Dell U2713HM - Unbeatable performance out of the box
by Chris Heinonen on October 4, 2012 12:00 AM ESTDell U2713HM Brightness and Contrast
Last review I changed how I measured brightness and contrast to use a 5x5 ANSI grid instead of solid black and white screens in order to provide more accurate data. I wasn’t sure how this would impact screens, making comparisons between models harder. Measuring the center square of the 5x5 ANSI grid, the maximum brightness I could obtain from the U2713HM is 343 nits, which is very close to the 350 nits listed in the specs. With the backlight set to minimum that drops down to 28 nits, giving you a wide range of brightness levels to choose from.
Black levels are where I expected the most impact with the new testing, since an ANSI grid prevents LED systems from going to full black. Preventing these systems from kicking in gives a much better real-world idea of the contrast ratio for a monitor. The U2713HM does a good job with the new measurements, as seen in the chart below.
Figuring out the contrast ratio from the avove data is simple. There’s some slight rounding, but otherwise we see contrast ratios very close to 1000:1 for the display at both maximum and minimum brightness. This stacks up very well compared to all the other 27” displays that have been tested, and using a more stringent standard. The contrast numbers from the Dell are very good overall,
With a good foundation of brightness and contrast levels, it’s time to see how the Dell performs with color.
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cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
In that case, you're still using the monitors internal scaler, which is what is causing the lag. You need to have them at the same identical resolution to have an apples-to-apples comparison.p05esto - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Great review! I'm in the market for a 27" LED/IPS professional monitor. A tad for gaming, but mostly programming and graphics. This monitor was on my short list, so I'm thrilled you reviewed it.In my research the only other monitor really on my list is the Asus PB278Q which will be released on 10/8. I've been hearing some good rumors about this one (and for $699).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
How great would it be if you reviewed this guy as well :) For me the brightness and color uniformity are a couple of the biggest details. I saw some pictures of this Dell in a dark room with a black screen and there was too much light bleed, horrible really. I'm not sure if in real life you would notice that, but it put a bad taste in my mouth. I have other Dell IPS monitors that I still love!
cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I ran the benchmarks on the ASUS today, so the review is a bit out as I haven't written anything on it yet, and still have a couple tests to do, but it's coming shortly.p05esto - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Great news! I will be patiently waiting (would wait for a sale anyhow).lukechip - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
In Australia, Dell have these on special at 559 AUD until Oct 5 (about 250 AUD discount). I snapped one up yesterday, and it arrived today. Haven't hooked it up yet. It feels good to read a good review of it the very next day !peterfares - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
For some reason Dell monitors are far cheaper in Australia than in the United States.ComputerGuy2006 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Im tired of 1440p and im tired of 60hz.Time for 1600p at 120hz.... or better.
JarredWalton - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Problem is you need basically quad-link DVI-D to do 1600p at 120Hz (or 1440p at 120Hz). I think DisplayPort can handle it, but no one has made such a display that I'm aware of (overclocking/hacking of Korean panels notwithstanding).Ryan Smith - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
DisplayPort 1.2 could in fact do it. It has almost exactly twice the bandwidth of DL-DVI.EnzoFX - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I don't understand why obvious comparable monitors are left out sometimes in these graphs. I notice this a lot. Why isn't the U2711 in the input lag?