ANSI grid prevents LED systems from going to full black. Preventing these systems from kicking in gives a much better real-world idea of the contrast ratio for a monitor. The U2713HM does a good job with the new measurements, as seen in the chart below.
Figuring out the contrast ratio from the avove data is simple. There’s some slight rounding, but otherwise we see contrast ratios very close to 1000:1 for the display at both maximum and minimum brightness. This stacks up very well compared to all the other 27” displays that have been tested, and using a more stringent standard. The contrast numbers from the Dell are very good overall,
With a good foundation of brightness and contrast levels, it’s time to see how the Dell performs with color.
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p05esto - Thursday, October 04, 2012 - link
Great news! I will be patiently waiting (would wait for a sale anyhow). Replylukechip - Thursday, October 04, 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 ! Replypeterfares - Thursday, October 04, 2012 - link
For some reason Dell monitors are far cheaper in Australia than in the United States. ReplyComputerGuy2006 - Thursday, October 04, 2012 - link
Im tired of 1440p and im tired of 60hz.Time for 1600p at 120hz.... or better. Reply
JarredWalton - Thursday, October 04, 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). ReplyRyan Smith - Thursday, October 04, 2012 - link
DisplayPort 1.2 could in fact do it. It has almost exactly twice the bandwidth of DL-DVI. ReplyEnzoFX - Thursday, October 04, 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? Replycheinonen - Thursday, October 04, 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. ReplyJNo - Thursday, October 04, 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? Reply
ChuckDriver - Thursday, October 04, 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. Reply