Can PC monitors be too big? The Dell UltraSharp U2711 is certainly a machine that demands your attention. With its 27-inch widescreen. The capacity of its screen is seriously difficult to ignore and digital designers will be hard pushed to come up with too many reasons not to purchase it.
The Dell UltraSharp U2711 has a super high resolution screen. The monitor exhibits deep blacks while watching movies, vibrant color in games, has a robust onscreen display, and has a plethora of connection options. Dell’s UltraSharp U2711 is one of the best performing monitors we’ve seen but at $1,049, its price will be prohibitive to some buyers.
Dell UltraSharp U2711 is classified as a state of the art viewing display, and it’s easy to see why predominantly due to its 2,560 x 1,440 (WQHD) resolution, offering 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, 109 pixels per inch, and a super impressive 80,000:1 maximum dynamic contrast ratio (DCR).
The U2711 ensures that your blacks are deep, and your reds and other strong colours are bright. This can be attributed in part to the 12-bit internal processing that goes on beneath the hood, which enables 1.07 billon colours, and has the ability to decipher very low greyscale tones to deliver a greater level of details in dark areas.
The U2711 has a matte black chassis with a gray highlight running through the middle of the panel. The panel is 1.75 inches deep; however, the back of the display which houses the backlight, connection options, and ventilation system extends another 1.5 inches, bringing the full monitor depth to about 3.4 inches.
The panel width measures 25.4 inches long and the surface of the screen itself is a slightly frosted and smooth matte. The bezel measures 0.8 inch long on all sides. Its rectangular foot stand measures about 12.5 inches wide by 7.8 inches deep.
Dell includes a plethora of video connection options for the U2711, all located on its back, including VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort, Component, Composite, and two DVI ports. S-Video is the only missing connection, originally included on the 2408WFP. Also included are two downstream USB ports, one upstream port, an audio out port, and a speaker port. Accessing these connections was fairly easy; we were only hampered by the lack of a pivot feature on the monitor.
On the left side of the panel are two additional USB downstream ports and one card reader port compatible with xD-Picture cards, MultiMedia cards, Secure Digital cards, and Sony Memory Sticks. In power consumption the Dell U2711 drew 93.72 watts in its Default/On mode more than the HP 2709′s 85.51 watts and less than the HP LP3065′s 133.62 watts.
The optimal viewing angle for a monitor is usually directly in front, about a quarter of the screen’s distance down from the top. At this angle, you’re viewing the colors and gamma correction as they were intended. Most monitors are made to be viewed only at that angle. Depending on its panel type, monitor picture quality at non-optimal angles varies.
Dell used an H-IPS panel to make the U2711, which usually shows only minimal color shifts with angle changes. On the U2410, we noticed a faint white glow when viewing dark images at off angles and a dark shadow when viewing light images in the same way, about 120 degrees to the left or right and even less from above. The shift isn’t as dramatic as with a TN panel, but it was slightly more dramatic than with the 2408WFP; however, its color didn’t shift as much as the perceived brightness did.
Dell backs the UltraSharp U2711 with a solid warranty, including a three year, parts and labor warranty covering the backlight. It also offers support through a 24/7 toll free number, 24/7 Web chat. Dell also has a fast 24 to 48 hour e-mail turnaround time a better package than most monitor vendors, which don’t offer weekend support. Navigating Dell’s Web site and finding the drivers, product manuals, and quick guides was simple.
Overall, we were very impressed with the features and colors on the U2711. It performs as well as any professional monitor. The U2711 shows a real pioneering attitude towards colour presentation across dual monitors that many similar-sized competitor solutions will be hard pushed to match.
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