













Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor, Black
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Marzipan
> 24 hourCutting to the Chase (Value vs product & purpose): I was upgrading from a Dell 20 16:10 ratio (1680x1050) 2007 LCD Monitor which had no actual problems with it, but I wanted more real-estate and a higher res image. I wanted colors, and was willing to pay for them, because I do do layouts and basic photo-editing from time to time, but I ultimately chose this over the 2413 and Im glad I pocketed the extra $200. For about $300, its a great buy and $50 cheaper than directly from Dell. I did some research in the way-back machine and it seems like I paid close to $500 7 years ago when I got my old 20, so paying 300 for a larger, higher res and more vibrant screen, is really quite a good deal... especially since 2007 dollars are about 50% + more valuable than our inflated monopoly money today. (Side lesson kids: so long as we print money, dont bother saving any in your mattress!) My work is Architecture, so added area for CAD or REVIT drafting is important- and 24 certainly feels like a lot to me. Most firms Ive worked at provide 20 screens. Ive used big 30 in apple screens, back when they had the clunky plastic frames. Frankly I feel like 24 is a nice compromise between size and working my neck muscles searching for the tool bars at the extremes of the screen. I also play games like Fallout3 and Bioshock Infinite, Civ franchise and SupCom, so I was worried about all this talk of lag (more later). The first thing my wife noticed when I plugged in the monitor was that the colors in the desktop background were more vibrant than the old monitor: three people had distinctly different lip and skin tones which didnt show nearly as clearly before. This is revealing, since when emursing myself in reviews for monitors, I started to feel like the 2412M would be a compromise.... Performance: Even from people who professed their love for the 2413, I kept reading about ghosting problems, about cyan color trails and input lag and gaming modes, and other things which sounded either REALLY irritating or complicated. I dont feel like flipping through settings menus to make an experience fluid feeling or good looking - I constantly flip back and forth between games, work, web browsing, or videos, and dont want to have to sort out the menu every time. I cant compare this model with another model because I only bought one of them! So heres a list of items about THIS monitor Ive found to be true in my experience: Q:Anti-Glare coating? A:It looks great. Supposedly its an advancement over the 2410, and not as good as the 2413. Well It is certainly an advancement over the 2007 I had, and way better than anything Ive been provided on the job. It looks smooth and clear to me, although it does not have the almost glossed look that the 2413 claims to have. Since I have to stare at the screen professionally for 8 hours a day, and then i come home and feel like playing a videogame or watching netflix for a few hours... this screen seems perfect, and I wouldnt want it any glossier. Q: Input Lag, or total lag, or transmission lag... that sort of thing? A: All kinds of fears about 6ms vs 8ms vs 1ms vs 2 ms got me really wound me up for NO REASON. Finally one of the reviews I read linked me to a reflex-reaction website, and I found that from click-to-click, although I could at times be quite fast, generally speaking, my fastest clicks could easily vary 10-20ms. So worrying about 2ms or a 6ms on-paper difference between this monitor and another monitor, even a TN fast gaming monitor, starts to seem really silly, at least to a non-pro gamer who isnt hopped up on a dozen energy drinks, who isnt nitrogen-cooling his CPU to eek out another dozen frames per-sec on his first person shooter. No noticeable response time problems here, which is why I suppose Ive heard that a lot of Gamers choose this monitor. Q: Color? A: Colors look great. It is supposed to cover most of the sRGB Gamut. I can tell you its a lot more vibrant than what Im used to. getting all wound up about color calibration is another thing most people just not need to worry about. I plug and play and havent had a problem. No weird color shifts here. The white looks white, the reds are red. Snozberries taste like Snozberries. Maybe the 2413 would have been all of my graphic dreams come true, but really I wouldnt have used it to its fullest, and unless your profession is colors, you probably wouldnt either. Read Fuzzy Wuzzys review for details about how in order to use the monitor to its fullest, you need to have an unbroken line of image processing from beginning to end optimized for that level of quality. Q: Backlight Bleed / glowing/ pixles? A: I dont see any bright light-leaks at the edges or anything, but when the screen is black, it isnt quite as black as Id like it. This is my first IPS monitor, and it seems like standard fare to have a bit of glowing, but its nothing I notice regularly. While gaming or web browsing or watching videos its something I dont notice at all. The pixles are fine, although I checked for dead pixles, I didnt find any. Q: Overall build quality/ customer service? A: Good, no defects, and I am sensitive since I once ordered a DELL laptop which came with a popped up piece of plastic trim. The monitor was Surprisingly light, although its larger than my old one. Seems sturdy. Not knocking it around or anything, so its not wobbling. The action for moving or rotating the monitor is very smooth and efficient. Aesthetically I like its clean lines. Well worth the value, no regrets. Cheers!
