Small typo in the table of 2nd page. "256x01600" should read "2560x1600". I wanted one of those korean 30 inchers just because it's hard to find good 16:10 IPS panels but sadly, for reasons i can not fathom, they are almost 2x as expensive as the 27 inch 1440p counterparts. So, i eventually ended up buying a 27 inch 1440p panel. Although i'm delighted by my choice nowas this "QNIX QX2710" samsung PLS display that i bought is capable of 120Hz at 1440p without any mods and it's going for 289$ on ebay as i speak.
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Have you noticed any motion artifacts (possibly due to the excessive? pixel overdrive used on this display in an attempt to decrease the advertised pixel response time)
Indeed, we need usability in review, i.e. overdrive artifacts are way more important than initial color accuracy. Dell U2713H looks great on paper unless you see the movement artifacts. NEC PA271W was pretty awful in this aspect too.
Hi. I'm the guy whose Dell forum post was quoted in the HOCP forum post. Dell don't want to know at all about this issue. It would be good if AnandTech could put some pressure on them about the hideous pixel overdrive they have set as default.
The mouse cursor on a white background is bad enough, but grey to grey is especially bad because of the overdrive.
Wow, kind of surprised at monitors with 30+ millisecond lag times. I know it's not *that* long. But it is longer than my ping time to Google, and it's hand to monitor, not over a wide-area network. :)
I really think this is more of a factor of target markets. Games don't use AdobeRGB gamuts, or really need uniformity correctly like photo and graphics work do. If the processing for those features adds a bit of gaming lag I don't think Dell would consider that a big downside, since that isn't the target market anyway. As I said in the review, I'm only so certain on those lag numbers, as other people found much better ones, but methods for measuring lag on a 30" display are a little lacking right now.
They are using a different method than they did a few months ago, and all the numbers are lower than what they used to report. They claim it is more accurate.
cheinonen, lag sucks for normal use, not just gaming! Most people are slower mouse users than myself; I demand responsiveness. I also don't want audio/video out of sync.
To be fair, the distance to your monitor is typically only 3 feet. A ping to google's servers is probably several hundred miles, each hop of which needs to go through routing equipment which adds its own latency.
It was just reported today that a no-name vendor is releasing a 50" 4K TV for $1500 (the same price as this Dell monitor). I hadn't expected prices to drop that quickly. Although this particular 4K TV probably isn't suitable for monitor use (too big, not clear if it supports 60 Hz, probably has a crappy TN panel) it would be great if it was the leading edge of a new wave of inexpensive 4K TV sets. If there was a 32" 4K TV that supported 60 Hz input (HDMI only goes up to 24 Hz at that resolution, you need DisplayPort for 60) and was reasonably priced, it would make an awesome computer monitor with better DPI than pretty much any existing desktop solution. Hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer for this.
Sharp has a 32", 4K display but I believe the MSRP on it is around $6,000. I also believe that it has issues running at 60Hz over a single DisplayLink, but the person I know with one was still working on this issue. So one exists, but it costs a fortune right now. For that $1,500, 50" 4K, I really can't imagine how they're getting there with any sort of quality right now, but we will see.
They're not kidding anyone; they're targeting people for whom the perfect color balance that requires two frames of processing to achieve is more important than getting a latency score that doesn't matter outside of gaming.
Low input lag can be had in the 3007wfp-hc (I still use this as my main gaming monitor, and 3011 as my secondary). This monitor did not include a scaler so input lag was low, now all monitors want to put hdmi and display port on so they can be used with consoles hence higher input lag.
But the scaler has long been one of the best parts of the high res Dells. I've been using a Dell 3008WFP for years now and due to the high res, many new games just aren't playable at native resolution without multiple GPUs. Thanks to the scaler, I'm happily playing at 1920x1200 which runs well at full detail. Compared to leaving scaling to the GPU, the scaler on the Dell does a far better job resulting in much less blurry picture.
For the record I have not been bothered by the input lag either, which I think was reported being somewhere between 20-30ms on the 3008WFP.
As Chris mentioned, TFT Central found that there was very little input lag in game mode. ~3.2 ms for pixel response time, and virtually no signal processing time. I'm confused as to why the results are different. Why would using an oscilloscope produce different results?
If you are even thinking about gaming on a 60hz monitor you shouldn't be complaining about 33ms input lag coming out of this one. If a frame is 16.7ms @60hz 33ms is 2 frames, compared to using a 144hz of only 6.9ms per frame, or ~5 frames in 33ms. So even though you are missing only every other frame in reactivity compared to a quicker 60hz monitor, you are missing 4 out of 5 frames compared to a 144hz.
if you need something faster you could always go for a TN based benq or asus 144hz 24"/27" gaming monitor they have 1-2ms input lag and lightboost but only up to 120hz. I have both a u3011 and a vg248qe and I cannot game on my u3011 anymore after gaming on a vg248qe @120hz with lightboost. But I do everything else on the u3011, photoshop, movies, browsing, etc, again everything other than gaming. when i'm not gaming the vg248qe acts as a nice blank screen or pallet space for photoshop.
again if input lag is important to you, get a TN based 144hz asus or benq you will be VERY happy. do not look at PLS/PVA/IPS it's just a waste of time.
