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

When I was deciding on a monitor, the whole Dell UltraSharp line was brought up again and again. Its safe to say they have a reputation for quality monitors. Of course, they come at a premium. Id imagine some people wonder what that premium gets. Well, to be fair, I dont necessarily think this will be worth it versus lower-priced competitors for everyone, but it was for me. Here are the things that sold me on this monitor, (and that it delivers in use), in order of importance to me: 1) The wide viewing angle. I can be a bit of a slouch at the computer. My old 23 inch monitor, a fairly inexpensive one, had a smaller viewing angle, so that if I slouched, it appeared darker. No such issue with this Dell. You dont have to get yourself in just the right spot. This is really nice for practical reasons, but of course encourages bad posture on my part! 2) Great Stand The stand on this thing is awesome. It goes way up and way down. It tilts to vertical. Its stable as can be. On my cheap Ikea desk, my typing would cause my old monitor on its flimsy stand to jiggle a bit. No such issue here. 3) Aspect Ratio The monitor is 1920x1200, instead of the now more-common 1920x1080. This gives some more pixels of height to the screen. If your focus is movies, perhaps this isnt the best thing (although its a minor issue at worst). For my personal uses of gaming, browsing the web, and working, that is great extra space, plain and simple. 4) Colors! Pretty simple, the Dell delivers rich, accurate colors. A lot of this depends on ones calibrations, but the Dell makes my old monitor, side-by-side, look much more washed out than I ever realized it was. So those were my key points. The Dell has delivered flawlessly on them. Is it worth it for everyone? Not necessarily. Is my older 23 inch monitor still capable of delivering a perfectly nice experience? Sure. In the end, though, you are getting what you pay for with this monitor. Thats not in question.

After 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.

One of the best purchases I have ever made. As a software engineer and photography enthusiast who works with computers most of the time when not sleeping, I have high standards for monitors and have played with a lot of them. I can say that this one is the best value for the money. The color is pretty accurate (not as accurate as those super expensive monitors that cost $1000+ though), and the uniformity of the display is superb. Dont get tricked by those fancy looks and functions of some cheap monitor (not so cheap though, still cost $100+)--those functionalities have nothing to do with the display quality. This display is so good that I immediately bought another one for my GF after getting my hands on this one. You could easily find that the color in those display you used before (TVs, cheaper monitors) are far more inferior and you immediately enter a new world with vivid color. This monitor is great for programming and photo editing for enthusiasts (pros may choose those expensive ones), and other uses that you could imagine. The 16:10 ratio is also optimal for working, and I never had any problems with movies even though for 16:9 movies you cannot get a full coverage. Actually I found the bottom black gap is perfect for subtitles. If youre looking for a 24-inch monitor, buy this one as fast as you can. You may also want to consider the 27-inch version if youre looking for a larger monitor.

I have been using the monitor for only a week, so I can say nothing about reliability. It is labeled with a manufacture date of November 2012. The colors are very nice, perhaps a bit better than my older LCD monitors, but nothing spectacular like others have reported. The 1920x1200 format is very nice for CAD (computer aided design) work. There is no problem with the antiglare coating, as others have reported. It has a smooth flat appearance just like my two older Samsung monitors. I work mostly with white backgrounds (CAD and word processing) and I see none of the glittery effect reported in earlier posts. I have noticed no stuck pixels or the backlight bleed that others have reported. Perhaps these were initial production problems. I see no blurring, streaking or other artifacts when playing DVD movies or with action games like Flight Simulator X (running with all options maximized, 30 frames per second and 1920x1200 pixels). Other comments about the 8 ms refresh causing blurring are pretty silly, since our nervous system cant distinguish events shorter than about 20-30 ms. It is connected to an Nvidia Quadro 2000 video card through a DisplayPort cable. Pros: Easy setup. Windows 7 found it and automatically installed a U2412M driver. Height, angle and rotation adjustments are easy. Cons: It doesnt include a DisplayPort (DP) cable. It has black buttons on a black bezel (if there are labels, they are black too). They are essentially invisible under normal room lighting. I know this is the current silly fad, but it is just stupid! When I first turned it on it reported that there was no VGA cable connected and that it would shut down in five minutes. This was silly since it was connected with a DisplayPort cable. I pushed on the buttons (not sure which one because it is black on black) and eventually an input selection menu appeared. When I selected the DisplayPort input it switched and has worked correctly ever since. This should have been unnecessary - with only one cable connected it should have auto detected the signal. A minor annoyance is the way the power, video and USB cables attach on the rear of the display panel. When you rotate the display the cables are dragged with it and may hang on nearby objects. It would have been much better to attach the cables to the base and make the connections to the display internally at the rotation point. The display has two USB ports on the left edge. If used these cables stick out several inches making it necessary to have a lot of clearance. These ports cant be used in a multi monitor system with another monitor sitting next to the U2412M (or anything else close by). Also, if the monitor is rotated these cables are dragged to the top of the display high above the desk top. The side of the display isnt a good location for cable connections. Other comments: This is not a problem with the monitor, but when I installed it Microsoft Office had to be activated a second time. Just for changing monitors on the machine! Thats nuts! I dont know if Microsoft does this for all monitors. I knocked off a star because of the black on black buttons without labels and the failure to auto detect the signal. Otherwise it is very nice.