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Thelma Meyer
> 24 hourUpdate on monitor 2-12-2014 Raised monitor from 1 to 4 stars! Miracle! The computer was repaired by HP - at first the repaired computer didnt SEE the monitor! (kept going into sleep mode) THEN I tried connecting it to DVI port (instead of DVI to HDMI) Still didnt work - then I just started hitting keys on my keyboard, turning mouse on and off - and.... voila! The monitor was live! (Dont know if the change of port had anything to do with it -- maybe banging the keyboard?) Worked splendidly for a few days - then I thought to reconnect my 2nd monitor (which I had disconnected from DVI) to the HDMI Well... the screen started to flutter when I started a PowerPoint slideshow. This is just what happened before the monitor slowed down to the point of uselessness. I immediately disconnected 2nd monitor -- dont understand this at all! The screen still flutters when I start slide-show -- but everything else is working beautifully. Keeping fingers crossed and praying. I really do love this monitor! previous 1-star review. ............................. It seemed to work all right for about a week. Then my computer, became erratic, slowed down, and became unusable. It was under warranty to HP - they put in a new hard drive. Now the monitor will not come on at all. It goes right into sleep mode. I have 2 other monitors that work as soon as I plug them in. Not this Dell. I am totally mystified. And so disappointed that it is too late to returrn..
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Anthony J. Hitchings
> 24 hourmonitor goes to sleep before the installer CD can do anything usefull setup instructions are uselss for installing any software or doing setup - all it says is to how to assemble it so much for DELL!! Dell tech support was in India I think - its Albion - they were clueless this is the only monitor I have ever had problems with I have a new ASUS Essentio Windows 8 Pc always in the past a video card would treat a new monitor ok - at least working in basic mode - not this time after much computer voodoo and plugging and unplugging and trying ito other pcs and rebooting it finally worked - I have no idea what did the trick due to this frustration it only gets 4 stars today the monitor itself seems ok now that its responding to the PC. 24 is a good size for sorting photos and doing simple editing. on a side note - I am quite pleased at the font sizes with this monitor and Windows 8. A pleasant surprise for my old eyes.
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Internet is for shopping
> 24 hourBought this monitor to replace my 6 year old 24 inch TN dell. Unlike some other brands, Dell never let me down. Its not a coincidence that most IT companies use Dell. So when I saw this 2012 model still best selling and having rave reviews, I knew it must be a good buy. And indeed, the user feedback is justified. This is a huge improvement over my old TN screen. I didnt even realize how off the colors of the TN display were till I put two monitors side by side. No more blurry dark mess on top of the screen and no more an overly bright bottom. The backlight is even, no noticeable leaking, viewing angles are awesome. On my old monitor, I had to readjust the screen constantly (which wasnt really helping much). Other less major, but very nice features are: - The brightness can be set extremely low. On my old display, I kept it at 0, which is equal to only about 22 on this one, which means Ill be able to lower it even further if I decide to work at night without lights on. - The height adjustment can be set exceptionally high, and the stands base isnt very thick or large, which allows the keyboard to be put over it, if desired. Together this eliminates a need in a Vesa mount. Though I might still mount it because I like to push and pull my monitors a lot. - It has a blue led, which is the new green.
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Happylotus
> 24 hourInitially, I was in a confusion which commodities to buy. There were several options for me as an owner of a laptop looking to upgrade for a something better: a large screen dell xps 27 inch all in one. It had several pros for me: Large screen with resolution of (2560 X 1440), powerful speaker, integrated webcam and several of higher end features. Cons were: higher price and pain of owning two computer system. Rather than price, I was more bothered with second cons as I needed a single computer in home as well as in school with all required softwares for my academic work which I might need to access anytime. So, I was inclined towards buying an external monitor to use in my laptop by which I can utilize portability of a laptop while I am at college and feel of desktop while I am at home. There were several types of monitors to choose from. 27 inch, 24 inch and 23 inch and several name brands. I chose 24 inch size as I felt like it is an ideal size to use as a desktop monitor. I had seen the review of this dell ultrasharp u2412M monitor with all glowing review so did not hesitate to buy it. Now I bought it, started using it and I am very happy with my decision. The overall quality of this monitor is quite good. The picture is very sharp, bright and crisp and it is perfectly right size as a monitor. Furthermore, It rotates around full extent as well as easily adjustable up and down position.....so many features!!! Higly recommended!!!
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I. S.
> 24 hourI bought this monitor for use with photo editing. I calibrated the monitor right away using a spyder pro. The difference was small, but now it is accurate. After I started using this monitor, I realized my eye strain was much less than original LCD screed that came with the computer. This monitor is also very sharp, you can see amazing details. After using it for 4 months Im very happy, my only down side is, the plain white (websites etc.) look a bit warm, before and after calibration. Also on right edge and left edge there is a little color shift (pinkish on the right greenish on the left) when looking at plain white screen, (browser, word document etc.) The shift is barely noticeable, and you really have to look to see it, but its there. It doesnt interfere with my editing at all, but its worth bringing up, and hence 4 out of 5 stars. Anti glare coating is amazing, and I have not experienced the frosted look if you crank up the brightness all the way, which is way too bright for any situation, that is the only time I see a bit of frosted look Overall I would highly recommend the monitor, colors are sharp crisp and vivid. Sharpness is amazing, and there is very little eye strain when using it. If it werent for a very slight color shift from left side to right side of the screen (Im very picky like that) I would give the monitor a solid 5 star review.