Everyone still puts 1366x768 panels in laptops, as I noticed my Dad's Sony and sister's Acer both rocking those on vacation a couple weeks ago. I wouldn't say that's a Dell problem, but an industry problem.
That Sharp display I've seen at sites going for $4500. Still expensive but a definitive step up in terms of resolution from this Dell. I'd love to see a review of it here at Anandtech. *hint* *hint* *hint*
Apparently Seiki are offering 50" 4k for $1,500. Anyone heard of them? I smell bad things at that price, but don't want to write it off without more information. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTool...
The current HDMI spec only does up to 30Hz in 4K. This is the thing that stops me from buying one right now, because using Windows or whatever at 30 frames per second is miserable.
Digging through the Seiki manual indicates that 30 hz is the best frame rate it can get at 4k resolutions. Might be fine for video as the source material in all likelihood doesn't exceed this rate.
Another passable usage would to use it as a large format display for 2D imagery. This would be the equivalent of four 1080P 25" monitors of screen space, minus the bezels. Color quality and calibration controls are an unknown, so this use-case is iffy.
For gaming, this refresh rate is going to be horrible.
FYI, it has no calibration controls at all: no white balance, no CMS, no gamma, nothing. So if you want an accurate image, double the price to include a DVDO or Lumagen box, and those don't work with 4K material yet.
I didn't review the Apple, Anand did himself, and it was with our prior test bench. It's also a white LED backlit model with the sRGB gamut, not a CCFL or G-B LED backlight with AdobeRGB gamut, or any sort of uniformity control. It's a high-end, general use 27" display, not a professional photographer/graphics display, which this is. There isn't a lack of a comparison to spare one of them, they're different markets, with different test bench data.
I had to re-read the article to catch the few bits regarding MST support. I'm curious to see how well the MST hub works with a DP 1.1 monitor (more than likely) and a DP 1.1 output from a video card (not so likely). I was hoping for a bit more testing in this area but I guess you had to work with what you have on hand.
Did you try any active DP-to-DVI adapters for usage with other displays?
Could you logically rotate the display connected via the MST out port independently of the primary?
Can the refresh rates on each monitor be adjust independently as well?
You mention a 30" IPS display selling at Monoprice. Do you have plans to review, or can point me in the direction of one? I'm interested in a 30" display that is "decent" - I plan on using it for typical desktop use and gaming.
Does this monitor support USB over DisplayPort? I'm guessing it doesn't, and to be honest, I'm starting to be annoyed at having to pull an extra cable, that is frankly unneeded.
It doesn't seem to, no. When I unplugged the USB cable the USB devices stopped working, even though its connected over DisplayPort. A restart didn't fix this either.
TFT Central did an in-depth look into the input lag, and while they found similar numbers in the default modes, there is a 'gaming' mode that they measured at ~3ms. It appears to bypass all of the circuitry used for processing and scaling, and along with the new AG coating, makes this monitor preferable to HP's ZR30w for gaming.
I ran all the tests in the gaming mode, so that is where the numbers come from. So I don't know if the different methods account for everything, or if they might have gotten a different firmware, or something else.
I feel for you- trying to do an objective test without the equipment is challenging. I was just hoping to address some of the 'it's awful for gaming!' comments that ignored your mention of TFT Central's finding, especially as it's probably the best 30" for gaming.
What are the CIE standard observer color matching curves doing in the "spectral signature" chart? That is not very useful I think - it only makes it more confusing. I also want to comment that having "a much larger spectrum of light wavelengths" does not give you a larger gamut volume. If you want to get the largest possible gamut monochromatic light sources should be used (ideally at something like 450, 520 and 640 nm).
A quick comment - those touch sensitive buttons that you keep complaining about? Those aren't new. As a U3011 owner, I can tell you with some certainty that they've been there on Dell's flagship since at least the 3011. I haven't had any problems with mine either as far as responsiveness is concerned, but that may be personal preference (or maybe I happened to get a monitor with above-average responsiveness to the buttons).
We have four, and they're all 'responsive', but don't go labeling them as 'ergonomic'. Still, since you rarely perform complex settings adjustments after initial setup, they're probably a better choice for longevity over cheap mechanical buttons that may wear out.
I didn't test the U3011, but the U2713HM and other Dells that I have tested have had the actual buttons, which I love. I wish they kept it that way, looks be damned.
Yea, I have the U2713HM and like the phyiscal buttons. I hate all the "touch" controls companies try to shove down our throats. Nothing beats pyysically raised buttons with tactical feedback when pushed. This goes for just about any gadget. Cameras with touchscreens are soooo useless for example.
Aging Dell U2410 also has touch buttons (with motion detection) and real power on/off button. Kind of annoying, but it's bearable. Looks better than physical buttons on U2412M of course (the overall design is better actually).
I have/had the U3014 and the U2410. The U3014's touch sensitive buttons are anything but. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 touches to get it to activate whereas on my U2410 I never had a problem with the touch sensitivity. So they changed something that put them a step back from their previous solutions it seems.
