Hardware Dell U2711 27inch Widescreen Monitor Review

I have not noticed any mouse lag. FPS's run fine. And I play quite alot.

 

Can you elaborate on that? I got this beast for 25% off at $900 AUD. I am waiting for it to arrive approximately on the 25th of March

 

Have you been hiding under a rock?

It has had a great 7 page review for a while now: http://www.anandtech.com/displays/showdoc.aspx?i=3725

 

Maximizing a simple window, like a web browser is pushing how the extra space is not used.
Already with a 24inch it's a stretch doing this. You can easily snap one window on the left and another on the right doing half the screen each, for simple interface applications, like a web browser or notepad.

Cool thing with a 24inch monitor and bigger, is the side by side picture in picture.
When I want to have my laptop (or another desktop/gaming console etc...) and desktop next to each other, it's great! Very useful if you have 2 decide.

Note: On a 24inch it's a little difficult to read text (as the 2 inputs are 1920x1200 scaled down), but Win7 has zoom which solves that (Win + +, Win + -, Win + Esc). I use my Loigitech MX Revolution wheel/switch to do that on the desktop.

Tipsy trick: For the 2 PC setup with side-by-side picture-in-picture, use Input Director (free - donation supported), which allows you to use your main system keyboard and mouse to control 2 or more computers. You switch between systems by using keyboard shortcuts or moving the mouse on the edge of the screen (you specify the edge, you can exclude corners, and you can set it so that you push for x milliseconds, to prevent accidental jumps). You can pass copy-and-paste of text between systems, and files (on network shared directories). Input Director works even if the other system is at the log-in screen, so entering the log-in password is easy. Works for XP, Vista and Win7 32/64-bit. Mouse and keyboard calibration can be transferred between PC's.

 

Well hot damn, I did not know that, so with the AnyDVD HD software running you can then launch any blu-ray playback software and it plays the movie... well **** lol that bit of info would have been nice to know a while back lol but cool. Thanks for that.

 

Here is a review on the U2410 monitor
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2410.htm

 

I have been using the Dell Ultrsharp 24" (as reviwed here in 2006) for the last few years and while it is a great monitor, it does suffer from banding visible on single color gradients (such as blue gradient some program installers use). I see someone here says that certain types of TFT can only display 6-bit and not even 8-bit color (256 grey/color scales). I don't know if my 24" falls into this category but it sure looks like it... any way I am really interested in the 12-bit color of this monitor and the increased resolution but the one thing I noticed from specs is that the maximum refresh rate is bog standard 60Hz. I thought this was being advertised for high-end gaming? Isn't this already obsolete given the upcoming 3D need for at least 120Hz refresh? I was going to buy one of these for productivity (CS4/CGI) and also latest 3D gaming (NVidia 3D vision) but it's no use for gaming is it now....

 

What about in the next few months when everyone is getting 3D compatible 120Hz monitors for the latest NVidia/ATI 3D technology / glasses etc.? This monitor will then be useless for it... aren't you worried about this given that you are into high-end gaming (so must have spent a lot on decent video card)?

 

3D is still a gimmick at best geogan.

It would be nice to have a 120hz H-IPS, but I really doubt that 3D gaming would matter that much, well at least personally for me anyways.

 

I have to say I don't agree with you there, and I'm speaking from experience with the technology. Before I got the 24" years ago I used to have a Sony Trinitron 19" monitor which could scan to something like 100Hz and I had 3D LCD shutter glasses and USB transmitter (which syncronised the glasses) and it worked with the NVidia 3D drivers that existed at that time years ago. I remember playing some sort of Star Trek game which was bundled with the glasses and have to say the effect was very immersive - you could feel the tightness of the Jeffries tubes, you could tell (from perspective differences) whether the room in the ship you just crawled into was big or small even though the rooms were all rectangular in shape and weren't textured or anything - it really did work! In the setup the rotating NVidia logo appeared to float 6 inches in front of the screen and move in and out of it... it was great and it worked with other 3D games existing at the time such as Giants: Citizen Kabuto (where you could really sense the openness of the island/beach areas and see the distances)...but it suffered at the time from interlace flicker because even though it was about 50Hz per field for some reason the sharpness of the monitor still allowed you to see the flicker - but the LCD shutter glasses DID do their job and seperated the parallax view to each eye very well. I had to abandon the equipment when I moved to TFT monitor but have been waiting for years for TFT to once again have enough refresh rate for it to work once again...

 

I guess it is pretty good, but the problem I have is the extra cash I have to fork over for something that...well isn't (from 1st hand experience) as amazing as I'd like. If it cost less though, I would have no qualms, but that just isn't the case.

 

I forgot to post this at the time of the review, but.....

