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Monitors: Dell U2413 Quick Review vs. ZR24W vs. S2340M

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I just got one of the Dell U2413 Monitors, from Dell via Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-U2413-1920x1200-Widescreen-Warranty/dp/B0038RAM5U

Plugged it in, selected DVI from the onscreen selector display and bang it just works fine.

Previously I was using a Dell S2340M which is a terrific monitor for $250 but I wanted to see if this latest-generation Ultrasharp was better.

Here's the deal...

S2340M

I got mine at BEST BUY. If you like a glossy screen and are OK with 1920x1080, the S2340M is fantastic with DVI input. I really think that is a great small panel monitor. Does a great job of approximating the display on (non-retina) MacBooks, & MacBook air. A great choice for a small desktop or hackintosh emulating a mac mini. Strangely, if you've lived on Apple product a lot, that aspect ratio is unfamiliar and evokes a 17-macbook pro (for me anyway.) This display comes in a small box, is lightweight, gets good reviews. Movies look great in 16:9 on this glossy screen. But you might find it small to work on all day long.

U2413

The Dell U2413 is the closest thing I have found to approximate my old Apple 24" LED cinema display. The major difference is the Dell screen is matt-finish not glossy like an Apple display (and about 55% of the price). The Dell U2413 is nicely designed all around with plenty of ports. I have done a lot of graphic design / photoshop in my time and this thing looks pretty darn good for that purpose. It seems to be MUCH better than the HP ZR24w 24-inch S-IPS LCD Monitor. I recently tried which was too bright and literally seemed to have an eye-hurting flicker (not just me -- Google the topic.)

I will live with this U2413 for awhile and see how things go. It almost feels alike a step back in time to work on a matt-finish display. No glare. But I had gotten used to glare so now this feels like I am back to a pre-2008 Cinema Display (they were matt-finish, and people screamed when Steve Jobs went all-glossy.)

NOTE AFTER SOME TESTING.
Terrific LED monitor. Make sure you use the Dell onscreen display controls to set the default GAMMA to "MAC" not "PC."
Otherwise you can get some weird color flicker artifacts occasionally.

In use:
2413.jpg
 
waltvonfrankenstein -

How do you like the matte screen so far? Is the sharpness close to a glossy one?

Thanks!
erin
 
Hello waltvonfrankenstein,

I buy the same monitor like yours " DELL Ultrasharp 2413" for my macbook pro 2012 mid and contect it via minisplay port cable (with out adaptor -mdisplay to mdsplay).
The monitor looks awesome, colour accuracy is amazing and i love the matte screen, but i have problem with the fonts...looks fuzzy...the resolution im using is the highest 1920x1200 ...
I try to connect the monitor with a pc and everything looks ok , fonts is not fuzzy...
I want to ask maybe you have the same problem...or can you give me some advice

Thank you in advance
Sakis

(excuce me for my bad english)
 
Hello waltvonfrankenstein,

I buy the same monitor like yours " DELL Ultrasharp 2413" for my macbook pro 2012 mid and contect it via minisplay port cable (with out adaptor -mdisplay to mdsplay).
The monitor looks awesome, colour accuracy is amazing and i love the matte screen, but i have problem with the fonts...looks fuzzy...the resolution im using is the highest 1920x1200 ...
I try to connect the monitor with a pc and everything looks ok , fonts is not fuzzy...
I want to ask maybe you have the same problem...or can you give me some advice

Thank you in advance
Sakis

(excuce me for my bad english)

Make sure you have the "sharpness" setting at 50. If it is 100 it can cause that on fonts under Mac OS (doesn't happen on windows)

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/images/dell_u2412m/31j.jpg
 
The "sharpness" setting was at 50, but you give me the idea to change it....
I get the best performance if drop the sharpness at 0!!! Everything now looks not just better but perfect! The fonts and mac osx icons looks so smooth :)
Also try to make changes with a windows based pc , example drop the sharpness at 0 and get bad results...everything was blurry...after
that change it at 100 and the result was exactly how before was at mac osx ( fuzzy fonts)...For windows based pc's the best is at 50.