I recently purchased one of these and am now in the process of sending it back. While changing any of the preset mode (game, multimedia, etc) the monitor turns to severe static and artifacting. In standard preset mode, the reds seem to flash on and off turning the screen a bluish tinge before flashing back to normal. I am truly disappointed and keep telling myself thats what I get for being an early adopter. Hopefully the next panel I get wont be a dud.
Excellent to see continued progress in monitors. One question is why the review focused more on sRGB and AdobeRGB modes than Standard? The usual advice is to always have the monitor on Standard and let Windows do all the color conversion.
If you use Standard mode, you aren't certain what the gamut that its using is (probably a larger one than sRGB), and then you're dependent on Windows to manage colors, which means you need to have both an accurate ICC profile, and every application to be ICC aware. sRGB will force the monitor to use the proper gamut for 99% of things (very little properly uses AdobeRGB, but for those people that need it, it's essential) and you don't need to have Windows and the applications be ICC aware.
Getting this monitor and using sRGB would be a real waste. People who buy monitors like this know that they want a wide gamut and precise calibration. Yes there are some applications that are not color aware and give wrong colors on a calibrated monitor, but 1. these applications are not color critical or else they would be ICC aware, and 2. the gamut would be right as that is done via a global setting (LUT) in the graphics driver.
And that's why there are multiple calibration modes available that you can save, as well as included software that will switch the display between those modes when working in the correct application. So if Photoshop requires AdobeRGB and Premiere needs sRGB, you can have the monitor switch on-the-fly between those two.
Of course, if the included calibration software worked better, so you could have more accurately calibrated modes saved to the CAL1 and CAL2 presets, that feature would work even better.
I'm talking to them, though I personally think the 30" would make for a more interesting review as we've covered a lot of the 27" IPS panels now. Also, if you look back at the two LG 29EA93 reviews that I did, you can see that the panel only makes up a small part of the performance of a display. The corresponding electronics are a huge factor in performance, so I don't recommend just looking at the panel to determine the performance.
It is great to hear that you are in talks with Monoprice! I would be grateful for a review of either model, but would be more interested in the one with an OSD. I'm concerned with having a wide gamut screen that has no sRGB mode or color correction on board, tho the potentially reduced input lag of not having processing is alluring as well.
I don't believe any of the Monoprice displays are wide gamut, only sRGB gamut. It looks like the 30" one has a 10-bit panel, but that's certainly 8-bit with AFRC, which might give you better gradients, but won't give you a wider gamut.
Chris, i'd really appreciate it if you could help me as i'm thinking of buying this monitor. Do you have any idea at all if the i1Display 2 will calibrate this monitor well? It comes with Eye-One Match 3 software.
And what software would you recommend most for calibration? dispcalGUI?
Personally, I wouldn't use an i1Display2 anymore for color accuracy. With the design of the i1Display2, and the fact that they haven't been made for a year or two now, the filters degrade over time so that anything it is reading now may or may not be accurate at all. It can read light levels correctly, so white and black light output, but not the colors of light. I have a pair of them here and testing them now compared to the i1Pro, I see dE2000 errors > 10 in the grayscale using it. The standard calibrated modes are going to likely be more accurate.
I like dispcalGUI. I haven't used the most recent version, but I've been using it for a long time now and they do a great job adding more and more features to it.
You know what's missing from this monitor? Support for 5.1 output like its out-going predecessor. I make great use of that feature on my U2711, and not having it here is a major deal-breaker. I run my Xbox 360 to the monitor via HDMI and pipe the audio out through the analogue 5.1 jacks to Logitech X-530s. I would not be able to do that with these new monitors.
I might be a hold-out, but one of the primary selling points for me on the U3011 and U2711 was the fact that, for a PC monitor, they offered a diverse array connectivity. You can do HDMI, composite, component, DVI, VGA, and DP all on the same monitor. You can also, as mentioned, earlier, output to analogue 5.1 surround. This monitor is not worth the $1500 asking price in light of this "streamlining" of features. If I'm paying top-dollar for a monitor whose predecessor I already own, I want it to have all of the capabilities of that predecessor and then some. $1500 for what is only a good panel and LED back-lighting is a raw deal no matter how you slice it.
Chris, my coworker has a Nixeus 27inch monitor attached to a 2012 MBP. His Nixeus has the same problem of not activating after sleep sometimes as well. A simple power cycle gets it going again for him too. Just another data point to indicate where that particular problem may be.
The 2010 and 2011 models are coming down in price nicely. I just ordered a U2410 that should be a significant upgrade from my current Samsung TN panel that only has about 70% of sRGB.
The only significant difference I'm aware of to the U2413 is the hardware calibration capability, but I have a Spyder rather than X-Rite, so my understanding is that is a non-issue. YMMV.
The U2410 is a CCFL backlight and the U2413 utilizes the G-B LED backlight that the U3014 uses. It also has the MiniDP and DisplayPort inputs and a DisplayPort output for using MST, and USB 3.0 over 2.0. It loses the analog inputs that the U2410 has, so if you have a need for those it is certainly the one to use. Since you're using a Spyder, the calibration software is a non-issue.
How does the new dell stack up against the NEC PA30 color wise? Love your new testing methodology but I wish there was a way to see a direct comparison. Is there a possibility of you guys retesting some of the higher end monitors? Are LED monitors finally ready to do color critical work? We do print and commercial VFX work and the NEC's are great but recalibrating every week plus knowing the CFL's are slowly dying I'm wondering if LED will be the answer.