"Dell was also keen to advertise the fact that the U2711 uses 12-bit internal processing. Combined with the very high colour gamut, the range of colours (especially greyscale tones) that the screen can display is greatly increased. The one significant benefactor of increased greyscale tones is no appearance of banding in dark portions of scenes, and we saw impressive results in our Serenity 1080p trailer and the gradient tests of the Lagom screen tests. "


This is only true is you do not calibrate it. The minute you calibrate this monitor with a colorimeter and create a custom ICC profile it WILL band... and band BADLY. All monitors with no hardware LUT will do this if you change the gamma response of the video card output, as this is only 8 bit. 12bit internal processing is useless unless the monitor has a 12bit HARDWARE LUT.

When will monitor reviewers make this fact known to unsuspecting buyers??? There's a good chance that anyone who spends £900 on a monitor will want to calibrate it, and as soon as they do, they'll get terrible banding on smooth gradients in Illustrator or any 3D or CAD work... or any continuous gradients.

If you're serious about a big screen that you can calibrate, and do serious work on get a NEC LCD2690WUXi2 and sacrifice real estate for quality... or work a bit harder and get a NEC LCD3090WQXi.

High end monitors with no hardware LUT suck. When calibrated, will band.... not calibrated? Then what do you want a un-calibrated high end monitor for? e-peen?

Seriously.... who is this monitor for?


Bit -Tech... and ALL reviewers... if you're going to review a high end monitor... please keep in mind who may want to buy it, and what they may wish to use it for.

Anyone got U2410 or 2711? Load up this image and then go into your video card driver control panel, and manually adjust the gamma, or contrast up and down.... and watch that banding appear and disappear as you move it, as if my magic. This is exactly what happens when you calibrate a 12 bit monitor without a 12bit hardware LUT from a 8bit (99% of all video cards) output.

It makes me mad that reviewers don't make this fact known, and it just shows ignorance of what a graphics professional needs from a display.

 

Pookey, this monitor is far from high-end. It's just a damn good multi-purpose monitor. The U2410 and U2711 is ideal replacement of a good CRT monitor.

This monitor is designed for people who enjoys colors, enjoys a virtually no backlit bleeding screen, and any hobbyist on tight budget or non-professional who seek color accuracy to some extend. A person who wants a monitor that is pre-calibrated nicely, who don't need to run and buy a calibrator to be used once, just get a descent color accuracy out of the screen.

If you want a professional monitor where you want to calibrate with YOUR calibrator of choice, then look at EIZO monitor for instance. They are specifically aimed at professionals, with their uniform backlight, even less backlight bleeding, more controls to the monitor, ambient light sensor, and more. EIZO monitor are far more expensive.

Also, a professional will easily seek a RGB LED backlight monitor over anything else.

In my case, I had a CRT monitor before I got my U2410. All monitors under 1.5k where vomit to me. I was always like "How can you use that thing?! The colors are bland, boring, only 6-bit, you can't even watch a nice wide screen movie due to backlight bleeding, the sharpness is a joke...". I was even saying that those who purchased LCD's (laptop are excused) are complete morons (that was way back in the old days before the big screen where the standard) . I always say LCD's were a downgrade from CRT's, especially that high end CRT's where cheaper in price. Remember that was MANY years back.

As my CRT aged over the years, I was starting to save money to by 2 monitors, why 2? Because, CRT's where not sold anymore, I needed to go with 2 LCD:
- A PVA or ISP panel 1.5K 22inch monitor for everything other than gaming - above my needs, but had no choice.
- The best TN panel 22inch monitor for gaming.

Than came LG with this ISP panel that brings both worlds together. And the price of 500$ on special from Dell, made me say "Ok, you know what, let me try it, it's a fraction of the cost, at worst it will make a good gaming monitor." I purchased it, and love it... Side by side my good old CRT monitor I found it just as good in color reproduction under Adobe RGB and sRGB color, sharpness, and view angle.

- Viewing/fixing digital picture is a pleasure.
- It's great to make web page for me (nothing professional), and anything I need to draw appears well on all monitors, as I see the correct colors.
- It provides a great level of precision for working a lot with text (and work area), such as my programming.
- Gaming is awesome. I compared gaming on my laptop (as it's an LCD and friends screen), and it's no wear near as this screen.
- Picture in picture modes are very useful for me. It's a like a mini-dual screen for accessing my laptop and desktop, and use them both momentarily to transfer files and such (thanks to InputDirector, of course and Windows 7 Zoom feature)
- And of course, nothing is glossy, and the screen is apparently more scratch resistant than normal LCD's which is a plus for me.

 

It's £900... which is more than the 24" NEC I mentioned above.... which IS a high end monitor.

On a tight budget? £900? LOL

A shame it's pre-calibration sucks then huh?

Used once? LOL... I calibrate mine once a month, and it has shifted in that month considerably. Also.... as it's an ICC profile that's loaded into the video card, even a video card driver update can result in needing a re-calibration.

Stop telling me what professionals need... I am one. I don't need an Eizo monitor.

There you go again... what for? So long as the gamut equals Adobe RGB and colour and gamut is correct... job done.

?????


My point is... anyway... to get back OT is that why don't reviewers realise that whether a monitor has a hardware LUT is important, as this information is actually quite hard to establish from a manufacturer's website, and unless you know more than average about how monitors/video cards work and behave you can buy what you believe to be a true 12 bit panel, then quite reasonably expect to make it truly awesome by calibrating it, then wondering why the reviewers lied about the band free gradients when yours looks awful.

