Dell U2713HM - Unbeatable performance out of the box
by Chris Heinonen on October 4, 2012 12:00 AM ESTDell U2713HM Conclusion
With the U2713HM monitor, Dell hasn’t broken any new ground. Instead, they have taken the same panel that many vendors are using and presented it in a well thought out and constructed package that is a pleasure to use. From the packaging to the stand to the OSD, everything is designed for ease of use, and after weeks of use nothing left me feeling annoyed or that it needed to be changed.
Performance for the Dell U2713HM is very good, with the performance out of the box being extraordinary. Calibrated color performance is very good, and the contrast numbers are as good as any 27” display we've tested, even with the more difficult method now being used. The only negative for the display is the slower response time for gaming, though as I mentioned before this might be improved by running at the native resolution (but we can't directly test this).
The U2713HM lists for $799 and though Dell often has sales on their displays I don’t know how much this will affect this model. Compared to the $650 HP ZR2740w you get better pre-calibration and post-calibration results, more inputs, an OSD system, USB 3.0 support, and the same contrast ratios. If prices were equal from a sale, I’d pick the Dell U2713HM over the HP unless I absolutely needed faster response times for gaming that the HP offers due to its lack of a scaler. Even then, the Dell might be the exact same at gaming when using the native 2560x1440 resolution.
Compared to the $430 Nixeus model that was just reviewed (though currently selling for $500), it becomes a more difficult a decision. The Dell is superior in performance in all areas out of the box, and remains superior in white and black uniformity and levels as well as contrast, even after calibration. It also offers USB 3.0, better build quality, and a far better OSD system. The color errors are equivalent after calibration, but the Dell offers such great performance out of the box that you likely don’t even need a calibration for it, which for many saves the cost of decent calibration hardware. For those that don’t care about calibration and are most focused on a display for general use, it’s still going to be hard to beat the value offered by the Nixeus.
In the end, I think the U2713HM is a very well designed display and one that I do recommend, especially if it is available on sale from Dell. It is one of the few displays that after spending time with it I don’t have any annoyances or problems that I feel need to be fixed. The user experience from opening the box to using the display is well considered and designed, with no major flaws to be found. A Dell display might not stand out on your desk, but with its test performance it stands out in my lab. Dell has a wonderful blend of features and performance in the U2713HM, and while not the value leader in 27” displays, this might be my favorite overall model in this category right now.
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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.