That's really a pretty good deal for a 24" IPS panel, I've got the Dell U2711 and really like it.
This HP is actually a better buy, (IMHO, than the U2412M):
http://www.amazon.com/NEW-ZR24w-S-I...4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1311789632&sr=1-4 I have my suspicions that it may be the same panel, but HP has chosen 400 nits brightness rather than drop it to 300!
I have a Dell U2311;
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?cs=19&c=us&l=en&sku=320-9270 in addition to the HP I linked above. The U2311 comes at 300 nits brightness, and while it's great with everything pegged, I wonder if the reduced brightness will become an issue as the panel ages!
The HP can be turned down quite a bit, and actually must be, in order to match the brightness between the two screens.
Contrast ratio is directly dependent on backlight brightness, and as long as the TFT panel itself can maintain detail in both the shadows and highlights, the brighter the backlight, the higher the potential contrast.
Reducing the brightness seems to pander to the consumer's need to feel that he or she is being, "environmentally responsible", but it sucks if you actually want to get any work done, or perhaps simply marvel at how beautifully a large, bright, IPS monitor renders images.
No HDMI, well that's no fun ;P
HDMI requires a license fee, hence manufacturers are choosing to provide display port, which does not! I'm linking this HDMI topc thread;
https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic167633.html so you'll realize that this discussion might be considered, "deja vu all over again".
Hurr, I just bought a Dell U2210H for $215 and love it; might get one of these in the future, thought maybe by then they'll have a fast responding IPS screen. =o
Well, the E2210 is a TN display. So, while you may be happy with it, it seems slightly out of context here. (?) Although, I suppose an endorsement of Dell's overall quality carries merit.
Response time is a primary talking point aimed at gamers. The faster the better, I suppose. But once upon a time, IPS response times were on the order of 16ms, not the 6 to 8 of today's screens. So, aversion to IPS tech for gaming, may be partly a holdover from the, "good old days". I don't game, so I can't swear to it, but many reviewers have stated that today's IPS panels are indeed fast enough to be useful in the gaming arena.
I'm not sure how long you may have to hold your breath on a "fast", (2-3 ms), responding IPS panel though. It seems, that absolute speed is the trade off you have to make for accurate color. But yeah, maybe someday.
"AdobeRGB coverage is down from 110% to 96% and color support is down from 1.07 billion to 16.7 million"
Awww what why would they downgrade it? This is terrible.
"Adobe RGB" (Adobe 1998)'s color space is much greater than standard RGB, which is what the web handles. In other words, you can transmit a color space greater the standard over the web, you just can't view it.
The differential numbers of the colors displayed really isn't all that worth talking about, Sensational maybe, but relevant, hardly.
I believe both HP and Dell's higher end IPS monitors are either 10 or 12 bit color depth. This new crop of lower priced offerings are 8 bit, as is Jpeg, and almost all of the filters in Photoshop.
Without dithering, TN panels are only 6 bit color depth, and that really isn't adequate for imaging work.
So, nothing's been downgraded, these are sensible products, now priced within reach of many more people.
With the list price set @ $399.00, I expect that any promotions on this monitor, might bring the price down to perhaps $350.00. That would restore the price point differential, at least to a degree, between this, and Dell's higher end product.
In any event, I would still opt for the HP 24" I linked above for the brightness, but certainly not over the color space issue, since the coverage is the same between the Dell and HP offerings.