Monitor - Dell S2440L

[redstern]

Quick specs:

• Glossy IPS panel
• 60Hz
• 1920x1080
• 6ms response time
• 5000:1 contrast ratio
• 24"

I have had this monitor for a year or 2, and the experience has been overall pretty good, although there are some big problems that need to be mentioned.  So start with the good.  The picture quality is great, the colors and contrast are very deep and is very nice to look at.  However, when looking at a dark picture, the backlight bleed is atrocious.  All around the edges and up to a centimeter in are very noticably brighter with the left edge in particular being the worst.  There is also some nociable ghosting with movement in high contrast such as text scrolling.  As for on screen menu navigation, this is my least favorite part of this monitor.  On the bottom right corner are 5 particularly terrible capacitive buttons.  First, they are extremely picky about where exactly you need to touch for them to work, and second, none of the buttons with the exception of the power button have any designated functions.  Regardless of which one you press, it pulls up the main menu, from there each button will be mapped to up, down, enter, back.  This means that even changing inputs, which should just be a dedicated button, requires navigating through the full menu.  Now on to the physical aspects.  The back has only a VGA and an HDMI, however there is a lip below the ports that makes plugging in connectors difficult.  The monitor also uses an external power brick, making the monitor a bit thinner and lighter, and allowing the monitor to run significantly cooler at the cost of taking up a bit more space if you care.  The stand is pretty unimpressive as it can only tilt up or down, and not very far either.  I should also add, that my stand seems to be defective as my monitor doesn't stand straight, it tilts to the left a bit, and I have to put quarters under the left side to keep it straight.  I should have returned it, but I didn't.  The bezels are pretty thick at about 3/4 of an inch.  The screen and bezels are covered with either glass or gloss coated plexiglass, I can't tell.  Despite the many flaws mentioned, the viewing experience is still good if backlight bleed and some ghosting doesn't bother you, although the initial setup can be tricky due to awekwardly positioned ports. 

 

Quick summary:

 

• Very good overall image quality, very deep contrast and accurate colors.
• Horrible backlight bleed around entire border
• Some noticable ghosting in high contrast movement, such as text scrolling.
• Terrible menu buttons
• External power brick
• Awkwardly positioned VGA and HDMI ports
• Not very good stand

[flibberdipper]

I came here expecting sexy pics. I left disappointed.

[Psykocys]

I have this monitor and i have to say i agree with all of this, that summary is a spot on description of how i feel about this monitor minus the stand issues mine is not defective. Im spying that new 3440x1440 asus curved monitor they just showed at computex.