Dell U2311H

It is likely that they all use the same LG LM230WF2 panel which uses the same anti glare coating according to its technical documentation. So it is possible perceived differences are due to manufacturing variance and/or psychological. Could they be selling variations of the same panel with different coatings? Maybe.
 
limitedaccess said:
It is likely that they all use the same LG LM230WF2 panel which uses the same anti glare coating according to its technical documentation. So it is possible perceived differences are due to manufacturing variance and/or psychological. Could they be selling variations of the same panel with different coatings? Maybe.
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I don't see why not. After all - the AG is added to the panel, but really not required. It is quite possible that Dell and NEC, when making an order, specify certain things like that, given that they are ordering batches large enough to make it worth LG's time. Only LG, Dell, and NEC could say for sure, and they aren't saying. ;)
 
scrawnypaleguy said:
Dude I will love you forever if you do a good comparison. I'm leaning toward the NEC at the moment just because I've heard of so many QC issues with the Dell but if they've been improved I might go with them because they're so much cheaper.
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No problem guys... the Dell 2311h will arrive this Thursday. I plan to have some comparison results in this thread and the NEC thread by Friday night or Saturday afternoon at the latest.

I will be checking for: QC issues like dead pixels, AG coat strength (a big deal to me since I'm coming from a glossy!), perceived response time (also will look at PixPerAn tests), accuracy of OUT OF THE BOX (not calibrated) color, IPS white glow intensity, brightness uniformity, black levels, and any weird tint issues. I can film and shoot photos. I might do a video review on YouTube. Never posted to YouTube, but I might as well make use of this HD camcorder for something other than scenery shots. :)

I can already tell you guys that the NEC is a very solid choice, so the Dell is in for some stiff competition.

As for price, I paid $340 shipped for the NEC from Buy.com. If I were to buy the Dell today from Dell.com, I'd spen $350 after taxes, so I'm not sure why you think the Dell is so much cheaper, unless you're talking about eBay, which is where I bought the Dell for $279 shipped (more like $275 after eBay bucks). Don't worry, a very good 100 rep seller with positive feedback on selling this exact model assures me it is factory sealed.
 
brentsg said:
Which e-ips has the least bothersome anti-glare? This or the NEC..?
Click to expand...

Come back Friday or so and all will be revealed. I will compare them directly after using a glossy panel for the past 4 years. If it can beat the decent AG coat on the NEC, I will be astounded. It is much lighter than the one on the HP L2475w.
 
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I received my 3 replacement U2311Hs today. As a reminder, my 3 originally delivered U2311Hs all suffered from very bad backlight bleed.

I just got done testing the three replacements, all brand new, and they are AWESOME! Only 1 has noticeable excessive backlight bleed, and you have to look very hard for it. Once I get them calibrated and turn the backlight down, it will probably all but disappear. I didn't do a pixel test on them yet, but just looking them over I didn't see any.

EDIT: Wanted to mention, all the replacements are Rev.A00
 
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kryptokatalyst said:
I received my 3 replacement U2311Hs today. As a reminder, my 3 originally delivered U2311Hs all suffered from very bad backlight bleed.

I just got done testing the three replacements, all brand new, and they are AWESOME! Only 1 has noticeable excessive backlight bleed, and you have to look very hard for it. Once I get them calibrated and turn the backlight down, it will probably all but disappear. I didn't do a pixel test on them yet, but just looking them over I didn't see any.
Click to expand...

So far that's 5 replacements that worked without having to send them back again. :p
 
kryptokatalyst said:
I received my 3 replacement U2311Hs today. As a reminder, my 3 originally delivered U2311Hs all suffered from very bad backlight bleed.

I just got done testing the three replacements, all brand new, and they are AWESOME! Only 1 has noticeable excessive backlight bleed, and you have to look very hard for it. Once I get them calibrated and turn the backlight down, it will probably all but disappear. I didn't do a pixel test on them yet, but just looking them over I didn't see any.
Click to expand...

Whoah! What company was so forgiving that they would take back 3 units at once for replacement?
 
ElektroDragon said:
Whoah! What company was so forgiving that they would take back 3 units at once for replacement?
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When I sent back my 2 that were bust the place I bought it from sent a request to Dell for them to come and pick them straight up and replace them, so Dell did all the legwork.]
 