Thanks for the help :)
Sakis
 
The "sharpness" setting was at 50, but you give me the idea to change it....
I get the best performance if drop the sharpness at 0!!! Everything now looks not just better but perfect! The fonts and mac osx icons looks so smooth :)
Also try to make changes with a windows based pc , example drop the sharpness at 0 and get bad results...everything was blurry...after
that change it at 100 and the result was exactly how before was at mac osx ( fuzzy fonts)...For windows based pc's the best is at 50.

Thanks for the help :)
Sakis

Yes maybe you are right. I know the "problem" is that sharpness option but don't remember what are the right values for windows and for mac.
Happy you solve it :D
 
On the issue of font sharpness and sharpness in general: Maybe this is not such a big deal for me because I remember when Apple offered products with matt displays instead of their current all-glossy lineup. The U2413 definitely "looks" different from a glossy LED Apple display. Is it truly less sharp? Probably it appears so to any average user because the fonts -- if you look at them closely -- do appear more "grainy" than on a similar-sized Apple display. I do photo editing in photoshop and once you get in working with an image there is no appreciable difference. You do get a HUGE GAIN from not having to deal with glare and reflections on your screen. If you have a brightly lit workspace you will probably do better with a U2413 than an Apple glossy display. If you do video editing in a dark room, you may prefer Apple. I have tried the sharpness adjustment mentioned in earlier posts and it does change the look of fonts and icons but for me it is not a magic bullet, yes it looks less "grainy" and more smooth but for me it feels a little too soft. The good news is you can adjust this sharpness/softness of the fonts across a range -- but you will never exactly duplicate the Apple glossy look on a matt monitor.

Matt or glossy is ultimately a matter of personal preference but the U2413 is a great matt-finish display. No complaints after 3 weeks. I am completely used to working on it.
 
On the issue of font sharpness and sharpness in general: Maybe this is not such a big deal for me because I remember when Apple offered products with matt displays instead of their current all-glossy lineup. The U2413 definitely "looks" different from a glossy LED Apple display. Is it truly less sharp? Probably it appears so to any average user because the fonts -- if you look at them closely -- do appear more "grainy" than on a similar-sized Apple display. I do photo editing in photoshop and once you get in working with an image there is no appreciable difference. You do get a HUGE GAIN from not having to deal with glare and reflections on your screen. If you have a brightly lit workspace you will probably do better with a U2413 than an Apple glossy display. If you do video editing in a dark room, you may prefer Apple. I have tried the sharpness adjustment mentioned in earlier posts and it does change the look of fonts and icons but for me it is not a magic bullet, yes it looks less "grainy" and more smooth but for me it feels a little too soft. The good news is you can adjust this sharpness/softness of the fonts across a range -- but you will never exactly duplicate the Apple glossy look on a matt monitor.

Matt or glossy is ultimately a matter of personal preference but the U2413 is a great matt-finish display. No complaints after 3 weeks. I am completely used to working on it.

To be honest I really don't like "new" Apple Display. I really hate glossy displays. I do a lot of CAD, and you make a red line (for instance) in glossy and it almost make you blind, and annoys me the reflections.

I am using dell U2312HM, isn't perfect but I like it a lot.
 
Hello, I just got my 2413 dell monitor to go with my Macbook Pro i7 13,3 inch. I have noticed that when I select gamma to Mac the screen get too shiny, and if I keep it on PC looks pretty good. I downloaded icc files from tftcentral and again they work better with PC gamma. Before Mac used 1.8 gamma, but now like PC they use 2.2. Am I right or am I doing something wrong? Many thanks from Spain.
 
Hello, I just got my 2413 dell monitor to go with my Macbook Pro i7 13,3 inch. I have noticed that when I select gamma to Mac the screen get too shiny, and if I keep it on PC looks pretty good. I downloaded icc files from tftcentral and again they work better with PC gamma. Before Mac used 1.8 gamma, but now like PC they use 2.2. Am I right or am I doing something wrong? Many thanks from Spain.

I was also having this problem, and found that it's right to set Gamma to PC with latest OSX it seems...
At least it matches Air's screen more when I set U2413's Gamma to PC.
 
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