Dell UltraSharp U2711 27-inch Price Review

Experience a revolutionary screen performance with the DellTM UltraSharpTM U2711 27 inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor. With an remaining resolution of 2560×1440 (WQHD) pixels, this monitor delivers stunning detail, depth and responsiveness. Coupled with a dynamic contrast percentage of 80000:1 and a fast answer time of six ms, you may be able to enjoy great color intensity like deep blacks and bright reds, razor sharp graphics and text. Also, with a 16:9 widescreen part percentage, this monitor produces smart color and excellent detail for high definition graphics. Also, with a color gamut of 110 gives vibrant, true to life color across all display modes. Equipped with four USB ports and a media card reader let easy connection of peripherals like cameras and game consoles. Intended for comfort and convenience, this monitor comes with height adjustable stand, tilt and swivel features that make it simple for collaborative looking at. Also, the In Plane Switching technology (IPS), lets superb color consistency if you are sitting in front of the display or standing off at an angle. With all these features and more, the DellTM UltraSharp U2711 27 inch widescreen monitor lends distinctive style and sophistication to your desk and compliments your lifestyle. Dell branded monitors undergo exhaustive testing for performance, dependability, durability and compatibility with Dell systems.

75 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars Phenomenal, April 8, 2010
By Parka (Singapore) See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) This review is from: Dell UltraSharp U2711 27 inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor Max Resolution 2560 x 1440 (WQHD) (Personal Computers) I have had this monitor for a month now and I have to say that it is phenomenal. I used the Dell 2405FPW for five years till the U2711 has been released, nearly agreeing the resolution of the 30 inch (2560 by 1600), at nearly half the price. It is a bargain.

The resolution is remaining at 2560 by 1440. Yes, there is 160 pixels missing from the bottom in comparison to a common 30 inch, but coming up from 1920 by 1200 it does not really matter.

The colours are vibrant, which is great. The text is a bit smaller, of a size you usually see on 13 inch laptops. It took me a while to get used to the smaller font size.

This set is still non glossy. But seemingly, Dell applied many anti glare covering. I have read on forums that many customers disliked it but I have no problem with it I did not detect it was there.

Compared to a 24 inch (1920 by 1200px), the U2711 is not much taller, it is much wider. I can fit two webpages, 1024px each, and still be able to see icons on the desktop.

Backlight bleeding is barely obvious. It means if your widescreen movies still show the letterbox black bars, you will be less distracted.

The U2711 also works well with my PS3 via HDMI. I am not sure of the audio potential but I use a 2.1 speaker plugged in with a 3.5mm jack. One thing be aware of is you will have to set the audio settings on your PS3 to output 2.1 sound to be sure they output all the sound, dialogue, effects, surround, etc.

Gaming on the PS3 is enjoyable. The games are upscaled and there is a notch of graininess. Not really an issue unless you are sitting really close. Everything looks snappy and I do not notice any lag but I am do not really play FPS games.

Note that this monitor could require a decent graphics card with dual DVI output. If you want to game at the maximum resolution, then you need a powerful card.

This is a big physical monitor. My table is really small and it took up nearly half of it. But not regrets.

I managed to get this LCD at US$690 equivalent in Asia, Singapore. It is well worth it. This set is going to last me for a long time, till the slimmer LED variant comes out in who knows which year.

I could recommend this monitor to graphic designers, photographers or anybody who multi task many.

For Mac Users

I’m using this on a Mac Pro and powered it on two graphic card, not both simultaneously. It is plug and play, no drivers obliged.

On the ATI Radeon X1900XT, you will not be able to see the dual boot screen if you hold Alt after the startup (that’s if you are using Boot Camp). On the ATI Radeon 4870, it works just flawlessly.

For technical reviews, just visit the links in my comment section. I found and used them while researching on the U2711.

Update: 21 Jul 2011

After a year or my Dell monitor started having light flicker. It looks to influence just the DVI (both ports). I called up Dell and they sent me a substitute (refurbished) monitor the next day to my doorstep. Did not lose any downtime. Excellent service.

