Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor, Black

Ive had the monitor a little over a month now. I appreciate the superior image quality, color, screen size and stand adjustment range compared to my old 22 TN 1680x1050 monitor. I use it mainly for internet use and RPG/MMO gaming. I do have a Spyder4 Elite colormeter and using that for calibration I have very clean, bright whites and deep blacks. Colors are vivid and true (99% sRBG after calibration). * Gaming response is great for the type of games I play. I see no abnormal ghosting (all LCDs have a little blur regardless of panel type or response time compared to a CRT). My RPGs and MMOs (like Skyrim and LotRO) look gorgeous. * The stands adjustment range is awesome. I daily use the height adjustment, tilt and swivel depending on how Im sitting in my chair. Its so nice to have an ergonomic monitor that accommodates me regardless how I slouch, tip back or sit upright. Every monitor should have such a stand, but sadly most dont * The screen is very close to perfect. There is a tiny bit of edge bleed, but it in general is the most uniform monitor Ive ever own. The screen is almost completely smooth and dark when the PC first boots and there are no dead or stuck pixels. Great job there on quality control there. * Unlike a few who complain about the Anti-Glare coating I have no issue with it. Unless I have my nose very close to the screen with a light background its unnoticeable. At the usual 24 I sit from the screen I really cant see it. Whites are clean, colors are true, text is sharp (use the Windows 7 Clear Type adjustment tool) and there is no undue graininess to the screen. My previous monitor was a glossy screen, so if anyone should be sensitive to the anti-glare coating it should be me. The U2412M is just fine and I think some people are trying very hard to find a perceived flaw to obsess over. Basically, its a matte screen. If you dont like matte screens, get a glossy, but be aware you will then have to deal with reflections in bright environments. * 1920x1200 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. This is a personal preference, but I like the greater height of a 16:10 monitor for internet and productivity use. If you really need to view 16:9 material without it being stretched youll be better off with a 1920x1080 monitor since the Dell doesnt have 1:1 pixel mapping. You can set it to 16:9 in most video cards so the stretching isnt evident (my Nvidia GPU can using the Nvidia Control Panel). That brings me to one of the monitors few cons. It can adjust to view 4:3 aspect material (older games)without stretching in the menu. It uses black bars on the left and right to do this, but the problem is it then shows widescreen material with black bars as well. Most monitors (including my three year old HP) can switch back and forth automatically when using a 4:3 setting in the menu. With the U2412M you have to go into the menu every time when playing old games or watching a 4:3 aspect TV show or movie. All in all this is an excellent monitor for general use and Im very happy with my purchase. Amazon (as usual) delivered quickly and their excellent return policy during the 30 day window really put my mind at ease vs. buying from a local brick and mortar store. They double boxed the monitor for shipment and thats a rarity with most e-tailers (Newegg doesnt do that for monitors).

Colors a little off and brightness too high out of the box, but monitors color balance and brightness is near perfect after calibration. Make use of suggested brightness and color settings online to get you much of the calibration benefit. The most striking difference with other TN-panel monitors Ive used is the considerably higher contrast level after calibration. HDR rendering effects are *striking* on this screen. Ive gone back to replay the original FEAR and Black Mesa on this, and the excellent contrast image enhances the games atmospheres greatly. The anti-glare coatings color shimmering effect some describe is only somewhat noticeable when close to the screen, and only when looking at a full or mostly-white background. At normal use distance while browsing, watching or editing video, or playing games, most people will be unable to spot the effect. I looked interesting on paper, but I did not fully realize how useful the portrait display mode would be to me until I used it. When rotated to portrait, the following become possible: 1. Full vertically extended view of many news and information websites. 2. Zoomed view of a single legal-size page in Acrobat or Word. Those concerned by the lack of HDMI input, I would suggest you should not be. The video signals of HDMI and DVI-D are the same; HDMI adds a digital sound transport that this monitor cant take advantage of. Get an HDMI to DVI adapter and youll be fine. Finally, do not underestimate the benefit of a 1920x1200 resolution when editing HD video. The extra vertical resolution makes it easy to work on the video at full 1080P resolution while preserving 120 vertival pixels of room for palettes above or below.