I have no idea how the NEC 30" would fare, as I only tested the 27", and that was with the older test format. Getting in an older monitor is less likely to happen, if only because manufacturers often don't have review samples of displays that are older laying around anymore. I'll see what possibility exists, though it would more likely just be a quick review with only the test data, and not the in-depth commentary, since that has been covered before.
New to wide gamut and display profiling, have been reading a bit about it around the net, but would like know if my workflow makes any sense. Asked this in Dell forums also, apologies in advance if this is the wrong place to ask!
My primary objective is to have accurate colors in Maya and Photoshop. Secondary objective is to have accurate colors in games.
I should use sRGB emulation in Maya, and other non color managed applications, and adobeRGB in photoshop and firefox ?
I should profile the display with the provided Dell UltraSharp Color Calibration software, and store a sRGB calibration profile for example in CAL1, and a adobeRGB calibration profile in CAL2. And have the Dell Display Manager switch to CAL2 when using photoshop, and to CAL1 for all applications that aren't color managed ?
i1Profiler (the software that came with the i1Display Pro) can monitor ambient light, and automaticly reprofile based on changes in ambient light. The Dell UltraSharp Color Calibration software doesn't mention measuring ambient light at all, so I don't think the software have that capability ? Is there a way of using the hardware calibration in U3014 and ambient light measurements at the same time ? Would it be ok to install both i1Profiler and the Dell UltraSharp Color Calibration software, at the same time, do first the hardware calibration with the dell software, and then have the i1Profiler build a (software?) profile, that would mostly just reflect changes in ambient light ?
For accurate colors in games (if at all possible) I should use the games preset (to reduce lag) and then use i1Profiler to create a profile ?
The u2412m has higher contrast because it's e-IPS. e-IPS has a simpler pixel structure that allows more light to be transmitted. However, e-IPS monitors always come with just 6-bit color and the thin paper used in the u2412m leads to mediocre uniformity.
Also, there isn't a single A-MVA panel in your chart which makes your black level/contrast ratio comparison lack adequate perspective. You should include the best and the poorest in your charts, to provide perspective -- especially the best. The best contrast ratio would be from A-MVA.
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Great article! Btw, how come the lag numbers are diametrically opposite to the ones in http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u3014.htm review, where it scored with the lowest lag compared to all tested monitors (some of them tested in this article too)? Could you have perhaps resetted the "Game Mode" setting by accident, or something similar?
i am a new about this. actually, what is the parameter for being a good monitor especially for gaming ? to be honest, this monitor prices looks expensive. Now, i am using the Asus MX279H with a triple setup. So far, i really satisfied with the result.
Hmm, no word on how the anti-glare coat is like on this version? I have the 3008 WFP and the coat interferes a little on white backgrounds. It's not extremely annoying, but I'd like to see an improvement here regardless.
Did anyone actually bother to test this against a MacBook / OSX? There's this bizzare oversharpening effect that is produced by this monitor - turning the "Sharpness" down to 0 still leaves some weird distortion. In addition, the colours look all wrong when the output is displayed from OSX - regardless of how much tweaking of the colour profiles I attempt.
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Dark_Eternal - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Small typo on page 2: "256x01600"dishayu - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Small typo in the table of 2nd page. "256x01600" should read "2560x1600". I wanted one of those korean 30 inchers just because it's hard to find good 16:10 IPS panels but sadly, for reasons i can not fathom, they are almost 2x as expensive as the 27 inch 1440p counterparts. So, i eventually ended up buying a 27 inch 1440p panel. Although i'm delighted by my choice nowas this "QNIX QX2710" samsung PLS display that i bought is capable of 120Hz at 1440p without any mods and it's going for 289$ on ebay as i speak.Sabresiberian - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Have you actually clocked it @ 120Hz?dishayu - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
I have a shitty GPU (HD6670) so i get artifacting in fast moving scenes at 120Hz. I'm running this at 108Hz currently and it works flawlessly.MikeMago - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
Love my job, since I've been bringing in $5600… I sit at home, music playing while I work in front of my new iMac that I got now that I'm making it online.(Click Home information)http://goo.gl/0jMj1
Proph3T08 - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
How is the input lag on the QNIX?Zibri - Friday, April 19, 2013 - link
Try the HP ZR30W. 2560x1600 wide gamut. There's also a great review here on anandtech.extide - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Have you noticed any motion artifacts (possibly due to the excessive? pixel overdrive used on this display in an attempt to decrease the advertised pixel response time)See this thread for more info: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1754377
Senti - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Indeed, we need usability in review, i.e. overdrive artifacts are way more important than initial color accuracy. Dell U2713H looks great on paper unless you see the movement artifacts. NEC PA271W was pretty awful in this aspect too.layte - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Hi. I'm the guy whose Dell forum post was quoted in the HOCP forum post. Dell don't want to know at all about this issue. It would be good if AnandTech could put some pressure on them about the hideous pixel overdrive they have set as default.The mouse cursor on a white background is bad enough, but grey to grey is especially bad because of the overdrive.
