Dell U2412M - 16:10 IPS without Breaking the Bank
by Chris Heinonen on February 28, 2012 9:00 AM ESTDell U2412M Design, OSD, and Viewing Angles
The look of the Dell is certainly utilitarian and not sexy. Unless you kept posters of 1980s-era minivans on your wall as a kid instead of a Porsche or Corvette, you are not going to find the U2412M to be an attractive display. But as we noted on the previous page, like those minivans, what it lacks in looks, it makes up for in utility.
Dell continues the menu system with four unlabeled buttons that control the OSD, and manages to make it fairly easy to navigate overall. I did hit the wrong button a couple times, so perhaps they could space them out a little more than they do, but overall the menu is easy to use and navigate. There is no switching between horizontal and vertical movements with the same set of buttons, which is a peeve of mine.
In our forums some users expressed concern about the anti-glare coating of the U2412M so I decided to pay extra attention to it. I have to say that I wasn’t bothered by it at all, and didn’t see anything to be concerned about. It certainly was nothing like the patterned retarder on passive 3D displays that drives me crazy from a close distance. If no one had mentioned the anti-glare coating to me then I wouldn’t have even noticed it was there. Perhaps I’m just not that sensitive to it yet and will become more so going forward.
Viewing angles are always a good area of performance for IPS panels, and you can see that in the included gallery. Overall the angles were good, with a loss of contrast at the extreme angles but nothing that you would notice in a normal working position, or even if someone was looking at your monitor for a presentation. Overall from a physical perspective the Dell was unexciting but didn’t cause any areas of concern that some other models have for me.
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ExarKun333 - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
Dio you need to be spoon-fed? Dell makes more expensive IPS monitors. You just need to go to Dell.com to see them. U2410, U2711, U3011, etc.DParadoxx - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
I dont because I already own those monitors. The point is to give feedback for the site. Thanks!cheinonen - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
Perhaps a comment like "What I'd like to see in the future are some reviews of 16:10 panels with true 8-bit or 10-bit IPS panels" would be more helpful, since when it just says "Finally a 16:10 review, but its eIPS.... no thanks." I have no idea if you want TN, 10-bit IPS, VA, 120 Hz, etc...kevith - Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - link
Behold, a fair and enlightened rich kid, nice.Touche - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
What are the disadvantages of eIPS?phantom505 - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
6 bit with tricks vs true 8 bit.... read 1st page.Oxford Guy - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
Also, e-IPS has narrower viewing angle than S-IPS/H-IPS.Ratman6161 - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
My older U2410's are also 1920x1200. We also have a slew of Cheap Dell 19 inchers that are 1440x900 which, unless my math is flawed is also 16:10. Paging through their consumer oriented models you do mostly see 16:9. But if you check out the small business section (or corporate or Education\Government) you can find lots of 16:10 options.Death666Angel - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
Did you read the first page? He never said this was new. He said it was where wide screen started and then faded away concerning the budget displays.Considering the price of this monitor, it is a rather new thing to find 16:10 with non-TN panel insides.
Ratman6161 - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
What I'm saying is that 16:10 budget displays never did fade away. You just have to know where to look for them and it will not be with the consumer oriented products. At my office we have at least 60 19 inch 16:10 displays. We got about half of those in mid 2009 and the rest in mid 2011 for about $139 each.