I purchased two of these. One of them had a stuck pixel cluster and a pea sized bright spot near the center of the screen. I returned that one and the replacement arrived with two dark pixel clusters. On any background but a black background the dark pixel clusters look like the monitor is dirty or has a smudge....tried to clean the screen multiple times but the dark spots are still there. Evidently Dell doesnt consider it an issue unless you have 6 or more of these spots but an ultrasharp monitor should be better than this. I can understand one bad monitor but now the replacement has issues too. Very annoying. The 2nd of the first two I purchased doesnt have any issues. Other than the pixel cluster issue the colors are great and the monitors perform as expected. UPDATE: After more research the dark spots on the replacement monitor are actually smudges/fingerprints/dust etc. between the layers of the monitor. That is why it looks like a smudge but you cant clean it. It is behind the top layer. This has to be a quality control issue during assembly. Pros: Great color and excellent picture Cons: Quality control issues/stuck pixels/smudges between layers My Settings: I have used both the standard and color temp control. My favorite settings are the color temp mode set to 5700K, brightness at 35 and contrast at 75. I have also used the same brightness and contrast with the standard preset mode and like that too. The brightness comes set at 75 which is way too high in my opinion. Great color reproduction and no eye strain with these settings. I did find the 6500K color temp setting too red for some colors and that is why I settled on the 5700K.

Im a photographer making the transition to video capture and editing (which will be my primary workflow). I shoot with Canon and exclusively use older Zeiss lenses. I process on a 2010 15 Macbook Pro duo-core i7 processor with 8gb ram. I recently purchased a Spyder 4PRO color calibrator for monitor calibration. Im not a video gamer, so monitor response time is not that much of a concern (if you primarily game, save $150 and buy a TN panel). Okay, with all that in mind: I researched monitors for a month prior to my purchase and decided that, regardless of the money, an IPS panel was critical for color gamut and angle of view. Of the IPS panels, Dell had the winning combination of video performance as well as physical ergonomics within a $500 budget. It became a question of the U2412 ($300 on Amazon) and the U2410 ($500 on Amazon): Both monitors had a well-built feel. They had heavy, solid bases that prevented tipping within reason. The menus were intuitive and easy to navigate. It wasnt until I calibrated the color with the Spyder 4PRO that I noticed a potential problem for photographers using the U2412. The Spyder 4PRO is such a dream to use in this system configuration, and will actually show you how your monitors color gamut compares within SRGB, NTSC, and ADOBE RGB color spaces. THE U2412 FALLS JUST SHORT OF AN SRGB COLOR SPACE, AND IS ONLY 77% OF AN ADOBE RGB COLOR SPACE. If you want the option of viewing your images in an ADOBE RGB colorspace, the U2410 is capable of that color gamut - not the U2412. The U2412 is a stellar in the image department, showing as much subtle mid-tone as my camera can capture. I will, however, note that blacks could be just a touch deeper. Again, its easy to get neurotic with exacting measurement. It must be put into perspective that, for my line of work, web-based media is the future, as broadcast network tv is becoming dead as dead. with this in mind, even if Im watching media on a prefect screen, the masses who will stream it are definitely watching it on wildly inaccurate monitors, so when alls said and done, where do you draw the line on critical performance perfection? Out of the box, both monitors need to be calibrated (previous reviews about a blue/red hue are right on). Dont rely on the pre-fab video options for games, movies, etc. - they are not accurate. I personally cant fault a monitor for not being accurate out of the box - I understand that proper monitor calibration is a step that must be taken and is dependent on specific variables regarding monitor location, workflow, etc. I found the Spyder 4Pro to be a 10minute process from start to finish and was dead on the first time... because exact directions were followed. Again, the U2412 is plenty of accurate monitor for the price. !!! ADD-ON COMMENT !!! THERE ARE NO HDMI INPUTS FOR THE U2412, ONLY THE U2410. IF YOU ARE ON A MACBOOK, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PROPER DVI INPUT. MY MACBOOK REQUIRES A MINI DVI - STANDARD DVI ADAPTER... NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH A MICRO DVI - STANDARD DVI ADAPTER (EVEN SMALLER INPUT FOR IPADS). APPLE SELLS THE MINI FOR $40 AND THE MICRO FOR $20. AMAZON SELLS THEM FOR $5. *** 6 MONTH FOLLOW UP *** Monitor behaves just as it did out of the box. No problems of any kind to report.

