Dell UltraSharp U2410

About $600 for the Dell UltraSharp U2410 gets you a 24-inch, H-IPS monitor with great performance in games and movies, a host of connection options and ergonomic features, and a robust OSD. Unfortunately, its RGB presets are marred by dithering when viewing dark gray images and the screen has a slight pink tint. Also, its viewing angles, while good, are not quite up to the standard we expect from IPS monitors. There were very high expectations for this monitor, so if you're looking for perfect performance, keep looking. However, if you desire a monitor that, despite a few quibbles, still has great performance and a huge host of useful features, for a decent price, look no further. If you don't mind skimping on connections, ergonomic options or a wider viewing angle, the Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 is $300 less and excels at games, movies, and office tasks.

Design and features
The 24-inch Dell UltraSharp U2410 has a matte, black chassis with a gray highlight running through the middle of the panel. The panel is 1.75 inches deep; however, the back of the display--which houses the backlight, connection options, and ventilation system--extends another 1.5 inches, bringing the full monitor depth to about 3.25 inches. The panel width measures 22 inches long--about average for a monitor of this screen size and the same width as the Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP. The surface of the screen is slightly frosted and smooth matte finish. The bezel measures 0.75 inch long on all sides.

The rectangular footstand measures about 12.2 inches wide by 7.8 inches deep. As such, wobbling was nearly nonexistent when we knocked the monitor from the sides, even with the monitor's height set to its maximum setting. With the screen height at its lowest, the distance from the bottom of the bezel to the desktop is 1.25 inches; at its highest, it is 5.1 inches.

The panel swivels about 70 degrees left and right and tilts back about 25 degrees. The panel can be disconnected from the stand and mounted (VESA-style) on the wall. Also, the panel pivots 90 degrees to the left for portrait mode.

Dell includes a plethora of video connection options for the U2410, all located on the back on the panel, including two DVI ports, a VGA, a HDMI, a DisplayPort, and a set of Component and Composite connectors. The only missing option is the S-Video connection, originally included on the 2408WFP. Also included are two downstream USB ports, one upstream USB port, an audio out port, and a speaker port. Accessing these connections proved fairly easy, especially when the panel is pivoted 90 degrees to the left. On the left side of the panel are two additional USB downstream ports and one card reader port compatible with xD-Picture cards, MMC cards, SD cards, and Sony Memory Sticks.

The onscreen display follows Dell's label-free design seen in many recent Dell monitors. Five buttons line the lower right-hand corner of its bezel. Pressing any of the buttons brings up the OSD, which pops up parallel to the button array, and each option corresponds to one of the four buttons. Once a new menu comes up, the function of the buttons changes dynamically, as the top two buttons become the up-and-down arrow buttons used to navigate through the newly seen menu. Since any button labels for the OSD are actually on the screen (and which would be on the bezel of other displays), calibrating the display in a dark room was painless.

Thanks to the low sensitivity of the OSD buttons on the U2410, it was sometimes necessary to press them harder than we were used on other Dell monitors. Also, the opposite seemed true for the power button. Located directly below the OSD, there were more than a few times we mistakenly shut off the monitor while attempting to calibrate it.

OSD options include the standard brightness, contrast, and various other color options. The presets are separated into two categories: Graphics and Video. There are six Graphics presets to choose from: Standard, Multimedia, Game, Warm, Cool, Adobe RGB, sRGB, and Custom. Its Video presets are: Movie, Game, and Nature. The presets don't change anything other than the red, green, and blue color balance; therefore, how well each setting works is subjective, although there are some glaring consequences for choosing either of the RGB presets. These are detailed in the performance section. There are options to adjust the hue, sharpness, and color saturation as well as additional options for setting the OSD to stay onscreen up to a minute (useful for anyone who will spend a good amount of time calibrating).

The Dell UltraSharp U2410's 16:10 aspect ratio has a 1,920x1,200-pixel native resolution. The 16:9 monitor trend currently sweeping the market has given many smaller monitors higher resolutions than they were capable of at 16:10 aspect ratio. A 22-inch monitor with a 16:9 aspect ratio now has a potential high-definition, native resolution of 1,920x1,080 (1080p) pixels as opposed to 1,680x1,050 pixels. Despite this, the Dell U2410 retains its 16:10, 1,920x1,200-pixel resolution that many users still prefer, but it also includes a 16:9 (1,920x1,080 pixel) mode for watching movies.

