Dell U2311H

WorldExclusive said:
Don't develop OCD like others have on this forum about panels. Unless you job requires perfect color quality the glow shouldn't be an issue. When playing games and surfing the net, the monitor is fantastic for the price.
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Words of wisdom. There is a talk on TED.com by a Harvard professor about the "paradox of choice" that applies to Hard Forum big time. Basically, the more choices you have (beyond 3 or so) usually make you LESS happy since you are always second guessing if you made the right choice.

Anyway I got 3 of these from Dell.ca for $820 including tax/ enviro fees and I think they are perfect for me. I have been reading this forum for around 2 years and this is my first post. Just got some monster Polk bookshelf speakers for $139 that I feel "tie the room together".

Thanks for the inspiration everyone.

When "normal" people see my set up they always say something like "holy shit" etc.. That is when I realize how crazy our setups really are LOL!

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Hey guys -- I've been reading through the thread (skipping a good bit considering the sheer size of it) and have a quick question or two. I apologize if they've been answered thoroughly.

(1) Can the monitor screen be, uh, fully vertical or close to it? I've been looking for a pictures on the internet but most of them either seem to imply that the monitor likes to be angled several % when upright and I haven't found a good side shot. For whatever reason I can't stand the ones that must remain at a noticable angle.

(2) Is the ghosting noticable for games? Most of what I saw in regards to that was prediction that it would have ghosting based on the 8 ms response time, but I haven't seen a personal statement from someone who has tried saying whether or not it's noticable.

Note: I don't intend to use Eyefinity, if that matters (I saw someone say they noticed ghosting when doing so at crazy high resolutions). I'm also not sure how ghosting can be reduced if it exists (I.e. by changing settings in games, etc.), if it only exists in super-high-end gaming and more casual games (Dragon Age,SC2, etc.) would be fine, or what.

I wish I hadn't missed the $200 deal on these -- I'd have bought one hands down -- but the price they are back up to now requires more consideration. I'm still partial to a cheaper Asus TN panel with 1920x1200, but the bezel is shiny and the picture won't be as nice.
 
OrangeWolf said:
(1) Can the monitor screen be, uh, fully vertical or close to it? I've been looking for a pictures on the internet but most of them either seem to imply that the monitor likes to be angled several % when upright and I haven't found a good side shot. For whatever reason I can't stand the ones that must remain at a noticable angle.
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I don't quite understand what you're asking here. At first I thought you were asking if the monitor could be rotated into a portrait orientation, but I'm guessing you've already seen photos (i.e. the above post by svalbard).

Here's a good page with photos showing what kind of positions the U2311H is capable of. If it's not enough I can take some photos.

OrangeWolf said:
(2) Is the ghosting noticable for games? Most of what I saw in regards to that was prediction that it would have ghosting based on the 8 ms response time, but I haven't seen a personal statement from someone who has tried saying whether or not it's noticable.
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From my own tests and eyes, ghosting/trailing is there on the U2311H, but only in tests like PixPerAn.

In actual games - I've tried Left 4 Dead 2, Flatout 2, Mass Effect 2, Just Cause 2, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat, Civlization V, Saints Row 2, Fallout 3, Minecraft amongst others, I've not seen any haloing or ghost trails.

The only game I've come across where I've noticed a major difference from a CRT is Titan Quest - the screen moves at such a speed (i.e. constant slow-medium scrolling) where blurring is very noticeable. I doubt any TN, even 120Hz ones, will be any better in this scenario due to the scrolling speed (see this thread). The blurring I see in Titan Quest could be a problem of the sample and hold effect (as described by ToastyX) which is an inherent flaw for all LCD monitors:

ToastyX said:
The sample and hold effect is a much bigger problem that hasn't been properly addressed with LCD monitors. Each frame persists in your eyes for 10-15 ms, and when following motion, the image that persists in your eyes mixes with the image that's still on the screen, causing a blurring/ghosting effect. CRT monitors don't have that problem because the image is only on the screen for a split second, but LCD monitors keep the image on the screen until the next refresh. Having a higher refresh rate reduces the holding period, but what's really needed is higher refresh rates + overdrive + proper backlight scanning, which no monitor seems to do, so you're going to get some blurring/ghosting compared to a CRT no matter how fast the monitor is.
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Don't get too caught up with the response time numbers. The overdrive on the U2311H is very good and puts it about on par with 2ms TN panels. This post (by ToastyX again) explains things better.
 
Perfect -- That's exactly what I wanted to know as far as the ghosting and whatnot went. :D Gaming isn't the main thing I do on a monitor, so an IPS >> TN, I just didn't want to be screwed with my favorite pastime. The link to the other post is excellent also.

bearbear said:
I don't quite understand what you're asking here. At first I thought you were asking if the monitor could be rotated into a portrait orientation, but I'm guessing you've already seen photos.
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Your link explained it -- just so you can see what I was asking, however... I wanted a monitor that would do this, and in the past owned (and returned) a monitor that would not go any more "vertical" than this and remained stuck at angle no matter what you did. Stupid monitor drove me up the wall within 5 minutes.
 
