Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor, Black
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Patrick Montelo
Greater than one weekI bought two of the Dell u2412m monitors that Im using on a Mac Mini for software development. Since I look at a lot of code all day long, text clarity is very important to me. I also use the monitors for graphics design and editing, so color performance and contrast is important as well. I also work in an environment where I have a lot of outside light coming in (including a window behind my chair), so an anti-glare coating was critical for me. Based upon the reviews I read here, I was a little concerned about the anti-glare coating on the u2412m and how that would effect my ability to read text. At times my eyes have had a little bit of a problem focusing on the text, but my brain seems to be adjusting to them after a day or so. Its a little hard to describe, but its like my eyes initially focused on the anti-glare coating instead of the image behind the coating. When I have a problem focusing, if I blink my eyes, they seem to refocus. In any case, after a couple of days, the text appears to be easier to read and I seem to have less eyestrain after a long day of coding on these than I did with my old monitors (Acer AL2216W). The color performance and contrast of the u2412m is significantly better than my old monitors, these look very rich compared to the old screens. Out of the box I did notice that one of the monitors had a slightly warmer white color than the other. This appears to be due to how they are calibrated for the Standard setting at the factory. I found that if I switched the color settings on the monitors from Standard to Custom Color and set the R,G,B levels to 100 on both monitors, then the colors appeared to be nearly identical. I am running with the colors at 100, contrast at 75, and brightness at 20 which seems to be about perfect for me. I now have 3 monitors connected (two of the Dells, and one of the old monitors) and I can say that overall I am very pleased with the improvement. The new monitors draw less power too, about 18 watts each with my settings vs 31 watts each for the old monitors. So now I am thinking about buying a third u2412m... This may not be the perfect monitor for my needs, but at this price point it does seem like a good choice and Im happy with the purchase. The stands also have great adjustability and the extra usb ports are very nice with my Mac.
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Anthony J. Hitchings
> 3 daymonitor goes to sleep before the installer CD can do anything usefull setup instructions are uselss for installing any software or doing setup - all it says is to how to assemble it so much for DELL!! Dell tech support was in India I think - its Albion - they were clueless this is the only monitor I have ever had problems with I have a new ASUS Essentio Windows 8 Pc always in the past a video card would treat a new monitor ok - at least working in basic mode - not this time after much computer voodoo and plugging and unplugging and trying ito other pcs and rebooting it finally worked - I have no idea what did the trick due to this frustration it only gets 4 stars today the monitor itself seems ok now that its responding to the PC. 24 is a good size for sorting photos and doing simple editing. on a side note - I am quite pleased at the font sizes with this monitor and Windows 8. A pleasant surprise for my old eyes.
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Mr Funk
Greater than one weekJust got this a couple days ago and it is a very nice monitor. Looks great! I was worried about some of the reviews I read about anti glare coating, displayport issues, etc, but everything seems to be in order, and I couldnt be happier. The larger box it came in was pretty mangled when it arrived, but the monitor was unharmed. This Dell Makes my other monitor look worse than I thought it was by comparison (ASUS VS248H-P), so now I want another one of these ;) The increased resolution really makes this seem a lot bigger (a good thing :) ) The colors look great out of the box, so I dont feel the need to calibrate, but I may run it later on to see how it changes things. Though, I havent had that great of luck with the Spyder calibrator previously, so I may just enjoy my monitor as it is (which looks great right now anyway). Very bright picture as well, and Ive actually turned down the brightness from the default 75, to 50. I have it connected to my PC, which uses a Nvidia GTX660 via displayport (with HDMI going to my ASUS). Hopefully itll last for a long time without any problems, but for now, very happy.
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K. A. Heston
> 3 dayI bought this to replace a hand-me-down Dell monitor that had a band of discoloration. I looked online for magazine reviews of monitors and this one got high marks; after comparing several of the highest-scoring ones, I decided on another Dell because of the extra height. I didnt want to move from a 1920x1200 monitor to a 1920x1080 one and lose that extra inch or so after having been used to it for years. The colors look great, the resolution and size are what Im used to, and the anti-glare coating on this one seems better than the previous one. I sit with my back to a window and I cant see any reflections from all that light. I was concerned at first that there was not a button for switching between inputs because I have two computers hooked up to this monitor, but the buttons are customizable, so I was able to make one of them an input-switch button. Even if I hadnt done that, I could have gotten to that function fairly easily through the menus. Its slightly less convenient to not have the buttons labeled, but not enough to be annoying. I like the energy-saving features of the monitor as well. I have installed the PowerNap program that came with it on my main computer, and the screen-dimming when the screen saver goes on works just fine; there is a noticeable time for the screen to go back to full brightness after the mouse is moved/key is pressed to end the screensaver, but its worth it to me to save energy.
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Anna Lovelace
> 3 dayPros: - 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.
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y3n
> 3 dayThe 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.
