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

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.

All the recent negative reviews had me sweating. Against all of my typical OCD overzealous not wanting to be disappointed instincts, I went ahead with an order through Vernal.Tech via Prime. I figured if I was not happy Amazon would make it right. All of the angst was unfounded. The monitor arrived promptly with some superficial damage to the box, but the device itself was flawless. Even prior to anything resembling calibration I could see I was not one of the unfortunate to receive a poor quality version. There were zero dead or stuck pixels, minimal light bleed (subtle on the right side), and none of the dreaded yellow/warm tint I was very worried about. What I received: Model: U2412Mb Rev A00 Made in China Manufactured November 2013 I am a picky S.O.B. with a very strong background in (film) photography with an eye for color and utter contempt for anything poor in the way of visuals or optics. This monitor isnt flawless or the top of the line by any means, but for the money I had to spend I am absolutely elated with the quality so far. If the monitor maintains its current performance for several years, I will consider it money well spent.

First off, this monitor is great and it really should deserve 5 stars. It is not a true professional monitor in terms of color reproduction and accuracy. But for anyone looking for a more premium monitor that is 16:10 aspect not 16:9 then this is a great choice. I have 3 of them running in Eyefinity mode and it looks great for movies and games. Now the reason why it received a 1 star is because of Amazons service, particularly Amazon Primes service. I ordered this monitor on Dec. 2nd at 1pm PST. During check out, Amazon prompted me to try Amazon Prime for 1 month for free. I thought this would be a good idea since I do purchase items often on amazon, and if it turned out to be good I wouldnt mind paying the fee to continue. I mean hey, 2day shipping sounds pretty awesome. So I went ahead and did the free trial and checked out; I received an email saying confirming transaction and packaging item. Wow that was fast! At night time it said shipped and arrives Dec. 4th i.e 2 day shipping. I get my tracking number soon later which also prompts the same thing arrives Dec. 4th by 8pm. Dec. 4th comes and I wait all day, but nothing. I check the tracking, it says Arrive in Anaheim, CA at 4:21am Dec4th which is roughly 5miles from where I live. I thought weird, but sometimes shipping has problems so I get a little annoyed because its suppose to be 2day shipping but Im not mad. Dec. 5th comes; I wait all day again. This time it says out for delivery at 7:02am Dec. 5th all day on the tracking. I wait until 8pm, nothing. So at 9pm I decide to contact amazon customer service via CHAT. I get to the person (Monique) and explain my situation and frustration. She gives me a bunch of run-around answers about how it got lost in the the tracking system and that the tracking isnt accurate sometimes. So I say it said out on delivery from Anaheim. does that mean its not REALLY out on delivery and its just sitting somewhere at a warehouse?? and her response was your item is our for delivery, it is in transit and then they left the chat. Just like that, no bye , just left my chat. So Im pretty mad and disappoint now and I try to get another customer service chat person. This time Ingrid A. helps me and I explain to her about my item and how the other customer service rep just left me hanging. This time around, Ingrid was actually very polite and tried to help me. She said that after looking at the tracking service it looks that my item will arrive on Dec. 6th. And that she is very sorry for this problem and is willing to offer me an extended month of Amazon Prime. I reply this is my first order with Prime and it already has this complication, why would I want to use Prime again? Then she says I understand your frustration, so what would you like me to do in order to solve this problem? I answer well, what I would like is for my item to arrive on time like it was promised, but I realize that isnt possible now. So if this was a retail store or a department store, then some kind of discount would be fitting, is that right? She says let me see what I can do. After some minutes she comes back and says I can offer you a $15 credit to your account. I said I was not satisfy with that to be honest. I even ask her if she would be satisfy. She said thats the only thing she can do for me or extend the Prime account. Wow, $15 credit or a month of prime after that fiasco? Might as well spit in my face then. I say this, isnt Amazon Prime suppose to be a premier service? $79 a month isnt cheap. Arent they trying to set themselves apart with Prime? And when something like this happens this is how they handle it? How are either of those fitting compensations to ANY costumer that wants to use their Prime service? Is this how Amazon mottos their business and customer service satisfaction? Its disappointing to see how Amazon sees its loyal customers. I end by saying, I have 3 of these monitors, the first 2 I bought directly from Dell and they did not disappoint in service. This 3rd one I bought here, but I wish I would have save myself the hassle and bought from them as well. Thanks but no thanks for $15. Really Amazon?

