HP ZR2440w vs. Asus 248PQ vs. Dell U2412M

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uluvbs

Limp Gawd
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Jan 29, 2007
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Hi, all.

I've limited it down to these three. My perfect monitor is 1900x1200 IPS/PLS that's excellent for both viewing text and good for watching movies, and has either a glossy/semi-glossy screen.

I realize the Dell is a bit cheaper, but I am very concerned about a heavy AG coating, which seems to be less of an issue with the HP or Asus nowadays.

Any thoughts on that, and anything else I should consider before taking the plunge?

Thank you.

(just realized it's Asus PA248Q, not 248PQ, in the headline. thanks.)
 
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Does the HP or Asus in fact have a lighter coating? The only HP IPS I've read that has a lighter coating is their 27" model.

You missed the Samsung 24" PLS model, which has a semiglossy coating. It may however have bad back light bleed, which you probably are aware of.

If you prefer glossy or semiglossy, stay away from the 2412 (and I expect the HP and Asus too).

There is also the upcoming NEC EA244WMi -- someone here said a NEC product manager told him it will have a lighter coating, but I guess we'll find out after reviews.
 
-1- I've now seen enough reviews mentioning the Dell U2412's aggressive AG coating, so I can rule that out.

-2- It also seems like most people who don't love these coatings think the Asus PA248Q probably isn't right for me? Any agreement on that?

-3- That leaves the HP and the new NEC. Hmmmmm.

-4- The Sammy S24 would be fantastic, but the reviews (from professional and consumers) have just not been that great, in my opinion. It does sound excellent on paper, though.
 
From what I have read, every current 24" IPS model besides the Samsung PLS, and perhaps the new Dell 2413 + NEC I listed, have a heavy AG coating. I'm not sure why the HP would be any different, unless they updated the panel recently or something.

At 23" or 27" (16:9) there are more options for lighter coatings.
 
-1- Is it LG who is putting the AG coatings on all the panels? Or is it the actual vendor (HP, Dell, etc.)? If LG, then that would make sense, otherwise I would think they'd vary from company to company.

-2- 27" are either twice the price or low resolution. i have thought about doing 1080p at 23", though. Hmmmm. Is it worth it to go down to 1080p at 23"?
 
the zr2440 has a fairly noticeable ag coating.

http://www.overclockers.ru/images/lab/2013/01/31/1/70_kristaleffect_big.jpg

uluvbs said:
-1- Is it LG who is putting the AG coatings on all the panels? Or is it the actual vendor (HP, Dell, etc.)? If LG, then that would make sense, otherwise I would think they'd vary from company to company.
Click to expand...

the panel manufacturer puts the coatings on. but they'll often offer the same panels with different coatings and the monitor oem decides which panel they'll use.
 
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uluvbs said:
-1- Is it LG who is putting the AG coatings on all the panels? Or is it the actual vendor (HP, Dell, etc.)? If LG, then that would make sense, otherwise I would think they'd vary from company to company.

-2- 27" are either twice the price or low resolution. i have thought about doing 1080p at 23", though. Hmmmm. Is it worth it to go down to 1080p at 23"?
Click to expand...

As mentioned LG does it, but may offer some of their panels with a less aggressive coating to some companies. For whatever reason, it seems the 24" size is primarily thick heavy coating on all panels. Only exceptions I am aware of, besides what has been listed so far, have been the 24" Cinema Display and NEC 2490, and both are no longer made.

I can't say if it's worth it or not for you to go 23" ... it depends on what size monitor you are currently using and what you want it for. It may be tough to go down in size, if you are currently using a 24" display, especially if it's at 16:10 now. I think I'd rather go to 27" at 1080p instead, but that is just a personal preference.
 
Thank you, all.

Shiranui,

How noticeable/bad is the AG would you say? I'm coming from a highly rated HP (LP2065), and I think my days of aggressive AG are over.

Thanks.
 
I can't speak for Shiranui, but I used to own the Dell 2412 (very briefly). It was unusable to me ... whites were dusty/sparkly grey, and my first thought when I got it was that it had a plastic sticker over the screen that was supposed to be peeled off. It looked, to me, like the monitor had been sitting in an attic for a year and the panel was covered with dust. So everyone is different, but to my eyes, it was very noticeable.
 
nameslessme,
i'm coming from a 1600x1200 screen.

my choices are now:
-1- the new NEC (mentioned above)
-2- Dell 23" 1900x1080 S2340M (although I can't find any professional reviews for it -- maybe the panel itself is good??)
-3- a 27" 1900x1080, but my concern is the text will be less than stellar. my eyes aren't the greatest, and legible text is among my most important priorities for my next screen.

thank you.
 
I have a 24" 16:10 myself, and have been tempted by the 2340 too, although for use as a secondary monitor. The problem with using it as your main will be the lack of vertical. So it depends on what you want it for. It'll basically be the same as moving down to a 19", 5:4, regarding vertical size.

If you can wait a while, you may just want to wait for reviews on the NEC.

As for 27", my eyes aren't the greatest either, but for me, that is all the more reason to get a lower res monitor. At 27", the fonts will naturally be larger, and so there is less need to increase DPI in windows. And older software that won't play nice with windows settings will also have larger text.

But that is just my preference. If your software is fine with DPI settings, a higher res may be better for you.

Edit: I assumed you had a big 1600x1200 (21.3") ... if you currently have a 20"er, it may not seem too bad to go to 23".
 
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16:10 monitors offer a far better computing experience in any scenario.

as to the dell HP and asus, I suspect they are all using the same LG panels?

Check reviews on these monitors to see.