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sethestate
> 3 dayThe monitor itself is awesome when you consider how little it costs. But setting it up was a real hassle for me. Granted I am running a 5 year old system, but it is a Dell computer, running a Dell monitor, replacing a Dell monitor... how hard should that be? Anyway, to resolve this, I needed to address two problems (at least on my machine). First, when I bought my PC, it came with a graphics card that only has DMS-59 pin as a digital connector. These things are outdated. So I needed to buy a DVI-D to DMS-59 connector. Mind you, the stupid DVI-D connector is also outdated, but the regular DVI-I that is popular today also works with it. I just wish the Dell tech knew this and told me so. Second, I needed to unravel the driver puzzle. Basically my graphics card does not have a driver that supports Windows 8.1 (which I am running). I looked into buying a new graphics card, but then would also have had to update the power supply... which basically costs as much as a new computer when you add all this stuff together. So I finally learned that you can use the old Vista legacy driver... and now it works perfectly. I hope I never have to go through that again, but at least I can say the monitor works great. Now I just have to get used to the idea of moving my mouse from one side alllllll the way to the other :)
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matthew
Greater than one weekThis is an excellent monitor with a sharp, clear picture. I like the 10:16 aspect ratio which gives a taller screen for the same nominal size. It is great for business applications. I worked in an office where we had at least 30 of this exact model and everyone really liked them. As far a I know, none had any issues with dead pixels or other failure and they were used every day. A super great feature is the very adjustable ergonomic stand. it is very solid and has very good range of height, tilt and swivel. I love the thin matt (non-shiny) edge boarder and the non-glare screen. A couple of reviewers have complained about the non-glare screen being grainy, but I have no idea what they are talking about. The picture and color are excellent. This has DVI and VGA inputs, but no HDMI which may be an issue to some. But the DVI will give you the same picture quality and if you want decent audio sound with any monitor you will need separate speakers and hook up any way. Very few monitors have built in speakers that could use the HDMI sound, and those that do are usually poor quality. I got the Dell AX510 sound bar to go with this and it fits great, looks good, took 5 minutes to easily install, and sounds good, (better than typical built in speakers). But if you want rich, high quality stereo sound youll need stand alone speakers.
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Mark
> 3 dayAmazing monitor! It came down to this or an Asus 144hz gaming monitor, and i chose this because I wanted the superior picture quality. Im glad I did. Out of the box, uncalibrated, its a sight to behold coming from an old TN panel. I calibrated it based on some recommendations from tech sites more knowledgable than me and its even more breathtaking. I was worried about ghosting but havent noticed any at all playing TF2 and CS:GO. Diablo 3 looks so vibrant, its crazy. Purchased mid-late November 2013 and I got the A00 model for those who are wondering. The stand rocks (smooth articulation but very sturdy) and the monitor feels huge infront of you (1920x1200 makes a big difference). For the price, i dont think you can go wrong. No dead or stuck pixels. Everything is gravy. Id love to have atleast 1 or 2 more. The only negative think I can say about the entire experience was the packaging. Amazon boxed the dell box inside a fairly bigger box and didnt put enough cushioning material in the outer box to keep the dell box secure so when i opened amazons box, i immediate saw that the dell box had been beaten up and the actual power cord to the monitor had found its way out of the dell box (box packing tape had ripped). I couldnt refuse the delivery because ups had already left, so i quickly set everything up to test and luckily everything was fine. Cant really ding the monitor a star for bad 3rd party packaging. TLDR: Unbelievable bang for your buck, beautiful picture, if youre on the fence like I was, dont be. Games look great.
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Breakaway Farm
> 3 dayVery fast delivery! Easy, easy, easy set up in terms of getting the monitor out of the box, plugged in and on. Thats when it got dicey. The color was impossible to adjust. BLINDINGLY BRIGHT BLUE tint on text or white background pages. Video and darker pages were really muddy. After an hour or more of going through the entire range of (limited) user adjustment combinations, I swapped out the video cable that came with the monitor and used one of mine. Things immediately got better. Even so, it took another hour to find the exact settings that didnt blind me with the white background pages or totally obscure darker pages and videos. Ive found settings that are OK for casual use but will make anyone crazy who is looking for any shred of color fidelity. Refresh rate is a bit slow. Fine for most viewing but way too slow for gaming or lengthy viewing of high motion activity. This is a You get what you pay for situation. Not the cheapest monitor in the world, but it does have a sound bar option. Its lightweight, fully adjustable in terms of height and tilt, supports legacy VGA and Displayport which makes it suitable for business or home office use. No HDMI which could be an issue for consumer use. I was in the middle of a big project for work when my home office monitor died a sudden and horrid death. The fast delivery, the tolerable performance and the low cost mean that I wont return it. After all, the monitor did get me back to work. On the other hand, Im not likely to buy another one or recommend it. 9-11-14 Update. When I finally got a Displayport cable (multiple cables came in the box but not a Displayport - go figure), the color issues were resolved. So, I.ve raised my rating to 4 stars and, yes, I would recommend this monitor. The color gamut caveats cited by other reviewers reply, but the color is good enough for text, Web surfing and watching videos.