Is $629 a deal for the U2713HM?

[zCypher]

Dell Canada has it for $629 right now, wondering if this is a decent deal? Currently using a somewhat ordinary but not too horrible Samsung 2343BWX (2048x1152). It has been good to me but I've been itching to upgrade to either dual/triple screens of this type/size, or a single 27-30" IPS panel. I saw a friend's laptop that apparently had an IPS panel in it, and it looked amazing to me. I always hear nothing but praise on this forum about these Dell panels.

I don't have professional requirements for this type of panel, but I can appreciate a quality display. Plus, a higher resolution will give me a good excuse to upgrade my computer as I will no longer want to play any games in "only" 2048x1152.

Speaking of games, I'm not a hardcore gamer by any stretch of the imagination. Actually, I admit to being quite horrible at most games and I give up/lose interest quickly due to how much I suck. Is this panel acceptable for games, given I am that type of person? Games are definitely not top priority for me, nor the sole reason I would upgrade my display either. I want more real estate!

 

[zCypher]

Well I ordered it, expected delivery date is tomorrow. Can't wait!

 

[snoylekim]

You probably know this already,but JIC .. I think that's a high gamut monitor, so choose your settings accordingly .. sRGB will be the most applicable for most work ..it will have an Adobe RGB option for a wider gamut, which might be a bit extreme for most applications .. The high end Dell also handle calibration very nicely . enjoy !!

 

[bigsnyder]

The U2713HM is the "standard" gamut with 8-bit panel. The U2713H (minus the M) is the wide gamut with 10-bit panel - the true successor to the U2711.

 

[snoylekim]

ahhh .. Thanks for the info .. I'm running with a U2410 now ..might need an addition this year ..good to know ..

 

[zCypher]

The U2713HM is the "standard" gamut with 8-bit panel. The U2713H (minus the M) is the wide gamut with 10-bit panel - the true successor to the U2711.

Just received mine today. At first I thought it didn't seem that huge as I unpacked it, but seeing it side-by-side with the Samsung 2343BWX, it does seem quite massive.

The cable that came with this monitor was a bit longer than what I had on the old one, seems a bit beefier too. Since I want my old monitor on the right side, and its cable is a bit short, I tried using the U2713HM with the old cable since it's closer to the computer. HA! Entire image is all pink and hideous with that. Put it back on the old monitor - looks fine on it. I guess they are not all created equally and the old one can't really handle this high of a res or something.

Here's a pic of the monitor with old cable attached: http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/2960/2713oldcable.jpg

And with proper cabling: http://imageshack.us/a/img197/9576/screensh.jpg

For now I still have my GTX 460SE 1GB. Seems to be fine for desktop use with both monitors attached. Haven't done much other than post here and browse though. Let's see how the this card handles 2560x1440 hehe.

 

[zCypher]

Playing Borderlands in 2560x1440 with max settings, cpu usage is mostly under 40%, GPU load according to GPU-Z is 98% come on 7970, get here already.

 

[saratoga172]

Old cable is probably a single link DVI cable. The new one with the U2713HM is probably a dual link DVI cable.

Single link only supports up to 1920x1200 I believe. Dual link will support up to 2560x1600. The other thing you'll notice is the ability of the cable to carry the entire signal to the monitor which you saw by plugging in the single link cable to the monitor.

 

[dagamer34]

Also make sure you plug your monitor into the dual-link DVI port on your GPU otherwise you will be stuck at 1290x1200.

I wish I could drop some dough on a new GPU, but with HD 8xxx and GTX 7xx only a few months away, I'm stuck waiting. =/

 

[zCypher]

I dunno about that one, I just tested the small monitor on both ports of the GPU and in both cases the monitor runs in its native resolution, 2048x1152. Unless the limitation is the 1200 part and not the 1920 part of 1920x1200... I really have no idea about any of this though, first I hear of this stuff.

 

[zCypher]

On a side note, anyone see ridiculous lag when resizing a gmail window?

ridiculous lag when resizing a gmail window

don't seem to see any significant CPU or GPU usage when this happens either, so it has to be something with the way firefox handles the page, or with the way the page is coded?