I've been waiting for this day for many months now - Dell's Ultrasharp U2410 is finally on sale in Canada.
I just bought one for $479 - $220 off the normal price of $699! Sale's on until the end of July - dell online store.
This is seriously one of the best LCD panel bargains out there. It's 24" and sports the increasingly rare but massively superior 1920x1200 resolution.
But what makes it awesome, and a bit pricier than a typical LCD, is that it's an IPS (in-plane switching) panel and not the ultra-shit TN (twisted nematic) technology you find on 99% of other consumer displays.
If you've ever walked past an Apple Cinema display in a store and dropped your jaw at how amazing the colour accuracy, contrast, and viewing angles are - that's an IPS panel. It's also why they're much more expensive than your typical $199 monitors. Most non-Apple IPS displays this size are also around or over $1000 - they're valued by graphic professionals because they can actually resolve the full sRGB colour gamut, which is critical when you're doing design work.
In games, it means that all sorts of shitty problems go away - crap contrast in the dark (everything looks black), oversaturation in the whites (washed out bright spots), ugly banding across gradients, hue shifting across the display, and tons of other crap are dramatically improved with an IPS display. At $479, it's practically robbery to buy one - the last 24" LCD you'll ever need, or at least one which you'll be happy to keep for a very long time.
Anyway, just a heads up - I know a lot of Canadians were drooling for one when they went on sale for a similar price in the US a couple months ago. The sale finally made its way here. Bargain!
ps: I'm not affiliated with Dell in any way, shape, or form. Just sharing the wealth with my friends on TL. ^^
Admittedly, it's almost impossible to show one monitor outperforming another monitor in a video you watch on a monitor - seeing it in person is really the only way to fully appreciate the difference, but here's an attempt :
Heh hello there fellow Monitor afficionado. You do know most people are just fine with TN panels (I can't stand TN panels at all anymore).
Once you go IPS, you can't go back.
Myself, I'm still rocking the 24" 2408WFP (a non-IPS panel, though I think a certain batch were, stupid monitor lottery, I forget if mine is S-PVA or MVA, been a long time). Anyways, IPS really truly is the best.
Just watched the videos, like you said, it really is truly difficult to compare picture quality without seeing it in person, nice attempt by the dude though.
I considered the Dell U2410 monitor before purchasing the HP LP2475W. To be honest it was a close contest, and for reasons that are unrelated to it's general use. I've been very satisfied with the LP2475W - the colors are beautiful, the blacks are generally speaking black (not gray and washed out like many other monitors out there, particularly those TN monitors), and the build quality is excellent. The only issue is the response time (and a slight hue from cool->warm across the monitor), which is generally a problem with IPS monitors, and overall pretty bad for Starcraft. Noticeably so when compared to my previous 2ms TN panel - though not in terms of ghosting, but it feels like my responses and actions are slower/delayed.
I think the Dell is better in this respect, but if you're a gaming purist, this might not be the monitor for you. For general use, it should be a very good monitor, assuming you don't get a dud (I understand that some monitors had issues with a pink hue). If you're rich, please purchase the HP Dreamcolor monitor, and let me know how it really performs (RGB LED, 30bit).
In terms of similar monitors and reviews; visit tftcentral - it has a nice review on the Dell U2410, and also the LP2475W.
On July 26 2010 03:09 FirstProbe wrote: This is somewhat unrelated...
I considered the Dell U2410 monitor before purchasing the HP LP2475W. To be honest it was a close contest, and for reasons that are unrelated to it's general use. I've been very satisfied with the LP2475W - the colors are beautiful, the blacks are generally speaking black (not gray and washed out like many other monitors out there, particularly those TN monitors), and the build quality is excellent. The only issue is the response time (and a slight hue from cool->warm across the monitor), which is generally a problem with IPS monitors, and overall pretty bad for Starcraft. Noticeably so when compared to my previous 2ms TN panel - though not in terms of ghosting, but it feels like my responses and actions are slower/delayed.
I think the Dell is better in this respect, but if you're a gaming purist, this might not be the monitor for you. For general use, it should be a very good monitor, assuming you don't get a dud (I understand that some monitors had issues with a pink hue). If you're rich, please purchase the HP Dreamcolor monitor, and let me know how it really performs (RGB LED, 30bit).
In terms of similar monitors and reviews; visit tftcentral - it has a nice review on the Dell U2410, and also the LP2475W.
Yeah, I also looked at the LP2475 - really I would have considered it an equal save for the Dell being on a fire sale. Same with the NEC panel - beautiful, but I'm not spending $1000 on a display. I will spend half that, though. I had heard about the pink hue problem with some of the panels but I was of the notion that they had straightened it out after getting a number of returns.