Most PC monitors these days are 16:9, because manufacturers can steal the panels from HDTV makers for cheap. The problem is 16:9 is a terrible aspect ratio for computing - reading a web page or writing a Word doc is not the same as watching a widescreen movie. The Dell U2412M is a 16:10 monitor - a much more usable aspect ratio for general computing. Those 120 extra pixels really do make a BIG difference. But you usually only see this in more expensive professional monitors because these panels are not used in any other industry. The volume is lower, hence the prices are higher - and that means theyre usually relegated to high-end displays. This is one of the few ~$300 16:10 PC displays, and its a good one. No, its not perfect - no monitor is, and let me dispense with the monitors bad points first. Like the (16:9) ASUS PB238Q I traded in for this, mine doesnt have perfect uniformity - one side of the screen is ever so slightly brighter (and bluer) than the other. This is a common problem for LCDs, but most people would never notice it, and even a nitpicker like me only ever really sees it on a solid white or light grey background. The physical look of the monitor is pretty basic and isnt going to win any beauty awards - it has that mid-90s Dell style, with the rounded edges and silver accents they used to use. I actually liked the physical look of my ASUS monitor better, with its industrial style sharp edges and corners and darker black plastic and panel. The Dell doesnt look quite as professional. But this consideration goes away as soon as you turn the monitor on and start using it. Most of these seem to have a little bit of corner light bleed and mine is no exception, though its not noticeable at all except on a totally black screen. The only time I ever actually see it at all is when watching letterboxed movies. The bottom right (coincidentally where the power LED is) is the worst offender on mine, although oddly it goes away completely if I look at that corner dead straight-on. But then Im looking at the rest of the monitor askew. Of course, as cheap as it is and unlike previous Dell UltraSharp monitors, this one is a 6 bit panel that uses interpolation to manage 16.7 million colors, and its only got an SRGB color gamut. Thats by design and not really a criticism, but just be aware of it if youre a photographer. Dell still makes other UltraSharp monitors intended for professionals - this isnt one of them, although its good enough for me and it should be good enough for anyone not doing critical photo editing. Now for the good stuff. As mentioned, theres the aspect ratio. Already explained that. This monitors also got an e-IPS panel and has basically plasma-like viewing angles - you can turn it any which way and it looks pretty much the same (except for the corner bleed on dark scenes). Its also *capable* of very accurate colors, although youll need to calibrate it to get them. Matte screen, and the anti-glare coating is not grainy or otherwise noticeable. Its perfect. No glare, no reflections, no cross-hatch, no graininess. Insist on nothing less than matte! The stand, while not the prettiest, is functionally among the best Ive ever seen. Its got height adjustment, tilt, side to side rotation and portrait/landscape rotation - you can basically move it on any axis! My ASUS PB238Q did this too (and so does the PA248Q), but theyre some of the only monitors thatll do all this in the lower price ranges. It also feels solid and doesnt wobble, although it does sometimes get a little off-axis on its own, and you have to sort of re-center it. Its BRIGHT! IPS panels are often a little dark - my ASUS actually looked dim at 100% brightness with my blinds open on a sunny day. This Dell ships set to 75% brightness and its already brighter than that. Most calibrated settings Ive seen for this monitor end up with a brightness setting of around 35%. Its DARK! The black level is pretty amazing for an LCD monitor. Granted, the corner bleed kind of screws up the consistency a little bit, but I tested the black level side by side with my ASUS and it was really no contest. The ASUS did have a more consistent black, with no corner bleed at all, but it was really more of a dark grey across the whole panel. The Dell does have corner bleed where some light comes through, but most of the panel is BLACK. That includes the area where youd be watching movies or TV shows. Overall Im cursing Amazon yet again for not letting me give half stars, because this is a 4 1/2 star monitor. Its not perfect and it doesnt have the wide gamut of the 2410 that preceded it, but then its also about half the price so its easier to overlook its flaws given all you get for the money. Find me a better 24 16:10 monitor at this price and Ill buy it.

