Dell U2311H

Hi guys,

Just got two U2311H's this morning and am a little disappointed that one of the monitors is brighter and has a better white level than the other. However, the one with the better white level has about 4 flickering pixels that seem to appear mainly on my desktop picture - though I've seen them on other windows from time to time. Initially on the very first power up there were about 20! While it's only really on the desktop I will probably return it as the flickering could infer more problems to come.

My question is, I suppose the differences in panels is quite normal right? Some are brighter than others and some have better white levels. The one with worse white levels is still pretty good - it's just with the other monitor next to it, it can be quite annoying to notice the difference.
I'm not sure how much I could argue to get this one changed as there is nothing actually wrong with it - just not as good white level wise than the other.

I was worried about problems before ordering these as there do seem to be a lot of user reports of QC issues. Suppose I can get used to it and at the end of the day it seems hard to get perfect monitors no matter what the brand.
I must admit I've started getting used to them already - with some initial eye strain which is normal when changing monitors I personally find.

Would be interested in what you guys think though and any experiences with this model.

Also, strange question but do LCD monitors 'bed in' over time. I.E. Improve quality wise over the initial x number of hours? I'm assuming not and think I'm probably thinking about plasma technology but thought I'd ask in case it's possible that the white level on this one could get better in the next 200 hours or something.
I suppose you have the same color profile for both monitors in your graphic card settings and the same level of brightness and contrast, do you? Then you should try to buy/borrow calibration probe to calibrate both monitors. I guess there is nothing like "bed in" in CCFL, however it will definitelly degrade during years.
Please answer by question about buzzing above.
Thanks.
 
Hi there,

It's funny you should say that. In the past 10 minutes I have adjusted the custom RGB settings to make the white on one of my monitors much better. I just reduced the red and green components and that helped massively. I have just made some similar adjustments to my other monitor to make that the same.
Both are looking pretty cool now. My settings are different though on both monitors as the left one is definitely brighter out of the box.

This might be acceptable now though. I have just always hated warmer more dirty whites on my monitors.

Right, I put my head behind the two monitors and can't hear anything, however there is some slight noise in the room right now. I am quite picky when it comes to noise though and haven't heard anything through the day.

I'll check again for you later tonight when the room is silent. I certainly know that these kind of devices can have noise coming from the back which isn't in every model.
 
So, now I've had my two for a while now. I am seeing the contrast shift at angles, but I have also noticed a strange tinting issue, only in the lower left corner of one the monitors, more noticeable on an angle. I do not see it on white, but rather on darker screens. I am not sure if it is tint or contrast, but, for example, I was playing Minecraft, and when the game switched to night, the bottom left corner of the monitor had a more grayish look to it than the rest of the screen. I switched the window to the other monitor, and did not notice it at all.

Any idea what this is? As I said, it only seems to appear on darker scenes. I am just going to switch the two monitors and make the one with the tint the seconday monitor.

As for the contrast shift, is anyone else experiencing this? This is my first IPS panel, so I don't know how could I should expect it. It is not nearly as bad as my 24" TN was, but if I stand up and look down at the monitor, it is pretty lousy.
 
So, now I've had my two for a while now. I am seeing the contrast shift at angles, but I have also noticed a strange tinting issue, only in the lower left corner of one the monitors, more noticeable on an angle. I do not see it on white, but rather on darker screens. I am not sure if it is tint or contrast, but, for example, I was playing Minecraft, and when the game switched to night, the bottom left corner of the monitor had a more grayish look to it than the rest of the screen. I switched the window to the other monitor, and did not notice it at all.

Any idea what this is? As I said, it only seems to appear on darker scenes. I am just going to switch the two monitors and make the one with the tint the seconday monitor.

As for the contrast shift, is anyone else experiencing this? This is my first IPS panel, so I don't know how could I should expect it. It is not nearly as bad as my 24" TN was, but if I stand up and look down at the monitor, it is pretty lousy.

Out of interest are you playing Minecraft in the dark when you see the greyish look? That sounds like back light bleed and is certainly an aspect of these panels.
If you are watching in the dark I'd recommend you place a back light behind the monitors. This should remove the ability to see the back light bleed and will improve black levels overall. I do the same on my top of the range 50inch plasma TV as without a backlight, in pitch black the black levels are destroyed.
 
