Dell U2713HM - Unbeatable performance out of the box
by Chris Heinonen on October 4, 2012 12:00 AM ESTDell U2713HM Display Uniformity
Where our new ANSI testing will really pay off is on the Display Uniformity testing. It gives us far more information for how uniform the brightness and contrast levels are for a screen, as nine points is a fairly coarse measure on a screen of this size. Looking at the Dell I can see some small hints of backlight bleeding at the corners with an all-black screen, and when you look at the black levels you can see that seems to be the case.
The minimum black level at our calibrated 200 nits setting is 0.198 in the center, once again very close to that 1000:1 contrast ratio we saw before. This drops down to 0.175 and 0.182 in two corners, and rises up to 0.233 and 0.247 in other corners, indicating a bit of backlighting uniformity issues. The central area of the display (the inner nine squares in the ANSI pattern) is +/- 11% relative to the center square, but the outer edge goes all the way to +/- 25% compared to the center. Those two corners really push the level up and lead to this unevenness.
The white uniformity is better, though not ideal. With the center at 198 nits (we aim for 200 nits, but usually are just off), the middle nine squares are +/- 10% relative to it, which means a drop down to 178 nits just adjacent to the center. On the outer edge it falls to +/- 17% with the same corners causing the main issues here. With those same corners also being darker here, where they were lighter with the dark samples, I think this is more a uniformity issue than a corner bleed issue. The white uniformity here is fine but not stellar.
The contrast uniformity basically reflects what we discussed above. The center of the screen and most of the surrounding samples all have a contrast ratio of close to 1000:1, but three of the corners (all except the upper-left) have contrast ratios closer to 700 or 800:1 due to the lack of backlight uniformity. Now this is still better than some other 27” displays, but on full screen images such as gaming the difference could be noticeable. Overall the contrast ratios are still very good, with 16 of the 25 measured areas scoring at least 950:1 or greater.
The dE uniformity of the panel is a completely different matter it seems. I only measured nine spots here, as measuring 25 on this is not as easy to pull off or quite as essential I feel, but the results are very different. On the black and white uniformity tests, the center top area of the monitor always performed well, with deviations of 2% for black and 7% for white. With the color dE it is the single worst performing area of the screen, coming in with an average dE of 2.21 compared to the center where it’s 1.62. The lower left corner, which is the worst in black and white uniformity, is the best area outside of the center in dE uniformity.
So here it seems that brightness uniformity and color uniformity don’t go hand-in-hand all the time. It could be because of the different grid sizes, but that wasn’t what I saw before. More likely I just have results that don’t quite line up, or the cause of one is independent of the cause of the other. Either way, the dE uniformity isn’t perfect, but other than that one spot it remains below 2.0 for the rest of the screen and is a very good performer.
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cheinonen - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
The results are almost always the last 12 displays tested, as older ones rotate out of the spreadsheet and newer models rotate in. I'll try to grab the U2711 numbers for some of those, but the lag testing has totally changed since that was done, so the numbers might not be as accurate as they are now.JNo - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I agree with EnzoFX. Because this is Dell who update their monitor lines every couple of years, a comparison with their previous models is important to see what improvements they've been able to make (if any) and also to see if it's worth aiming for the previous model if its still 'good enough' but cheaper.Comparison with the U2711 is also interesting because uses CCFL (usually wider gamut) as opposed to WLED and will continue to be sold alongside the U2713HM.
We compare the iphone 5 with the 4S and the galaxy S3 with the S2 and the 7970 with the 6970 so why not the same with the monitor lines?
ChuckDriver - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
While it's nice to see Dell dropping the price below the $1,000 mark, I lost interest in this article when I saw that the price was still over twice that of a Korean 27" IPS LCD monitor off of eBay. It is true that you are rolling the dice when you purchase one, are getting fewer features, and poorly translated documentation but at that large of a difference, I'll go for it. I've also heard that MicroCenter is offering these Korean 27" IPS monitors in their stores, with the return policy that you'd expect from a local store, so I may stop inside the next time I'm near one of their stores and pick one up.mevans336 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Dell currently has this one sale for $559 USD.http://accessories.ap.dell.com/sna/productdetail.a...
Despoiler - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Ahh yah in Australia.peterfares - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
Dell Monitors in Australia are super cheap. I don't expect this monitor to drop much below $700 in the United States from the Dell website. You can get a Korean Catleap or Yamakasi for $290 shipped using fedex express 2 day from Korea. Or if you go to Microcenter they have the $400 models with extra ports and a scalar for $400 + tax.10101010 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
It'd be quite useful if there was a standardized test for optical distortion. The last Dell U2711 I tried had really bad distortion from the anti-glare coating. I ended up going with the Apple 27" display even though it is something of a pain to use with Windows 7. It is amazing to see the quality of ClearType without the distortion of today's low quality anti-glare coatings. I'd have to think there would be some tests that could be developed to test optical distortion that would give readers an objective measure of the quality of the anti-glare coatings in common use today.I've read that there are some Korean companies offering 27" displays that have no front glass and no AG coatings. That might be ideal for optical quality, but cleaning the screen would be perilous.
It'd be great if Dell, HP, or another company would offer a quality 27" display without an anti-glare coating. Anyone know of a non-Apple 27" 2560x1440 display that has a glass panel but no anti-glare coating and has a no bad pixel warranty?
ComputerGuy2006 - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
yeah I use the u2711, the antiglare coating is ridiculous. To this day I still see the 'sandy' look, its easily visible and obvious from the white textbox im typing this message from.Who knows what dell was thinking. Id prefer 0 anti glare over this any day of the week.
piroroadkill - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
It's actually on the LG panels, it's not Dell that applies it.Honestly, I think it's absolutely fine, and I prefer it to glossy by far.
Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Thursday, October 4, 2012 - link
I've been keeping an eye on 27" monitors for a while. I want a wide-gamut one, but for a long time all the complaining about the anti-glare coating held me back from making a purchase because otherwise the U2711 was the obvious best choice for me.Then one day I had a flash and did a search on the U2410, which I've been using for years, and found that the same complaint was being leveled against it too. I was basically like, "WHAT!? THIS is what you people have been b------- about!?"
I mean, don't get me wrong, the coating is a little aggressive. Do I mind how it looks? Heck no. Have I started watching LogicBuy for U2711 sales? Yup, I sure have.