Gah, I was not so lucky with my first display. There is a little bit of backlight bleed in the upper left corner as well as an obnoxious yellow tint in the lower left corner and a purple tint in the lower right corner (when viewing a blacked out screen). From what I've been reading, this is not per usual. Or is it? Am I just being too picky?
 
fobis said:
Gah, I was not so lucky with my first display. There is a little bit of backlight bleed in the upper left corner as well as an obnoxious yellow tint in the lower left corner and a purple tint in the lower right corner (when viewing a blacked out screen). From what I've been reading, this is not per usual. Or is it? Am I just being too picky?
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Tint only exists on a white background.

The difference between backlight bleed and IPS glow is that the former does not change in intensity when you alter viewing position, and is usually a light shade of blue.

IPS glow is a normal trait and therefore you cannot get a 'better unit'. All units have the same amount, though the glow colours and angles are known to change between IPS generations.
 
ElektroDragon said:
As for price, I paid $340 shipped for the NEC from Buy.com. If I were to buy the Dell today from Dell.com, I'd spen $350 after taxes, so I'm not sure why you think the Dell is so much cheaper, unless you're talking about eBay, which is where I bought the Dell for $279 shipped (more like $275 after eBay bucks). Don't worry, a very good 100 rep seller with positive feedback on selling this exact model assures me it is factory sealed.
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Actually I found it here on Amazon for $290:

http://www.amazon.com/UltraSharp-U2...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1281533005&sr=8-1

Which makes it about $40 or $50 cheaper than the Nec, which adds up since I'm planning on getting a pair.
 
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scrawnypaleguy said:
Actually I found it here on Amazon for $290:

http://www.amazon.com/UltraSharp-U2...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1281533005&sr=8-1

Which makes it about $40 or $50 cheaper than the Nec, which adds up since I'm planning on getting a pair.
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Why don't you wait for my review? You will not be disappointed. As for the price, notice it is not from Amazon, but rather an Amazon seller, who also charges $5 shipping. If you're not going to get it from Dell, you might as well get it for $279 from eBay, since you're not getting any more guarantees than with that Amazon seller. I got it from eBay (new, sealed) myself for $279. I'd rather trust a 99.7% rep seller than a 97% rep one as well.

I have a feeling, given NEC's perceived better QC, that if you were to order two, you'd have much better luck with the NECs on the first try. In which case, I would not order the Dell from anywhere but Dell.com due to their return/exchange policy which is sure to be far superior to the Amazon seller's, if they even have one!

But, all could be proven false tomorrow, when I get to compare my first try NEC with my first try Dell. I will have results tomorrow night or Friday.
 
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But, all could be proven false tomorrow, when I get to compare my first try NEC with my first try Dell. I will have results tomorrow night or Friday.
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Might be too much to ask - but do you intend on trying any form of gaming on either monitor? I've been trying to find some videos of the Dell playing any type of FPS to try to determine how the amount of ghosting would compare to what I currently use (22" HannsG @ 5ms). I've been going back and forth for a month now on whether or not to get a PX2370 or a U2311H for gaming (including some FPS), so actually getting to see how the Dell performs would likely seal the deal. Ghosting is really the only concern that is keeping me from making the purchase.
 
ElektroDragon said:
Why don't you wait for my review? You will not be disappointed. As for the price, notice it is not from Amazon, but rather an Amazon seller, who also charges $5 shipping. If you're not going to get it from Dell, you might as well get it for $279 from eBay, since you're not getting any more guarantees than with that Amazon seller. I got it from eBay (new, sealed) myself for $279. I'd rather trust a 99.7% rep seller than a 97% rep one as well.

I have a feeling, given NEC's perceived better QC, that if you were to order two, you'd have much better luck with the NECs on the first try. In which case, I would not order the Dell from anywhere but Dell.com due to their return/exchange policy which is sure to be far superior to the Amazon seller's, if they even have one!

But, all could be proven false tomorrow, when I get to compare my first try NEC with my first try Dell. I will have results tomorrow night or Friday.
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Oh I'm not making any decisions just yet, I'm merely pointing out the price difference. I'm leaning strongly towards the NEC considering I have Amazon gift cards to use. Good point about the reseller too, their return options sucked anyway.
 