Could someone with a revision A01 monitor please take a picture of an all-white screen in a dark room? I would like to see if the backlight uniformity has changed.

Also, someone had mentioned earlier that this monitor would accept component video through the VGA connection. Has anyone else tried this?
 
Hi guys,

Just to update you, after owning two of these models for 3 days here is what I have.

One of my monitors had some lazy pixels issues - cyan pixles flicking on and off (often all over the screeen but only on certain images (colours). However this turned out NOT to be lazy pixels but a dodgy DVI cable. I managed to clean off something which was on one of the pins and it sorted it.

I'll say this now, these monitors just aren't consistent (like we didn't know that already) in that I reckon you just won't be able to buy two that are the same.

One of my monitors is a fair bit brighter and 'jumps' out more. However it has a purple tint on the left hand side moving to a green tint on the right hand side. I have left it on standard as messing with the RGB values results in a dimmer picture and the tint issue is impossible to remove and is actually made worse if I tweak.
The screen looks nice although I know I'm going to have to get used to seeing that purple tint when looking over at the left side of the screen.

My other monitor isn't as bright and seems to have a dirtier, more green tint on white backgrounds on the left side of the screen. I have again left this on 'Standard' profile as that one is brighter I find but I have used my graphics card RGB settings to try and minimise the dirty white look on the left and make it a little more like my brighter monitor.

It's still a good monitor - blacks looks good (though not as good as the brighter monitor) and it's easy to read text on etc.

I have been stressing over the brighter monitor due to the lazy pixels and purple tint and was going to return it. However, now that I know it hasnt got lazy pixels I don't think I can risk returning it. I bought from a company who bought stock from a Dell reseller (who had sold to one of their clients who returned the units - but didnt open them).
Therefore, my supplier will test the monitors first and of course find nothing wrong with them.

I therefore think I'm going to have to accept the defects (or idiosyncrasies if you will). In my experience of using monitors over the years I reckon I will get used to them pretty quickly and then in a couple of weeks / months not even notice the tint or brightness differences.

Even if I could return the one with the obvious tint (or even both) I doubt I'd get a replacement that was perfect and there is a risk it would be worse.

When I ordered, after reading all of this thread I really didn't think I'd get any issues. Mainly because it's November now and the A01 revision is out. You'd think things would be settled QC wise by now.
I do believe that many people who order these just don't notice any problems and are blown away by the size and improved quality from their old monitor(s).

Anyway for the record I have two A01 revisions made in August 2010. They were shipped from Dell to the original client on the 11th October 2010 in the UK. Therefore perhaps the August / September batches are what are shipping now - at a guess.

Hope this is helpful.
 
I just noticed the U2311 is currently on sale at $250 CAD on the DELL.ca website. Just letting you guys know.
 
Just bought mine for $240 - shipped today. Everything seems find with the A01.

There's no backlight bleed and no dead pixels. I think that the defects are for the most part, corrected.

I do have that purple tint thing as well, although no green tint. I think that barring the inclusion of an A-TW polarizer, which even the newer NEC PA series and Eizo CG245W don't have, there's no avoiding that.
 
Just bought mine for $240 - shipped today. Everything seems find with the A01.

There's no backlight bleed and no dead pixels. I think that the defects are for the most part, corrected.

I do have that purple tint thing as well, although no green tint. I think that barring the inclusion of an A-TW polarizer, which even the newer NEC PA series and Eizo CG245W don't have, there's no avoiding that.

I would like to see if your monitor has the backlight issue. So far, I've seen one A01 with bad uniformity and one A01 with decent uniformity.
 
I have a new problem. My monitor takes forever to come on after i turn the power on. My secondary monitor is up and running before the light on the Dell turns from yellow to blue and I get a picture. My menu buttons became locked for no reason. I unplugged the monitor for a day and it started working normally. Today it's back to doing the same thing. This time the menu buttons aren't locked but they have a huge delay before the options show up or change.
 
I would like to see if your monitor has the backlight issue. So far, I've seen one A01 with bad uniformity and one A01 with decent uniformity.

This is directly in front of it. Sorry about the crappy photos - I only have my cell phone camera. This was shot with a Samsung Epic 4G with flash turned off and scaled down.

