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Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24” IPS Monitor Review

Author: AkG
Date: October 19, 2011
Product Name: UltraSharp U2412
Part Number: U2412
Warranty: 3 Years + 3 Year Pixel Guarantee
Purchase at NCIX: UK
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A Closer Look at the Dell UltraSharp U2412M



Unlike the UltraSharp U2410, the new U2412M is not what we would call utilitarian in appearance. It may lack red racing stripes or a clear Lucite front fascia, but the silver and black does work very nicely in showing off the shapely curves this new model boasts. It certainly isn’t the thinnest monitor we’ve seen, but the LED backlighting has certainly helped the U2412 trim down to a svelter cruiser weight form.


Further helping to make the U2412M better looking than its brethren is the much improved stand. With its nicely contrasting silver and black color scheme coupled with graceful curves it is a significant step in the right direction but still doesn’t come close to Dell’s v-shaped bases of a few years ago. However, to be perfectly candid, the previous square stand which graced the U2410 was just plain ugly.



While more artistically pleasing, this stand is still geared towards professionals and not only retains the excellent range of motion its predecessors were known for but actually slightly improves upon them with slightly increased axis swing and height adjustment. Both new and old models offer 45° off center axis swing, but this one has 25 degrees of tilt (from +4 to – 21) and 115mm of height adjustment whereas the 2410 has 24 degrees of tilt and only 110mm height adjustment.


While we were very pleased to see the thickness of the monitor and its stand had been given an upgrade, we were down right impressed to see the capacitive touch buttons which marred past models have been replaced with much more sensible – for the professional consumer – physical buttons. Unlike many other current generation UltraSharps, these respond instantly to your input and you always know exactly when they have been activated. So there’s no guessing or wasted time fiddling around with invisible buttons.


When Dell slimmed down the dimensions of the U2412M one thing they did sacrifice was the built in USB card reader. Since the U2410 was missing Compact Flash card reading abilities this is a minor loss at best for the U2412M and its potential customers.

Luckily, Dell did carry over the pair of much more useful USB 2.0 ports along the side of the monitor. We would still prefer to have seen USB 3.0 capable ports, but given the value focused price of this model, we can understand why this decision was made.



Unfortunately, the input options on the U2412 could be better. In grand total you get a single Display Port, single DVI port, single VGA port and another pair of USB 2.0 ports. HDMI is conspicuous by its absence and could have been left out to ensure this monitor hits a certain price point but we really wish it was included.
 
 
 

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