Aecursis said:
Might be too much to ask - but do you intend on trying any form of gaming on either monitor? I've been trying to find some videos of the Dell playing any type of FPS to try to determine how the amount of ghosting would compare to what I currently use (22" HannsG @ 5ms). I've been going back and forth for a month now on whether or not to get a PX2370 or a U2311H for gaming (including some FPS), so actually getting to see how the Dell performs would likely seal the deal. Ghosting is really the only concern that is keeping me from making the purchase.
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Yes sir... what games would you like to see? I can do Crysis, Fallout 3, Bioshock, The Witcher, Lost Planet, Gears of War, Stalker, GTA IV, Half Life 2, Dirt 2, or Torchlight. The only problem is, while I can get my 4870x2 to display the game on both monitors at the same time (by tricking both into being display #2), for some reason the motion results are NOT the same, assuming everything else is the same. For some reason, the display marked primary has less stutter and motion artifacts that the non-primary, as is easily seen with PixPerAn. So, any gaming comparison will not be able to be simultaneous. I might be able to do some fancy video editiing, but I'm not sure I have the skill or processing power, or correct application to do something like that. So it may have to be one after the other footage.

I plan to upload an HD 1080p video to YouTube with my new account ElektroDragonHD. The other plain ElektroDragon on there is not me. Please note that I will probably post text impressions, possiblty with screenshots, before the HD video is ready. You may need to wait another day or two for the video, especially since I have never done a video review before and don't really know my way around a video editor that well.
 
ElektroDragon said:
Yes sir... what games would you like to see? I can do Crysis, Fallout 3, Bioshock, The Witcher, Lost Planet, Gears of War, Stalker, GTA IV, Half Life 2, Dirt 2, or Torchlight. The only problem is, while I can get my 4870x2 to display the game on both monitors at the same time (by tricking both into being display #2), for some reason the motion results are NOT the same, assuming everything else is the same. For some reason, the display marked primary has less stutter and motion artifacts that the non-primary, as is easily seen with PixPerAn. So, any gaming comparison will not be able to be simultaneous. I might be able to do some fancy video editiing, but I'm not sure I have the skill or processing power, or correct application to do something like that. So it may have to be one after the other footage.

I plan to upload an HD 1080p video to YouTube with my new account ElektroDragonHD. The other plain ElektroDragon on there is not me. Please note that I will probably post text impressions, possiblty with screenshots, before the HD video is ready. You may need to wait another day or two for the video, especially since I have never done a video review before and don't really know my way around a video editor that well.
Click to expand...

If you could run Crysis that would be fantastic - though whatever works best for you, of course. I would really appreciate it. I'm not overly concerned about a side-by-side comparison - I'm just more interested in seeing how the U2311H handles gaming as well as your impressions in general. Finding gaming video for it has been a real hassle.

If your review is pretty favorable, I'll probably go ahead & buy it for gaming...otherwise I may invest in a 120hz TN panel or a PX2370.
 
Crysis it will be... yes, of course with motion blur off. However, I have a question: Do you want me to lower the quality settings to Medium so the frame rate maxes out my 60 FPS v-sync, or is a 30 to 45 FPS range comparison sufficient? I usually play with everything on High, maybe Medium on the Shadows which is the biggest bottleneck.
 
If possible, could you do a few seconds of Torchlight too, only because I don't have Crysis and I play Torchlight a lot, heh. If not, it's no problemo.
 
No problem, I can include Torchlight. But that's it. Crysis and Torchlight only.

See above for my question on Crysis FPS settings....
 
ElektroDragon said:
Come back Friday or so and all will be revealed. I will compare them directly after using a glossy panel for the past 4 years. If it can beat the decent AG coat on the NEC, I will be astounded. It is much lighter than the one on the HP L2475w.
Click to expand...

Will do, thanks!
 
AC73 said:
Hello all.
I'd like to say thank you to everyone for they're input in this thread, it has been most helpful. I took a bite.

I ordered the U2311H on Aug 6 and the delivery date so far says Aug 16.

The details of my order (Dell.ca) has nothing relating to the Rev.#, all I have is: Manufacturer Part# N0WV7 and Dell Part# 320-9270.
Does this shed any light as to what revision is associated with those specific part#'s? :confused: It would be nice to know in advance what Rev. it is before I get it.

This is my first time purchasing anything from Dell, so fingers crossed.

