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

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.

It is unfortunate for those of us who use a computer for business purposes (I program) that the industry has decided that 1080 lines is enough. It is not. Finding a 1920x1280 monitor is getting hard these days. I finally had to retire my 6 year old Acer 1920x1280 monitor as the back-light finally kicked the bucket. I was skeptical about buying a Dell as they do make some low-end monitors that are really poor. I was pleasantly surprised by this monitor. It is crisp and clear and the colors are fine (for my non-photographer eyes). I do find that the monitor is rather bright and with a digital interface the whole experience a bit harsh. However when you start with extra crispness it is easy to dial back the sharpness setting, adjust the blues down 3-4% using the custom color setting, re-adjust your clear-type on Windows and tweak the contrast/brightness to get a pretty pleasing look. For me all monitors seem to look like crap out of of the box and need to be messed with. I am very picky about clarity of text since that is what I look at day in and day out and this monitor delivers. The ability to raise and lower and tilt is just so much better than my previous monitor and makes a big difference. Look this monitor is big and you want to have it pointed at the optimum angle towards your eyes. In my case I use it as the main monitor and my laptop screen is my secondary monitor so being able to adjust it lower on my desk and then angling it up made using the two screens together a bit smoother. I have not found the anti-glare coating to be too bad though it definitely adds a touch of graininess to the look. Probably a reasonable trade-off. The shiny laptop screen sitting next to this monitor that clearly reflects the trees out the window behind me reminds me that this coating is really effective. There is just no reflection at all in this monitor which is good.

First Impressions I use the monitor for business applications (MS Office mostly Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint, plus Internet browsing, etc... Id like to have a larger screen with higher resolution such as the Dell 27 inches, but I think that at the present time, this is where the sweet spot for performance vs value is (24 inches). Ive been using a Dell UltraSharp 2405 monitor, which I got from Dell as a replacement when the original died one month or so short from the expiration date of its 3 years warranty, and which is working quite well after about 3+ years, but I had read positive comments about the U2412M in CNET and other web sites, and was considering upgrading. However, I had also read conflicting comments here in Amazon about the anti-glare coating, and about color accuracy. Ive always thought that the anti-glare screen of the DELL 2405 was perfect for me and Im not very concerned with color accuracy (within reason) as Im not into photography, graphic arts or anything like that... But when you read reviews like that, it makes you pause. In any case, I decided to try it and decide for myself, and I am glad I did. For what I do, and at this price point, this monitor is just fine. No issue at all with the anti-glare coating. I cant tell if theres a difference or not versus the coating on the Dell 2405. In fact, had I not read about it, I would not even known anything about that. And for my business application, the default factory-set color calibration is also OK. I do not plan to tweak it. The images are very sharp. Fine and/or small text is easy to ready. I also like the new base and support arm better, and the fact that its so much lighter. Congratulations DELL! Having said that, it does not have some of the connections available in the Dell 2405 (i.e. SD card ports), but it has others such as DisplayPort. An HDMI port would have been nice to have, but since I use a Dell E Latitude docking station, I am using the DisplayPort and/or DVI port. It comes with a power cable (of course) and also a USB cable, a VGA cable and a DVI cable. At this point in time, Id rather had seen a DVI and a DisplayPort cable inside the box, and not the legacy VGA cable, but it may be helpful for other users. Not an issue anyway. A few days after having received the new monitor, I decided that for this price it was worth having a dual set, so I ordered another one. Now my EXCEL spreadsheets can finally stretch as wide as necessary, or I can work in two applications side-by-side. Nice and worth it.