twotwotwo - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Wow, kind of surprised at monitors with 30+ millisecond lag times. I know it's not *that* long. But it is longer than my ping time to Google, and it's hand to monitor, not over a wide-area network. :)cheinonen - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
I really think this is more of a factor of target markets. Games don't use AdobeRGB gamuts, or really need uniformity correctly like photo and graphics work do. If the processing for those features adds a bit of gaming lag I don't think Dell would consider that a big downside, since that isn't the target market anyway. As I said in the review, I'm only so certain on those lag numbers, as other people found much better ones, but methods for measuring lag on a 30" display are a little lacking right now.Kurge - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
It has excellent lag times, well above average. It has a game mode which apparently they didn't test?cheinonen - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
The lag times are using the game mode. I'll update the text later to reflect this fact.Sabresiberian - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Tftcentral reports a significantly lower lag time in gaming mode:http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u3014.htm
They are using a different method than they did a few months ago, and all the numbers are lower than what they used to report. They claim it is more accurate.
AnnonymousCoward - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
cheinonen, lag sucks for normal use, not just gaming! Most people are slower mouse users than myself; I demand responsiveness. I also don't want audio/video out of sync.Martin_Schou - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
To be fair, a ping is typically only 32 bytes. A 2560x1600 monitor has 4 million pixels, each of which needs at least 32 bits of data.JlHADJOE - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
To be fair, the distance to your monitor is typically only 3 feet. A ping to google's servers is probably several hundred miles, each hop of which needs to go through routing equipment which adds its own latency.Sabresiberian - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Number of pixels doesn't seem to be the cause of greater lag, added OSD and connection types make a big difference.asdftech - Friday, April 19, 2013 - link
Throughput and latency are different things.JDG1980 - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
It was just reported today that a no-name vendor is releasing a 50" 4K TV for $1500 (the same price as this Dell monitor). I hadn't expected prices to drop that quickly. Although this particular 4K TV probably isn't suitable for monitor use (too big, not clear if it supports 60 Hz, probably has a crappy TN panel) it would be great if it was the leading edge of a new wave of inexpensive 4K TV sets. If there was a 32" 4K TV that supported 60 Hz input (HDMI only goes up to 24 Hz at that resolution, you need DisplayPort for 60) and was reasonably priced, it would make an awesome computer monitor with better DPI than pretty much any existing desktop solution. Hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer for this.cheinonen - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Sharp has a 32", 4K display but I believe the MSRP on it is around $6,000. I also believe that it has issues running at 60Hz over a single DisplayLink, but the person I know with one was still working on this issue. So one exists, but it costs a fortune right now. For that $1,500, 50" 4K, I really can't imagine how they're getting there with any sort of quality right now, but we will see.Andrea deluxe - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
ok... year 2013 and 33ms of input lag?dell and company... are you kidding people?
DanNeely - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
They're not kidding anyone; they're targeting people for whom the perfect color balance that requires two frames of processing to achieve is more important than getting a latency score that doesn't matter outside of gaming.hackztor - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Low input lag can be had in the 3007wfp-hc (I still use this as my main gaming monitor, and 3011 as my secondary). This monitor did not include a scaler so input lag was low, now all monitors want to put hdmi and display port on so they can be used with consoles hence higher input lag.kasakka - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
But the scaler has long been one of the best parts of the high res Dells. I've been using a Dell 3008WFP for years now and due to the high res, many new games just aren't playable at native resolution without multiple GPUs. Thanks to the scaler, I'm happily playing at 1920x1200 which runs well at full detail. Compared to leaving scaling to the GPU, the scaler on the Dell does a far better job resulting in much less blurry picture.For the record I have not been bothered by the input lag either, which I think was reported being somewhere between 20-30ms on the 3008WFP.
mike55 - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
As Chris mentioned, TFT Central found that there was very little input lag in game mode. ~3.2 ms for pixel response time, and virtually no signal processing time. I'm confused as to why the results are different. Why would using an oscilloscope produce different results?bebimbap - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
If you are even thinking about gaming on a 60hz monitor you shouldn't be complaining about 33ms input lag coming out of this one. If a frame is 16.7ms @60hz 33ms is 2 frames, compared to using a 144hz of only 6.9ms per frame, or ~5 frames in 33ms. So even though you are missing only every other frame in reactivity compared to a quicker 60hz monitor, you are missing 4 out of 5 frames compared to a 144hz.if you need something faster you could always go for a TN based benq or asus 144hz 24"/27" gaming monitor they have 1-2ms input lag and lightboost but only up to 120hz.
I have both a u3011 and a vg248qe and I cannot game on my u3011 anymore after gaming on a vg248qe @120hz with lightboost. But I do everything else on the u3011, photoshop, movies, browsing, etc, again everything other than gaming. when i'm not gaming the vg248qe acts as a nice blank screen or pallet space for photoshop.
again if input lag is important to you, get a TN based 144hz asus or benq you will be VERY happy. do not look at PLS/PVA/IPS it's just a waste of time.
mayankleoboy1 - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Remember, they are the same people who put extreme crappy 1366x768 panels on notebooks.So shittyness is synonymous with Dell.
cheinonen - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
Everyone still puts 1366x768 panels in laptops, as I noticed my Dad's Sony and sister's Acer both rocking those on vacation a couple weeks ago. I wouldn't say that's a Dell problem, but an industry problem.Kevin G - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
That Sharp display I've seen at sites going for $4500. Still expensive but a definitive step up in terms of resolution from this Dell. I'd love to see a review of it here at Anandtech. *hint* *hint* *hint*jibberegg - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Apparently Seiki are offering 50" 4k for $1,500. Anyone heard of them? I smell bad things at that price, but don't want to write it off without more information.http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTool...