Its also the first LCD monitor for me. I've always had CRT's. I'm using a Samsung 1100DF currently and before that I had a TTX 1996i. So it will be quite a different picture for me when it finally arrives. I'm pretty stoked about the purchase, it was listed as $339 CDN and had a $90 instant discount to bring it down to $249 CDN. I opted for the free ground shipping so the total with taxes came to $281.06. Under $300 is pretty darn good price for what hopes to be a fine LCD panel. When they work.

I think it will be OK for gaming, it appears the Overdrive works so that's great. I don't edit photos, I just take them and then look at them. If I wanted to do so it seems the U2311H is up for the task. Provided its working. Performance of the panel for movies has been getting a good word too.
So I feel pretty good about the whole thing. Its killing me not knowing if I'm getting a lemon or not, but its great to see so much information here. It really helps to prepare for the worst, or expect the worst I should say, that way when it does fail at least you knew it was - sorta gonna happen.

I will report back with any and all information as it arrives.

Peace.
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The package arrived this afternoon about 12:30pm. I have been playing around and this monitor is really sweet. It looks better than what I expected. Would have posted sooner bit I had some stuff happening.

The room the computer is in has cream colour curtains, so during the day I can't tell the back light leakage its just too bright

Pictures were taken using my LG keybo phone set at 1600x1200 2mp

2:30pm Sunny outside

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?ba84a6a565.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?49fd41afbb.jpg


7:30pm Dark enough outside

Brightness was set at 50 from 75 in these, I've since gone down to 30.
Luminance uniformity can be seen only so slightly. Its hardly noticeable.
The tinting is not even visible when your looking at the screen with your own eyes.



http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?82dc4867da.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?a0630cf40f.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?4a70a9c23c.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?d64eaf5970.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?4f648dce8e.jpg



I see very little back light leakage. The pics don't do it justice. In fact I don't think its a leak at all, I think the IPS glow thing. This is my first LCD panel and all but I think see the difference here. The glow in these pictures is from the AG I believe, in combination with the IPS glow.
Its not in anyway annoying to me at all. If there is a little bit of seepage I don't really think its bad at all. You see nothing at all when your in front of the screen.
Again, it looks much much better when you see it with your own eyes. Actually, for me the blue light is more annoying.


http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?b7526493a9.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?bec72cf69e.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?ecd0dce5d3.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?f905ac498c.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?3aa2e0a6c5.jpg

I hope these pics are OK. The camera has the res but the lens sucks with little light.


Games ran great. Save Crysis DX10 64bit, I took a hefty 20fps hit from the CRT. It starts to stutter sometimes. It never did that before.
I have some screen shots of the games but I don't know if they make a difference in this case. If someone would like to see some let me know.

The panel itself is beautiful. I never thought it would look this good! So clear. I see detail that I did not see with a 21" SyncMaster CRT. Text is really nice, although I think it can be tweaked.
Colours are brilliant.
No dead pixels. Oh and my swivel works too! Its not a stiff.

Date of Mfg: July 2010
Rev A00

I have no lemons here. :D

There was one thing though. The box. At L26"xW18"xH12", it was not a designed for shipping monitors that's for sure. The monitor was sandwiched between the Styrofoam sides as normal, and the rest of the box was filled with air bags so nothing would move around. There was no damage to the monitor.

So, I have two questions:

1. Do I need the Dell driver installed? Will I lose any functionality without it?
2. Calibration. I've never done this. What to use? Or do I really need it?
 
AC73 said:
2. Calibration. I've never done this. What to use? Or do I really need it?
Click to expand...

You'd have to get your hands on a calibration package. Unless you know someone with one, I'd just use the following settings from FlatpanelsHD as per their calibration of the U2311H they reviewed.

Brightness: 30
Contrast: 75
Input Color Format: RGB
Mode Selection: Graphics
Sharpness: 50
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Response time: Overdrive
RGB: Custom
• R: 99
• G: 95
• B: 98

I used these settings on all mine, with the exception of the Brightness, which I set to 35, and they worked very well.
 
Does the including stand come with the option to make it into portrait mode?
Click to expand...

Yeah mine rotates fairly easily. That's half the reason I did the u2311h for future eyefinity in portrait.
 
kryptokatalyst said:
You'd have to get your hands on a calibration package. Unless you know someone with one, I'd just use the following settings from FlatpanelsHD as per their calibration of the U2311H they reviewed.

