Outstanding contrast and brightness levels, but its
shiny display will drive you crazy.
Dell S2740L
It is very easy to get distracted by Dell's S2740L. It is
not because of the attractive frameless 27-inch IPS display, its 1,92x1,080 resolution
or its not expensive price, but because of how shiny it is.
The screen itself is placed 3mm away from the edge-to-edge
glass surface. This makes both the display and the 3mm inlay reflect back on each
other, which makes the screen seem to spread over the edge of the monitor while
at the same time reflecting a thick black line down to the edge of the display.
This is very irritating; tilting the screen and reducing the brightness and
contrast levels can’t do anything to stop this effect.
This is such a shame, because that extra shiny display makes
colors look excellent, and our solid color tests produced some of the brightest
and liveliest reds, blues and greens we've ever seen. Blacks were really black
and our solid white images just made our reference screen look extremely grey
if compared.
Wide open space
The S2740L's wide viewing angle is equally impressive,
although it is blocked by reflections in any direction. This made viewing high
contrast images almost impossible in our vividly lit office, since the reflections
destroyed all the details in the dark parts of each photo. Dark scenes in games
and films were frustrating the same way to view. In darkness, its contrast
levels are excellent, although we still had a few problems with reflections,
even in nearly mere darkness.
It did a quite good job in our image tests, and our color calibrator
showed it was displaying 96.3% of the sRGB color gamut right at the beginning.
This percentage is significantly higher than Dell's own estimate of 84%, but
still less than what we expected from an IPS panel. We've seen cheaper TN panels
that scores higher than this, and IPS panels are meant to have more accurate
color coverage. We couldn’t increase this after calibration, which means the S2740L
is a good but just average IPS monitor.
The S2740L has a good range of inputs, which includes a VGA
input for older PCs, HDMI, and one DVI-D input which supports HDCP. There's
also a 3.5mm audio output for headphones or external speakers, and two USB
ports. These are useful for connecting your mouse and keyboard if your PC lies
on the floor and you don't want to crawl under your desk to attach every little
thing.
Regrettably, the S2740L's design makes accessing these ports
another quite tiring activity, as they're hidden under a plastic cover on the back
of the monitor and half-covered by its large and fixed stand. The stand's 215mm
base will also occupy a rather large portion of your desk.
The S2740L's wide
viewing angle is equally impressive.
Outside the darkness
The S2740L makes a bad daily monitor. Just use it in a dark
room where there's no risk of reflection and your images will become truly
lively! It’s sad to say, this is not sufficient to ignore its serious
reflection problem, and other 27-inch monitors out there, such as AOC's award winning
e2752Vq, are better and cheaper as well. AOC's monitor may not have Dell's
stylish design, but we would exchange it for the S2740L at any given moment.
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Info
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Price: $470 incl. VAT
·
Ranking: 4/5
Specifications
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Screen size: 12.1MP (4000x3000)
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Resolution: 1,920x1,080
·
Contrast ratio: 1000:1 (8.000.000:1 dynamic)
·
Brightness: 270cd/m2
·
Ports: VGA, DVI, HDMI
·
Power consumption: 1W standby, 21W on
·
Warranty: one-year RTB
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