SeannyB - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
The current HDMI spec only does up to 30Hz in 4K. This is the thing that stops me from buying one right now, because using Windows or whatever at 30 frames per second is miserable.Kevin G - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
Digging through the Seiki manual indicates that 30 hz is the best frame rate it can get at 4k resolutions. Might be fine for video as the source material in all likelihood doesn't exceed this rate.Another passable usage would to use it as a large format display for 2D imagery. This would be the equivalent of four 1080P 25" monitors of screen space, minus the bezels. Color quality and calibration controls are an unknown, so this use-case is iffy.
For gaming, this refresh rate is going to be horrible.
cheinonen - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
FYI, it has no calibration controls at all: no white balance, no CMS, no gamma, nothing. So if you want an accurate image, double the price to include a DVDO or Lumagen box, and those don't work with 4K material yet.SantaAna12 - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Apples to apples???High end monitor review....no comparison to Apple.
Hmmmmmmm.......your welcome Dell!
cheinonen - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
I didn't review the Apple, Anand did himself, and it was with our prior test bench. It's also a white LED backlit model with the sRGB gamut, not a CCFL or G-B LED backlight with AdobeRGB gamut, or any sort of uniformity control. It's a high-end, general use 27" display, not a professional photographer/graphics display, which this is. There isn't a lack of a comparison to spare one of them, they're different markets, with different test bench data.p05esto - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
You are out of your mind if you think an Apple monitor could touch this. lol, just another clueless Apple sheep.Kevin G - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Have you tested the MST functionality of this device? I'd to see how this works out, especially with this and a DP 1.1 monitor.cheinonen - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
I did, and it's discussed in the article. Worked fine with the monitor I have here, with a couple of caveats.Kevin G - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
I had to re-read the article to catch the few bits regarding MST support. I'm curious to see how well the MST hub works with a DP 1.1 monitor (more than likely) and a DP 1.1 output from a video card (not so likely). I was hoping for a bit more testing in this area but I guess you had to work with what you have on hand.Did you try any active DP-to-DVI adapters for usage with other displays?
Could you logically rotate the display connected via the MST out port independently of the primary?
Can the refresh rates on each monitor be adjust independently as well?
DigitalFreak - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
RTFATrefugl - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
You mention a 30" IPS display selling at Monoprice. Do you have plans to review, or can point me in the direction of one? I'm interested in a 30" display that is "decent" - I plan on using it for typical desktop use and gaming.Martin_Schou - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Does this monitor support USB over DisplayPort? I'm guessing it doesn't, and to be honest, I'm starting to be annoyed at having to pull an extra cable, that is frankly unneeded.cheinonen - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
It doesn't seem to, no. When I unplugged the USB cable the USB devices stopped working, even though its connected over DisplayPort. A restart didn't fix this either.airmantharp - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
TFT Central did an in-depth look into the input lag, and while they found similar numbers in the default modes, there is a 'gaming' mode that they measured at ~3ms. It appears to bypass all of the circuitry used for processing and scaling, and along with the new AG coating, makes this monitor preferable to HP's ZR30w for gaming.cheinonen - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
I ran all the tests in the gaming mode, so that is where the numbers come from. So I don't know if the different methods account for everything, or if they might have gotten a different firmware, or something else.airmantharp - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
I feel for you- trying to do an objective test without the equipment is challenging. I was just hoping to address some of the 'it's awful for gaming!' comments that ignored your mention of TFT Central's finding, especially as it's probably the best 30" for gaming.tocket - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
What are the CIE standard observer color matching curves doing in the "spectral signature" chart? That is not very useful I think - it only makes it more confusing. I also want to comment that having "a much larger spectrum of light wavelengths" does not give you a larger gamut volume. If you want to get the largest possible gamut monochromatic light sources should be used (ideally at something like 450, 520 and 640 nm).cjl - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
A quick comment - those touch sensitive buttons that you keep complaining about? Those aren't new. As a U3011 owner, I can tell you with some certainty that they've been there on Dell's flagship since at least the 3011. I haven't had any problems with mine either as far as responsiveness is concerned, but that may be personal preference (or maybe I happened to get a monitor with above-average responsiveness to the buttons).airmantharp - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
We have four, and they're all 'responsive', but don't go labeling them as 'ergonomic'. Still, since you rarely perform complex settings adjustments after initial setup, they're probably a better choice for longevity over cheap mechanical buttons that may wear out.cheinonen - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
I didn't test the U3011, but the U2713HM and other Dells that I have tested have had the actual buttons, which I love. I wish they kept it that way, looks be damned.p05esto - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Yea, I have the U2713HM and like the phyiscal buttons. I hate all the "touch" controls companies try to shove down our throats. Nothing beats pyysically raised buttons with tactical feedback when pushed. This goes for just about any gadget. Cameras with touchscreens are soooo useless for example.chubbypanda - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Aging Dell U2410 also has touch buttons (with motion detection) and real power on/off button. Kind of annoying, but it's bearable. Looks better than physical buttons on U2412M of course (the overall design is better actually).blau808 - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
I have/had the U3014 and the U2410. The U3014's touch sensitive buttons are anything but. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 touches to get it to activate whereas on my U2410 I never had a problem with the touch sensitivity. So they changed something that put them a step back from their previous solutions it seems.blau808 - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
I recently purchased one of these and am now in the process of sending it back. While changing any of the preset mode (game, multimedia, etc) the monitor turns to severe static and artifacting. In standard preset mode, the reds seem to flash on and off turning the screen a bluish tinge before flashing back to normal. I am truly disappointed and keep telling myself thats what I get for being an early adopter. Hopefully the next panel I get wont be a dud.CSMR - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Excellent to see continued progress in monitors.One question is why the review focused more on sRGB and AdobeRGB modes than Standard? The usual advice is to always have the monitor on Standard and let Windows do all the color conversion.