OrangeWolf said:
Your link explained it -- just so you can see what I was asking, however... I wanted a monitor that would do this, and in the past owned (and returned) a monitor that would not go any more "vertical" than this and remained stuck at angle no matter what you did. Stupid monitor drove me up the wall within 5 minutes.
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That's just... bizarre :confused: I can't even imagine why a monitor would be permanently tilted upwards.

The U2311H has a backward tilt angle of 20 degrees (as seen in this picture), but also a forward tilt angle of 5 degrees too. You can see the kind of positions the monitor can do in this video.
 
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svalbard said:
Words of wisdom. There is a talk on TED.com by a Harvard professor about the "paradox of choice" that applies to Hard Forum big time. Basically, the more choices you have (beyond 3 or so) usually make you LESS happy since you are always second guessing if you made the right choice.

Anyway I got 3 of these from Dell.ca for $820 including tax/ enviro fees and I think they are perfect for me. I have been reading this forum for around 2 years and this is my first post. Just got some monster Polk bookshelf speakers for $139 that I feel "tie the room together".

Thanks for the inspiration everyone.

When "normal" people see my set up they always say something like "holy shit" etc.. That is when I realize how crazy our setups really are LOL!
]
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Nice setup man. What are those monitors (speakers)?
 
I'm waiting on my DP cable for my 3rd and currently have 2 setup....

Compared to my 20wmgx2 I can feel the different in resolutions (old was 1680x1050) and love the portrait mode for browsing... Totally different experience :)

I noticed that the image quality vs the NEC monitor is only slightly less. If I were to compare them as a car race I'd say the longer the race, the longer I see the NEC pulling forward and staying right in front with the DELL remaining steady behind.

However with the resolution and stand versatility along side a very respectable screen, I suspect I will not miss the NEC.
 
I originally posted with this issue on another forum, but have since found this thread which is dedicated to the U2311H, so I hope you don't mind me reposting this for advice.

I bought two of these screens yesterday for dual-monitor use, but immediately noticed that the left monitor had distinctly colder colors than the right. Whites are a tad gray.

I ran the diagnostics (with video cables unplugged) and photographed the grey screen:
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Bigger Image

I also noticed that one of the screens is REV A01 and the other is REV A02 (bad luck!). Do you think this warrants exchanging, or is this a acceptable difference in color?
 
Exchanging? where will that get you? which one should you exchange?

Panels are going to vary unless you bought a monitor with factory adjustment.
 
The code states it's for led monitors. We are talking about an IPS monitor in this thread.
 
I got my monitor today. Only took two days (ordered it late tuesday) to get my monitor. I can do what I originally intended two apps at once. This monitor works great with my laptop.

I have the a01 version.
 
Thanks all, I'll have to get a calibration gadget to move forward by the sounds of it (although I'm still not convinced the monitor on the left can actually display an adequate white physically...)
 
gdi2k said:
I also noticed that one of the screens is REV A01 and the other is REV A02 (bad luck!). Do you think this warrants exchanging, or is this a acceptable difference in color?
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I'd say it would warrant an exchange. Call up Dell and see if they'll do an advance shipment swap (that way you can see which monitor the replacement is more similar to.) That's the benefit of buying a Ultrasharp series monitor, Dell's more understanding when it comes to getting the "right" monitor.

Having the different revisions usually means different panels for Dell, so it would be preferable to get the same revision to maximize the chances of getting closer matched color. Although, as Whoisthisreally has already stated, since these aren't precalibrated monitors, there is no guarantee that even the same revision will have exactly the same color, but definitely having different revisions pretty much guarantees that you will have color / gamma / gamut differences. :-O

I was lucky that my three U2211's were pretty close, but it did look like 2 were from the same batch and 1 was from another (the serial numbers are off by a bit) but at least they were the same revision.
 
Gaiden133 said:
How is the Eyefinity experience for you guys? Any tearing or ghosting?

Also, how are you connecting it up? (how many dp <-> dp, dp <-> dvi, dvi <-> dvi) etc
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I have my U2211's setup 3 x portrait, dp,dp, dvi on my 6950.
Even on my desktop I have tearing vertically on the two DP monitors every so often, but none on the DVI one.

I'm beginning to think it's a problem with the DP.
 
bbf said:
I have my U2211's setup 3 x portrait, dp,dp, dvi on my 6950.
Even on my desktop I have tearing vertically on the two DP monitors every so often, but none on the DVI one.