Manufacturer's specifications:
Resolution: 1,920x1,200
Pixel-response rate: 6ms
Contrast ratio: 1,000:1
Brightness: 400cd/m2
Connectivity: DVIx2, VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort, Component, Composite
HDCP compliant? Yes
Included video cables? DVI, VGA, DisplayPort
Backlight type: CCFL
Panel type: H-IPS
Aspect Ratio: 16:10

Performance
We tested the Dell UltraSharp U2410 with its DVI connection in the Standard (default) preset. The display posted a composite score of 94 on CNET Labs' DisplayMate-based performance tests. The U2410 scored well in nearly all of our color and uniformity tests, but we found that it tends to compress colors at the light end of various color scales. Also, we noticed that the monitor displayed a slight pink tint in our color-tracking test.

The Dell UltraSharp U2410 achieved a brightness score of 434 candelas per square meter (cd/m2)--higher than Dell's claimed 400 cd/m2 maximum. Adjusting the brightness to 100 yields a very bright screen and we recommend setting the brightness to no higher than 60 for most tasks as prolonged eye exposure to this screen above 50 percent brightness--especially if doing a lot of Excel or Word (or any white screen program) work--may result in eye strain.

We looked at "Kill Bill Vol. 1" on DVD and several 1080p movie files from Microsoft's WMV HD Showcase. Movies looked great on the Dell thanks to the display's deep blacks and colors looked fuller and more natural than on the 2408WFP.

Playing Unreal Tournament 3 and World of Warcraft on the Dell looked great at a 1,920x1,200-pixel resolution and the display showed no signs of ghosting or input lag. Compared with the 2408WFP, the U2410 exhibited deeper and richer color in both games.

We also looked at some high-resolution photos and found the colors were natural and vibrant, proving that the two aren't mutually exclusive.

When viewing dark gray colors, in the sRGB and Adobe RGB presets, we noticed apparent static dithering. We didn't see this dithering on the 2408WFP in its SRGB mode. We only saw this dithering on the two aforementioned presets and did not see a hint of it in the others.

The optimal viewing angle for a monitor is usually directly in front of it, about a quarter of the screen's distance down from the top. At this angle, you're viewing the colors and gamma correction as they were intended. Most monitors are made to be viewed only at that angle. Depending on its panel type, monitor picture quality will vary at nonoptimal angles. On the U2410, we noticed a faint white glow when viewing dark images at off angles and a dark shadow when viewing light images in the same way, about 120 degrees to the left or right and even less from above. The shift isn't as dramatic as with a TN panel, but it was slightly more dramatic than with the 2408WFP; however, the color didn't shift as much as the perceived brightness did.

We tested the Dell U2410's input lag by connecting it and the 2408WFP in extend mode to the same graphics card, opening a window, and placing the window so that half of it's on one monitor and half on the other. We then dragged the window up and down, keeping the two halves even. We didn't notice lag from either monitor and the window moved at the same rate.

Juice box
Dell UltraSharp U2410	Average watts per hour
On (default luminance)	63.69
On (max luminance)	98.28
On (min luminance)	39.75
Sleep	0.47
Calibrated (200 cd/m2)	56.64
Annual energy cost	$19.32
Score	Fair

In the power consumption tests, the Dell U2410 drew 63.69 watts in its Default/On mode--less than the Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP's 69.3 watts and more than the Samsung SyncMaster XL2370's 30.09 watts. Based on our formula, the U2410 would cost $19.32 per year to operate, compared with the 2408WFP's $21.76 per year and the Samsung's $9.96 per year.

Find out more about how we test LCD monitors.

Service and support
Dell backs the U2410 with a solid warranty, including a three-year, parts-and-labor warranty covering the backlight. It also offers support through a 24-7 toll-free number, 24-7 Web chat, and Dell has a fast 24- to 48-hour e-mail turnaround time--a better package than most monitor vendors that don't offer weekend support. Navigating Dell's Web site and finding drivers, product manuals, and quick guides was simple and easy.

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