Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

When you do a search for a 24" monitor, and you find dozens available in the $150-$200 price range, why in the world would anyone consider this monitor when it costs about twice as much? If you're just looking for a monitor that delivers basic performance, you wouldn't. But if you're looking for a monitor that will deliver a great picture, provide lots of desktop space for your programs, and backed with a great warranty, then you should definitely consider this monitor! There are plenty of bullet point reasons to consider when comparing monitors: - Most monitors made today are 1920x1080. This one is 1920x1200. Those extra 120 pixels can make a difference depending on what you are working on. Imagine the difference between viewing a PDF file a full page at a time instead of having to scroll. Imagine being able to see more of that photo of your kids that you're working on. More vertical height means that you can see more E-Mails at once, and less scrolling when reading web pages. - Most cheap monitors are made with lesser quality TN LCD panels instead of higher quality IPS panels. This Dell UltraSharp has an IPS panel that delivers great color without oversaturation and its viewing angles are very good. With TN, you get color shifts depending on how you're looking at your monitor (especially vertically). Not so with IPS. While not capable of the wide gamut that the U2410 can deliver, that feature is only needed if you are editing files in the Adobe RGB color space. If you don't know what that is, you don't need it because you aren't using it. The more common sRGB color space is supported on this monitor, which is what most people would want to use. - Most cheap monitors do not have height adjustments. This monitor allows you to move the panel vertically to get the right viewing angle. For most people, the best position is to have the top of the monitor line up with your forehead. With cheap monitors, you end up stacking your monitor on top of old catalogs or phone books. These are just some of the things you should consider when buying a monitor. Whether they are important to you is your choice, but you should be aware of them and make an educated decision. What would I change on this monitor? ------------------------------------ While it has two USB ports on the side, it would be nice if the monitor had a built-in card reader. Doing so would help reduce the clutter of having an external card reader or depending on having a card reader built into your PC or printer. This isn't a deal-breaker by any means, but it would be nice to at least have an SD reader available. I like the fact that this monitor doesn't come with speakers built-in, but the AY511 soundbar that can be added is unnecessarily expensive and requires a power adaptor. There are situations where having very basic speakers would be very nice, and an unpowered speaker bar that was in the $30 price range would be a great addition. The AX510 seems like it should work, but Dell doesn't list it as being compatible with the U2412 monitor. Overall ------- I haven't yet fully calibrated this monitor with color profiles, and I'm not sure that I will go through the effort, as the controls allow for getting a pretty good picture without needing that extra step. I have it adjusted for a broad range of greyscale display and the colors are vibrant without being oversaturated. I am very happy with the performance of this monitor, and while the price was higher than your average big-box store flyer special, it represents a great value in my opinion. Even though I'm using it for personal use, I would not hesitate to use it in a professional environment as well. It's an excellent business monitor, and after being fully calibrated, I think it would serve photographers and graphic designers very well. If you need Adobe RGB, you'll have to go up to the U2410, but many photo labs use sRGB, and this monitor does that with no trouble. While this monitor is more expensive, I feel that it delivers what's important. A monitor is your primary interface with your computer, and if you care at all about image quality, you'll give this monitor very serious consideration before thinking that you can save money and be just as happy.