As a long-time techie, Ive had a problem with Dell since their inception. Bad service, bad products, everything you wouldnt want in a company. Ive always avoided their products over the years. So it pains me to say that these monitors are top notch. The manufacture date is Sept 2012, not some random month last year. Initial product launch was early last year, so I was hesitant of getting something that has been sitting in a warehouse for almost two years. Five stars to the seller for this. The reviews here are what swayed me (that and Dell uses the same panels as other big names like Sony/Samsung, etc.), so I figured...the resolution is what I wanted, the price point is what I wanted, and looking at unrelated Dell products, the reviews have gotten a lot better, so I went for it. Crisp, clear, no dead pixels, they look fine out of the box compared to my two 24 Samsungs that Ive calibrated. Ill still have to go over the settings, just like any other monitor. Bezels are clean and slim. Solid construction throughout. Packed well. I bought two, and mounted them on a dual monitor stand I picked up [...] (5 stars to this product too, by the way) These monitors are for programming, so the 8ms G2G is not a concern. No photo/video editing, no games. _________________ Update 2/16/2013: I bought these last November, and Ive had them on 24/7 (with sleep mode). Every day I look forward to working on the computer with these monitors. They are just fantastic. Im adding a user-photo to show them installed.

Edit 08/15/16: Its been close to three years since I made this purchase and I have never regretted it for a second. Im actually kind of sad I didnt get two or three of them instead of one. Everything I said in the following review from 3 years ago is still true and I highly recommend this monitor to anyone who is looking for relative color accuracy. Arrived in perfect condition and was easy to calibrate. It looks so so much better than my low-end LED Asus. Im really glad I decided to spring for an IPS, this UltraSharp is everything I hoped it would be. Wanted to edit this to also say; Im somewhere between an amateur and professional graphics artist. I do make my living off my artwork but Im not doing big commercial projects or anything. This level of monitor has been perfect for me so far since I got it. I used to be working with an older LCD monitor and the difference to me is quite stunning. If youre into photography or graphic design, but not professionally enough that you need to buy a $600+ monitor, this is a good monitor to get, I think! Its good, better than a lot out there, but not so high end that it gets out of control expensive. It has good features, a large screen and looks great! I also recommend going to reviews.cnet.com and looking up the review for this specific monitor and maybe comparing it to others in its price range. Thats how I eventually decided to buy it! The reviews there are very thorough and all conducted in the same manner so its much easier to compare specs than looking at random Amazon reviews, though those are super helpful too! :) Happy hunting!

Pros: - I bought an IPS display for good color and this monitor has it. I was blown away at first when I switched to it. And I miss it now that Ive returned it. Im having trouble finding another monitor that will match the display quality of this one. - Great viewing angle without color distortion. Cons: - The anti-glare coating was more noticeable than other Dell monitors Ive used. It wasnt extremely distracting, but it was there. Especially plain white surfaces, like web pages, would shimmer a bit. - The IPS glow, especially in the bottom right corner. I didnt think it would bother me that much, but it did. I havent seen IPS glow this bad on Apple IPS displays so I wasnt expecting it from the Dell either. Under certain circumstances it was almost completely invisible, but on dark images, especially those near black, it was extremely noticeable and distracting. I found myself tilting the monitor, moving it around, moving my head, trying to make it go away, but didnt. For comparison, the U2312HM also has this problem but for some reason it is much less visible. - The monitor failed spectacularly after less than two months of use, with bands of random color running down the screen. I probably just got a lemon, but it impacts my perception of the monitors reliability. Service: - I had problems getting Dell customer service to help me because they expect the monitor to have a Service Tag number or for you to have a Dell order number. This monitor came with neither from Amazon, so you can expect to get zero help from Dell if something goes wrong with your monitor. Amazon finally took it back from me, but buyer beware buying Dell products from anyone other than Dell.

