Decision: Dell U2410 vs. HP ZR2440W Help!

G

Geolith

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 7, 2012
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First of all, let me inform you that being a graphics designer AND a hardcore gamer is a royal pain in the buttocks, when it comes to choosing monitors.

That said, I need your help in making an important purchasing decision. Next week I'm gonna need to buy a new monitor from a local store. Below are the suitable specs for me:

24", 16:10 (1920x1200), IPS panel, 6 ms GTG, HDMI input (to be able to plug in PS3).

The following monitors respond to all of those specs:

Dell U2410
HP ZR2440W

They are both available in my local store, prices are decent, and all I need to do is to choose between them.

The dilemma pretty much boils down to two things: backlight type and responsiveness.

Everything is more or less clear in the backlight department: it's LED (ZR2440W) vs. CCFL (U2410). Personally, I would prefer LED, which presumably has deeper blacks and more intense colors, but I'm not a big expert in this area.

Things become more blurred in the responsiveness/input lag area. I've read quite a few reviews, including TFT Central and Prad.de, but failed to come to any definitive conclusion. It's still unclear to me, which of these monitors has better response and less input lag.

So, I really need some helpful insights from more experienced users.

To summarize: I don't need ultra-wide gamuts and overly accurate colors -- as long as they are any better than the fairytale colors my old Samsung TN display provides, I'll be happy. I'm more into consistency, even distribution, minimal backlight bleeding and good viewing angles. And I really need a monitor with as minimal input lag as realistically possible from an ISP display.

If you have some better suggestions than the monitors I listed above, I'm open to them, as long as they stick to my preferred specs and stay roughly within the price range of those models.
 
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Sorry to hear that. What don't you like about the Dell? How do you know the HP would be better?
 
dmdrewitt said:
What don't you like about the Dell? How do you know the HP would be better?
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First of all, I was wrong about choosing wide gamut. I had no idea it could prove so problematic. The reviews I read all assured that U2410 had a decent sRGB emulation, which turned out to be dramatically wrong -- its pre-calibrated sRGB mode looks horrible.

In native wide gamut mode the colors are off, and they look bleached (because of ridiculous factory gamma setting, which is 1.75 instead of 2.2). Of course, calibration helps a lot, but any changes to the gamma curve result in heavy gradient banding, with extremely noticeable color-striping on grey gradients. Due to the absence of internal (hardware) LUT, the calibration process on this monitor depends on video card's LUT and the connection speed, which is, in my case, the standard 8-bit DVI. You need a 10-bit DisplayPort connection to make any real use of calibration on this monitor.

Shortly, this screen looks bad out of the box and definitely needs calibration, which is problematic due to absence of proper hardware means.

The HP, on the other hand, is a standard gamut monitor, which eliminates any need of sRGB emulation. And it has correct factory gamma setting. In result, it doesn't really need calibration to look acceptable out of the box, and OSD controls should be quite enough for fine-tuning the colors to the viewer's taste.
 
Thank you for posting this information. Very useful.

I am putting together my shopping list for a total new build, so it will be the HP :cool:
 
Dam...why you gotta throw a wrench in my plans man lol

I was looking at the u2410 for an upgrade to my 2407FP and you make it seem like it sucks ~_~ but I also read people saying it's awesome...

ugh this is like reading headphone reviews lol
 
eizen said:
Dam...why you gotta throw a wrench in my plans man lol

I was looking at the u2410 for an upgrade to my 2407FP and you make it seem like it sucks ~_~ but I also read people saying it's awesome...

ugh this is like reading headphone reviews lol
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If you don't need wide gamut, there is really no reason to go with the u2410, since it just throws colors off unless you use the sRGB emulation mode, which can still give you sub-par colors. If you're going to be using sRGB, its best to go with a native sRGB monitor.
 
eizen said:
Dam...why you gotta throw a wrench in my plans man lol
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I wish someone threw a wrench when I was making MY plans about purchasing this piece of... ahem... hardware. :D

Anyway, it all really boils down to one question: Do you need wide gamut specifically or not? If you do, then probably it's worth considering. But if you don't, just steer clear of it. Trust me, I'm headbanging this thing for almost a month, with no considerable luck so far.
 
Maybe I don't need wide gamut (I do web design/gaming), I was just going for a top quality display>gaming display that's not an apple brand.

Hmm now U2412M steps into the picture, what do you think of that one?
 
Not to be an ass, but if you go onto a forum and ask about backlight type and responsiveness, you shouldn't expect people to raise color space issues.
 
cvgd said:
Not to be an ass, but if you go onto a forum and ask about backlight type and responsiveness, you shouldn't expect people to raise color space issues.
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You are right, I was asking wrong questions. But then again, I was a total noob in this area and for some reason thought that a decent wide gamut screen shouldn't have any problems emulating narrower gamuts (such as sRGB). So I thought the gamut wasn't as important as responsiveness and input lag. Again, I was wrong. Hard lesson learned. :)
 
eizen said:
Maybe I don't need wide gamut (I do web design/gaming), I was just going for a top quality display>gaming display that's not an apple brand.