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FLmiami
> 24 hourFirst Impressions I use the monitor for business applications (MS Office mostly Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint, plus Internet browsing, etc... Id like to have a larger screen with higher resolution such as the Dell 27 inches, but I think that at the present time, this is where the sweet spot for performance vs value is (24 inches). Ive been using a Dell UltraSharp 2405 monitor, which I got from Dell as a replacement when the original died one month or so short from the expiration date of its 3 years warranty, and which is working quite well after about 3+ years, but I had read positive comments about the U2412M in CNET and other web sites, and was considering upgrading. However, I had also read conflicting comments here in Amazon about the anti-glare coating, and about color accuracy. Ive always thought that the anti-glare screen of the DELL 2405 was perfect for me and Im not very concerned with color accuracy (within reason) as Im not into photography, graphic arts or anything like that... But when you read reviews like that, it makes you pause. In any case, I decided to try it and decide for myself, and I am glad I did. For what I do, and at this price point, this monitor is just fine. No issue at all with the anti-glare coating. I cant tell if theres a difference or not versus the coating on the Dell 2405. In fact, had I not read about it, I would not even known anything about that. And for my business application, the default factory-set color calibration is also OK. I do not plan to tweak it. The images are very sharp. Fine and/or small text is easy to ready. I also like the new base and support arm better, and the fact that its so much lighter. Congratulations DELL! Having said that, it does not have some of the connections available in the Dell 2405 (i.e. SD card ports), but it has others such as DisplayPort. An HDMI port would have been nice to have, but since I use a Dell E Latitude docking station, I am using the DisplayPort and/or DVI port. It comes with a power cable (of course) and also a USB cable, a VGA cable and a DVI cable. At this point in time, Id rather had seen a DVI and a DisplayPort cable inside the box, and not the legacy VGA cable, but it may be helpful for other users. Not an issue anyway. A few days after having received the new monitor, I decided that for this price it was worth having a dual set, so I ordered another one. Now my EXCEL spreadsheets can finally stretch as wide as necessary, or I can work in two applications side-by-side. Nice and worth it.
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Irene
> 24 hourI bought it from Amazon to replace my old Samsung SynMaster 2333. Almost wants to give four stars but U2412 didnt have HDMI port. A little disappointed. But the monitor is very slim and cute. Very good compact design. Overall, I love it. U2412M comes with a smaller portfolio of input connectors and multimedia options compared to the more expensive Dell U2410. First of all Dell has removed the HDMI option. That might prove to be a problem if you are planning on connecting external players or gaming consoles. The SD card reader has also been removed but to me that is no great loss. Power consumption is significantly lower, though. Dell U2412M has fairly good color accuracy out-of-box and even better color accuracy after calibration. Black depth is lower than on U2410 and U2311H and our U2412M had no serious problems with clouding / backlight bleeding. For U2412M, Dell has used a standard gamut eIPS panel, which basically means that it cannot reproduce the wider AdobeRGB gamut that U2410 can. For most users it does not really matter but more for advanced users I think U2410 is a better choice. On the other hand U2412H gave us slightly better color gradation and shadow detailing. Dell U2412M has less motion blur than U2410, but more overdrive trailing. The latter is easier to spot in FPS or racing games but the difference is not significant. However, we still recommend 120 Hz TN panels for gaming. Another problem with U2412M is the crystalized coating on the IPS panel that continues to annoy some users but this is a general thing for IPS based monitors. All in all Dell U2412M is a great addition to Dells line-up of UltraSharp PC monitors. However, we do not view it as an improvement over the current U2410, and Dell also tells us that U2410 will function as a step-up model in the future. If you can live without HDMI and do not require the wide gamut panel, I think U2412M is a great value for money monitor and I therefore award it with our Highly Recommended Award.
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Morf Thumperton
> 24 hourBeautiful image set in a good, unobtrusive matte bezel. I replaced a deceased TN panel with this, its wonderful no longer having viewing angle or a photos location on-screen affecting brightness and contrast when I process things. The stand seems sturdy and has nice tilt, rotation and height adjustments. Out-of-the-box default settings had the panel WAY too bright and it seemed to have a bit of a cold cast; if like me you dont have calibration equipment TFT Central makes available a color profile you can try. That plus the brightness brought down to 35 worked well enough for me and images are beautiful, without their ICC Im not sure I couldve tuned it well by eye (its amazing how quickly our eyes adjust to compensate for color casts). Im glad they kept the 16:10 Aspect ratio instead of 16:9, 1920x1200 has lots of real estate, and the only reason Im not giving this 5 stars is that Dell is a pain to deal with if you havent purchased directly from them. I had to call them three times (and ignore a thread in their forum where their liason misinformed me) before getting an employee who would deign to entertain my questions without an order number or service tag, finally a tech rep acknowledged for me that yes, the manufacturers 3-year warranty (from time of manufacture at rear) remains valid despite my inability to obtain an order number.
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C. Cantrall
> 24 hourWhen 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.