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Help with a monitor purchase


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After reading a lot of reviews I bought two Dell U2412M, 6-bit + FRC, e-IPS, W-LED. But I'm not really happy with them.

The screens are not very uniform, for example with pure white the left side is greenish the middle is more or less white and the right side is reddish. I guess the uniformity is a problem with all new LED backlit monitors. But I was expecting less.

 

Now I'm thinking of sending them back but not sure what to get.

 

Another option will be Dell U2413, 8-bit + FRC, AH-IPS, GB-LED. It's supposed to be a better panel, wide gamut 99% aRGB (which I don't need), I'll be running them in sRGB preset. But again it is LED backlit... Don't know what to expect.

 

I have older Dell CCFL backlit S-IPS true 8-bit monitors at home and pretty happy with them. But nobody makes CCFL anymore.

 

I need two 24" 1920x1200 sRGB monitors.

So what are my options?

Thanks.

Edited by isagreg
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Looks like we're going to have to adjust to the LEDs. So many people held on to their CRTs to the last possible moment. I'm looking at my Dell U2412M right now and there is a very slight blue in the lower left corner and a little brown on the other corner but a pure white test is brutal. Once the solid colors of a rendering come up I think it is inconsequential, unless you have giant white interior walls like some of Juraj's images. For the $250 I paid I can live with it and I don't think clients will be returning renderings because the colors were incorrect.

Edited by heni30
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I am not sure LED backlight is purely responsible for color cast, on the Dell models it seems to be case by case. Might be really bad luck. The Asus with PLS gets reported way often with color casts in corners. It's more the shitty LED matrices that get used (like only used in corners and so...).

 

I agree the NEC is pricied too heavily and old, I put that only in case it's really important for you.

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I looked at NEC and Eizo monitors, it looks like even at those prices they're not perfect.

 

Looks like the days of good 8-bit S-IPS CCFL monitors are gone.

Now we have crappy 6-bit+ARC e-IPS W-LED with PWM that not any better than TN monitors.

 

And then we have 8-bit+ARC AH-IPS with GB-LED. Supposedly flicker free.

 

What falls in that category?

Dell u2413? Do you guys think I should give it a try?

Or there are better options?

 

Thanks

Edited by isagreg
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btw. the 14 bit of the NEC mentioned above refers to the Lookup Table (LUT) of the hardware calibration. The PA241 / 271 have 10 bit panels. But yes, to fully use the 10 bit panel you'll need a Quadro/FirePro. But as far as i know you can use 10 bit for sRGB too. The higher bit rate only gives you finer graduations in the colors within the gamut supported by your display (no banding).

 

about 10 bit

http://www.ronmartblog.com/2011/07/guest-blog-understanding-10-bit-color.html

Edited by numerobis
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So glad I found this thread. There doesn't seem to ab a lot of google-ready results when it comes to monitors. I have a question in regard: my neighbor has an HP w2408h screen; it has vivid colors and it doesn't distorts colors when looked at in an angle; mine is a regular Samsung generic PnP and it distorts colors when you look at it from the sides. So, what's the big difference between these two? I am, like the OP in the process of buying a new monitor (or maybe two in parallel) but I don't want to waste money in something I won't be happy with.

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HP w2408h screen; it has vivid colors

 

I chuckled a bit, because the monitor is called "HP w2408h Vivid color" :- D I guess it holds true :- )

 

It's good to educate on the current technologies to manufacture panels, even though it's mostly two distinctive techs, low-end TN (which is quiet better today though) vs multitude versions of IPS, PVA, PLS, depending on manufacturer.

 

Greg, have you looked at reviews of 27" ? Maybe you could have better luck as most of the 2.5k were conceived as high-end from start (but so was 16:10 24", but well...just a suggestion). The newer 27" Dells also have SUPERIOR display coating compared to 24" and 30" Ultrasharps.

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Greg, have you looked at reviews of 27" ? Maybe you could have better luck as most of the 2.5k were conceived as high-end from start (but so was 16:10 24", but well...just a suggestion). The newer 27" Dells also have SUPERIOR display coating compared to 24" and 30" Ultrasharps.

 

Dell u2713hm 27" 2560x1440 AH-IPS W-LED true 8-bit $650 (newegg) x2 = $1,300

Dell u2713h 27" 2560x1440 AH-IPS GB-LED 10-bit (8-bit + FRC) $785 (B&H) x2 = $1,570

Way more than I wanna spend. I think I'll be good with two nice 24" 1200p monitors.

 

I'm not really bothered by AG coating.

I'm very sensitive to monitor flicker, PWM that is (u2412m gives me a headache, that's another reason I wanna get rid of them).

I wanna stay away from e-IPS (no better than TN I think).

I guess I'm stuck with LED, all CCFL are discontinued.

 

So I narrowed my selection down to these:

 

Dell U2413 AH-IPS GB-LED 10-bit (8-bit + FRC) No PWM down to 20% brightness

Asus PA249Q AH-IPS GB-LED 10-bit (8-bit + FRC) Not sure about PWM

Plus there are very expensive monitors from NEC and Eizo.

 

Are there more options?

Thanks

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I would probably go for the U2413.

I like ASUS, but for some reason Dell monitors appeal more to me due to their longer run in the "pro" segment. EIZO & NEC might do it better, but I am not that demanding (or not that rich).

 

I admit I would like the new Asus ROG 1440p 120Hz + G-Sync, but don't think I will be buying another monitor in this price range anytime soon.

 

As for CCFL vs LED, I would say it is probably your example of LED that you dislike: I have one of the "better" CCFL monitors (U2711) and the newer 1440p LED iterations (eg U2713) of the same panel are reported as a notable improvement.

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Yeah, I'm leaning towards U2413 too.

 

My main issue with CCFL vs LED is the screen uniformity, I just can't stand those brighter uneven corners with edge-lit LED displays.

The same goes for plasma and edge-lit LED TVs. They killed perfectly fine plasma technology without comparable replacement (OLED doesn't count, too expensive and untested for reliability)

The only decent LED displays I've seen are Full Array LED (with local dimming is even better). But those are rare and expensive, and they don't make Full Array LED computer monitors, only TVs.

Edited by isagreg
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