I'm beginning to think it's a problem with the DP.
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It is a problem with DP, at least in portrait mode. The problem seems to vary, though. Vega had a big thread about setting up his 3x30" panels and was pulling his hair out over the tearing, which occurred only on DP monitors, but I think it was restricted to games, not desktop. There was someone else in the thread whose problem mirrored yours, though.

On the other hand, I have this monitor set up in portrait alongside two other monitors, and I get no tearing in desktop unless I'm scrolling in a web page, but that happens on both my portrait monitors, only one of which is connected to DP.
 
So I just got my U2311H in, and hooked it up and overall it's beautiful aside from one thing: on the very right side, there's like a vertical yellow band, plainly visible when I have a white background on that part of the screen. It's also on the left side but not quite as much. It's definitely noticeable sitting straight-on with any sort of lighter-colored background. It's maybe the last 3-4% of the screen on the right edge... other than that, perfect white.

Is this the tinting issue people have mentioned? Or is this a bit different with it being only on the edge?

If I send it back for a replacement, can I expect to get one that doesn't have this? There doesn't seem to be anything else wrong with it, at least from what I can tell coming from TN panels.

*Update: Also some quite noticeable backlight bleed in the bottom left.
 
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Gregory_WE said:
So I just got my U2311H in, and hooked it up and overall it's beautiful aside from one thing: on the very right side, there's like a vertical yellow band, plainly visible when I have a white background on that part of the screen. It's also on the left side but not quite as much. It's definitely noticeable sitting straight-on with any sort of lighter-colored background. It's maybe the last 3-4% of the screen on the right edge... other than that, perfect white.

Is this the tinting issue people have mentioned? Or is this a bit different with it being only on the edge?
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I can't say if that issue is specifically the tint issue that has been brought up but I have that exact same problem on my 2209WA Dell monitor except mine is on the very top and on the very bottom and both span the entirety of the top and bottom. It is most likely a quality control issue with the panels they use in their monitors. If it bothers you I would exchange it. For what it's worth my U2311H does not have that problem. The only defect I've noticed with it is a large red pixel in the right center of the monitor that is only really noticeable on a black background.
 
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Gregory_WE said:
So I just got my U2311H in, and hooked it up and overall it's beautiful aside from one thing: on the very right side, there's like a vertical yellow band, plainly visible when I have a white background on that part of the screen. It's also on the left side but not quite as much. It's definitely noticeable sitting straight-on with any sort of lighter-colored background. It's maybe the last 3-4% of the screen on the right edge... other than that, perfect white.

Is this the tinting issue people have mentioned? Or is this a bit different with it being only on the edge?

If I send it back for a replacement, can I expect to get one that doesn't have this? There doesn't seem to be anything else wrong with it, at least from what I can tell coming from TN panels.

*Update: Also some quite noticeable backlight bleed in the bottom left.
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I had ~this on all 3 of my U2311Hs.... It drove me insane for a week before I returned them for a full refund. It also showed on light colors such as grays. It was horribly apparent during all web browsing and office work. I couldn't really see it in games though. I would advise returning it or exercising that Dell warranty muscle until you get a good one.
 
Who the hell pays money to put up with this stuff? Seriously, if you can't afford the admittedly absurd entry cost of a 24" IPS, why not just get a good TN panel and use sRGB emulation? Unless you're one of the 0.1% of people doing photography or whatever, save yourself the grief.
 
Matrices said:
Who the hell pays money to put up with this stuff? Seriously, if you can't afford the admittedly absurd entry cost of a 24" IPS, why not just get a good TN panel and use sRGB emulation? Unless you're one of the 0.1% of people doing photography or whatever, save yourself the grief.
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Dunno, my panel was perfect. Only got better after calibraton.
 
If its on sale then, yes. Its $249 on the Canadian website, at the moment. For that price its an excellent buy. They have frequent sales.
 
Ok, after reading the majority of this thread (and others) I'm ready to get some U2311H's
Question now is should I just get one for the 250ish or wait and see if another Dell EBay deal shows up for $199
I'm really kicking myself for not buying when they were 199
 
Nice I love your choice in moniters. Is the cpu or the videocards holing you back in anything to the point you don't play it? Just curious because my single monitor setup is more or less the same specs just on a single monitor setup. Haven't had any of the driver issues either.
 
These are on a kind-of sale from Dell atm for $279 and I'm considering jumping the gun and buying because, as far as I can tell, no other monitors can compete in this price range (though this is still more than I want to pay, wish it would go on sale again).

After reading reviews though the only thing that continues to stand out is that everyone points out that it has a lack of HDMI.

I'm a n00b however and I'm not really sure if I am going to want that later or not. I looked it up online and read a bunch of stuff, but mostly I have come away with knowledge of what an HDMI port looks like and what it can be used for, but still not knowing if the ports on this monitor (VGA, DVI, DisplayPort?) will serve me just as well or better because I just don't know enough about this stuff. Can anyone help metry to figure this out? What is HDMI normally used for that the ports on this monitor cannot do? I'm hoping that DVI/DisplayPort will handle anything I'd have wanted HDMI to do (especially considering as I don't think I am using HDMI at the moment for any of my stuff).

