Dell U2412M - 16:10 IPS without Breaking the Bank
by Chris Heinonen on February 28, 2012 9:00 AM ESTDell U2412M Design, OSD, and Viewing Angles
The look of the Dell is certainly utilitarian and not sexy. Unless you kept posters of 1980s-era minivans on your wall as a kid instead of a Porsche or Corvette, you are not going to find the U2412M to be an attractive display. But as we noted on the previous page, like those minivans, what it lacks in looks, it makes up for in utility.
Dell continues the menu system with four unlabeled buttons that control the OSD, and manages to make it fairly easy to navigate overall. I did hit the wrong button a couple times, so perhaps they could space them out a little more than they do, but overall the menu is easy to use and navigate. There is no switching between horizontal and vertical movements with the same set of buttons, which is a peeve of mine.
In our forums some users expressed concern about the anti-glare coating of the U2412M so I decided to pay extra attention to it. I have to say that I wasn’t bothered by it at all, and didn’t see anything to be concerned about. It certainly was nothing like the patterned retarder on passive 3D displays that drives me crazy from a close distance. If no one had mentioned the anti-glare coating to me then I wouldn’t have even noticed it was there. Perhaps I’m just not that sensitive to it yet and will become more so going forward.
Viewing angles are always a good area of performance for IPS panels, and you can see that in the included gallery. Overall the angles were good, with a loss of contrast at the extreme angles but nothing that you would notice in a normal working position, or even if someone was looking at your monitor for a presentation. Overall from a physical perspective the Dell was unexciting but didn’t cause any areas of concern that some other models have for me.
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ryedizzel - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
+1cheinonen - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
Can you provide any more feedback, or examples, on why you feel this way? Of course I don't want to alienate readers with my writing style.jamyryals - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
He's posting about a commenter, not you Chris.cheinonen - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
Ah, I missed the subject heading there as I was reading through the comments. Sorry about that!bobsmith1492 - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
Pot... kettle. Don't mind this troll, Mr. Heinonen.ryedizzel - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
I guess I am one of the few that actually wants a 1080p monitor! My PC sits next to the 46" living room TV and its much easier to mirror the resolution on my desktop for watching movies or playing games using the wireless Xbox controller adapter.I'm just dying for a 120Hz passive 3D monitor to hit the market before I upgrade.... or OLED. ;)
Zoomer - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
This monitor can do that just fine.TerdFerguson - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
Great review, thanks.phantom505 - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
I went ahead and bought the AOC. As far as image quality goes, it doesn't seem like this does that much better, but you look at it much more favorably, which is odd. Now I'm not a fan of the brushed chrome, and I hate the stand, but I don't see how having a slightly larger aspect ratio makes this better than the AOC. I guess the color and stand might, but I find that hard to believe for $100 improvement.I'm more curious the ASUS Artistic series (or whatever they call it) performs with claims of low dE and 98% of the Adobe RGB gamut.
cheinonen - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
The AOC did very well for the price, as getting the eIPS display for under $200 is nice. The Dell was very close as far as color accuracy, but had the extra resolution, far better stand, USB hub, better contrast ratio (when it comes to displays, contrast ratio winds up being more important than anything else for seeing a clear difference side-by-side), better black level, and a nicer UI. The extra inch isn't important to me really, but it also stands out more relative to other displays due to the panel technology and aspect ratio.I'm working to get a review of the ASUS ProArt series in the future, as I'm very interested as well.