Please note: If you average out the reviews during the most recent 15 month period the average customer review falls well bellow its lifetime average of 4.5 stars. The monitor went through a redesign and is no longer the monitor it once was. We just received 2 Dell UltraSharp U2412M monitors at my company (Rev A01). One has the yellow background tint problem that many reviewers have referred to and the other does not. These were purchased through a corporate supply chain contract and not through Amazon. Thus, the yellow background tint problem is not specific to Dell Monitors supplied by Amazon. We have done some side by side comparisons of older monitors versus newer ones. The older monitors that we purchased prior to mid 2013 are sufficiently bright when set at 67-77 depending on the external lighting. The newer monitors that we have recently received need to be set at 95-100 in order for the brightness to be sufficient. This is with or without the yellow background tint problem. Dell clearly changed the design specifications on this model by designing-out components and reducing the brightness in the process. The yellow background tint is most likely an unintended consequence of lowering those specifications. A relatively easy way to save money if youre a design engineer at Dell but not even close to the monitor it once was if YOU ARE A REPEAT CUSTOMER and can make side by side comparisons of old versus new. Or should I say WAS A REPEAT CUSTOMER. We are returning both of these monitors and will not be ordering any more of them. We order dozens of monitors each year and so I hope Dell takes notice. You can reduce costs thus impacting image quality. Maybe for those who dont have any of the older monitors in front of them its not apparent. But in the case of our company we have many of the older monitors and when placed side by side with the newer ones it is very obvious that this is not even close to the monitor it once was. NEC MultiSync EA244WMi: If you can afford an extra $100 the NEC MultiSync EA244WMi is the monitor to get. You can get it for around $365. Its got excellent contrast and instead of a matte finish like the Dell the screen has a semi-gloss finish. The semi gloss finish is more than enough to eliminate screen glare while theres less grainyness and thus a sharper picture than the Dell. You will especially notice the difference if you read a lot of text. Read the reviews on B&H photo in addition to those on Amazon. PCMag rates it the top 24 monitor for 2014. Its superior to the Dell. Additionally its got a 3 year warranty and NEC stands behind their warranty. Many reviews have had problems getting warranty service for Dell products purchased through Amazon. You wont have that problem with NEC. Their warranty is legit and they have a good reputation for honoring it. The ASUS PA248Q is a fine monitor if text sharpness is not as important to you. However, if you will be reading a lot of text you will find that the text on the ASUS is a bit fuzzy compared to the Dell. As previously mentioned, the best of both worlds is the NEC MultiSync EA244WMi: Sharper text, better colors, web pages are sharper. Just all around the NEC is the one to get if you dont mind paying the extra $100.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this monitor. I was stupid before this and bought a cheap monitor. It hurt my eyes. I have an HP Pavilition with an excellent monitor, but this year, bought a Microsoft Surface, which also has an excellent monitor, just too small for my puny eyes. I bought a cheap large monitor and it was almost worse than the tiny screen. Finally ponied up for this monitor and its AWESOME Not only is it great quality and crisp clear text (I do mostly reading, writing, database work and programming) but its SOOOO adjustable and I didnt realize how cool that would be. This monitor SLIDES up down AND TILTS forward back AND ROTATES left right, great for when moving around in my chair. I do wish the base would move towards and back from me a little easier - it has a SOLID dependable base, but I do tend to drag it towards and away from me. Maybe Ill put a piece of felt or something to let it slide easier. This monitor can also go vertical which is very cool, but I find a little disconcerting just on orientation. If I were doing mostly writing, say like a lawyer, the vertical (portrait) mode might be how I keep it all the time, or if I had a second jack for a monitor, I might get another one of these - one for my desktop in horizontal mode and one for my writing in vertical mode. All in all, I have NOTHING Bad to say about this monitor. Oh, some people have commented that it doesnt have speakers and thats true. While that would be nice, it doesnt really take away from it and I think you can buy a speaker bar to attach, but dont quote me on that. Overall, this monitor has a high quality feel to it, sharp performance and flexible. LOVE IT!

This is the 3rd U2412M Ive ordered. The previous two were ordered 11 and 13 months ago, and were REV A03. This is a REV A01 (model U2412Mb). It does have the yellow tint that others have talked about, and is very noticeable compared to the two previous A03 monitors. However I was able to adjust it so the difference is less noticeable by changing the preset to color temp and selecting 7500k (as opposed to standard and 6500k) - its still noticeable, but now mostly for blues instead of whites. Since Im not doing graphic design this is acceptable for me. I will be keeping this model, even with the yellow tint, but have to return this specific one as it has a loose part inside that rattles whenever I move it. I would have rated this monitor a 5 previously, but its dropped a star because of the color uniformity issues and the loose part inside (there is no damage to the monitor or the box, and it works). Update: Amazon shipped me a replacement, and this monitor works great. It is also a REV A01 (model U2412Mb). It does have a yellow hue compared to the REV A03 monitors, but this monitor isnt nearly as bad as the previous one, which stuck out very obviously when the monitors were next to each other. This one is much less obvious, enough that I may not even bother to adjust it. This monitor Ill be keeping.

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!

I have never been a fan of LED monitors. Sometimes the brightness can be harsh on the eyes, but I was pleasantly surprised when I received my new Dell U2412M. My eyes were pleased with the IPS Display. The 24 size is perfect for a desktop. I was impressed with the stand and its adjustability that alone is worth the price, most monitors in this price range have a cheap plastic feel to them, not the Dell. I am just an average user who touches up some family photos, surfs the web. Out of the box, the image quality is fantastic and was easy to set up. There is no HDMI input on this particular monitor, you will have to use a DVI adapter if your PC does not have a DVI plug. For the price Amazon sold this for I can live without an HDMI input. Bottom line, I saved a lot of money and got a Dell U2412M, Best Buy could not even come close to this price. Read the reviews, a lot of people here with technical knowhow explain in detail what is good and what is not so good. I have no buyers remorse....I actually want to get a second one.