In any case, it can't be as bad as the crap I'm staring at now. Agreed, as well, that the IPS can be a *touch* slower in response, but Dell quotes 6ms, which is not too bad, really. I'll post reviews of high-speed action when it comes in.
* 24" Display and 1920x1200 (max) WUXGA Resolution: Experience stunning high-definition detail and the ability to view more onscreen content. * 16:10 Wide Aspect Ratio: View wide documents with ease and work in multiple windows with less scrolling and toggling between applications. * 6-Millisecond Response Time2 (Typical): Discover responsive, lifelike video playback with minimal ghosting and streaking. * 80,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio: Enjoy blacker blacks, razor-sharp graphics and text, brilliant color and near-microscopic detail.
# Fast 2 ms response time For a clear display while images change quickly on the screen. # 23" LED Provides a clear display. # 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio Ensures great picture quality. # 250 cd/m² brightness For sharp on-screen images. # 1920 x 1080 maximum resolution Creates a high level of picture detail.
* 24" Display and 1920x1200 (max) WUXGA Resolution: Experience stunning high-definition detail and the ability to view more onscreen content. * 16:10 Wide Aspect Ratio: View wide documents with ease and work in multiple windows with less scrolling and toggling between applications. * 6-Millisecond Response Time2 (Typical): Discover responsive, lifelike video playback with minimal ghosting and streaking. * 80,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio: Enjoy blacker blacks, razor-sharp graphics and text, brilliant color and near-microscopic detail.
# Fast 2 ms response time For a clear display while images change quickly on the screen. # 23" LED Provides a clear display. # 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio Ensures great picture quality. # 250 cd/m² brightness For sharp on-screen images. # 1920 x 1080 maximum resolution Creates a high level of picture detail.
Is there something redeeming I'm missing?
Yeah - specifications lie like crooked bastard salesmen. They don't mean shit. Put that Samsung next to the IPS, use your eyes, and all will be revealed.
This will be my third 24" LCD display. I've looked at TONS of TN panel displays like that Samsung - cold cathode backlit, LED backlit -> doesn't matter. Try to get decent colour out of them and it just doesn't work. I've had to resort to crushing the dynamic range with software tools, spending hours tweaking gamma, brightness, and contrast on all three colour channels, and still it's like trying to push two magnets together trying to get it to work. You just don't have the same colour resolution on a TN panel - 24bit colour cannot be displayed properly on them.
Take the contrast ratio, for example. You can have a ridiculous contrast ratio - black blacks and blazing whites - but if you don't have the ability to control the levels between black and white properly then you don't have a good picture. If you can only make 210 levels between black and white ( or black and red, black and blue, black and green) then that's all you get. 24-bit colour needs the monitor to be able to accurately divide the space between dark and bright into at least 256 perceptible steps. TN panels simply cannot do this.
Plus there are angle problems - ever notice when blacks take on a sheen, say when watching a movie? Shadows suddenly look brighter than dark black in some corners of the screen or from certain angles. Same with whites - you get hue bleeds and contrast inversions that just destroy a good image. None of those specs say anything about that.
Even looking straight on at most LCDs you get terrible gradients from top to bottom and left to right. You can never get the gamma right, gradients band, and the extremes saturate.
On July 26 2010 03:16 jgad wrote: Yeah, I also looked at the LP2475 - really I would have considered it an equal save for the Dell being on a fire sale. Same with the NEC panel - beautiful, but I'm not spending $1000 on a display. I will spend half that, though. I had heard about the pink hue problem with some of the panels but I was of the notion that they had straightened it out after getting a number of returns.
In any case, it can't be as bad as the crap I'm staring at now. Agreed, as well, that the IPS can be a *touch* slower in response, but Dell quotes 6ms, which is not too bad, really. I'll post reviews of high-speed action when it comes in.
I probably would've done the same at that price. 6ms should be great, though I wonder if it runs in a different mode to achieve it.
Either way, a nice purchase! My only real regret (aside from the slow response) is that I wish I had purchased a 30'' monitor.
On July 26 2010 04:58 FirstProbe wrote: Incidentally, I use these at work: http://www.barco.com/en/product/1909/specs Just need to work out how to plug a high definition source into it!
Well as soon as I'm either rich or getting paid to look at my display - hells yeah! A beauty indeed.
Scope the pro monitors, eh - > 800:1 contrast ratio, but they actually mean it! That's a massive spec.
EPT
thats next on my list though!!
