I finally decided to replace my aging Samsung 205BW. Given my growing interest in photography and video editing since I purchased the 205BW almost five years ago, I decided to get a professional monitor, one with an IPS panel and 1920×1200 resolution. The two big contenders for me were the HP ZR24w and the Dell U2410.

Over on [H]ard|Forum a lot of the people who picked up the U2410 had tinting issues and/or did not like the aggressive anti-glare coating on the monitor. But looking at the wide gamut (The Dell has 100% Adobe RGB coverage and 100% sRGB as well, while the ZR24W only has 100% sRGB coverage) and the assorted inputs, I felt like I should take my chances once the price dropped to $450.

It arrived the Monday after I ordered it, and I was really impressed! The colors are impressive, with excellent color reproduction in both the sRGB and Adobe RGB colorspaces. I really enjoy the flexibility I now have, not only with color, but also with inputs. I can finally hook up my Wii again! This thing has 2 DVI inputs, 1 VGA input, 1 composite video input, 1 YPrPb component input, and HDMI and DisplayPort inputs. It also sports 4 USB ports and an SD card reader. It’s really a dream to work on. And Planet Earth and Life never looked so good at 1080p! As for the anti-glare coating, I am used to the aggressive anti-glare coating on my Thinkpad X200 Tablet, so it was not a very big deal.

Photos and more after the jump! (continue reading…)