I just bought an HPZR30W about a week ago, was hating the panel at first but have adjusted it to my liking and the ag is no longer an issue.
 
also contrary to popular belief, you can buy a larger panel and use it at lower resolutions if text is bothering you provided you use resolutions at the proper aspect ratio. windows will let you know which resolutions are ideal for your panel, you can also adjust clear type and increase the size of fonts.
 
Personally I'm waiting for some reviews of the new NEC.
Several online shops list it as in stock, so there should be soem reviews before too long...
 
For what it's worth, a customer representative from NEC would only describe the new 24" as being "matte," just like all of their monitors. He wouldn't elaborate on light/heavy coating.
 
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uluvbs said:
-1- Is it LG who is putting the AG coatings on all the panels? Or is it the actual vendor (HP, Dell, etc.)? If LG, then that would make sense, otherwise I would think they'd vary from company to company.

-2- 27" are either twice the price or low resolution. i have thought about doing 1080p at 23", though. Hmmmm. Is it worth it to go down to 1080p at 23"?
Click to expand...


the coating is applied by the manufacturer of the lcd panel, in the case of most IPS panels that would be LG

hp, dell do not make their own lcd panels, panels are made by AUOptronics a subsidiary of Acer, Chimei, Samsung, LG, Sharp.


You can check reviews at tft central and other sites will generally indicate which panel is in the monitors you are looking for.

AG coating is not a big issue to most and I suspect those who are bothered by it are running their panels too bright or too dim or have not calibrated or adjusted the settings of their panels appropriately. AG coating does seem to be more aggressive on IPS panels. Text and contrast can be adjusted to compensate.
That said I would say that my HPZR30W for example, has more aggressive AG coating than my LG246WPBN 24 inch panel which is not IPS but rather a PMVA panel.

PMVA seems largely abandoned, a shame since its cheaper, has good response time, great viewing angles, better blacks than IPS, overall a very nice happy medium between pva and ips panels.
 
Sadly most consumers are ignorant of the horrible characteristics of a TN panel since the market is saturated with them and higher quality panels with 16:10 aspect ratios are not very common these days. Poorly informed consumers fell for the 1080P marketing and thought 1080 made their panels better when a 16:10 aspect ratio panel offers higher than 1080p resolution.

I remember looking at monitors shortly after buying my lg246wpbn with utter disgust to find that a 24 inch panel was now 16:9 and basically hacked down lacking the additional vertical space once common six years ago.
my 16:10 24 inch panel has the same vertical size as all the 27 inch panels of today.

To make matters worse everyone seems fascinated staring at a small tablet instead of a nice large panel and playing 8 bit angry birds. DEVOLVING AT ITS FINEST
 
DaRuSsIaMaN said:
Some crappy review here:

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/pc-peripheral/3425961/nec-multisync-ea244wmi-review/?olo=rss

EDIT: I'm at least impressed by the apparent low power usage. Although the reviewer(s) didn't say anything about whether they actually tested it. But if it's close to NEC's own listed spec, then that's like 10W lower than any of those other 1900x1200 models in the OP. ... As for everything else, I'm also in the review waiting boat, like you guys.
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Not so sure counting watts makes for a good puchasing decision. NEC's are great monitors though no doubts. That said I would not be counting watts to make my monitor purchasing decision.
 
conghelach said:
Not so sure counting watts makes for a good puchasing decision. NEC's are great monitors though no doubts. That said I would not be counting watts to make my monitor purchasing decision.
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It's not my main consideration but one of my considerations. Probably mostly because I don't have very specific needs in other things, like it wouldn't matter to me that much if the colors are super accurate, or if the response time is good (not a gamer). Etc.

I am wondering about this whole AG coating that a lot of people are complaining about, though. I don't have any experience with it at all. My previous monitor is an old samsung syncmaster 203B lol.
 
Does anyone know how the LED flicker frequency is in any of these models listed by the OP, and including the new NEC EA244WMi? Is any one of them faster than the others?

I'm also shopping around for a 1920x1200 screen, and I've looked at many of the same ones listed in this thread. AFAIK I've never tested my eyes on the more modern, LED backlit types. The last monitor I bought was like 5 years ago... If the flicker thing is more noticeable on the LED backlights relative to CCFL, then I'm hoping I can at least isolate which model has higher frequency to be on the safe side. (I don't know for sure if I'm one of those people who might be sensitive to it)

Thanks
 
Got a ZR2440W with a Jan 2013 build date and it is semi-glossy! However, this one has not too great color temp uniformity with a markedly warmer right side.

The lottery continues but this is a definitely a good development.
 
I really want TFT Central to review the new NEC. I'd be all over 3 of them if the input lag was in an acceptable range, but noooo freakin clue as of right now.
 
Undertaker,
This is interesting. TFT (or Prad) said HP had changed the coating for the ZR2740 but weren't sure about this one.
I assume you like the coating?
i am deciding between this, the NEC, or a Viewsonic VP2365-LED (with a rock-bottom 1080 pixels of height). :)
 
Yes, the coating on the new ones is better but my earlier Aug 2012 one, has better uniformity and contrast (about 100 more at 6500k, 125 cd/m2) so still trying to find one that has best of both worlds.
 
undertaker2k8 said:
Got a ZR2440W with a Jan 2013 build date and it is semi-glossy! However, this one has not too great color temp uniformity with a markedly warmer right side.

The lottery continues but this is a definitely a good development.
Click to expand...

undertaker, how do you know what the build date is? Is it written somewhere in fine print on the back of it or something? I would just like to know where to look for it. I'm considering getting this screen, since the newer versions are semi-glossy. (Debating between this and the NEC EA244WMi.)

Also, how can I be sure I get a newer build one, if I order online?
 
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