Dell U2311H: E-IPS, Full Adjustments, and DisplayPort
by Chris Heinonen on September 27, 2011 12:20 AM ESTColor Gamut
The Dell measured just below 70% of the Adobe RGB gamut, about where we would expect for a panel with a normal CCFL backlight. For most users working in an sRGB color space, 70% can actually be better than 100%, as higher color gamuts can produce oversaturated colors in non-color-aware applications.
One thing that is different about the panel in the Dell is that it’s a newer E-IPS panel that only has 6-bits of color depth instead of 8-bits, which would typically only provide access to 65,536 colors and not the usual 16.7 million. What this means is that to effectively display all of those colors and shades, the pixels will have to quickly shift intensity levels instead of being able to remain solid at one level. For colors that don’t need to use this method of dithering, such as white, they will look rock solid, but if you look at a black to white gradient, you can notice shades of gray where this dithering is happening. Used at a reasonable distance, you might not notice this at all, but close up you will probably be able to see it. I wasn’t particularly bothered by this behavior, but some people might be.
Color Uniformity
All monitors typically calibrate using a single point in the center of the display, but of course you don’t do all of your work there. Color and brightness uniformity can vary across the panel by a large margin as the LCD backlights are typically positioned at the edges of the screen, except for rare cases, which doesn’t allow for a perfectly even distribution of light. Here we see how the Dell does by taking our 200 nits profile and once again running our color checked at nine different locations on the screen.
The Dell has a low average dE of 1.51 in the center for the display and that creeps up as we move towards the edges, with a peak dE of 3.39 in the upper left corner of the unit. Overall the majority of the error is below 3 and would not be visible to the naked eye, but above what we would prefer it would be for print work. Just like with the initial reading, you can see it is those colors that are made up mostly of blue light that are causing the issue and so the numbers might be a little deceptive in how bad the problem is.
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jabber - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
...with just buying a PVA panel instead?Aphelion02 - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
Nice article, but so late as to be dangerously close to being irrelevant. A large amount of people who might have found this useful have already made their purchasing decisions almost a year ago. I have noticed this as quite a trend at AT, with this article and the P8P68 mobo review as being most striking. At some point, the added value of a late review is so minimal you are better off spending the effort on something else.dingetje - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
more 1920x1080 reviews?I like Dell, but here's what I think: they can shove all their 16:9 panels up their @$$
A5 - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
Cool story bro.The market has spoken, and they want cheap 16:9 1080p monitors. Dell isn't going to make a 16:10 monitor that won't sell to satisfy you.
Makaveli - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
Its funny you say that cause Dell already has a 16:10 24' model that is superior to this.The market is also full of dumb ass best buy shoppers!
Dug - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
The market hasn't spoken,No one I have ever spoken too prefers 16:9 to 16:10
And that sentiment is echoed in every forum I come across.
16:9 is what has been shoved down our throats
user1003 - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
This monitor is horrible. The whole stand is nice and adjustable, but the panel itself is plagued with a lot of problems, among them:- tinting (google it, it's a problem with the whole series, and the 24" series too). there are yellow stripes at the screen borders and the whole left side is slightly tinted yellow, too. the area effected by the tinting differs, but a lot of the U23 and U24 Dells have this problem
- the anti glare coating distorts small details like fonts
- the PSU makes a loud humming noise when set to <95% brightness, so you either become blind or deaf
- clouding at the edges
Some of them are better than others so you could get lucky (and let's face it, they sent Anandtech a good one for testing), but overall this monitor just sucks, even considering the low price.
jecs - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
That is too bad. But also makes me feel safe with the higher quality 2470 ultrasharp. This screen is working very well, I have a lot of input connectors to choose from, 1920 x 1200 screen and I have 0 problems after a year of use. But, also remember this new matrices may still be 6 bits for color depth and that LED panels are good on power consumption but not very good for precision color. However I don't know why Dell is having such a product on the market if it not ready. It also makes me wonder if Dell is lowering the quality to appeal to new audiences but instead is disappointing loyal customers.tech6 - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
To all those who complain that this panel is far from perfect for design work: I would have to agree but that's not the market it aims for. For starters, any 1080 panel is no good for layout work so if that's what you're looking for there are a number of $500+ monitors that will meet your needs. This panel is designed as an upgrade to mediocre $200 TN monitors and it does a great job and it does a great job. We bought a number of these for the office last year and they put all other TN panels to shame. For those considering a 1080 work or home display, this is a high quality bargain.Miggleness - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
I've had this monitor for over a year now, hope you can do a followup and put the U2312 to the test as well. You'd definitely be able to get a good assessment on it's improvements over the U2311 (if any) while this review is fresh.