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FLmiami
> 24 hourFirst 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.
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YOUR PUBLIC NAME
> 24 hourAfter 8 years of use, Ive tried to replace it three times, and keep putting it back on my desk. The main feature that I find indispensible is that its a 16:10 ratio monitor. With most of the design experts at my favorite multibillion dollar transnational corporations insisting on shoving controls into the top and bottom of their windows that would be otherwise buried in dialog boxes three deep, the horizontal space it provides is essential. Aside from its endurance, the other feature Ive found most useful is the port selection. I use mine as a mechanical KVM between Linux/Mac/FreeBSD/Windows all week- the USB hub and selection of video ports really come in handy. VGA is still a thing on servers, and the DVI port is easily converted to HDMI with a dongle.
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J. Ireland
> 24 hourIve been trying to find a new monitor for some time now. I tried 27 monitors but in every case there was a problem with them - color desaturation, glass chips, LED bleeding, dead pixels, stuck pixels, defective ports, etc. Maybe I have terrible luck but is it so much to ask that a monitor actually fully work out of the box? Apparently so - I gave up on 27 monitors and turned to 24 monitors. Even in that range I had a real issue finding one that I liked (including other Dells) - until I came across this monitor. This is how monitors should be: sharp, clear, colorful, responsive, and with no defects. I liked this monitor so much I ended up getting three of them (and none of them had any problems). The picture is excellent and the colors are perfect. I havent noticed any ghosting when gaming and the viewing angle is great. The ONLY thing bad I have to say about the monitor is its lack of connections. Oh sure, it has DVI, VGA, and DisplayPort but I would have liked to have seen a second DVI port and/or an HDMI port (I hook in a Windows box and a Mac Mini). A very minor complaint, though. PROS: *Great Picture/Color/Response. *Everything worked! No dead pixels, no stuck pixels, no damage, no marks, no LED bleeding, no desaturation, great lighting and color balance - this was true on all three monitors. *Good menu system. *Excellent adjustable stand. *1920x1200 resolution is nice, 16:10 makes a huge difference. CONS: *Connections - would have been nice to have a second DVI port or an HDMI port; minor complaint though. This is easily one of the best monitors Ive ever seen, now if only there was a 27 version. I highly recommend it.
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Patrick Montelo
> 24 hourI 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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HackZaw
> 24 hourWhen I first turned this monitor on I was disappointed in its performance. The colors were rather dull. It needs to be adjusted correctly. I first used Liquid Color which made things better. Then I made manual adjustments based on my subjective preferences. These adjustments were made to Game Mode. Here are the settings I like: Brightness 76 Contrast 76 Hue 50 Saturation 70 Sharpness 50 Dynamic cont. On Using these, the display looks beautiful. I liked it so much, I bought another one of these monitors and I now have a dual monitor setup. For this I bought the Planar 997-5253-00 Dual Monitor Stand which works very well and is of high quality. I use dual displays on the Game setting mostly for Flight Simulator X, which looks great. (For routine everyday use I shut one of the monitors off and set the other to Standard.) So I suspect that some of the ho-hum reviews are based on sub-optimal adjustments. Admittedly, adjusting it is somewhat of a hassle, and my settings are subjective, but if one is willing to do some tweaking youll get a nice looking display. You also get 1920 x 1200 resolution which is becoming less common for some reason, but it is what I prefer.
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W. Allen
> 24 hourI waited a couple months to allow me to make an honest evaluation of this unit. I can honestly say that after a great deal of research on competitive monitors, I am very satisfied with my DELL U2412M. My unit was a refurbished unit that arrived well-packaged and exactly as described (Excellent condition). I could find no external or cosmetic problems on the unit. The one minor disappointment I had was that it did not come with a DVI cable. The U2412M was very easy to set up and easy to operate. Once installed, I typically leave it on and simply let it go into sleep mode when my computer is off. One of the most important features of the monitor was the way graphics and text looked and on this one, both are excellent. (I tried a less expensive Dell unit before the U2412M and the color was all wrong even to my untrained eyes.) I have not attempted to perform a full calibration of the monitor yet as for now it looks fine for my daily use (mostly office work and video games), but I may look into calibrating the unit later. One thing prospective buyers should be aware of is that this monitor is very bright! As others have noted in the reviews, you should expect to turn this monitors brightness way down if you expect to use it for any amount of time. I think I have mine cranked down to about 40% at the moment and that still seems bright at times. The controls on the U2412M are a little tricky to get used to as they are on the lower right corner of the screen. This means they are out of the way (which is both a plus and a minus on my setup). It is sometimes awkward to manipulate the buttons on the bezel edge and I find myself tempted to push the screen based arrows (but as this screen is not touch-sensitive, that doesnt do anything). Other than that minor thing to get used to, I could not be more satisfied with the monitor, so far. My last monitor (an Acer X214W) lasted nearly 4 years and I am hoping this Dell U2412M will last me at least that long. If I had it to do over, I would still buy one of these again and recommend the U2412M to others looking for a reasonably priced monitor with great performance.
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Mark
> 24 hourAmazing 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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Kindle Customer
> 24 hourSo 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
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Jeffrey Morse
> 24 hourIve 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).
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A. Mefford
> 24 hourI have always enjoyed my Dell flat-screens and felt they were a grade above the alternatives in build quality. As an IT professional I get hands on with many others and have not seen or used one that I preferred to my Dell. However, my Dell monitors have always been purchased by my employer, at significant expense. So when I needed a monitor due to taking a new job I went to work trying to find one that I would be happy with. When I came across this one I was very happy to see that there was an option to have another Dell that would meet my needs, that I could afford. I was very tempted to step up and buy the more expensive model to get the claimed color accuracy but am satisfied that I did not. After using this monitor for a month, I am very satisfied with it. The screen is definitely larger than the one I was using before, I thought it was a 24 as well but perhaps not. I am very happy that it is 1920x1200. It pairs perfectly with my Dell 2007FP which is 1600x1200. The 1680x1050 I was using before always annoyed me that it was larger but with lower resolution, I never understood that trend in the industry. This monitor is notably brighter and whiter than the Dell2007FP it sits next too. Out of the box I had to reduce the brightness, it was just too much. In summary I will say unless you are a professional in need of perfect color matching, I cannot see a reason that you would be disappointed with this monitor.