2010-11-06213603.jpg


If you look closely, you can see a bit of coloration on top - that is the stuff that I was referring to that is IPS problem that only an A-TW filter can get rid of. It's not backlight bleed - it changes with different angles.
 
I did a search in this thread and only found 1 post about ghosting, so I'll ask: Does the 8ms response time on this monitor present any ghosting issues for gaming?

According to many threads, it seems like this is the best IPS panel in its price range. I've only used TN panels but I would like my next monitor to have good color reproduction in addition to gaming. Am I looking at the right monitor?
 
I did a search in this thread and only found 1 post about ghosting, so I'll ask: Does the 8ms response time on this monitor present any ghosting issues for gaming?

According to many threads, it seems like this is the best IPS panel in its price range. I've only used TN panels but I would like my next monitor to have good color reproduction in addition to gaming. Am I looking at the right monitor?

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/content/dell_u2311h.htm#gaming
 
I just sent back all 3 of mine bc of the horrible tinting issue... the right half of the screen on all 3 faded towards a bright yellow color. It showed on white and grey backgrounds. It's extremely annoying when you have 3 screens side by side. Dell needs to get their act together with LG... I was extremely happy with every other aspect of the monitors.
 
I just sent back all 3 of mine bc of the horrible tinting issue... the right half of the screen on all 3 faded towards a bright yellow color. It showed on white and grey backgrounds. It's extremely annoying when you have 3 screens side by side. Dell needs to get their act together with LG... I was extremely happy with every other aspect of the monitors.

It seems to be luck of the draw right now. I seem to have gotten lucky while many others haven't I agree though, that Dell really needs to get the quality control up.

Apparently, these are just IPS panels with TN films on them. That's why they can afford to sell these at $240 Canadian or US.

Viewing angles are on par with a good PVA and I am told that colour accuracy is somewhat off compared to full IPS screens. On the plus side, like a TN, input lag and response time are quite fast. Static contrast ratio is also better than the U2410, zr24w, and zr22w.
 
Viewing angles are on par with a good PVA and I am told that colour accuracy is somewhat off compared to full IPS screens.

Maybe I got a cherry like the tftcentral review, but my color accuracy is definitely better than say a U2410. I'm able to work at home and get an acceptably balanced image, files that need further tweaking can be done at work.
 
It seems to be luck of the draw right now. I seem to have gotten lucky while many others haven't I agree though, that Dell really needs to get the quality control up.

Apparently, these are just IPS panels with TN films on them. That's why they can afford to sell these at $240 Canadian or US.

Viewing angles are on par with a good PVA and I am told that colour accuracy is somewhat off compared to full IPS screens. On the plus side, like a TN, input lag and response time are quite fast. Static contrast ratio is also better than the U2410, zr24w, and zr22w.

The terms "TN" and "IPS" as far as I know refer to the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules and how they change state between the glass substrates in a LCD panel. How would you have a TN film on a IPS?

The lower cost is likely mainly due to two factors -

1) x1080 vertical vs. 1200 vertical. While it might not seem like much on the surface, the

2) A much less powerful edge back light system can be used for the display. This is readily noticeable if you compare the energy usage, heat, and to some extent the side profile view of the monitors to the more expensive ips screens. However in order to achieve this the drawback is more contrast loss at off angels and glow.

3) It isn't that much cheaper as you think. The HP zr24w is ~$400 I believe. Comparing to the Dell u2410 is not exactly the same, as the u2410 is also wide gamut and has other features adding to the cost. The u2410 for instance is also considerably more expensive then the HP zr24w.
 
I have the u2211h and wasn't satisfied with the colors at all. The weird blueish look is terrible and the TFTcentral settings were not good either. Took me some time but finally found some very good settings which makes the IPS stuff worth the money.

This was HW tested (i1Display 2 met ColorEyes Display Pro) on the 2311, but on my 2211 it looks great as well:

R 94
G 86
B 89


They also recommended the following brightness/contrast/sharpness, but personally I didn;t like that at all. To dark and grey if you ask me:
B 18
C 75

I love a bright screen with vibrant colors so I've set the brightness and the contrast both to 95.

Also, the following IC profile came with the settings:
http://localhostr.com/files/4539ef/U2311H_CE_65K_100CD.icc
(can be down atm because localhostr has problems..)
 
General question to all, do you think it's worth getting a refurbished U2311H with only a 1 year guarantee?

