IPS dell u2412m or something else......

[Gorrak]

I am currently in the process of designing a new gaming rig, and of course I am want some opinions other than my own before I break the bank!!

Mainly I am stuck on the monitor, though I am leaning towards the DELL u2412m .

And while I believe I will be very happy with 24" of 1920x1200 gaming @60hz and about a trillion colors.... of course I have a couple of questions!

1) are the anti glare coating/overdrive reverse ghosting issues big enough? Should I be looking at something else?

Unfortunately testing the monitor for myself is not an option because of my remote location, even returning something is not easy.

2)Should I be looking above 24" or is there nothing reasonable out there

3)Are there better 24" IPS monitors that don't cost twice as much?

4)16:10 is still cool for games right?

5)Is there a TN monitor @120hz with decent colour reproduction 24' or larger?

Thanks

 

[CloneageDK]

While I don't personally own this monitor, it's been in my searchlight as well.

And while it was, I read all the reviews I could so that's what my answers are based on. And no, that's not as good as personal opinion, but at least it isn't colored by it either ^^

1. The screen has a "dirty look" because of the anti-glare. From what I've read, it can be annoying and deducts points to the overall score of this monitor. You have to ask yourself if the monitor will be getting a lot of direct sunlight or not. If not, it isn't that big of a deal.

The ghosting / overdrive trails are a minor issue in fast paced FPS games. But this monitor IS fast, taking into account its IPS panel. It'll will never be as fast as a 120Hz TN panel however.

2. Depends on your needs / desires. You can get pretty big monitors, but as you move up in size you either have to sacrifice quality or a lot more money.

I find 24" to be a good size for most tasks. If you need extra desktop real estate, there's really only two options:

Buying a bigger monitor with a higher resolution.

Buying a second monitor.

3. No, I don't think so. At least, I haven't found any that gets better reviews without costing significantly more. But I could be wrong ^^

4. Yes and no. I have a 24" 1920x1200 Samsung Syncmaster 2443 and a lot of games clearly weren't meant for a 16:10 aspect ratio. Cutscenes are often in some kind of letterbox format (black bars at the top and bottom) and some menus look weird, like they weren't designed for that resolution. During gameplay however, I don't notice anything weird. So mostly yes I guess ^^

5. Define decent color reproduction. Compared to an IPS panel, no. Compared to other TN monitors, yes. And I can't find anything at this very moment to support my claims, so my argument is lacking ^^

I don't think my post helped you very much in your search for alternatives, but that's because the Dell is a very good monitor in all accounts.

I doubt you'll be able to find something with the same "bang for your buck" value, but you can easily find something that's better for gaming within the same price range. It'll cost you in picture quality though.

So, short story = If you want an excellent monitor for all-round use, buy the Dell.

If you want something more dedicated towards gaming, buy a monitor with a 120Hz TN panel.

 

[Gorrak]

Well....that was a decent argument for the dell

 

[Igor]

I need a new monitor as well, but it seems like variety is so bad right now... Guess will have to go with the dell U2410. I would like to see Sony back in the monitor's business...

 

[yassarikhan786]

I have the U2410 so I think I can answer your questions

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1. The anti-glare coating is only noticeable on white backgrounds. At first it is quite noticeable but you do get used to it. I wasn't bothered about it from the get go so I wasn't too bothered about it. In my opinion the anti-glare coating does not take away much from the brilliance of an IPS panel as the large array of colours and overall screen quality trumps any annoyance you may feel towards the anti glare coating. There is a "Gaming" mode on my U2410 which supposedly reduces the ghosting effect, but I haven't used it yet, simply because I haven't experienced any ghosting issues with any of the games I have tried out so far.

2. For me the 1920 x 1200 resolution is adequate for gaming and anything higher would need a beast of a GPU or a dual GPU config to run games at a reasonable frame rate. What card(s) are you looking to buy for your rig?

3. Same as above answer.

4. Again same as above answer. Most games I have tried have looked fine, but there are some that appear in the letterbox format as explained above.

5. When you compare a TN to an IPS panel, then the answer is no.

I hope I've helped you in some way and I believe that the U2412 would be a very good choice.

 

[Gorrak]

I recently got the rig and my brand new U2412m.

Size is exellent. 24" @16/10 "feels" like 27" almost, but is a lot cheaper and is exellent for games.

I now believe that other than movies there is no good argument for 16/9 screens (PC monitor or otherwise) 1920x1200 feels so, natural...

Ghosting is no more severe than any 60hz monitor. If you have used one and it didn't drive you crazy you could live with this just fine.

120hz is still a good idea, but there is nothing on the market at the moment that would beat this monitor in all other areas. Maybe next year when there is more choice, for now I will live with 60hz and complain about nothing else

Antiglare is noticeable. not really annoying though. I am writing this while sitting at my PC, with the balcony doors and shutters open, light does not interfere with my pc anymore, even dark movies and games look fine in (indirect) daylight, something i would have never done with my ultraclear MVA panel I love soooo much

Did I mention the quality? Eyestrain is noticeably different (better) with this than anything else I can remember. And without sacrificing colour that is great. I realize now how many monitors use extreme brightness or contrast tricks to mask their inadequacies. What I see here just looks great, but more like staring at a painting than a screen. Yes, this is a good thing!

oh yeah...AND THE STAND IS HEAVEN

This monitor stand should have won an award or something, beautiful piece of engineering that makes everyday at the pc a little nicer, wherever I change my position to, it can follow. It may be hard to realize this if you have never experienced it but this is now so important to me.

Any manufacturer not doing something similar with their monitor stands will have to work VERY hard to get my money in the future...YES IT IS THAT GOOD!!!

 

[yassarikhan786]

Nice review of the monitor mate. I'm glad you like it

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