I had two 16:10 LG monitors and at 9 months one went south. LG quit making them so they are issuing a refund. LGs customer service to this point is excellent btw. So, I ended up here looking for another comparable monitor for my dual monitor setup. In the price range it boils down to this Dell model and an Asus. If you are looking at these you will know which Asus I am speaking of. I read and researched forever it seemed and came up with two options. One may be yellow and one may flicker. Wonderful choice. If you are in that position then possibly this will help you decide. One site called TFT Central does a good job of reviewing both monitors. Both get reasonable marks with the edge possibly going to the Dell. What caught my eye is the Asus uses PWM or Pulse Width Modulation to dim the monitor and Dell does not. PWM is essentially turning the backlight on and off faster then the eye can detect and to dim the monitor the LED stays off for a longer interval. Thats how I understand it. It is said that this could cause some eyestrain in some people while reading. It reminds me of the old interlaced low frequency monitors that indeed caused me much eye strain so one strike against the Asus because I read a lot. At full brightness the PWM does not engage so it wont matter but you cant look any of these monitors for very long on full brightness so you will most likely be looking at the PWM working. Once again it may not bother many but I did not want to chance that. The Asus has some USB3 ports that may or may not work. Its the may or may not part that makes me wonder why I should use that as a criteria at all. Then there is the Dell where some were getting a distinct yellow tint and that certainly bothered me. You would possibly get the yellow tint with a Dell monitor that has a A00 revision number as reported by some here on Amazon. The numbers seem to go backwards as you read the reviews causing some head scratching. It didnt make much sense. I found a blog talking about this very subject and a fellow named Chris from Dell answered the question at some point. The A0... number starts over at 00 if there is a hardware change. For anything else like the case, stand or software change they add another digit to the revision number. So, what you have to do is compare the revision number to the date of manufacture to be meaningful. The yellow monitors appeared to be manufactured in the later part of 2013 with a revision number of A00. So I took the chance on a yellow monitor and ordered the Dell about 3 weeks ago which would have been the later part of May 2014. I received one with a date of manufacture of March 2014 and a revision number of A01. To my satisfaction there was and is no yellow tint with the unit I received. So it would appear that the one I have has had a software or firmware update based on the revision number. The part that I still find confusing is what if they have another hardware update immediately after a A00 revision? Hmm. The color was really very good out of the box and the only adjustment I have made to date is to turn the brightness level down a little. Much to my surprise it matches the LG color as exact as I can tell. I see virtually no difference. I also have a reference because while I waited for the new Dell I had an older Dell 19 inch running next to the LG and there was a major difference in color that could not be adjusted out. Last but not least I find out that the Dell U2412M and the Asus both use the same panel made by LG so any difference should only be in the electronics, case and stand. The Dell stand is very nice and the case very slim. I find the menu easy to use. The mat coating on the screen is not an issue. It looks just fine on both of my monitors. Some here have complained about the Dell warranty. That may be an issue to consider. I think they all could take a lesson in customer service from LG. Those folks have it down. So this is how I decided. Hopefully it will help if you find yourself with the same dilemma, yellow or flicker.

My first criterion when I was looking for a 24 monitor was screen resolution: I wanted 1920x1200. I know that its not completely rational; 24 1080p monitors (1920x1080) can be found for half the price, but I needed those 120 rows of pixels. This is partly because I will probably end up placing this in a dual-monitor setup next to a 20 4:3 monitor (1600x1200) and I like the vertical resolution to match. Well, whatever my reasons, I was set on 1200 vertical resolution, and given that restriction this was clearly the best deal to be found. Ive found nothing negative to report about it, only pros. 1) nice physical presence, with a fairly small bezel, not too modern-looking, unobtrusive. It has good smooth height adjustment, looks like about 5-1/2 inches of motion. Of note, it can adjust all the way down until the lower edge of the monitor is resting on the base, something that my other monitors have not done. 2) really, really good buttons and on-screen controls. There are 4 unlabeled buttons on the right side. At first I was concerned that I would have to memorize what each one does, but thats not the case. You hit any of the four to bring up a menu, and the on screen controls always clearly show what each button does. This shouldnt be such a big deal, because you dont spend much time in these menus, but it just makes me happy, and gives me confidence in the rest of the monitor. Note: I dont see a dedicated input source button, so folks who use the monitor switching inputs as a sort of KVM will have to go a couple layers into a menu to switch inputs, but this doesnt impact me at all. 3) display. The display is flawless to my eyes. I havent spent time tinkering with the color management options because the defaults look good to me, but there is a lot of configuration available, along with presets for movie, gaming, text, color temp settings, etc. Im able to make the display nice and dim, much dimmer than other monitors that I use. I use it for standard email, web browsing, streaming video, and gaming. For these tasks its perfect. Ive had no problems with ghosting or response times in games, its just a beautiful clear experience. I recommend it highly, although as I said if youre willing to give up those 120 rows of pixels, a 1080p monitor can be had for a lot less money.