cheinonen - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
If you use Standard mode, you aren't certain what the gamut that its using is (probably a larger one than sRGB), and then you're dependent on Windows to manage colors, which means you need to have both an accurate ICC profile, and every application to be ICC aware. sRGB will force the monitor to use the proper gamut for 99% of things (very little properly uses AdobeRGB, but for those people that need it, it's essential) and you don't need to have Windows and the applications be ICC aware.CSMR - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
Getting this monitor and using sRGB would be a real waste. People who buy monitors like this know that they want a wide gamut and precise calibration. Yes there are some applications that are not color aware and give wrong colors on a calibrated monitor, but 1. these applications are not color critical or else they would be ICC aware, and 2. the gamut would be right as that is done via a global setting (LUT) in the graphics driver.cheinonen - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
And that's why there are multiple calibration modes available that you can save, as well as included software that will switch the display between those modes when working in the correct application. So if Photoshop requires AdobeRGB and Premiere needs sRGB, you can have the monitor switch on-the-fly between those two.Of course, if the included calibration software worked better, so you could have more accurately calibrated modes saved to the CAL1 and CAL2 presets, that feature would work even better.
zer0future - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Would you guys be able to review the new monitors from Monoprice.com? Here is the link for anyone interested.http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.as...
The 27 inch model apparently uses the same panel as the apple cinema display. These prices are also quite competitive so they have me interested.
cheinonen - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
I'm talking to them, though I personally think the 30" would make for a more interesting review as we've covered a lot of the 27" IPS panels now. Also, if you look back at the two LG 29EA93 reviews that I did, you can see that the panel only makes up a small part of the performance of a display. The corresponding electronics are a huge factor in performance, so I don't recommend just looking at the panel to determine the performance.Trefugl - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
It is great to hear that you are in talks with Monoprice! I would be grateful for a review of either model, but would be more interested in the one with an OSD. I'm concerned with having a wide gamut screen that has no sRGB mode or color correction on board, tho the potentially reduced input lag of not having processing is alluring as well.cheinonen - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
I don't believe any of the Monoprice displays are wide gamut, only sRGB gamut. It looks like the 30" one has a 10-bit panel, but that's certainly 8-bit with AFRC, which might give you better gradients, but won't give you a wider gamut.B3an - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
Chris, i'd really appreciate it if you could help me as i'm thinking of buying this monitor. Do you have any idea at all if the i1Display 2 will calibrate this monitor well? It comes with Eye-One Match 3 software.And what software would you recommend most for calibration? dispcalGUI?
cheinonen - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
Personally, I wouldn't use an i1Display2 anymore for color accuracy. With the design of the i1Display2, and the fact that they haven't been made for a year or two now, the filters degrade over time so that anything it is reading now may or may not be accurate at all. It can read light levels correctly, so white and black light output, but not the colors of light. I have a pair of them here and testing them now compared to the i1Pro, I see dE2000 errors > 10 in the grayscale using it. The standard calibrated modes are going to likely be more accurate.I like dispcalGUI. I haven't used the most recent version, but I've been using it for a long time now and they do a great job adding more and more features to it.
von Krupp - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
You know what's missing from this monitor? Support for 5.1 output like its out-going predecessor. I make great use of that feature on my U2711, and not having it here is a major deal-breaker. I run my Xbox 360 to the monitor via HDMI and pipe the audio out through the analogue 5.1 jacks to Logitech X-530s. I would not be able to do that with these new monitors.I might be a hold-out, but one of the primary selling points for me on the U3011 and U2711 was the fact that, for a PC monitor, they offered a diverse array connectivity. You can do HDMI, composite, component, DVI, VGA, and DP all on the same monitor. You can also, as mentioned, earlier, output to analogue 5.1 surround. This monitor is not worth the $1500 asking price in light of this "streamlining" of features. If I'm paying top-dollar for a monitor whose predecessor I already own, I want it to have all of the capabilities of that predecessor and then some. $1500 for what is only a good panel and LED back-lighting is a raw deal no matter how you slice it.
