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Dell UltraSharp U2515H 25-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor

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#1 ·
Dell UltraSharp U2515H 25-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor

Description:
Superb clarity. Standout performance. Award-winning performance: Since each monitor is tuned at 99% serge, the colors look amazing right out of the box. The ultra-wide viewing angle on this 25" display lets you admire the QHD resolution at virtually any angle without losing those gorgeous colors. More ways to connect: Charge, connect and project handheld devices and more with extensive ports. Reliable and eco-efficient: Count on the DellTM Premium Panel Guarantee, 3 years Advanced Exchange Service and an environmentally conscious design.

Details:
DetailValue
BindingPersonal Computers
BrandDell
EAN0884116155638
FeatureSuperior screen clarity meets complete color precision for a brilliant viewing experience. Enjoy 25" of superb screen clarity on a sharp QHD 2560 x 1440 resolution monitor. Plus, you get great color consistency across an ultra-wide 178 Degree/178 Degree viewing angle.
Get exceptional color accuracy and consistency right out of the box, with each monitor factory tuned at 99% serge with a delta. Help boost your productivity with a dual or multi-monitor setup.
Easy Arrange lets you choose how you view your custom window layout. See all your applications tiled side by side with nothing buried.
Work the way you want. Position your monitor for ultimate comfort with a full range of tilt, pivot, swivel and height adjustments along with easy connections to your PC and peripherals.
Your Dell Ultra Sharp 25 Monitor - U2515His designed to be pixel perfect. That's why if you find even just one bright pixel, we'll replace it under our Premium Panel Guarantee
LabelDell Marketing USA, LP
ManufacturerDell Marketing USA, LP
ModelU2515H
MPNU2515H
PublisherDell Marketing USA, LP
StudioDell Marketing USA, LP
TitleDell UltraSharp U2515H 25-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor
UPC884116155638
Item Height16.61 inches
Item Length25.79 inches
Item Width9.84 inches
NumberOfItems1
Package Height9.9 inches
Package Length25.8 inches
Package Weight21.9 pounds
Package Width16.4 inches
PackageQuantity1
PartNumberU2515H
ProductGroupPersonal Computer
ProductTypeNameMONITOR
UPCList - UPCListElement884116155638
Item Weight21.56 pounds
 

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#2 ·
Visually arresting, excellent quality, remarkable 25 inch monitor

review by manticorp

I've just taken delivery of this monitor from Amazon.co.uk:

Dell U2515H 25-Inch LCD Monitor - Amazon UK ?264.98 (prime eligible)
Dell UltraSharp U2515H 25-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor - Amazon USA $403.36

fDRVL7Xl.jpg

And I thought I would post some of my first impressions of it here.

For the last 5 years I've been using a pair of Samsung Syncmaster P2450H screens and, while good, full HD 24" screens they are, they were getting a bit tired. One of the biggest problems I'd had with these old screens was the viewing angles - unless you were sitting right in front of them, then the quality of the picture was just so apalling that, combined with the lack of tilt functionality on the build in stands, they became unusable.

My criteria, in no particular order, for a new screen was:
  • Good viewing angles
  • At least 24"
  • Excellent stand
  • Good connectivity
  • At least 1080p
  • Good price
  • Good looks
  • Preferably with a thin bezel
While browsing Amazon for suitable replacements products, I had a few alternatives in mind:
But this is where I decided to go with the Dell U2515H - it offered all of these things in spades. As you can see from my list above, I contemplated a lot of ultrawide monitors, but after seeing this 25" beauty with the 2560x1440 resolution, I figured I would get as much desktop real estate as an ultrawide, but in a much better format.

Here's a quick list of features of the Dell U2515H:
  • 25" IPS Screen
  • Height/Tilt/Rotation adjustable stand
  • 5x USB 3.0 ports (including fast charging port), audio out, 2x HDMI (with MHL), 2x DP, Mini DP
  • 2560x1440 @ 60Hz max resolution
  • Super thin bezel (measured at 8mm)
Here's how the box arrived:

9ooRlQcl.jpg

And inspecting the lid, we see the instructions for unboxing - thank you Dell:

RDPpl7Il.jpg

After an allmighty pull (it was really jammed in there tight!) we arrive at the following:

XRjfyyjl.jpg

Here's all the accessories that are packed into the lid, we have:
  • DP to Mini DP Cable
  • USB Cable
  • Power Cable
  • Cable Cover
  • Stand
  • Instructions, CD and calibration report
LAPaX0Hl.jpg
lyDHFcJl.jpg

Now mounting the monitor for the first time:

Yqqkb02l.jpg

And without the coverings - we see it in all it's splendour:

igsILFul.jpg

I couldn't wait to try it out, so I hooked it up to my old laptop:

RvBOwHTl.jpg

Now, my old laptop (Acer 5755G w/ GT540m) doesn't have display port connectivity, so upon connecting up to the monitor with a HDMI cable, the first thing I notice is that it won't output to the full 2560x1440 resolution.

HOWEVER I later on worked out a fix for this, and now the laptop WILL output to the monitor using a HDMI cable at full 2560x1440 WQHD resolution. See the bottom of this post for more information!

First Impressions

First seeing the screen turned on, it's clear that this is a quality piece of kit. The colours are extraordinary, it's incredibly sharp, the bezel is super thin and the screen is so bright!

Reiterating that last point, it is BRIGHT.

Out of the box, it is set to brightness 50/100, but cranking it up to 100 this thing chucks out more light than a new sun. In fact, it's so bright, that next to my laptop now, it looks as if my laptop screen is dimmed, when in fact it's at the highest brightness!