I'm only considering it as it's a lot cheaper than brand new (I'm in UK, but in dollars converted - new is $425 and this refurb is $350). There's no dead or stuck pixels, but the seller hasn't mentioned anything about tinting or black light bleed/uniformity problems, however they did say if there was any faults I could get it replaced.

My budget is $320, but when I saw the U2311H at that price, I'm kind of tempted.

Please note, I'm from UK so don't post or compare American prices, I only post in dollars so people can easily see the difference.
 
General question to all, do you think it's worth getting a refurbished U2311H with only a 1 year guarantee?

I'm only considering it as it's a lot cheaper than brand new (I'm in UK, but in dollars converted - new is $425 and this refurb is $350). There's no dead or stuck pixels, but the seller hasn't mentioned anything about tinting or black light bleed/uniformity problems, however they did say if there was any faults I could get it replaced.

My budget is $320, but when I saw the U2311H at that price, I'm kind of tempted.

Please note, I'm from UK so don't post or compare American prices, I only post in dollars so people can easily see the difference.

I wouldn't bother - the seller might not consider uniformity, ect. an issue, which is why they haven't mentioned anything about it.
 
I wouldn't bother - the seller might not consider uniformity, ect. an issue, which is why they haven't mentioned anything about it.
I did email them specifically asking about tinting and back light problems and they said:

"We haven't had any issues with tinting, as far as I'm aware, but if you receive one with a tint we would collect and replace it for you. If the monitor arrives with any fault then we will collect and replace it for you (at no extra cost to you), as long as you let us know within 7 days of receiving the monitor."
 
bah, found a tiny stuck pixel. It's a small red dot, only shows on white and blue backgrounds it seems. Is not a big problem, but tried to fix it without succes. I gave it a sexy massage, didn't work. I used every color program there is, didn't work. Even poked it with a pen for 10 minutes. Nothing works :cool:
 
I picked up a U2311H from Dell when it was on sale for $239 a few weeks back. It arrived yesterday, and so far I'm pretty impressed. It definitely has the slight pink tint on the left and is noticeably brighter on the right side of the screen. It's only noticeable on a pure white screen, and is very slight. Despite those shortcomings, it's still an awesome monitor and the price is frankly, unbeatable. I got the extra 2 yr warranty for a total of 5 yrs for $49. There's few things I would buy warranty for, but a monitor (which runs 12 hrs a day, 7 days a week) is definitely one of them. Shipping is free and next day exchange is unheard of. I'm sure I sound like I work for Dell :)

I was on the fence for a while and thinking about the U2410 and U2711, but after careful consideration and reading the numerous posts on this forum, decided to go for this one. Unless you ABSOLUTELY need the 1920X1200 or the extra 150 (compared to the U2410) pixels, this is the better monitor for the price and the picture quality is fantastic!

The U2311H just went on sale again on Dell.ca for $249.

The U2711H also went on sale a few days ago for $799 in Canada. Although if you are serious about getting it, you can get it for even less ($760) at Bestdirect.ca or ShopRBC.com. ShopRBC has better reviews as an online merchant and will price match Bestdirect. Make sure you factor in shipping costs since Dell and Bestdirect offer free shipping. Good luck!
 
I love this thing. I ordered it around July and received it in August I believe. So far it's been amazing for color representation compared to my old TN panel at least. It brings back the enjoyable feeling that a CRT brings, lol. I don't have any noticable color cast or anything on it. Once it's calibrated it nearly matches my picture prints.
 
Just bought mine yesterday since my old VX2025 DVI died...can't wait. When they go on sale again, I might nab a second (and a third? :D)
 
could anyone quickly check the power cable that comes with the monitor? Is it the I-sheng with 10A/125V? I had to send my defective PC back and now I can't figure out which cable goes with what! The other cable I have says 10A/250V and i'm thinking that's the PC one.. I don't know if it matters at all, likely not, but don't want to mess anything up! thanks!
 
could anyone quickly check the power cable that comes with the monitor? Is it the I-sheng with 10A/125V? I had to send my defective PC back and now I can't figure out which cable goes with what! The other cable I have says 10A/250V and i'm thinking that's the PC one.. I don't know if it matters at all, likely not, but don't want to mess anything up! thanks!