Brightness: 30
Contrast: 75
Input Color Format: RGB
Mode Selection: Graphics
Sharpness: 50
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Response time: Overdrive
RGB: Custom
• R: 99
• G: 95
• B: 98

I used these settings on all mine, with the exception of the Brightness, which I set to 35, and they worked very well.
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Thanks kryptokatalyst. I'm doing this now, however, I don't see a Response Time option? I don't see that in the OSD options. I would like to know if Overdrive is in fact enabled!

Also is LCD conditioning recommended? Are IPS panels subject to burn-in?
 
I would be wary of the FlatPanelHD settings. They are not any sort of holy grail. For example, I tried the FlatPanelHD calibration settings for my NEC and they made everything look much worse than the settings I ended up with by eyeing it, and much much too dark.
For the NEC at least, Native colorspace (with no ICC or custom color settings) and 50% contrast, 70% brightness results in the most pleasing picture, while still maintinaing very good print accuracy to a Canon photo printer. I will likely try to match the look of the Dell I get today to that of the NEC unless I find the Dell produces a better picture and more print accurate color than with the basically default settings I have on the NEC. After all, what is the point of fancy color calibration settings if the settings aren't pleasing to the eye and don't match the output of your photo printer? For many people, print accurate color is most important. That said, I will give the FlatPanelHD settings for the Dell a shot. But if they are anything like their NEC settings, hell no!

AC73, thanks for the effort, but WOW, those are crappy pics! Hopefully mine will be better tonight and my camcorder will cooperate as well. :)

And no, there is no burn in danger with LCD/IPS. That's why I no longer have a plasma TV!
 
ElektroDragon said:
AC73, thanks for the effort, but WOW, those are crappy pics! Hopefully mine will be better tonight and my camcorder will cooperate as well. :)

And no, there is no burn in danger with LCD/IPS. That's why I no longer have a plasma TV!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I know sorry. I had a Sony point and shoot just 2 months ago but it stopped working and its now a paper weight. In all honesty, there is nothing wrong with this monitor. Only an ever so slight dimness on the lest side. No tinting. 98% perfect I think. It looks 98% better than the CRT.
I only changed the brightness from 75 to about 35. That's all, factory settings is just fine for me really. I'm still playing a bit but nothing's going to change more than 4 or 5 points on the scale.
Looking forward to seeing your pics.
 
The Dell is here! (Revision A00. June 2010) My text and photo review of the U2311h vs the NEC EA231WMi is now complete. A video review with game footage is being worked on. Please note that I have disabled auto dymanic contrast and auotmatic brightness adjustments on both monitors for these tests, and attempted to get both to look as similar as possible. These were both "first attempt" units, no exchanges.

Packing impressions: NEC wins hands down. The box was easier to unpack, the stand was already attached, and the cable guage is much thicker with the NEC.

AG Coat: Dell wins. The AG coat on the Dell is noticeably LESS. The overall look is more like that on a glossy monitor. The AG coating on the Dell is nothing short of miraculous.

Pixels: Tie. No dead or stuck pixels on the Dell or NEC. Very nice, and amazing on the first try!

Uniformity/tint: NEC wins. The Dell exhibits a minor darkening on the very left side of the screen which is seen as slightly darker or yellower color on an all white screen.. This is a very common symptom with the Dell going by this thread and reviews though. It is also not severe. The Dell's version of white also seems to be "whiter" in normal use. However, on an all white screen, the NEC appears slightly pinkish, and the Dell slightly greenish overall. The Dell was set on custom RGB, 100% all colors, which looks better out of the box than "Standard". The NEC was set to "Native".

Power light: NEC wins. The power light is much less obtrusive (smaller), and has a menu setting allowing you to dim it or turn it off entirely. On the Dell, there is no such option! The power light is bright blue on both.

Backlight bleed: NEC wins. I didn't see it at first, but there is a sizeable amount of backlight bleed in the upper left corner of the NEC, and very small amount in the upper right. It disappears completely when I attempt to gently pull apart the bezel or push down on it. So it might be corrected by loosening a screw somewhere... problem is, I don't see screws anywhere! At the moment, this is by FAR my biggest disappointment with the Dell. However, the bleed is only visible on an all black background.

IPS Glow: Dell wins. The NEC has an IPS white glow. The Dell has IPS purple glow. Boggles the mind. But since the Dell glow is darker, it is much less distracting than the rather bright white glow on the NEC at the wrong viewing angle.