Very sturdy monitor with well designed stand. In the era of cheap shiny plastics that belong in a discotheque this monitor has a nice, professional matte finish, plastics on this monitor simply have a better look and feel, you immediately understand why you paid more for this monitor. Now I would like to comment on this occasionally mentioned here yellow tint problem. First of all majority of monitors have some tint one way or another - a perfect white may exist only on a printed white paper. My iMacs screen doesnt give me a perfect white either. Second I would not call it yellow, it is more like an ivory. Third the monitor comes with the Standard pre-set mode, if you select some other available mode from the menu say Game or Movie the tint becomes even more white. You can also play directly with the colour temperature setting and make your tint for example blue if this is your fancy. In other words this yellow tint issue is in my opinion a phony problem that stems from ignorance. And playing with settings in this monitor is super easy, no manual needed, I was doing it within few seconds of unpacking, it is so intuitive. Having said all of the above I do allow for a possibility that some of those who reported this yellow tint might have indeed got a defective unit. Thanks for reading and good luck with your purchase.

First of all, this monitor is designed for mainstream users who surf the Internet, read and write email, watch videos, perform word processing, fill-out spreadsheets, and write code. This monitor is NOT targeted towards those who need to see a wide gamut of colors for photography, video editing, and graphics design (see the U2410 model instead). Out of the box, the monitor is not calibrated. However, there are built-in color profiles that you can pick based on your viewing situation: standard, multimedia, game, movie, text, color temperature, and finally custom. Compared to other monitors out there, the U2412M features an extremely sturdy base. It promotes ergonomics by allowing you to adjust the height of the monitor to match your direct line of sight. The documentation does not explain how to adjust the height of the monitor, but you can simply hold two fingers on each end of the monitor stand at the top and push up or down (make sure the monitor is upright). The 1920x1200 resolution on a 16:10 widescreen aspect ratio is a huge plus for those who constantly edit spreadsheets. Compared to 1920x1080, you get more rows of cells to display on the screen. Overall, I highly recommend the U2412M as its the best bang for your buck for an IPS monitor in the $300 range.

Beautiful image set in a good, unobtrusive matte bezel. I replaced a deceased TN panel with this, its wonderful no longer having viewing angle or a photos location on-screen affecting brightness and contrast when I process things. The stand seems sturdy and has nice tilt, rotation and height adjustments. Out-of-the-box default settings had the panel WAY too bright and it seemed to have a bit of a cold cast; if like me you dont have calibration equipment TFT Central makes available a color profile you can try. That plus the brightness brought down to 35 worked well enough for me and images are beautiful, without their ICC Im not sure I couldve tuned it well by eye (its amazing how quickly our eyes adjust to compensate for color casts). Im glad they kept the 16:10 Aspect ratio instead of 16:9, 1920x1200 has lots of real estate, and the only reason Im not giving this 5 stars is that Dell is a pain to deal with if you havent purchased directly from them. I had to call them three times (and ignore a thread in their forum where their liason misinformed me) before getting an employee who would deign to entertain my questions without an order number or service tag, finally a tech rep acknowledged for me that yes, the manufacturers 3-year warranty (from time of manufacture at rear) remains valid despite my inability to obtain an order number.

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.

This is an excellent 1920x1200 monitor and you cant get anything better for the price. Pros: 1920x1200 resolution, 16:10 ration means more vertical space. More comfortable to read websites, better viewing angles in games, still capable of displaying 1080p video. If you are working with 1080p video, you can see the entire frame, and still have substantial space on the screen for toolbars in your editing software of choice. This is simply not possible with a 1920x1080 screen. IPS panel: while this panel lacks the color depth of much more expensive monitors, again, you wont find anything better under $300. Excellent color depth and reasonably good accuracy out of the box, fairly easy to calibrate if you arent satisfied with the factory settings. Obviously, good viewing angles. Youll never use a TN panel again after seeing this monitor. Only drawback is the problem common to all IPS panels, it is difficult to get perfect black contrast. Gaming use: I mainly use my monitor for gaming. The resolution, color accuracy and flexibility of the stand allow for extremely comfortable viewing in all my games. The 60Hz refresh rate is adequate, it is the standard and you can only get better by sacrificing the benefits of an IPS panel. The input lag is acceptably low for a 60Hz panel (under 1 frame, so you should never notice an input delay). Cons: This model does not support Adobe RGB color space; this is only a concern for seriously hardcore professional artists. Even semi-serious amateurs really do not need to worry. As some other reviewers have said, if you dont know what this means, dont worry. This is the perfect monitor for almost everyone. The newer U2413 has better color depth but costs almost $500, so its really only for people who make money with their pictures. Personal notes: My monitor was great for a while, but after several months I got an intermittent flickering. It also had minor backlight bleed that was only visible in nearly all-black screens. I called Dell about the flickering (expecting them to tell me I did something wrong) and in two days they had shipped me a replacement U2413 (the next better model). I dont expect they often do free upgrades but they will always replace your unit as quickly as possible if you have a hardware problem. I think I lucked out and all they had in stock was the better model. Anyway, no other monitor manufacturer has such excellent, rapid customer service. All of the Ultrasharp line (U-whatever) have a 3-year warranty, which is the best in the industry. Im never buying a monitor from anyone but Dell.