Hmm now U2412M steps into the picture, what do you think of that one?
Click to expand...

You definitely don't need wide gamut for web design and gaming.

I can't really say anything about U2412M, because I haven't seen it in action, and I've learned a lesson not to trust reviews blindly. You need someone with actual experience with this model. All I know for sure is that it looks sexier in profile. I've seen it in a store. :D
 
Goodcoin, what video card are you using? I've got a wide-gamut ZR30w with a Radeon 6870. In the Catalyst Control Center under display color -> color temp control there is a checkbox for "Use EDID data." Besides the color temp, it also seems to completely tame the "wild" gamut. Makes it look very comparable to the (standard gamut) ZR2740w. I don't know how it would perform with the Dell, (depends on how the monitor is programmed, which of course is a big IF...) but if you don't have a Radeon card already I really think it would be worth a try. Last year when I briefly had a Dell U2711, I was running Nvidia and there didn't seem to be any comparable setting.

Unfortunately I do most of my real work on the Mac side, and since Apple controls the video drivers this "feature" doesn't exist in OSX. So I'm torn on whether to keep or sell the ZR30. But in Windows it makes all the difference.
 
Goodcoin said:
You definitely don't need wide gamut for web design and gaming.

I can't really say anything about U2412M, because I haven't seen it in action, and I've learned a lesson not to trust reviews blindly. You need someone with actual experience with this model. All I know for sure is that it looks sexier in profile. I've seen it in a store. :D
Click to expand...

Hmm I think I'm going with the U2412M this week. I can get it for around $305 w/tax vs the $425ish+tax of the HP.
 
eizen said:
Dam...why you gotta throw a wrench in my plans man lol

I was looking at the u2410 for an upgrade to my 2407FP and you make it seem like it sucks ~_~ but I also read people saying it's awesome...

ugh this is like reading headphone reviews lol
Click to expand...

It's just bias from current owners. The U2410 is a pretty awful display in nearly every measure compared to other newer 24" panels, it's only real advantage being wide gamut... if that's your thing.

I still see people argue that it's a better choice for "average" users (users who aren't going to be calibrating, just want it for movies/games) because of the color gamut, inputs, and perceived superiority of the true 8-bit panel, and because of this I'm sure a lot of people end up paying more for a U2410 than they would have for a U2412m or ZR2440w, both of which are obviously better choices for average users.
 
austinpike said:
Goodcoin, what video card are you using?
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I have GTX 460 at the moment, but a new GTX 680 will be shipped to me sometime next week, so now it isn't exactly a perfect time to switch to ATI. :)

Calibration really helps in taming the "wild gamut", but I need a 10-bit connection to get acceptable gradients without banding. Hopefully, the new video card will help me in that regard.
 
eizen said:
Hmm I think I'm going with the U2412M this week. I can get it for around $305 w/tax vs the $425ish+tax of the HP.
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I don't know. To me, the HP seems to be well worth the extra price. Then again, I haven't seen it myself and can't give any definitive advice.
 
Goodcoin said:
I don't know. To me, the HP seems to be well worth the extra price. Then again, I haven't seen it myself and can't give any definitive advice.
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The only advantage of the HP over the Dell is the internal scaler for proper 1080p scaling.
 
Well I ended up ordering the dell u2412m last night :)
The only bad thing is they take so long to deliver :(
 
Just wanted to get everyone in this thread's opinion.

Currently debating between the 3 monitors in this thread, U2412M, ZR2440w, and U2410...

27 and 30 inch ones as well, but all in that same vein, thoughts, comments, questions?
 
Then it boils down to choosing between U2412M and ZR2440w.

If you don't do graphics work, go with the Dell. It looks a lot sexier, for one. Otherwise, go with the HP.

EDIT: By graphics work I mean, color-critical graphics work.
 
steal said:
The only advantage of the HP over the Dell is the internal scaler for proper 1080p scaling.
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See but then with this scaling, won't that cause more input lag?

I've heard the 2nd/3rd manufacturing runs of the U2412M's have had less backlight bleed too.
 
The ZR240w has 20ms of input lag while the U2412 has almost none. You only need 1080p scaling if you intend to use external devices like consoles. Pretty sure the HP has less noticeable LED PWM Flickering as well.

The Samsung S24A850D has lagless 1:1 pixel mapping for external devices, and a matte coating that isn't grainy, PWM flickering isn't an issue on the Samsung either.
 
Globox said:
dell?? why, put some dosh aside and get a samsung
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More than double the price for a fractional improvement in performance.

Plus it seems like the newer manufacturing runs of the u2412m's are halfway decent.
 
NCX said:
The ZR240w has 20ms of input lag while the U2412 has almost none.
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Non-essential for light gaming. I play fast online shooters with no issues whatsoever on U2410 without gaming mode, and that's an average of 33.8 ms, according to TFT central.

My point is, it shouldn't play any role in this case.
 
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