Photo of the thin bezel:

KBucz36l.jpg

The next thing you immediately notice is the viewing angles - no matter where you're standing, the monitor looks exactly the same - this is not something I was used to before, but boy, it seems insane how I lived without it before.

Here's some shots showing the viewing angles:

i2HKud1l.jpg
ZvPBikal.jpg
Ywy31CLl.jpg

Another thing that's very noticable is how little light reflects of this screen. I've been very used to using my glossy laptop screen where, if it's on a dark page/game, then all you see is your own ugly mug reflected in the screen back at you.

Not so with the Dell U2515H - I sit in my office now while writing this on a text editor with a black background with the screen directly facing a window and I can barely see a reflection on it at all.

Amazing. Only at extreme angles do the reflections start to intrude on what's on the screen, but even then it's fairly negligble, especially with brighter content.

Stand

Along with all of the other great features of this monitor is the stand.

The stand is excellently balanced, meaning you can raise or lower the monitor without expending any effort and it will sit wherever you want it to be along its range. The rotate and tilt features are also extremely smooth and the whole thing feels very planted. Well done, Dell!

Here's the monitor at the bottom range of it's motion:

Xhskcerl.jpg

And at the top:

LStSKMrl.jpg

Rotated:

5SzLtoRl.jpg

Tilted fully forward:

aABuvn7l.jpg

Tilted fully backward:

t6Tn8kcl.jpg

Colour

Placing my laptop side by side with the Dell U2515H, it is immediately apparent that this monitor has far superior colour reproduction.

The colours are very crisp and bright without being over saturated. It's hard to tell because of the relative brightess difference, but here's a shot comparing my old laptop monitor to the Dell U2515H (known as the Natalie Dormer test):

5gYzB4xl.jpg
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OFgZybsl.jpg
97KrLLrl.jpg

Connectivity

The connectivity on this monitor is excellent and I am very impressed with it.

Before I had this screen, I used to have to plug the following into my laptop every day:
  • USB Hub (two cables)
  • HDMI Cable
  • Speaker Cable
  • USB Mouse/Keyboard
  • Power Cable
But now, with the audio going through the screen (remember it has audio out, not just in!) and it also acting as my USB hub, I can just have the HDMI cable, 1xUSB port and power cable plugging into the laptop.

Here's a couple of photos of the connectivity:

cOI0VWRl.jpg

And of course, these are all neatly covered over with the including cable cover and routed through the stand, the cables look very neat and organised.

And here it is in its final resting place:

GOI4NUml.jpg

And, just for brevity, the calibration report:

s6Qzu20l.jpg

Dell Display Manager

The included software CD comes with the Dell Display Manager and some drivers and, after installing and restarting, presents you with the following functionality (including briefly showing a badge/logo on your Dell monitor showing the model):

huepqUKl.png

I'll go briefly over what each section does.

Clicking change next to the resolution just brings up the windows display dialogue to change resolutions.

The mode selection refers to a set of profiles that can be activated subtly altering the colours, brightess and contrast of the screen depending on what you're viewing. Auto mode changes the setting depending on what you're using at the time (if you're watching a video, it will select multimedia mode, if you're just doing word documents, standard mode, etc). This is configurable so you can say which software uses which mode. You can also create custom modes.

Brightness and contrast change the brightess and contrast of the screen (duh), that would normally have to be done using the buttons at the bottom of the screen.

Last but not least is what Dell calls 'Easy Arrange'. This divides your monitor up into the sections shown so that whenever you drag a window into that section, it will expand to fill that seciton. This overlays the screen with yellow borders that turn red when a window wants to snap to it.

This is fairly useful functionality for a screen with such large real estate and it offers a good amount of options to use in terms of positions and sizes. Here's a screenshot:

oMLGWl3l.png
NX22olUl.png

I would hasten to add, though, that this stops the default Windows snap functionality, even off the Dell screen, which is somewhat limiting. It also means you cannot full screen a window by just dragging it to the top of the screen, something I use very often.

As such, I would imagine this being of limited use - but a nice to have.

Full WQHD over HDMI

Now, I mentioned previously that outputting full resolution was an issue.

On my laptop, the maximum it was willing to output was somewhere around 2048 x 1152, but thanks to this handy guide I was able to get it outputting at full glory (albeit at 55Hz).

First I needed to go to the Intel Graphics and Media control panel and choose Advanced Mode:

qSfYQP8.png

Then, from the left select Display > Custom Resolutions, and the following popped up:

NowtJ6v.png

I just selected yes, and then entered the following settings:

vCLo0Ao.png

And, after restarting, the resolution appeared in the list in Windows and it worked like a charm, except for one more thing: after setting the full WQHD resolution on the Dell U2515H, my laptop screen looked horrible and blurry!

After a bit of research, it was becuase of the independent display scaling that windows does automatically for screens of very different resolutions (that is, pixel densities) so that things look the same size on both screens.

The solution to this was to use a constant scaling on both screens:

Bqo5hQi.png
w8KkhBk.png

While this made things a bit smaller on the DELL and a bit bigger on the laptop, at least things were sharp all round!

Verdict

Pros
  • High Res
  • Excellent stand
  • Excellent viewing angles
  • Small bezel
  • Brilliant colours and brightness
  • Good price
  • Awesome connectivity
Cons
  • None
  • If I had two extremely small gripes: Power cable a touch short and no included HDMI cable
Overall, a truly excellent monitor that I'm sure will last me a long time. I would give it a 9.8/10

Dell U2515H 25-Inch LCD Monitor - Amazon UK ?264.98 (prime eligible)
Dell UltraSharp U2515H 25-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor - Amazon USA $403.36

ProsCons
Bright, contrasty, high resolution display, good stand, great connectivityShort power lead?

Ratings
Overall5
 
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