Color accuracy: Tie. Very similar. Some of you may prefer the "Standard" mode on the Dell, which makes colors oversaturated and certainly "pop" more. This is fairly accurate, but makes some naturally bright colors, such as flowers, look downright neon. This is corrected by setting the color to "RGB" (custom). Even at 100% on all 3 colors, the oversaturation goes away. Go figure! I think Standard is a sales gimmick.

Black level: NEC wins, barely.

Responsiveness: Tie. Virtually imperceptible difference. I tried really hard to look for differences, I took photographs, I used PixPerAn. I had Crysis running in a WINDOW for side by side comparison. No use. At times I thought there might, MIGHT be the slightest edge going to the Dell. Maybe the video will shed some light. I fully trust the reviews that say the NEC is 2ms faster in lag than the Dell. I really have no way to test this.

Stand: Tie. The NEC stand allows the monitor to be raised over half an inch higher, but the Dell stand takes up less depth for a fair margin, even though it is wider. It's a wash. However, the NEC might have and edge due to the amazing cable hiding/management system built into the stand, which Dell completely lacks.

Contrast: NEC wins. At first, I thought the Dell was winning because some colors looked slightly more saturated, or darker. This was not the case. In actual photos with some dark elements, the Dell is slightly crushing darkness detail. It is not a brightness or contrast issue. I have maxed and min'ed both, but no matter what, shadows are lighter and more visible on the NEC, to the extent that I would have to recommed the NEC to anyone wanting to do serious photography. This COULD be a gamma difference in the monitors. It is hard to tell, because NEC has no gamma adjustment, and the Dell's adjustment is only PC or Mac (which throws everything to hell). If it is a gamma issue, I would conclude that the NEC gamma is better calibrated/more correct from the factory. Dark areas on the Dell also have a splotchy effect that is much less pronounced on the NEC. I believe this effect is called "posterization". Using some test tools, it seems the NEC is closer to standard 2.2 gamma, whereas the Dell is closer to 2.3.

Gradients: NEC wins. On both black/white and color gradients, the Dell shows very slight banding about a third of the way from dark to light. Really it is just one faint band with edges at the transition between light gray/dark gray, and dark gray/black. The NEC is absolutely smooth. Also, in the color gradients, the very dark shades are harder to distinguish from each other than the on the NEC. This may be why colors in the shadows appear muddier on the Dell.

Menu system: NEC wins. The buttons on the Dell menu system are unlabeled, flush, identcal, and hard to see. Even though you can assign one of the Dell buttons to be "input mode", it still takes a godawful FOUR clicks amongst THREE different buttons. On the NEC, you can just click a single button either once or twice to switch between the three input sources. The Dell menu looks more appealing, but the NEC menu is easier to use and has more options. The little joystick on the NEC also helps usability.

VGA input clarity: Tie.

Scaling: NEC wins. Tested both 800x600 and 1024x768 resolutions in duplicate DVI mode with my video card set to do the scaling because neither of these monitors have a useful 1:1 mapping function in their menus. Text on the NEC was still crisp, but text on the Dell had that soft blur effect. Nothing too serious, but the NEC was clearly.... clearer.

Bezel: NEC wins. The NEC has a pure black bezel, and the Dell has more of a dark charcoal gray bezel. The Dell logo on the U2311h is reflective but not too distracting. Due to these factors and the bright, large, undimmable LED, the NEC wins.

Refresh Rate: Tie. I was able to the get the NEC to go to 75Hz at 1920x1080 using Powerstrip. The Dell is also supposed to support this, though I didn't have time to try. Great for gamers.

Misc: The NEC has speakers (tinny, but they work for business audio), and it also has a (useless, IMHO) ambient light sensor. Useless because it dims the screen to ridiculous levels in normal daylight conditions. They both have a USB hub on the side of the monitor.

