Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor, Black
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Brandon
> 3 dayI 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.
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Lewis Balentine
> 3 dayThis review is for the Dell 24 inch Monitor model number U2412 My trusty decade old Dell
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magixman
> 3 dayIt 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.
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L. Arcos
> 3 dayI am a gamer and regular computer user and for me this monitor is just perfect. When I built my gaming rig I had to purchase a new monitor for it so had to get rid of my 24 iMac with IPS 1920x1200 resolution, I said oh well Ill just get this 1080p TN (I didnt do my research on TN and IPS before purchase) panel with 2ms response time ( since it was for gaming this was what I was looking at the most ). Well 1080p felt weird and cramped and the colors were different than my previous display (iMac 24) I thought oh well Ill get used to it, but no I didnt so I did my research and found out about IPS and TN panels. Armed with new info I set out to buy an IPS panel that wasnt too expensive and with decent response time for gaming and of course this new panel had to be 1920x1200. After searching the web and reading many reviews online many people seemed to suggest this monitor and pointed to a review on TFT Central, after this review I was hooked and went ahead and purchased it. If anyone is in doubt about buying this monitor go check out the extensive review over at TFT Central. Set up: I have this monitor connected to a Mac mini through display port and my gaming PC connected through DVI. Both work great with excellent color and image quality, the monitor wakes fast from sleep and goes to sleep fast when device is off compared to my previous panel. Pros: e-IPS Panel (Beautiful colors compared to TN panels) Price (Compared to other IPS panels this is a steal) Resolution (1920x1200 is simply better than 1080p, for TVs 1080p is fine but for computer monitors those extra 120 pixels do wonders) No ghosting or input lag ( I didnt see a difference in input lag between this and my previous 2ms response time TN panel) Adjustable ( This monitors adjusts up, down, tilt, swivel, etc.) LED ( Thinner, lighter, disperses less heat, consumes less power ) Cons: Small light bleed on one of the corners ( This is very small and noticeable only when the screen is completely dark, this may vary with each monitor ) No HDMI ( This monitor does not have an HDMI connection, so if HDMI is a must for you this may be a problem) Final thoughts: This monitor is good for someone that wants a monitor to game and regular computer use with great colors and quality. The price is really good for the quality and resolution that you get and I would definitely recommend this monitor.
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Patrick Montelo
> 3 dayI 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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John D Kraft
> 3 dayMy 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.
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CG in SD
> 3 dayPurchased this to pair with a Late 2013 15 MacBook Pro Retina. I chose this monitor, as opposed to the U2414H, because it has a DVI connector and I didnt want to deal with the Mac thinking it was a TV, which has been reported with other monitors that only support HDMI or DisplayPort. I was able to plug this Dell into my MiniDisplayPort to DVI Apple adapter without issue and the Mac recognized the full resolution right away. The model number is U2412M rev. A01 manufactured in June 1014. Many have reported problems with a yellow tint to this monitor and they found it to be unacceptable. I was afraid that I might also be one of those people. When compared with the MacBook Retina screen (which is much higher quality) the Dell did seem to have a yellow tint. I tried to use the Apple color calibration tools and the settings on the display to correct it, but I could never find the right adjustments to get it to look right. I thought I might have to return it and try my luck with a different panel, but I was able to find a color profile on http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/icc_profiles.htm that worked very well. I am not sure that it completely eliminated the yellow tint, but it did pull the display colors more in line with the Retina panel and that was really all I was looking for. It looks great now and I dont notice a yellow tint anymore. I am not a photo or graphic artist so I am not hung up on calibration per say, but I dont want to be distracted by stark color differences when starring at both screens. The ICC profile did the trick for me. So far... I am a happy owner.
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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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Dave A
> 3 dayAs a long-time techie, Ive had a problem with Dell since their inception. Bad service, bad products, everything you wouldnt want in a company. Ive always avoided their products over the years. So it pains me to say that these monitors are top notch. The manufacture date is Sept 2012, not some random month last year. Initial product launch was early last year, so I was hesitant of getting something that has been sitting in a warehouse for almost two years. Five stars to the seller for this. The reviews here are what swayed me (that and Dell uses the same panels as other big names like Sony/Samsung, etc.), so I figured...the resolution is what I wanted, the price point is what I wanted, and looking at unrelated Dell products, the reviews have gotten a lot better, so I went for it. Crisp, clear, no dead pixels, they look fine out of the box compared to my two 24 Samsungs that Ive calibrated. Ill still have to go over the settings, just like any other monitor. Bezels are clean and slim. Solid construction throughout. Packed well. I bought two, and mounted them on a dual monitor stand I picked up [...] (5 stars to this product too, by the way) These monitors are for programming, so the 8ms G2G is not a concern. No photo/video editing, no games. _________________ Update 2/16/2013: I bought these last November, and Ive had them on 24/7 (with sleep mode). Every day I look forward to working on the computer with these monitors. They are just fantastic. Im adding a user-photo to show them installed.
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Prof. Kenny Stokes PhD
> 3 dayThis 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.