U2410 Upgrade Is It Worth It - I Read The U2410 Thread

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closers

Gawd
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Feb 6, 2010
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I have an offer to get two used U2410 November 09 A00 for $700 - all I have to do is drive two hours to get them. My question is would it be worth it?

I would be using these displays for non-critical medical imaging. We use NEC's at work, but I don't feel like spending 5K for a pair for home use.

Currently I am using two 2408WFP PVA displays that are pretty much perfect on cursory inspection with the Lagom site (bar documented input lag which I can care less about).

I have read over 100 posts about the U2410 on the DELL thread and the one here. I am still on the fence about the tinting issue. It seems to be quite widespread and some panels seem to develop it over time. (Though I think it's a bit excessive for some people to take pictures and edit them to noticeably display the problem.)
 
I love my U2410s, but I guess the question would be what are you trying to get out of upgrading your 2408WFPs? I don't know if there would be much of a noticeable difference.
 
I'd say if you're not to picky about tinting issues or any others for that matter, I'd say get it.

I used to have the A00 w/ dithering and did not like it even getting another one. In the end, Dell the dropped the ball so I ended up returning both. But now, they seem to have been getting better (i think).

I'm still in the market for this monitor as well. Just waiting on a good enough price point to jump in.
 
Trying to get a heartache!

Is $350 a good price point used? I feel eventually LG might get their act together and when the new models come out these might be had for $350 new.
 
Thanks for the link wish some more of the tests for the U2410 were filled in.

I want color accuracy more than anything else not how they look subjectively. And the comparison shows the IPS does shine in that respect. $350 used doesn't sound amazing come to think of it though.
 
closers said:
Thanks for the link wish some more of the tests for the U2410 were filled in.

I want color accuracy more than anything else not how they look subjectively. And the comparison shows the IPS does shine in that respect. $350 used doesn't sound amazing come to think of it though.
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If you want color accuracy and to get a new monitor, then you should be looking at the Dell U2311H's they are around 250$ with the cupons going around and come with the best color presets. Same Quality Control issues apply though.

U2311H Review:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2311h.htm

2408 Review for reference (First Version not sure which one you have, you chould use TFT centrals settings and ICC profile to improve color accuracy)
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_2408wfp.htm

U2410
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2410.htm


What you really should be doing is purchasing a colorimeter like the Xrite Eye One Display 2 (under 300$) or Lacie Blu Eye Pro (400$?), this way you can keep your 2408's and get excellent calibrated results.
 
closers said:
I have read over 100 posts about the U2410 on the DELL thread and the one here. I am still on the fence about the tinting issue. It seems to be quite widespread and some panels seem to develop it over time.
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They either come with the tint issue from day 1 or they don't have it. What can change is the backlight on the panel, which "yellows" over time as it loses brightness with use, and that may or may not affect things. However I don't think this is a huge factor with regards to tint, particularly when it's severe.

So screens either have tint issues or they don't, direct from the factory, and it's immediately apparently when tint is severe as soon as you view a uniform light coloured (white / light grey etc) background. If you will mainly view content with non-uniform non-static backgrounds (TV/Movies/Games etc) or you are not very sensitive to things like TN panel colour shift then tint is more likely to be less bothersome. If you are sensitive to things like TN colour shift and are picky about image quality then it's a good bet that tint is more liable to annoy you..

Since, unlike some NEC / Eizo screens, the Dell U2410 does not come with corrective controls, the only option available is simply to reduce the red/green/blue values to minimize the tints present. If it is very mild this actually works quite well. If it's more obvious then there is no fix, other than to switch panels.

(Though I think it's a bit excessive for some people to take pictures and edit them to noticeably display the problem.)
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Ok then, tell me this.. You have an issue which is extremely obvious in front of your eyes. However a digital camera doesn't handle looking at a bright white light nearly as well as your eyes do, and they tend to make the tint issue look a LOT more mild than it actually is (in person) because much of the colour nuance is lost. Do you post a photo even though that's not what you're actually seeing? Or do you boost the saturation of the colours already present in the image to clearly demonstrate what the issue is? (Even though that, conversely, exaggerates the problem :) )

Remember, a year ago most people didn't have a clear understanding of what IPS tint issues were, other than they'd heard a little bit about it with the HP LP2475w. So, when I posted photos, I took the decision to boost the saturation +88 in Photoshop so people more clearly understood what the issue was..

This particular type of LG panel used in the U2410 is probably more prone to reports of tint partly due to the very wide gamut, which boosts any colour flaws, since the wide gamut makes reds more red and greens more green (and that's probably why there's a heavy bias towards reports of green / pink tints). In reality, from everything I've seen (and personally experienced), blue tint is also just as common, it's just a bit less noticeable, and people may mistake it for a backlight issue :)

The heavy anti-glare coating may also contribute to some perception of tint, and the viewing angle can definitely make it worse too. But the bottom line (in my opinion) is if a person can live with a screen which has severe tint then they'd probably be a lot better off saving a lot of money and just buying a TN panel..

Other than the tint issue, the other negatives are the messed up gamma curves outside of Adobe/sRGB mode, the fact that Custom Colour mode adjustments don't appear to use the LUT (and thus are subject to very obvious banding problems with Hue adjustments), and the fact that Dell don't make anything available to 3rd parties so their calibration utilities can utilize the U2410's onboard LUT (so they can't get results as good as the provided sRGB/Adobe modes). That said, even with those negatives, the U2410 is a very good screen in my opinion.. But then, I stuck it out and got one without tint issues, so I'm happy with it. Personally I couldn't live with the tint issue (I did actually try to :) ) YMMV..
 
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closers said:
$350 used doesn't sound amazing come to think of it though.
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Hmm, it's not too bad considering there's probably more than 2 years left on the guarantee (caveat: Provided it comes with the relevant numbers so you can properly take over the warranty). However, with the HP ZR24W now in the picture, it's a lot less of a deal than it might've been :)
 
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Saw it in person today. Tint was very noticeable on one of them, more mild on the other. Decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Thanks for everyone's input. The HP looks interesting and suspiciously inexpensive, although the base looks very cheap.
 
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