First, let me say I really like my Dell U2412m monitor. Ive had it about a month and have thoroughly enjoyed using it everyday, and for the price point, this is a wonderful monitor with an excellent feature set. However, its not perfect. The first one I received had severe clouding in the right top and bottom corners. Of course, these come setup with the brightness at an eye searing 75%, and the clouding diminished a bit when I turned it down to a more reasonable 30%, but it was still quite evident on a dark image, and not acceptable for my main purpose of photo editing, so back it went (thanks Amazon for the easy no hassle exchange!). The second one also has a tiny bit of clouding in the corners, but only when viewed really close-up, and mostly not visible at all except on a completely dark screen. So, not perfect, but acceptable. I really like the 16x10 ratio, its a nice big workspace. The build quality seems up to Dells high standards, and I love the stand, with its easy and yet very secure adjustments. I will say that the color on my second monitor leaned toward the green, cyanish side (yuck). Unfortunately, the color controls in the main menu are not fine enough for the kind of color adjustments that were needed, but luckily for me, I found some sites on the internet that described how to carefully access the service menu, and I was able to tweak the color to perfection using some very good LCD monitor test images I found using Google. So, lets wrap it up: Pros: 1. Good build quality 2. Excellent color and picture (when tweaked correctly) 3. Easy and stable stand adjustments. 4. Works beautifully with both my new Mac Mini AND my 10 year old Mac G4 (using a USB switch) 5. Lots of inputs and USB connections 6. 3 Year warranty Cons: 1. A bit of clouding in the corners, but generally not visible during normal use. 2. Only USB 2.0 3. No HDMI input So, would I recommend this? Yes, but with qualifications. Be sure and check your screen for unacceptable clouding, and be prepared to tweak the brightness, contrast, and color. If you can live without HDMI and USB 3.0 ports, than this monitor should be on your short list. UPDATE (March 4, 2013): I really like this monitor. It has performed flawlessly over the last 5 months. The bit of clouding in the corners doesnt seem to show up in real world use. No color drift and no problems whatsoever. I leave it on 24 hours a day and it automatically goes into power-saving mode whenever I put the computer to sleep. For the price, this is quite a nice monitor. Update (Sept 5, 2013): The thing I like most about this monitor, it just works. I know that sounds simple, but in this complex world of cables, and operating systems, and weird stuff, its nice to have something that I can just plug in and it works perfectly, all day, every day. The color has been SUPER stable, with no drift. The slight clouding in the corners hasnt gotten worse, and doesnt effect my day to day photo work. All-in-all, an excellent and reliable monitor.

I must have purchased six or seven of these exact same monitors over the past couple of years. I cant remember when I bought the first one, but I remember thinking that it was SO much better than regular 1080 HD. The extra pixels really make a difference (this monitor is 1920x1200 versus a standard HD monitors 1920x1080 pixels). In my last job, I had two of these monitors side by side along with my laptop screen. When I quit, I purchased one of these to go in my new office, and will be buying a second soon. I have bought these for employees, too, and they all love them. The monitor has several inputs, such as HDMI, VGA and DVI. It has a USB hub, and comes with the USB cable to connect to your computer. This is pretty convenient - I have my wireless keyboard and mouse plugged into the monitor, along with an external hard drive and other accessories. When I get to the office I just have to plug in one USB cable and Im done. Ive even thought about getting a USB audio adapter so I dont have to plug and unplug my speakers -- I know, Im lazy. The image quality on the monitor is good too. Not that Id really be able to tell, Im practically blind. But blacks look black, and it gets pretty bright too. I just use it for email, programming, web browsing and taking the occasional phone order from a customer, so it does what I need. It will also pivot to 90 degrees too, my old boss used that a lot for editing spreadsheets and documents. I tried it with both one and two of these monitors, and I didnt really care for it. But its a great option to have if you want it. Bottom line, these monitors are awesome. And since they keep coming down in price year after year, they become more and more of a value. Ive paid almost $400 for these and they go for as little as $230 now. Keep your eye out for a deal, they go on sale all the time! Highly recommended.

I bought this monitor for use with photo editing. I calibrated the monitor right away using a spyder pro. The difference was small, but now it is accurate. After I started using this monitor, I realized my eye strain was much less than original LCD screed that came with the computer. This monitor is also very sharp, you can see amazing details. After using it for 4 months Im very happy, my only down side is, the plain white (websites etc.) look a bit warm, before and after calibration. Also on right edge and left edge there is a little color shift (pinkish on the right greenish on the left) when looking at plain white screen, (browser, word document etc.) The shift is barely noticeable, and you really have to look to see it, but its there. It doesnt interfere with my editing at all, but its worth bringing up, and hence 4 out of 5 stars. Anti glare coating is amazing, and I have not experienced the frosted look if you crank up the brightness all the way, which is way too bright for any situation, that is the only time I see a bit of frosted look Overall I would highly recommend the monitor, colors are sharp crisp and vivid. Sharpness is amazing, and there is very little eye strain when using it. If it werent for a very slight color shift from left side to right side of the screen (Im very picky like that) I would give the monitor a solid 5 star review.