So I got the package, Excitedly I unwrapped it, plugged it in and pow, blue screen of... just kidding. Purpose for Purchase: Video Games, 3d Modeling, LED, Its a Dell Monitor (We have a bunch at work, and they are awesome) My Previous Monitor (which I am lending to my Girlfriend) is

We have been exceedingly impressed with the U2412M monitor thus far. Without rehashing (too much) what other reviews have said, heres what we like: 1) Aspect ratio: the screen size is perfect for working with documents, excel files, email and presentations. Yes a smaller screen will do the job but the extra vertical resolution is nice to have. 2) Highly adjustable: Dell UltraSharp panels have always been great in this regard, and this monitor is no exception. We love that the swivel (both left to right and horizontal to vertical) is effortless, and that its easy to adjust the vertical height and pitch of the monitor to help you achieve the best ergonomic viewing angle. This has really helped to reduce neck strain for both of us who use this monitor. 3) Great colors and image clarity: Im sure there are professional photographers and others who need nothing but the highest levels of color accuracy, but for normal office/web/photo use this monitor produces crisp, clear, pleasing images which are more than good enough for us. 4) USB side ports: USB ports on the bottom and side of the monitor have been a feature on various Dell monitors over the years. While this feature is easy to overlook, the convenience of being able to quickly access USB ports to pop in and out a flash drive has become a luxury that I dont want to live without. No more having to reach behind the PC, or twisting to reach strangely angled ports that manufactures put on their computers for some reason. Its also great if you keep your CPU on the floor and dont want to have to get down on your knees just to plug in a USB device. As always, Amazon customer service is great. The first display we received had a dead (dark) pixel. Amazon quickly shipped out a replacement and the new one was perfect. I highly recommend thoroughly checking out the pixels right after you receive it. There are helpful test patterns that you can play on YouTube and similar sites that make dead and stuck pixels easier to spot.

My vintage 2005-ish Samsung 213t (21.3) monitor quit abruptly on me a month ago, so I had to scramble to get a replacement. I had been very pleased with the Samsung, even though it was a TN type display. The IPS-panel Dell U2412M doesnt disappoint. My, how the technology has changed! Im a photography hobbyist, and I fuss a fair amount over color fidelity, sharpness, detail and the like. However, I cant afford more than a basic investment in digital photography. I use a pretty ordinary Canon photo printer, and Ive been fairly satisfied with the look of my images on the Samsung and in print. With the U2412M, images are represented even more accurately on the display while maintaining quality output from my printer. The U2412M is designed to be highly compliant with the sRGB color space, which is appropriate for my purposes. It doesnt even attempt to handle the much wider Adobe RGB color space, but that range of colors isnt supported online anyway. In fact, unless I were to output my photos primarily to a high-end printer with an Adobe RGB gamut, that capability would be wasted (and so would my money). Heres what else I like about the Dell U2412M: * It has a full 1200 pixels of vertical, like my Samsung. I find vertical screen space to be exceptionally valuable, and was shocked to discover that few reasonably priced monitors these days have more than 1080 pixels. I dont need a wide movie screen on my desk; thats what my TV is for. * Its EPEAT Gold Energy Star compliant. This is hard to find in any large monitor. * Its screen is anti-glare. I dont understand the current obsession with glossy surfaces; the reflections on such monitors are incredibly distracting and make photo editing difficult. And no, the anti-glare surface doesnt bother me at all. * Its amazingly lightweight. Maybe this is normal these days, but the old Samsung weighs three times as much. * It has all the positioning adjustments you could want (tilt, swivel, height, and landscape/portrait pivot). Especially useful is the height adjustment: I can push it down to 1 from the desktop, so I dont have to tilt my head back to see through my progressive lens glasses. And my one caveat: The U2412M claims to have a 178° viewing angle both vertically and horizontally, but in practice, it doesnt seem to be even as wide as my old monitor. Outside a cone of about 90°, the brightness falls off significantly. This hasnt really been a issue as I sit pretty well centered when I use it. Your mileage may vary. Update: Upon further consideration, I think I overstated the viewing angle issue. The display exhibits some minor brightness variation when I move well off-center, but it remains quite impressive. Practically speaking, I dont think youre likely to find this a problem.