Does it matter? 120VAC is fine...they're both rated at 10A. My $.02
 
The U2311h draws less than 50W, iirc. A 120V cable would only need 1A to easily accomdate that, and then some. Soundbar might tack about 6W onto that figure.
 
I just picked up 3 of these for my Eyefinity setup. Should be a big step up from my 3 2001FP's.
 
I have the u2211h and wasn't satisfied with the colors at all. The weird blueish look is terrible and the TFTcentral settings were not good either. Took me some time but finally found some very good settings which makes the IPS stuff worth the money.

The U2211H has been getting some contradictory reports. Some say that it has the same accuracy. However, seeing both in person, I'd say that the $35 extra dollars (the U2211H is $205 CAN on sale and the U2311h IS $240 CAN on sale) is well worth it.

I picked up a U2311H from Dell when it was on sale for $239 a few weeks back. It arrived yesterday, and so far I'm pretty impressed. It definitely has the slight pink tint on the left and is noticeably brighter on the right side of the screen. It's only noticeable on a pure white screen, and is very slight. Despite those shortcomings, it's still an awesome monitor and the price is frankly, unbeatable. I got the extra 2 yr warranty for a total of 5 yrs for $49. There's few things I would buy warranty for, but a monitor (which runs 12 hrs a day, 7 days a week) is definitely one of them. Shipping is free and next day exchange is unheard of. I'm sure I sound like I work for Dell :)

You may want to see if Dell will exchange that screen. I know that HP will exchange their "performance monitor" series for minor defects.
 
Maybe I got a cherry like the tftcentral review, but my color accuracy is definitely better than say a U2410. I'm able to work at home and get an acceptably balanced image, files that need further tweaking can be done at work.

After seeing the U2311H compared with a U2410, you may be right. I compared my U2311H to another person's U2410 and the U2410 had worse accuracy and contrast.

Either I got a really good U2311H, or that person had a really bad U2410. Most reviewers still don't recommend this monitor for serious graphics work though. I suppose that its inevitable that top end, high-priced monitors from Eizo or NEC will beat what we have. Still, at $240, it is a pretty good value. IPS monitor for TN prices. :)
 
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The terms "TN" and "IPS" as far as I know refer to the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules and how they change state between the glass substrates in a LCD panel. How would you have a TN film on a IPS?

The lower cost is likely mainly due to two factors -

1) x1080 vertical vs. 1200 vertical. While it might not seem like much on the surface, the

2) A much less powerful edge back light system can be used for the display. This is readily noticeable if you compare the energy usage, heat, and to some extent the side profile view of the monitors to the more expensive ips screens. However in order to achieve this the drawback is more contrast loss at off angels and glow.

3) It isn't that much cheaper as you think. The HP zr24w is ~$400 I believe. Comparing to the Dell u2410 is not exactly the same, as the u2410 is also wide gamut and has other features adding to the cost. The u2410 for instance is also considerably more expensive then the HP zr24w.

Sorry about the earlier post - I was really tired when I wrote it. I did however, hear that Dell used a mix of IPS and TN technologies for these monitors though I can't remember the source that told me.

You think that the electronics is where Dell and NEC cheaped out on this panel? I guess its possible - anybody do a teardown to see? I know that companies like Eizo and NEC use the same panels from usually LG, although their electronics are much better. On that note, why then does this panel have better colour accuracy, black levels, contrast, and response than the U2410?

On sale, you can get the U2311H for about $240 CAN/US, versus the zr24W, which hovers around $400; even more here in Canada. So the price difference is substantial.
 
Does anyone have this monitor as well as a 24" monitor running at either 1920x1080 or 1920x1200?

I'd like to know how much smaller the text and general image is on U2311H (if at all) as I'm worried I'll have difficulty viewing things.

I'd be grateful if anyone can provide some photo comparisons.

Thanks.
 
I have a HP w2480h and an ASUS VK246h, both 24" and 1200p/1080p respectively.

Alongside my U2311h. :)


The marginal height difference is the only thing I have noted in the w2408h comparison.

That being said, my U2311h is much easier on my eyes than either monitor, so I prefer it over the other two. There is no text size difference that I have noted (even subtle ones). There probably *IS* a difference, but not one I have noted from prolonged use of all three monitors (using U2311h as my only monitor, now).
 
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