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Dell UltraSharp U2410 review

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Verdict

Simple design, a plethora of ports and a fantastic panel make an attractive compromise for professionals

Review Date: 1 Dec 2009

Reviewed By: David Bayon

Price when reviewed: £382 (£439 inc VAT)

Buy it now for: £339
(see more store prices)

Overall Rating

Features & Design
6 stars out of 6

Value for Money
4 stars out of 6

Image Quality
6 stars out of 6

PCPRO Recommended

Above the usual TN panels but short of our top-end Eizo and LaCie favourites sits an intriguing middle-ground of professional monitors. It can't match S-PVA, but the H-IPS panel type allows for a higher contrast ratio than standard IPS TFTs, as evidenced by the slightly silly 80,000:1 dynamic ratio on offer here. But even without such gimmicky figures, the 24in Dell UltraSharp U2410 looks hugely appealing.

It's an understated matte black design with a sturdy stand that pivots to portrait mode, swivels through 45 degrees in either direction and lifts through 100mm to suit any desk. The bezel is just 19mm on all sides, and the square base gives it a professional look – the four USB ports and a media card reader add to the all-round appeal.

The Dell comes well prepared. It has two DVI ports, D-SUB and DisplayPort – with cables in the box for all three – as well as HDMI, composite and component inputs. There's a 3.5mm output for passing through audio from an HDMI source, but there are no integrated speakers - an optional 10W sound bar will set you back £20 exc VAT, with dearer bars available offering Virtual Surround. All in all it's an elegant design that should blend into most environments.

But it's that 1,920 x 1,200 panel that interests most, particularly as the U2410 retails at just £382 exc VAT – significantly cheaper than the recent S-PVA-based Eizo FlexScan S2432W. To see if that premium over the average £200 TN panel is worth paying, we put the Dell through our tests using the Standard preset mode and a mid-level brightness. The Dell goes blindingly bright – it's rated at 400cd/m2 – but for comfort we found 50% or so to be the ideal compromise. Besides, an idle power draw of 63W shoots up to 97W at maximum brightness.

In DisplayMate we found few weaknesses: the black level wasn't quite as deep as the Eizo, and the overall tone very slightly pinkish – although that warmth works better with entertainment than accurate colour work. But all other tests produced flawless results, with smooth gradients, perfect colour-on-colour performance and a good dynamic range.

Our 1080p test videos looked stunning, and we saw no evidence of ghosting or blurring that so often plagues these professional TFTs in fast motion tests. The only other issue is the slightly mottled finish to the screen that’s common with this kind of panel, but we soon stopped noticing that at all.

Add in the motion-sensing touch controls and Dell's simply superb menu system – which others would do well to imitate – and you have a fantastic all-round monitor. It's expensive, but if you require colour accuracy at a less-than astronomical price, the UltraSharp U2410 is a good compromise.

Author: David Bayon

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Comments

User comments

How is this monitor for gaming

How good is this monitor for PC gaming.

By dipen2 on 3 Dec 2009

Is it actually possible to find this monitor at this price?

Is there a Dell E-value code in this review that I've missed? Searching on the Dell UK website I can only find the U2410 for £574 (4 Dec).

http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail
.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&sku=294438

By dwaller on 4 Dec 2009

Don't buy it from Dell

@dwaller Prices are much lower elsewhere, take your pick:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172798

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_
id=35945&tid=frooct

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductID=10
65532&source=froogle

@dipen2 as for gaming, it's decent enough but don't expect it to be as smooth as the fastest cheaper TFTs. We didn't notice any blurring in our game tests, but it is more of a professional monitor than one for gamers.

By DavidBayon on 4 Dec 2009

Clarification please

"...the black level wasn't quite as deep as the Eizo, and the overall tone very slightly pinkish – although that warmth works better with entertainment than accurate colour work. But all other tests produced flawless results, with smooth gradients, perfect colour-on-colour performance and a good dynamic range.

I'm confused. You say that it has a colour cast but also has perfect 'colour performance'.

Isn't this something of a contradiction?

By CliveDH on 4 Dec 2009

@CliveDH It was perfect colour-on-colour performance, specifically. We have tests that check how cleanly different colours display over others - text on background, things like that. It's less about the actual colours, more about the ability to display contrasting tones side-by-side without them affecting each other.

This is entirely separate to the actual colour accuracy tests. Apologies if that wasn't clear enough in the review.

By DavidBayon on 4 Dec 2009

24 inch monitor for Gaming and general use

If the Dell U2410 monitor is not good for gaming, then can someone recommend a good 24 inch monitor for gaming and general use as I am looking to buy a monitor ASAP

By dipen2 on 4 Dec 2009

But is it good enough for photo editing?

As an avid reader of your printed mag and on-line newsletters and also into digital photography. I don't understand why you haven't made a feature on monitors (and printers) for photo editing. You cover cameras, editing apps, but have fallen short on the monitors and printers for amateur photographers. We're not all gamers you know?

By richardroy1 on 6 Dec 2009

Some examples have colour issues

A friend of mine bought one recently and had to return it because of the colour issues he had. His example had green/pink tint issues (the left side of the screen wss green-ish, and the right side of the screen was pink-ish). There are plenty of complaints here on Dell's own forums:

http://en.community.dell.com/Search/SearchResults.
aspx?q=green+pink

Seems like these screens are a bit of a lottery!

By pinball_wizard on 7 Dec 2009

You've reviewed a dud product

Having read that Dell forum this is clearly a dud product. Either you got lucky or Dell supplied you with one that works. (mostly). I'm afraid I'm not tempted.

By scoobie on 8 Dec 2009

Colour Calibration

I bought one of these for photo editing but have been a bit disappointed. The factory calibration was the main selling point but this only applies to the sRGB and AdobeRGB preset modes. The default standard colour mode is miles out. The measured gamma is around 1.5 giving a rather washed out look with shadows too light and highlights saturated. Trouble is if you correct this in the graphics card, the other modes are then wrong. The calibrated modes do seem about right if a bit clinical. As noted the default standard mode is a bit warmer than custom mode with all default settings but custom mode is the only one that can be adjusted on the monitor. I'm still fiddling with this but haven't got it quite right yet. Otherwise it's OK, I don't have the pink - green tint problem and there are no dead pixels. It's 1920 X 1200 too - not 1080. This is better for photos, a 3:2 format looks OK at full screen. I can't help feeling that I might have been better off with a £200 TN panel monitor though.

By Roddy on 26 Jan 2010

Make sure you get the latest model.

I believe that there are two versions of this monitor. An 000 and an 001.
The first version is purported to be a bit of a dud, so make sure you get the 001 model. It has fixed most of the shortcomings.

Aria and Amazon also have this in stock at competitive prices (£440 - £460). Scan also have keen prices, but they have no stock at this time (early November 2010).

By pjajennings on 4 Nov 2010

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