Best 1440p monitor for £500

Does anyone know if the U2713H is any better in terms of quality control?

I don't need nor want the amazing colour reproduction, but I also don't want a monitor that will make me regret my purchase.
 
I don't think the H model is really that great for gaming though? It's more of a professional monitor. Think it has more lag / motion blur than the HM.

Just go for the Asus pb278q which is just as good as the Dell but without so many QC issues. In hindsight, I'd have paid the extra £75 and bought the Asus.
 
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I haven't played games on a computer in about 12 years :)

Not sure about the ASUS. I have a mental block against them because of the perceived inferior quality. I have no way of justifying these feelings, but I had a Dell 2405FPW for many years and utterly adored it.
 
Don't forget, the U2713H is a 10 bit wide gamut colour display, and as almost everything is made for a standard gamut most stuff will be over saturated on the H, go for a 8 bit panel.
 
thewanted said:
I haven't played games on a computer in about 12 years :)

Not sure about the ASUS. I have a mental block against them because of the perceived inferior quality. I have no way of justifying these feelings, but I had a Dell 2405FPW for many years and utterly adored it.
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I just upgraded from the Dell 2405FPW after having it for about 8 years (great monitor), it was dying of worn out buttons and bad image retention at the top of the screen because of the heat the back light gives off, plus I wanted HDCP.

So after having the Benq XL2720T for a few days and returning it because it was awful even without the horrendous back light bleed I got the PB278Q and I'm happy.
 
Well, I'm still not happy with the backlight on this monitor. Called dell for another replacement and they refused to send one and offered me a full refund instead. So I've now got a decision to either stick with my old 2407wfp or go for a different model 27 inch.

Choices are: Asus, viewsonic or push the boat out for the Samsung 970d.

Opinions?
 
Same boat as you dude. Gone back to my 720p 20" lol. I think the samsung is lovely but WAAAAYYYYY too much. The Asus doesn't look amazing but has to be better than the Dell.
 
Tobes said:
Same boat as you dude. Gone back to my 720p 20" lol. I think the samsung is lovely but WAAAAYYYYY too much. The Asus doesn't look amazing but has to be better than the Dell.
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The annoying thing is, the dell would be great if I could get one without a shoddy backlight. The Asus looks decent but I have doubts about Asus as a top tier monitor manufacturer. Love the look of the Samsung and the reviews are great but the cheapest price is still nearly £700 :(

That leaves the viewsonic at just over £500. Decisions decisions.
 
Could get the Samsung S27A850D instead? Cheaper with the same screen as the S27B970D, just not as fancy form factor.

I ordered the Dell U2713HM yesterday for £400, hopefully get it tomorrow :).
 
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Fanatic said:
Could get the Samsung S27A850D instead? Cheaper with the same screen as the S27B970D, just not as fancy form factor.
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There is a lot more to it than just looks (and the glossy vs. semi glossy screen). The panel may be the same (or similar) but what Samsung has done with it is completely different. Obviously there is a lot more to a monitor than just its panel. The S27A970D tends to provide exceptional uniformity and is beautifully calibrated out of the box with regard to gamma, colour, white point and greyscale performance. Hardware calibration, a 16-bit LUT and uniformity compensation is also provided. This may seem like a big string of jargon but it makes a huge difference to the end result (i.e. the image). The S27A850D is not calibrated so tightly (iffy white point and gamma as standard), lacks the same colour processing capabilities and tends to suffer from poor uniformity (with no compensation technology). Plus it can't be hardware calibrated.
 
Fanatic said:
Could get the Samsung S27A850D instead? Cheaper with the same screen as the S27B970D, just not as fancy form factor.