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47 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of five stars Overly violent anti glare covering, October 19, 2010
By Amba (Palo Alto, CA) See all my reviews This review is from: Dell UltraSharp U2711 27 inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor Max Resolution 2560 x 1440 (WQHD) (Personal Computers) I had to give U2711 to my colleague and get back to U2410 as the anti glare covering on the U2711 is a big overkill for text work (I usually work with text). It’s most likely nice for photo editing, as it’ll kill all the reflections and glare, but it renders text fuzzy and white background looks low contrast and fuzzy.
As much as I dislike glossy displays, same panel on Apple’s 27″ makes for better text contrast and easy reading, when you see your reflection in the screen.

I wish it was 19:10 format (say 2400×1500)

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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of five stars Beware the anti glare covering, January 17, 2011
By B. Lee See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) This review is from: Dell UltraSharp U2711 27 inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor Max Resolution 2560 x 1440 (WQHD) (Personal Computers) First, full disclosure: I have tried this monitor with a couple macs. Also overall I am a big fan of Dell monitors, I have two now at home (where I do many of photo image processing) and I have had nothing but Dell monitors at work for many years (where I do scientific image processing). I have never had a complaint about their monitors, overall the Ultrasharp series are great quality for a great price.

On to this monitor: I have had two of these now, and while I really like the size and resolution I think I am going to give up. The 1st one had some bad pixels, pretty bad backlight bleedthrough in one corner (and obvious in all four corners) and one black corner. (How do you get a corner to bleedthrough when it is black and be black when it is light?) On that one the top level of the screen also seemed to not fit quite right, it could make a pop sound when I tried to clean the screen like it moved or warped. The second one had more serious backlight bleedthough in only one corner, , then one spot along the top of the screen. It was observable in normal computer use, not just black scenes. So either I am very unlucky or the quality control is just not what it should be. None of the other Dell monitors I have used have had a single bad pixel or this level of bleedthrough.

And then there is the really puzzling anti glare covering. It is not a matte finish like the other Dell monitors I have had, it is more coarse and kind of sparkly. When the screen is bright it is really annoying, when there is any room light it makes the screen look washed out. It is intolerable for photo editing, which is what I got this monitor for it makes my pictures look noisy and speckled. And again, all of this is compared to other Dell monitors. I’d never considered to get a glossy screen for photo editing before looking at photos on this screen, but that could be better than this. Best could be a matte finish like their older monitors had.

I got this monitor for photo editing due to resolution, size, and color calibration. But the uneven backlight & bleedthrough and sparkly covering make it completely unsuitable for that. I guess it is going back.

A couple updates:

First: I bought this direct from Dell, and I’d have to say their buyer service is so bad that I am not sure how they stay in business. I will not bore you with the details (what I am writing here it a tiny fraction but already more than enough) you may be able to find many stories across the web about the some number of hour long calls with infinite transfers till someone accidentally hangs up on you. Count on any interaction with them taking some number of hours spread out over some days before you end up talking to a US established rep who can really do something (several of the abroad reps told me outright that they aren’t authorized to do anything other than charge you more money or move you).

Anyway, when I got to a US established rep when I called about the problems with the second monitor, he said no problem just return it and they’d issue a full refund. Quite nice of them I thought. Only they never issued the refund, and when I’d call or email nobody could ever help. I had to take it up with my credit card company, and they issued a full refund after looking over the tracking info and (with me on the line) talking to a Dell rep who was so unhelpful that the bank rep hung up on him. They gave Dell something like 45 days to react, which Dell never did, so the refund became permanent. After that Dell contacted me again asking if it was ok for them to charge me again now that the bank issued me refund. (?!?) The bank/credit card company was really _very_ unhappy that Dell contacted me again after the fact, saying that it violated their contract with the credit card company, and insisted that Dell not contact me again. (Which they haven’t.) So yeah, Dell looks barely working these days both by quality control and buyer service. That is a bad mix.

Second, in case anyone’s wondering if the U3011 has these same problems (I was): I am using a Dell U3011 part of the time at work now. It has the same annoying anti glare covering, but the backlight uniformity looks much better. As well, since the pixels are bigger on the U3011, you are not tempted to sit as close, so I do not notice the antiglare covering on it as much it gives me the impression that it is not as bad, but I think it is just that I am sitting more away. I still think it could bother me when it came to photo editing, and I do not think I’d get one for that, but in other use it is not that obvious.

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