NEC on LEFT, Dell on RIGHT.

backlight.jpg

glow.jpg

white.jpg


Some proof that I tried to make both screen as similar as possible color/brightness wise. My camera did a really crappy job with the blueberries. They are NOT anywhere near that bright.
shell.jpg

snake.jpg

blueberries.jpg


CONCLUSION: I would recommend the NEC over the Dell, mainly due to quality control issues. If you are really picky about AG coating and IPS glow, and aren't too picky about photographic shadow detail, I'd suggest the Dell, but beware the backlight bleed issues. For everyone else, even gamers, I would strongly suggest the NEC. I have decided to buy a second NEC and get rid of the Dell, mainly due to the backlight bleed. I'm too picky, I guess! The prices are now exactly the same for both. (B&H vs Dell.com)

VIDEOS: Videos have been recorded demonstrating gameplay responsiveness in Crysis between the two models. Also, a video showing the shadow detail issue with the Dell has been recorded, all in 1080p. I had recorded Torchlight in 2 seperate videos, but YouTube doesn't like one of them and won't process it. So I deleted them. You'll have to trust me that I could not tell the difference in Torchlight! Please note that these are the first voice overed videos I have ever made. So I'm not very good at it! Here are the links:
Crysis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od2VJsdPkHA
Shadow Detail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCAf0oj8VBw
 
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ElektroDragon said:
Power light: NEC wins. The power light is much less obtrusive (smaller), and has a menu setting allowing you to dim it or turn it off entirely. On the Dell, there is no such option! The power light is bright blue on both.
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Yea I'm not too fond of this trend of putting blue leds (more distracting then the traditional green/orange) on everything.

ElektroDragon said:
Backlight bleed: NEC wins. I didn't see it at first, but there is a small amount of backlight bleed in the upper left corner of the NEC. It disappears completely when I attempt to gently pull apart the bezel or push down on it. So it might be corrected by loosening a screw somewhere... problem is, I don't see screws anywhere! Anyone have experience with this??
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Sometimes backlight bleed is caused by the bezel pressing to tightly against the screen, some people have had success removing backlight bleed by loosening bezels.
 
ElektroDragon said:
Yeah.... how? :eek:
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I can't say specifically for the u2311h since I haven't tried it. You could try searching through this thread (or maybe the u2410 since it might be held together similarly) to see if anyone has and how or to get some ideas how to. Though I think with how the u2311h's bezel is held together with probably clips on the inside, it might be warranty voiding.
 
AWESOME review ElektroDragon! I'm eagerly awaiting the videos. Thanks so much for doing this!


Edit: Hah. I was looking for videos on the EA231WMI and found your uploads! Just out of curiosity, which graphics card(s?) are you using? Everything looks very smooth and fluid.
 
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Todd Fury said:
AWESOME review ElektroDragon! I'm eagerly awaiting the videos. Thanks so much for doing this!


Edit: Hah. I was looking for videos on the EA231WMI and found your uploads! Just out of curiosity, which graphics card(s?) are you using? Everything looks very smooth and fluid.
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You're welcome... I've been at this for about 10 hours straight, but I'm finally done. I'd love to put slap the Dell's milder AG coating on the superior NEC and call it a day, but I guess you can't have everything!
 
Thanks for the review man, really helpful.

Just curious - did you have overdrive enabled on the Dell when you recorded the Crysis video? Both monitors look pretty close. It's difficult to tell, but neither seems to have much more motion blur than my current 5ms TN panel.
 
Aecursis said:
Thanks for the review man, really helpful.

Just curious - did you have overdrive enabled on the Dell when you recorded the Crysis video? Both monitors look pretty close. It's difficult to tell, but neither seems to have much more motion blur than my current 5ms TN panel.
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There is no specific setting in the Dell menus to turn overdrive on. There is a Game mode, but is in the color profile section and only seems to affect color.
 
By the way, if anyone wants to buy my Dell test unit for $229.99 shipped, it is on eBay right now. It is really absolutely flawless aside from the backlight bleed in the upper right, which is really ONLY visible on a pure black background. At least you are guaranteed a unit with no dead/stuck pixels or tint issues this way, and you'd be helping me out! :) Dell doesn't ship it for 2 weeks now, so you can get it much faster this way.
 
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ElektroDragon said:
By the way, if anyone wants to buy my Dell test unit for $249.99 shipped, it is on eBay (well, in 20 minutes from the time of this post). It is really absolutely flawless aside from the backlight bleed in the upper right, which is really ONLY visible on a pure black background. At least you are guaranteed a unit with no dead/stuck pixels or tint issues this way, and you'd be helping me out! :)
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If you bought it from Dell, I'd take advantage of the advance replacement. The first 3 I had suffered from similar bleed problems, but the 3 replacements we're extremely good with only 1 of the 3 have a very slight amount of bleed in the upper left. So little that you had to look for it.

Unfortunately 1 of the 2 that had no noticeable bleed has 2 dead pixels. A replacement is on the way for it.
 
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