After a year at school and in my flat (room) using only my 13" notebook, I started to have problems with my neck and back. So I went looking for a monitor, but had my conditions.
I wanted a monitor that is height adjustable, has a matte surface, good viewing angles, high resolution and a pretty good color gamut. There weren't many options, but the very popular Dell U2412M I regularly came across on forums, and the reviews here were also very good. After some more research I decided to buy one.
My first impression was: what a big screen! I've never owned a monitor larger than 17", so I was a bit shocked by the size when I took it out of the box. After three weeks I'm used to that.
The monitor is very convenient to assemble. No hassle with screws to get the panel on the foot, you can just click it in and it is firmly in place. The foot is wonderfully sturdy and easy to adjust. You can simply slide the monitor up or down without any problems, tilt it forwards or backwards, rotate it horizontally or even use it in portrait mode. I'm quite tall and always use it at the maximum height, but to watch a movie from the seat it is sometimes more convenient to put it all the way down.
Compared to the 100% sRGB panel in my laptop, the color gamut of the monitor is slightly less, but compared to any other average monitor it is a lot better. The contrast is surprisingly good, I didn't think the black values would be so good. Watching movies on the monitor is a real pleasure. The brightness is also good, it can be much higher than necessary. I rarely use it at a brightness higher than 75%, even in direct sunlight.
The viewing angles are, as you would expect from an ICS panel, very good. The only downside is that with darker images in the corners you get some IPS glow when your monitor is tilted a little too far forward. Tilting him back a bit or just sitting a little further will solve that too.
With a completely black image, there is a very small amount of backlight bleeding perceptible, at the top of the left edge. However, when I compare this with other monitors (and with reviews of other copies of the same monitor), it is already a lot less disturbing. I guess Dell has tweaked the manufacturing process and I'm happy with that.
The matt surface is pleasant, you are hardly bothered by reflections, the monitor scores well here. The only slightly unfortunate thing is that the matte layer sometimes makes the sharpness and contrast seem a bit lower, or at least when you are really close to your screen. From a normal viewing distance there is no problem.
The monitor came with a DVI cable and a VGA cable. Because I use the monitor with my laptop (which only has VGA and HDMI) I connected the monitor via VGA for the first week. This worked, but there was a lot of interference on the image. This sometimes occurs on certain computers because of a so-called "ground loop" with which the groundings conflict. One solution is to plug the computer and display into independent power outlets.
The solution I used for this (and the best solution) is to buy a converter from HDMI to DVI. HDMI and DVI use exactly the same image signals, so this is perfectly possible. A turnover piece costs next to nothing. Connected, monitor was recognized perfectly and all interference was completely gone! Connecting your monitor digitally via DVI or DisplayPort is the message!
Then briefly about the design. Everything is done in matte black plastic, with some matte silver plastic on the back of the rim (not visible in front). The bezels are quite thin for a monitor of this size. The control buttons are incorporated in the right edge, and they work well. Navigating through the menu is very smooth. There are two USB ports on the left and on the back. If you connect the screen to your computer via the supplied USB cable, you have a built-in USB hub, which is quite handy. For example, I connected my mouse and keyboard to it (via a wireless receiver). Now when I get home, I just plug HDMI and USB into my laptop, and I can get started right away with my screen, mouse and keyboard. Can also be very useful for an external hard drive, for example (although you might lose some speed).
All in all, I consider this monitor a very good purchase. While he doesn't perform exceptionally well in any area, there isn't a single area where he doesn't perform well. A very good all-rounder that almost everyone will be very satisfied with!