After shopping for a new monitor, this is my third that Ive ordered from different places, second of this model. Finally! Ive found something I can keep. The model I received from amazon is in 96% perfect condition. Stable base (which was actually why I had to return the previous model), no backlight bleeding, the monitor is very bright, so I have the brightness turned down to 30 or so, which is great. The IPS viewing angles are fantastic compared to other IPS displays Ive seen. The only problem is that when I have totally black screens, like end credits or something, there is the slightest vertical streak on far right side of the screen. its very thin, less than 4mm across, and the pixels are good, just slightly slightly greyed out? I never actually see this error unless its a totally black screen. Also, its so far to the right, Im never really looking over there. 24 is a pretty big screen! Other than that, its perfect. No issues in my 4 days of ownership. Oh, but I would advise to just go to the Dell site to get the drivers for the monitor, the disk didnt find the monitor when I put it in. Downloading the drivers works perfectly.

The Dell Ultrasharp series are my favorite monitors. I currently own 4 Dell UltraSharps. Most / all are typically IPS based (in plane switching) and offer the best viewing angles and clarity. The U2412M is currently my primary monitor. I own one that I purchased about 3 years ago directly from Dell. I decided to replace my secondary monitor (which is a Dell U2311H) with another U2412M which I purchased from Amazon. Out of the box the monitor looked great. The antiglare coating on this latest revision is not as aggressive as the older version I currently own. Colors and text look more vibrant and clearer. The one problem I had (which is mentioned quite often in the reviews here) is a slight yellow cast on the whites. I purchased a hardware calibration tool (ColorMunki Display) specifically to calibrate the new monitor. Even after calibration, I could not get rid of the yellow cast. Unfortunately that meant sending it back. I wished it didnt have that problem since I really like the new revision (mainly due to the lighter antiglare coating). I will be on the lookout for a good price on the newer U2415 model.

So Ill get the big points out of the way first. No, its not a 10 bit panel, and yes, its an e-IPS panel (the low-end of IPS). If you dont know what either of those things mean, dont worry about it. This is far and away a better monitor than any TN panel out there (even the best TN panel wont match a low-end IPS panel for color reproduction, and its likely what youll get with any monitor under $200). So with that out of the way, Ill review this monitor as someone looking for a better than average LCD panel. That is, after all, what Dells U2412M is designed to be. Its not aimed at professionals. Its aimed at consumers that arent happy with how their TN LCD cant quite ever do white justice. Its aimed at the casual or enthusiast photographer that wants decent colors but doesnt have a job riding on it. Its aimed at the gamer that is disappointed by how hard it is to make out a dark room in their favorite game. It wasnt that long ago that TN panels in this size and resolution were going for the same kind of money (the Acer P241w sitting next to this Dell was $300 new). The fact that you can now get an IPS panel for under or around $300 is incredible. Compared to my old Acer (which Ive never been able to get decently calibrated) the Dell is fantastic. Whites are so much whiter. Colors are richer. Details are sharper. The OSD is quite frankly brilliant (the softkey system makes fumbling for the right button in the dark a thing of the past). Then add features I never had with my Acer, like the height and swivel adjustments, rotation, and a USB hub. Its money well spent as far as Im concerned, and Im very happy with it. Now to address an issue Ive seen in several reviews: yellow tinting. The display I got (model U2412Mb, rev A00) shows no signs of it. Thats only a sample size of one, so I cant claim that its gone, but its definitely not present on the one I got. I ran the Windows 7 monitor calibration (which is a visual calibration, calibrated eyeballs required), and was generally pretty pleased with the results. I dialed out a bit of green and just a hint of red (the gamma was pretty much spot on), and if anything it makes it look like my old Acer has the yellow tinting problem. For sake of mentioning the competition (I know how much some people like to comparison shop), you might check out ASUSs PA248Q. I havent seen one myself, but it seems to be the only real price to price direct competitor. The ASUS has USB 3.0 and HDMI if thats important to you. This Dell has neither (no HDMI at all, and the USB hub is 2.0). If youre like me and just cant stand how average TN paneled LCDs are these days, this Dell is a very good option. Im very happy with mine. It arrived with no issues (no weird tints, no dead/hot pixels of any kind). While I cant say for sure that your Dell will be just as good (quality control being what it is these days), I can say its worth it if you do get a good one. As always with Amazon, youre likely to have the best luck buying directly from Amazon (thats what I did).

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.