Despite your somewhat skewed concept of what "tight budget" means... there will be many people who will spend approximately £1000 on a screen and then calibrate it.

Despite what you think, not all "Image Professionals" will buy a Eizo or Lacie monitor... some of us also use our screens for other stuff to, like watching DVDs, and gaming... which is why I don't want an Eizo and prefer something like the NEC LCD2490WUXi. Wider gamut than either the U2410 or 2711, and hardware LUT, decent blacks and fast enough for gaming.

Please stop announcing with authority what "image professionals" do, and want. You are not one. I am, and not once have I done, or wanted what you profess I should.

 

900 Pounds.. that is 1,377.21$ Canadian. W000000WW!
I can almost buy 3 of them when they are on special at 500$ (which so far seams to be every week or so in Canada, (normal price 750$)).

But then again, what can I do if Dell hates U.K in increasing the price at that level. I guess their is a huge demand for Dell products in the U.K or 0 competition.
1,377.21 is almost a full time session at university here, it is a price of a high end gaming computer. Hmmm what else ridiculous I can buy with that amount of money.....

Fine, IN THE U.K you are 100% correct, in Canada and U.S, not so much.

 

After putting up with outdated gear for 5 years, I bought one on saturday from CCL in Bradford with a 5850 vapour x. (BTW, Just finished building my first ever PC which is satisfying after reading up about it on here and in your mag since October last year, core i7 920, Asus Pt6 Delux v2, samsung 1TB HD, titan fenrir and some other goodies).

I was a bit worried about the following after reading reviews:

1) Gaming performance
2) Font size
3) Glitter effect on screen
4) Colour tinitning / variations across the acreens
5) Dead pixels

Heres the lowdown:

1) Gaming performance is AWESOME. I've waited until now to Play Crysis. Downloaded it from Steam, turned up the resolution to 2560 x 1440. WOW. All settings on high. No lag - not that I can tell anyway. Colours are amazing, exactly as you said in the review.
Also opened Half Life 2, pleased to see an option for 2560 x 1440, not tried anything else yet.
Who needs consoles. Just show em this.
2) Font size - is a little small at native resolution if i'm honest. But I am getting on a bit I've just pulled the monitor a bit closer. When you download those wallpapers at 2560 x 1440 from interfacelift and see them in all their glory, you wont be worring about font size
3) Glitter effect on screen - its no different to most other monitors with an anti reflective coating. And its only an issue cos i've read up about stuff. You only notice when you look for it on still images.
4) No colour tinting. I was a bit disappointed with the default settings when I first switchd on, it takes a few seconds to "warm up", it looked a bit pink and crappy, but when I turned the birghtness and contrast up a tad it sprang to life - WOW.
5) Dead pixels - none.

Next download = left 4 dead, then portal

This really is an amazing bit of kit imho.
Thanks
Paul.

 

Vista / Win7 (or newer) only:
- You can increase the DPI of the display to make everything bigger, without loosing real-estate.
(Yes yes, I know you can increase the DPI under XP and older Windows.. but it's half broken so no go.)

Win7 (or newer) only, with Aero engine:
- You can zoom in/out your screen with Win + '+' (zoom-in), Win + - (zoom-out), Win + Esc (quit zoom)

 

Thinking about this 27inch model, versus the 30 inch model, given that the 30 inch is only 250 quid more, I would be more inclined to slap down the extra money for 30 inch. Question is why choose the 27 over 30? Yes I know it would take up less desk space.
Also playing with the idea of 24" x 3 for some serious gaming/desktop space, its about the same money as a single 30 inch.

Here is another thought, the iMac 27inch, it has an input thingy, would be about 450 quid more than just a stand alone Dell 27inch screen, but it does lack a million and one connectors found in the Dell, but it would be funny to use it as a screen. But the extra cost would be about the same as a mini Mac.

 

The 27inch is better, and a faster display.

The iMac 27inch has the same display as the Dell U2711. However, the iMac uses cheap white LED backlit instead of a high quality CFL lamp, like the Dell has or RGB LED (3 LED's to produce true white, and not yellow or blue white).

Another note is that the iMac has the LED's turning yellow very fast producing a yellow image. Apple says it's normal for LCD's to do this. Consumers don't think so. Also the iMac display processing is not as advance 8-bit LUT and not 12-bit LUT. In addition, the iMac has no options to adjust the display color or configuration.. you can only do it on MacOS X and only Mac OS X.

 

I got mine yesterday. I already have the Dell 2709W. Basically in a nutshell, its a splendig display for what I imagine most people would use it for, general purpose stuff, films, gaming, internet, editing pictures. However, its colour accuracy, despite bold claims, and the fact sites like BT keep telling everyone how S-IPS is better than S-PVA, its not actually as good for what I need it for (editing work photos) as the old 2709W so I am sending it back under the distance selling.