I ordered the Dell U2713HM yesterday for £400, hopefully get it tomorrow :).
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PCM2 said:
There is a lot more to it than just looks (and the glossy vs. semi glossy screen). The panel may be the same (or similar) but what Samsung has done with it is completely different. Obviously there is a lot more to a monitor than just its panel. The S27A970D tends to provide exceptional uniformity and is beautifully calibrated out of the box with regard to gamma, colour, white point and greyscale performance. Hardware calibration, a 16-bit LUT and uniformity compensation is also provided. This may seem like a big string of jargon but it makes a huge difference to the end result (i.e. the image). The S27A850D is not calibrated so tightly (iffy white point and gamma as standard), lacks the same colour processing capabilities and tends to suffer from poor uniformity (with no compensation technology). Plus it can't be hardware calibrated.
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Is the 970d worth the premium price of nearly 700? I'm leaning towards the viewsonic at the moment but if the Samsung is genuinely worth the money I may consider it.
 
IvanDobskey said:
Is the 970d worth the premium price of nearly 700? I'm leaning towards the viewsonic at the moment but if the Samsung is genuinely worth the money I may consider it.
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Tough question. It sort of depends what you need to do with the monitor. The ViewSonic is generally regarded as having lower input lag but it doesn't have the same precision with its colour processing that the Samsung has and tends to have poorer uniformity.

The ViewSonic is really nicely set up out of the box as it is and is generally regarded as having good uniformity for blacks (i.e. low backlight bleed) just like the Samsung. There may be a touch more clouding on average than on the Samsung but given the phenomenon of 'PLS glow' on both I don't think this is significant at all, especially when gaming. And speaking of gaming I don't think that you'd really appreciate or notice the difference in colour processing or uniformity of other lighter colours.

You may prefer the glossy Samsung screen (with extremely light matte surface on the panel itself) over the semi-glossy ViewSonic or it could be the other way around. The Samsung has a little more 'pop' to colours and gives them a sort of painted on look. But the ViewSonic is still very rich and vibrant whilst not having potential problems with reflections. I'm actually typing this message on a Samsung S27B971D which is basically a semi-glossy version of the S27B970D (more expensive at the moment) and the colours really are very rich and vibrant just like on the ViewSonic.
 
PCM2 said:
Tough question. It sort of depends what you need to do with the monitor. The ViewSonic is generally regarded as having lower input lag but it doesn't have the same precision with its colour processing that the Samsung has and tends to have poorer uniformity.

The ViewSonic is really nicely set up out of the box as it is and is generally regarded as having good uniformity for blacks (i.e. low backlight bleed) just like the Samsung. There may be a touch more clouding on average than on the Samsung but given the phenomenon of 'PLS glow' on both I don't think this is significant at all, especially when gaming. And speaking of gaming I don't think that you'd really appreciate or notice the difference in colour processing or uniformity of other lighter colours.

You may prefer the glossy Samsung screen (with extremely light matte surface on the panel itself) over the semi-glossy ViewSonic or it could be the other way around. The Samsung has a little more 'pop' to colours and gives them a sort of painted on look. But the ViewSonic is still very rich and vibrant whilst not having potential problems with reflections. I'm actually typing this message on a Samsung S27B971D which is basically a semi-glossy version of the S27B970D (more expensive at the moment) and the colours really are very rich and vibrant just like on the ViewSonic.
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Cheers for taking the time to write this, appreciate it :)

I'm reading that the viewsonic isn't great for games though? Poor response times being mentioned?
 
aatu said:
HP ZR2740W could be a fine choice (note: it doesn't have HDMI). It was briefly mentioned before, but didn't get much attention. It's around £500, and has been for quite a while, was around £400 at some point, but doesn't seem to be coming down in price again...

Specs and review here:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/hp_zr2740w_v2.htm
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This is one I hadn't really considered before. Might be worth looking into.

Cheers
 
Just got a 2713HM, and am pleased to report I (think!!) have a good one! There is a tiny bit of lightbleed at the bottom just left of centre, but that seems to be the case with all IPS panels, but nothing that can be seen in normal use, and on a black screen you have to look closely. Its a Rev A00 Sept 2012.

I've got it connected via dual link dvi at the moment. Is displayport any better or no different in image quality?
 
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