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Buyer's Guide: The Best Monitors 
Dell U2412M
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Screen size | 24 inches | ||
| Panel type | IPS | ||
| Resolution | 1920 x 1200 pixels | ||
| Response time | 8 ms | ||
| Inputs (HDMI / DVI / VGA / Component) | 0 / 1 / 1 / 0 | ||
 Show all specifications
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| Other details | Speakers, headphone jack, USB hub, height-adjustable stand and portrait mode, DisplayPort |
| Viewing angles (H/V) | 178 ° / 178 ° |
| 3D | no |
 Hide specifications | |
Alexandre Botella
Translator: Sam McGeever
Test date: August 29, 2011
Translator: Sam McGeever
Test date: August 29, 2011
Not for Movies
With no HDMI input or loudspeakers, it's hard to use the U2412M for watching TV, or with a DVD player or games console. This is a monitor that you should only choose if you only want to use it as a desktop monitor and not as an extra display for other devices or as an extra TV.
The new Dell U2412M monitor is a more basic version of the ever-popular Dell U2410. Dell is hoping to meet the needs of its most demanding users for a more affordable monitor by removing some of the more expensive options. The new screen has the same IPS display, well-designed stand and USB hub, but doesn't come with factory pre-calibration or an extended gamut.
Great design, but no audio support
The Dell U2412M has far more extra features than most monitors: it sits on a rotating base, has a height-adjustable stand and the whole display can rotate to portrait mode. It has VGA, DVI and DisplayPort inputs, as well a four-port USB hub with inputs at the back and on the side. There's absolutely no support for audio, which is why it can't hope to reach five stars in this section.
Responsiveness: can't get rid of the reverse ghosting
It seems that Dell has been too enthusiastic with overdrive, a feature that should cut down on the ghosting time of a monitor, but which in the case of the U2412M actually introduces reverse ghosting.
| Responsiveness | ||
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Average |
This graph shows the ghosting time, measured in ms, that the monitor takes to entirely remove the previous frame. The shorter the time, the more fluid moving images will appear
Worse still, there's no way to turn it off, so you're stuck with reverse ghosting. We strongly recommend you don't use this screen for gaming, or indeed any other application which features fast-moving objects onscreen.
Colours: settings need tweaking
We were disappointed to find that the colours aren't as accurate as on the original U2410 with the default settings, with a problem with both the gamma (an uneven distribution of brightness) and the colour temperature (which is too low, leading to a red tinge).After several tweaks, we managed to get the deltaE score—which describes the discrepancy between the colours in the video input with those actually shown onscreen—to the more acceptable value of 2.6, compared to the starting position of 4.4.
The adjustments are fairly minor: you need to set the RGB values to 95, 86 and 82 respectively. The overall results are better, but still not perfect, with the colour temperature still a long way short of the ideal value of 6500 K for example. You'll have to make do with something closer to 5600 K, which leads to a red tinge. For more demanding users, the only way to improve on that is with a calibration profile.
Our adjustments also had an impact on the contrast ratio, which despite starting at 1080:1, subsequently fell back to 850:1.
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Dell U2412M
Pluses
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Great stand: height-adjustable, rotates and portrait mode
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IPS display has wide viewing angles
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Four port USB hub
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1920 x 1200 pixel resolution (16:10)
Minuses
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Can't get rid of the reverse ghosting
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No speakers or headphone jack
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No HDMI input
Unfortunately, the differences between the Dell U2412M and the U2410 are all too visible. Dell was hoping to make a good value for money monitor, but has ended up producing a rather average product with an off-putting price tag.
Pick your rival…
