Which Dell (U2412m, U2410, Uxx) or other brand for programming/text/office?

Hi,

We received some DELL U2711 (A09, made in China) and we are totally dissapointed.

When watching videos or pictures, there is no problem. Unfortunately we only programm and do (boring) MS Office work.

This display is totally unusable for Office work and programming: "oil" and "blurry" effect.

If the font is on a light background (white, grey), it is hard to read and the eye has issues to focus. People using it at the office got quickly eye strain and headache/felt dizzy. (They all requested to switch back to their old monitor!)

After (long) conversation with the Dell Support, I received a refurbished (A01, made in Eastern Europe). The effect is less important but it is still unusable.

We deceided to do a side-by-side comparison of some available screens (Dell 1905FP, U2311H and U2711): the U2711 is the worst.

We suspect that the dot pitch (0,2331 mm) is too low for this anti glare film (hard coat 3H). Also it seems that the glue (for the AG film) is not the same.

We are thinking about the DELL U2412M (same AG but higher dot pitch: 0.27mm).

So here are my questions:
1.- What is the best screen if you only programm or do Office Work?
2.- If you have a DELL U2412m and use a low brightness, have you suffered from headache/eye strain? (due to a too a low pulse-width modulation frequency on some white/blue LED monitor)

Thanks.

PS: Switching all the themes (Windows 7 and other programms) to dark is a nice work-around to decrease the issue, but we cannot do it because of some tools.

Smaller dot pitch does put more stress on the eyes if you're not used to it. Combine that with agressive anti glare and that could lead to issues.

Anyway, for "office" type work (not graphic design type work), just get 3 or more small screens (i.e. 20" to 23" monitors) and put them together. Although it varies on the industry and type of work, in general, the larger amount of screen real estate improves overall employee response time, multitasking ability, team work when operating in global teams, and overall productivity while having a similar cost to fewer large but high cost displays. No need to worry about the fine dot pitch being hard on the eyes nor getting the "best" screens, just decent screens (e.g. even Dells or Eizo's etc. will do).

So you would not advice the U2412m? (We were thinking about a dual 24" 16/10 setup)

I did some research about the dot pitch (mm):
U2711: 0,2331
U3011: 0,2505
U2312hm: 0,2650
U2410,U2412m: 0,27
P2412H: 0,277
U1905fp:0,2940

All of them are said to have the same anti glare film (hard coat 3H)? Is it true?

Don't buy matte IPS or LG panels, they all use the same grainy coating (eye strain).

Try Samsung S24A850D (PLS), Samsung S24A650D (VA), BenQ BL2400PT (VA)...these are all semi-glossy vs grainy matte coatings and quite affordable

why bother with ips/va/pls panels for office work at all? a bunch of 1080p 23" 16:9 TN panels should be fine...

Because 1080p is too small for working. Some applications require too many secondary windows. Especially true if you programm. Multi-1080p-screen is no solving the issue.

I do not understand why not a single company has produced *the* perfect screen for Office/programming... Instead they want to be the new Steve Jobs (Glossy screens) or have totally forgotten who their (pro) customers are by focusing on cheap crap.

And the shareholders of Dell and HP still do not understand what is wrong with these companies?!

Picked up two U2412Ms on Black Friday. These monitors are fantastic. I do a lot of wireless network standards work, which involves big documents and big spreadsheets, and lots of open windows. Then there's also R&D based on the standards, so there's plenty of programming (C firmware, Python scripting, Java servlets, generally use Eclipse as the IDE for all three), plus hardware emulators/debuggers. The U2412Ms are perfect for this: a ton of horizontal AND vertical resolution, portrait mode support, the matte screen is great for bright offices but the AG is NOT grainy or noticeable (to me). Plus the response time and input lag are great for gaming after hours.

I don't think the perfect monitor exists yet, but for your use cases the 2412 should come pretty close, and if you can get the $300 deal (on sale or through the Dell rep mentioned in the 2412 thread) it's a no-brainer.

I don't know how many monitors we are talking about here, but I would suggest getting a double 2412 setup, and a U3011, and letting the users vote on the choice.
The U3011 is a nice monitor, and I use it for the same stuff at work. They would have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.