Dell U2713HM - Unbeatable performance out of the box
by Chris Heinonen on October 4, 2012 12:00 AM ESTDell U2713HM Input Lag and Power Use
As I stated on the Nixeus review, since I don’t have a CRT that can do 1440p resolution I’m stuck testing these higher resolution displays at 1080p. Because of that the scaler gets involved, and that can lead to extra delays that you might not see if you run at 1440p. The pixel response should be the same, but the lag could vary from being the same to perhaps the low 1-2ms we see from some displays like the HP ZR2740w.
Here the Dell performs almost identically to the Nixeus that we recently reviewed, which means bad things for gamers. We have over a full frame of input lag, and then 11ms of pixel response time to bring our total lag up to 29.5ms, which is nearly two full frames on a 60 fps game. While the U2713HM is fine for everything else, for games that require fast reflexes and can’t deal with two frames of lag you’ll probably need to look elsewhere. I know some consider two frames to be acceptable and some consider anything over one frame to be unacceptable, so you will have to decide what you can live with.
On the power use side, I don’t know what Dell did to this display but it is stingy when it comes to energy use. Even with the backlight at maximum and the screen pure white, we see only 45 watts of power being used. With the backlight at minimum this drops down to 18 watts of power. No 27” display in here has come close to this yet, and there are 23” and 24” class displays that almost use as much power as the 27” Dell does. I guess the eco consciousness at Dell goes beyond just packaging to the actual power use of the monitor as well.
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landerf - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
so it's officially confirmed their AG coating is improved to samsung levels now? no more having to remove it to make a bearably unblurry image?khanov - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Thanks for the review. I was wondering what options the scaler offers?I have a U2412M and an old 2709W. The 2709W offers proper scaling while maintaining aspect ratio.
Strangely, the newer 2412M does not, it only stretches and is very annoying if you feed it a 16:9 signal.
Strulf - Friday, October 5, 2012 - link
How many Hz does it do? I presume it's not 120, right?IceDread - Friday, October 5, 2012 - link
The input lag makes the screen a deal breaker if you ever want to play a game where reaction time matters.swindmill - Saturday, October 6, 2012 - link
We can sell these monitors for around $600 USD + shipping. Send an email to delldeal@circu.it for more information.Wkstar - Saturday, October 6, 2012 - link
I paid $300.oo delivered each for my Catleap 2703's. To me they are wonderful.I do not need USB builtin or OSD or pivot, rotate
They do get my Tea on the morning
I guess if you want USB, OSD, Pivot, Rotate etc. Then it would be worth an extra $30.oo
To pay anything more for a screen would be Crazy ! !
Wellsoul2 - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - link
I also bought a Catleap 2703 for $295 shipped.No bad pixels I can see.
The base isn't great but I don't move it anyway.
It doesn't look cheap.
It has glossy gorilla glass in front.
It only has DVI-D and no OSD . Just adjust backlight basically.
Colors and Contrast (Black) is awesome.
So many people have bought these and had great luck.
surgex - Monday, October 8, 2012 - link
I don't understand why Dell is doing this.I've had a U2410 for years now -- I'm STILL waiting for an UPGRADE to it!
They keep releasing these awesome budget monitors but they are actually worse in tech specs than the previous model -- oh it's got USB3 but the color isn't as good and the resolution is the same as the model that came out 2 years ago.. what the fuck!?
Why is Apple the only one who actually cares about display quality?
Dell keeps sending me emails saying to use my buying power (dell account) to upgrade -- and I awlays reply to their customer service team, I'll upgrade when you come out with a product thats WORTH UPGRADING TO.
How about 120hz, higher resolution \ pixel density!? All we get is a shitty USB 3 hub and a lower quality display compared to the U2711. BOO!
serons - Thursday, October 11, 2012 - link
There's a thread in a Swedish forum about units suffering from severe backlight bleed. Another common problem is a yellow color cast in the lower left corner. It seems to be quite common, but the Dell representative I've been in contact with says that they've only had complaints from Sweden. I have two of these monitors and both suffer from yellow color cast in the lower left corner. What you make of this? The posts in the forum are in swedish but there are images: http://www.sweclockers.com/forum/101-skarmar-och-t...jacknhut - Saturday, October 13, 2012 - link
I would love to see a direct comparison between this and the recently released ASUS PB278Q 27'' 2560-1440 monitor. The Asus seems to be a decent monitor that is geared toward gaming. Thoughts?