Posted by Arni Cheatham on March 27, 2013 at 3:40 PM
I am replacing my old wheezy PC with a new one. Of course my ancient monitor died as I was setting up the new machine. Lots of good stuff has been said about the Dell 2410. I'm seeing a new Dell UltraSharp U2412M being advertised on sale for $305 which is about all I can afford right now. Any word on it in terms of how it is with performance and color management? I'd appreciate any info as I probably should by buy before my car gets jealous.
Thanks
Arni
Posted by David Bostedo on March 27, 2013 at 9:36 PM
Arni - Looking at the specs for each, the differences that may matter are :
-- They're both IPS panels, which is good and the number one thing to look for
-- The 2410 has a larger gamut capability
-- The 2410 is true 8-bit color versus 6-bit for the 2412M, but with A-FRC (Advanced Frame Rate Control) to display more colors
-- The 2410 has a brighter output - which shouldn't matter once you calibrate
-- The 2410 has a slightly faster response time - which shouldn't matter except for games, or possibly movies
Basically, the U2412M sells for less because it is more cheaply made and its features aren't quite as good. But it still appears to be a pretty good monitor overall... just nothing special. It's great for the price because of IPS, but the smaller gamut and 6-bits make it not as nice for photos as the 2410.
In my opinion, it depends on how color critical you are with your images and prints. For me, I use a laptop, and I'm not as nit-picky as others are. For me, the U2412M would be a fine monitor. For others, the lack of 8-bit color and small gamut would probably make it unusable. Only you can decide where you fall in that spectrum.
I read the review at Anandtech a while back. The 2410 would suit your needs well. If you do a lot work in the Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB color spaces, this monitor will do a better job displaying the colors within those gamuts. Note that most wide-gamut monitors will not display 100% of the very wide gamut color spaces.
A note or two on calibration... Check your calibration system's specs to see if it will work well with a wide gamut monitor. Also, the brightness and contrast will be very high out-of-the-box. Use the monitor for few days and then calibrate a couple of times in a row. The results will be more accurate.
--P
Posted by Paul DeCesare on March 28, 2013 at 3:20 AM
Ami, I'll throw a wrench in the gears here... I use the wide-gamut U3011 at home for all serious editing (same specs as U2410 just bigger). At work I do programming but got sick of looking at the cheap monitors they had, so I bought the U2412 and calibrated it so I could at least have accurate color, and I do have an older version of Photoshop on there (CS4) for graohics and impromptu photo work. I think I can answer your question... yes, absolutely go get the U2412, it will fare very well for photo editing given your #1 criteria: "advertised on sale for $305 which is about all I can afford right now." As Preston and David pointed out, the U2412 simply isn't as wide gamut-wise and it's 6-bit and all that, but if you only have $300, you won't be disappointed. It calibrates very well (just make sure you set the color space to "Custom Color" in the on-screen menu), and it will not disappoint. Down the road you can always upgrade and make the U2412 your second monitor.
Posted by Arni Cheatham on March 28, 2013 at 8:57 AM
Thanks to all. Yes, the future can always hold improvement but I think I'll "pull the trigger" on this one Tuesday. It'll definitely be better than the 7 year old Acer that bit the dust.
Again Thanks
Arni
Discussion
4 repliesThanks
Arni
-- They're both IPS panels, which is good and the number one thing to look for
-- The 2410 has a larger gamut capability
-- The 2410 is true 8-bit color versus 6-bit for the 2412M, but with A-FRC (Advanced Frame Rate Control) to display more colors
-- The 2410 has a brighter output - which shouldn't matter once you calibrate
-- The 2410 has a slightly faster response time - which shouldn't matter except for games, or possibly movies
Basically, the U2412M sells for less because it is more cheaply made and its features aren't quite as good. But it still appears to be a pretty good monitor overall... just nothing special. It's great for the price because of IPS, but the smaller gamut and 6-bits make it not as nice for photos as the 2410.
Anandtech has a good write-up about the monitor, including results from calibration.
In my opinion, it depends on how color critical you are with your images and prints. For me, I use a laptop, and I'm not as nit-picky as others are. For me, the U2412M would be a fine monitor. For others, the lack of 8-bit color and small gamut would probably make it unusable. Only you can decide where you fall in that spectrum.
A note or two on calibration... Check your calibration system's specs to see if it will work well with a wide gamut monitor. Also, the brightness and contrast will be very high out-of-the-box. Use the monitor for few days and then calibrate a couple of times in a row. The results will be more accurate.
--P
Again Thanks
Arni