The only other things I'm sure of are that everyone likes IPS better than TN, VA or whatever is somewhere in-between for most folks, and the only advantage to TN is for high-end FPS gaming. I wanted to keep monitor cost under $250 though, I just haven't seen any good recommendations in that range compared to this one, TN or otherwise.

Oh, and you all talk about calibrating your monitors -- how do you do that with this one? Is it built in?

Sorry for the n00bie questions.
 
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Anyone using the U3011 with a 2007fp? How do the edges match up? Any issues? Looking at getting the U3011 alongside a 2007fp but just aren't sure that they'll be symmetrical.
 
As I read at the post 103 (http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035727308&postcount=103) I cannot connect my laptop which an hdmi port with a single adaptor (hdmi to display port http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10428&cs_id=1042803&p_id=5714&seq=1&format=2)
to my monitor u2311h. I can only do only the opposite.
I would like to ask if I can connect the laptop with the monitor with the dvi port by using a single adaptor
dvi to display port (http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10419&cs_id=1041902&p_id=2029&seq=1&format=2) ?
 
OrangeWolf said:
These are on a kind-of sale from Dell atm for $279 and I'm considering jumping the gun and buying because, as far as I can tell, no other monitors can compete in this price range (though this is still more than I want to pay, wish it would go on sale again).

After reading reviews though the only thing that continues to stand out is that everyone points out that it has a lack of HDMI.

I'm a n00b however and I'm not really sure if I am going to want that later or not. I looked it up online and read a bunch of stuff, but mostly I have come away with knowledge of what an HDMI port looks like and what it can be used for, but still not knowing if the ports on this monitor (VGA, DVI, DisplayPort?) will serve me just as well or better because I just don't know enough about this stuff. Can anyone help metry to figure this out? What is HDMI normally used for that the ports on this monitor cannot do? I'm hoping that DVI/DisplayPort will handle anything I'd have wanted HDMI to do (especially considering as I don't think I am using HDMI at the moment for any of my stuff).

The only other things I'm sure of are that everyone likes IPS better than TN, VA or whatever is somewhere in-between for most folks, and the only advantage to TN is for high-end FPS gaming. I wanted to keep monitor cost under $250 though, I just haven't seen any good recommendations in that range compared to this one, TN or otherwise.

Oh, and you all talk about calibrating your monitors -- how do you do that with this one? Is it built in?

Sorry for the n00bie questions.
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1. You can hook up your PC via DVI, just as good as HDMI.
2. You can hook up your Xbox 360 via special VGA cable adapter sold for that purpose. Microsoft sells for $39.99. I purchased it from Amazon for $9.99.
3. You can connect PS3 via DP after purchasing an HDMI adapter.
4. No, the U2311 does not have a built in "calibrator". But you can download ICM files and use. That's what I did. Unless you are into photo editing etc the out of the box settings are perfectly adequate.
5. HDMI connection for PS3 etc gives sound also but there has to be a sound input. The U2311 does not have it. The Sound Connector it has is for a Dell Sound Bar(purchased separately). You can connect via the optical to the PC, Receiver or external speakers IF they have the connection.

Remember the U2311 is an E-IPS panel monitor. Better viewing angles and colors than your average TN Panels. It has16:9 resolution and its your basic entry level IPS monitor.

I purchased it for $199 CDN (Christmas sale) which is a tremendous price.
Its drawbacks are it does not have an HDMI and audio connections. For the "normal" non-sale price of $339 CDN its not a good buy (for me). A good TN panel would have sufficed.

Do your buying carefully and don't be in a hurry. On Saturday I purchased a brand new U2410 off Craigs List, Vancouver for $350. This has more connections and a 16:10 resolution which I wanted. Plus the price was too good to reject.
 
Thanks Lancelot. I do hate to buy in a hurry but the issue I have at the moment is that I am borrowing a monitor that I need to return ASAP, so I need to have one of my own. I'm actually getting whatever I pick as a belated Christmas gift.

Sounds like I don't really need HDMI from what you say, so thank you for the information. I would have liked to be able to get audio via this but in the end it's not that big of a deal, especially if there are options via external speakers that I can exploit should I ever have the need.

I'll go have a look at Craigslist and eBay now though. I am tempted to just step down to the U2211h, which seems to be pretty much the same monitor in a smaller size for cheaper, but I am still tempted by this amazing 23" one -- love the size. Thanks again man -- much appreciated.
 
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Just placed the order for mine. Came to $251.10 before tax. Will update this thread with my impressions once it arrives. I'm coming from a 19" 1280x1024 MVA panel.
 
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