Dell Ultrasharp U2410 Monitor review (A00)

1. Introduction2. The Dell Ultrasharp U2410 (1)3. The Dell Ultrasharp U2410 (2)4. Performance Testing5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

Aesthetics and panel implementation aside, the all important factor is image quality. I can immediately say that my initial impressions were very positive, right out of the box, the U2410 gives significantly better results than the lower end SP2309W. Understandable considering the price bracket mind you.

The U2410 excelled with our colour image and greyscale testing and it was able to resolve a fantastic amount of detail with even the most subtle of changes – helped in part by the 12 bit colour processing implementation. Banding was almost non existent and reminded me of the ultra high end Samsung LED screens I used in the past.  Focusing quality is also very high and I measured only minor backlighting inconsistency in the two lower corners. The display recorded fantastic results with fine, thin text display, significantly superior to the SP2309W.

The Dell Ultrasharp panel delivers a 96 percent reach of the Adobe RGB colour space helped by the exclusive PremierColour system paired with the 12 bit processing. DDC/CI profiles are fully supported and clearly Dell are aiming to impress professional designers who work for publications as the panel also offers adjustment for CMYK. Each U2410 is delivered with a pre calibration sheet, direct from Dell which also gives a unique reference number and they detail results from Greyscale, Delta and Gamma testing in the factory.

We used a colorimeter to calibrate the screen and it only made the slightest of tweaks to the settings, meaning Dell got it pretty much spot on before it shipped – professionals will certainly appreciate the colour quality on the screen. The viewing angles are also some of the most impressive we have seen with very little contrast shift evident. There is however a very slight pulsing glow when viewing dark images at reasonable off angle positions – around 110 degrees or so. Don't confuse this with the same issue as commonly seen on TN panels – it is just a minor brightness shift.

Colour reproduction is not perfect however and we noticed some slightly compressed tones at the upper/light register which had an ever so slight magenta tinge. It is not really noticeable to the eye, but our recording equipment documented the slight shift. Our A00 revision has rectified the static dithering issues in Adobe RGB and sRGB preset modes. Before the A00 Revision there were only 253 shades available out of 256 which generally relates to a full 8 bit scope.

Dell claim a 400 CD/m2 rating for the panel and we recorded around 430, so its performing higher than Dell's own rating … something we don't often see.

Dell Ultrasharp U2410	Average Watts per hour
On (Default luminance)	62.50
On (Calibrated 200 cd/m2)	54.78
On (Max Luminance)	97.43
On (Min Luminance)	37.56
Sleep	0.35

Power consumption tests show a reasonable drain, neither at the low or high scale of consumption. It is reasonably efficient when calibrated and the maximum luminance setting is basically unusable as it would hurt your eyes long term.

The results above show just minor bleeding, more noticeable on the bottom left corners of the screen, these are really good results and some of the best we have recorded in this price bracket.

We measured a contrast ratio of 942:1 which while falling short of the rated figures, is a pretty good result. Gaming on the panel is a pleasure, with no noticeable lag. We tested with various games and engines such as Crysis Warhead and Colin McRae Dirt 2. Watching movies was also very enjoyable with rich, deep blacks matched up with vibrant, clean highlight tones – no banding or lagging was evident in our real world testing either.

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