Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsExceeds expectations. If this is your price point, then this is your monitor.
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2015
I bought this display primarily as a camera monitor for making largely boring YouTube videos. What I wanted was a very wide viewing angle, a crisp picture, and good color depth and contrast for a couple of hundred bucks.
For the price, this monitor is amazing. It absolutely exceeded my expectations.
Dell's site lists the viewing angle as 178 degrees both horizontally and vertically. There is a little bit of darkening of the far side of the screen when viewed nearly from the side, but I also own decent quality IPS monitors from HP and Asus and this Dell beats them out.
Fresh from the factory the colors look great. They can probably use some tweaking, but the first thing I did with the monitor was throw on a couple of my own videos that I graded (not that I know what I'm doing), and they looked "right".
White and grey fields were very consistent and even, except at extreme viewing angles. With a black field I was slightly disappointed with a noticeable backlight bleed in the lower-right corner when viewing straight on. It's pretty minor, and has a very smooth gradation which helps it from popping through unless the screen is very very dark.
Contrast looks great, both in videos and in color charts. As with everything, this is a relatively cheap monitor so it's not perfect. But at this price point it's gotta be one of the best IPS displays out there.
I work in IT, so I've handled a lot of monitors. This one has a quality feel. The fit and finish are very consistent, it has a nice weight (maybe "nice density" is a better term) and solidity. Though the stand lacks height adjustment (not often seen at this price anyhow) and the vertical swivel range is pretty small, it's pretty solid. The base isn't very wide, so if you press down on the top corner on either side it could easily tip over. (But why would you do that?)
I haven't tested the speakers, because .. well, I didn't buy it for the speakers, and I'm going to take a guess and say that they're not very good.
One awesome thing that I didn't see in the other reviews is that the monitor uses exactly the same power supply as Dell's low-end business laptops. The connector and power specifications (19.5V / 3.34A) makes it compatible with most of Dell's entire range of laptops. I know that doesn't sound so important, but if you have a Dell laptop and the power supply dies on you then you can just pull the one off your monitor while you wait for a replacement. If you've ever been stuck with a dead laptop, you know that could be a huge plus. It's also great because a replacement PSU for the monitor is extremely easy to find. (And you can trust me on this.. the monitor's PSU is currently powering and charging my trusty old Latitude E5410.)
Oh, and I know that there's an Acer out there that's a bit cheaper with similar specs. The main reason I chose this one is because of the VESA mounting holes. Also, the Acer has ports that are rear-facing. If you're concerned about aesthetics, the S2415H has down-facing connectors, and a removable bezel to cover them. It's kinda irrelevant for me, but it's another little touch that puts the monitor above the rest.
It comes with an HDMI cable, instructions, and a driver/whatever CD. Everything went in the garbage besides the HDMI cable. It's a real cheap cable -- not gold-plated -- but it's better than no cable at all. There is no VGA nor analog audio cable, both of which the monitor does support.
Oh, and something I didn't realize until after I'd ordered: It has a glossy screen. For me that's not a problem, but it's not mentioned in the description here on Amazon. (It is mentioned in a couple of reviews, so if you're already down to mine then you probably already know that. Shame on me for not thoroughly reading the reviews first. ;) ).
Obviously I'd recommend this monitor. I've seen far worse monitors for more money, but I don't think I've seen a better one for less.