jamyryals - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
Chris, my coworker has a Nixeus 27inch monitor attached to a 2012 MBP. His Nixeus has the same problem of not activating after sleep sometimes as well. A simple power cycle gets it going again for him too. Just another data point to indicate where that particular problem may be.l_d_allan - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
The 2010 and 2011 models are coming down in price nicely. I just ordered a U2410 that should be a significant upgrade from my current Samsung TN panel that only has about 70% of sRGB.The only significant difference I'm aware of to the U2413 is the hardware calibration capability, but I have a Spyder rather than X-Rite, so my understanding is that is a non-issue. YMMV.
cheinonen - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
The U2410 is a CCFL backlight and the U2413 utilizes the G-B LED backlight that the U3014 uses. It also has the MiniDP and DisplayPort inputs and a DisplayPort output for using MST, and USB 3.0 over 2.0. It loses the analog inputs that the U2410 has, so if you have a need for those it is certainly the one to use. Since you're using a Spyder, the calibration software is a non-issue.Filiprino - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Your source of lag must be the use of HDMI.cheinonen - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
HDMI and DisplayPort were virtually identical in this regard.red5un - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
How does the new dell stack up against the NEC PA30 color wise? Love your new testing methodology but I wish there was a way to see a direct comparison. Is there a possibility of you guys retesting some of the higher end monitors? Are LED monitors finally ready to do color critical work? We do print and commercial VFX work and the NEC's are great but recalibrating every week plus knowing the CFL's are slowly dying I'm wondering if LED will be the answer.cheinonen - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
I have no idea how the NEC 30" would fare, as I only tested the 27", and that was with the older test format. Getting in an older monitor is less likely to happen, if only because manufacturers often don't have review samples of displays that are older laying around anymore. I'll see what possibility exists, though it would more likely just be a quick review with only the test data, and not the in-depth commentary, since that has been covered before.soerenL - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
Thanks for enlightening article!New to wide gamut and display profiling, have been reading a bit about it around the net, but would like know if my workflow makes any sense. Asked this in Dell forums also, apologies in advance if this is the wrong place to ask!
My primary objective is to have accurate colors in Maya and Photoshop. Secondary objective is to have accurate colors in games.
I should use sRGB emulation in Maya, and other non color managed applications, and adobeRGB in photoshop and firefox ?
I should profile the display with the provided Dell UltraSharp Color Calibration software, and store a sRGB calibration profile for example in CAL1, and a adobeRGB calibration profile in CAL2. And have the Dell Display Manager switch to CAL2 when using photoshop, and to CAL1 for all applications that aren't color managed ?
i1Profiler (the software that came with the i1Display Pro) can monitor ambient light, and automaticly reprofile based on changes in ambient light. The Dell UltraSharp Color Calibration software doesn't mention measuring ambient light at all, so I don't think the software have that capability ? Is there a way of using the hardware calibration in U3014 and ambient light measurements at the same time ? Would it be ok to install both i1Profiler and the Dell UltraSharp Color Calibration software, at the same time, do first the hardware calibration with the dell software, and then have the i1Profiler build a (software?) profile, that would mostly just reflect changes in ambient light ?
For accurate colors in games (if at all possible) I should use the games preset (to reduce lag) and then use i1Profiler to create a profile ?
sherlockwing - Friday, April 19, 2013 - link
For $1400 Dell should at least consider going up to 2880X1800 for a 16:10 monitor.Zibri - Friday, April 19, 2013 - link
I still think 2010 HP ZR30W is better than this.Oxford Guy - Sunday, April 21, 2013 - link
The u2412m has higher contrast because it's e-IPS. e-IPS has a simpler pixel structure that allows more light to be transmitted. However, e-IPS monitors always come with just 6-bit color and the thin paper used in the u2412m leads to mediocre uniformity.Also, there isn't a single A-MVA panel in your chart which makes your black level/contrast ratio comparison lack adequate perspective. You should include the best and the poorest in your charts, to provide perspective -- especially the best. The best contrast ratio would be from A-MVA.
ZoeAnderson24 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - link
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Great article!Btw, how come the lag numbers are diametrically opposite to the ones in http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u3014.htm review, where it scored with the lowest lag compared to all tested monitors (some of them tested in this article too)? Could you have perhaps resetted the "Game Mode" setting by accident, or something similar?
chazh - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
i am a new about this.actually, what is the parameter for being a good monitor especially for gaming ?
to be honest, this monitor prices looks expensive. Now, i am using the Asus MX279H with a triple setup. So far, i really satisfied with the result.
yslee - Saturday, April 27, 2013 - link
Hmm, no word on how the anti-glare coat is like on this version? I have the 3008 WFP and the coat interferes a little on white backgrounds. It's not extremely annoying, but I'd like to see an improvement here regardless.secretmanofagent - Sunday, April 28, 2013 - link
How is the antiglare coating? The U2412M's coating drives me nuts.masotime - Friday, May 17, 2013 - link
Did anyone actually bother to test this against a MacBook / OSX? There's this bizzare oversharpening effect that is produced by this monitor - turning the "Sharpness" down to 0 still leaves some weird distortion. In addition, the colours look all wrong when the output is displayed from OSX - regardless of how much tweaking of the colour profiles I attempt.