A chance to talk to FlatpanelsHD's reviewers.
By Don
#5535
albatros_la wrote:You are right, Don, in fact I am thinking to buy the Dell instead of the Nec LCD. The Dell is much cheaper, at least here in Italy: 287€ vs 349€. Strangely, the EA231WMi costs 30€ more than the successor, at least at the shop where I found both of them. I guess Dell has already switched to LED backlight. The flatpanelshd review does not mention light bleeding issues: is the Dell tested by flatpanelshd the LED backlight version or is it the old CCFL one? I am just trying to understand if the light bleed is a drawback of the LED technology or if it is just a consequence of a weak chassis design.
On the other hand, Dell LCD has got some contrast issues which lead to purple tinting, something that has not been encountered by the review of the Nec one...
I gathered from the reviews that the U2311H is a CCFL-lit monitor. Although I do think LED is an interesting technology (mainly because of the energy efficiency), I tend to think that the author of this message does make a valid point. According to the reviews I have read, the purple tinting does only occur when viewing the panel from extreme angles.

I have ordered the Dell U2311H, should you go along the same path, make sure you are getting the latest revision of said monitor (currently rev. A02).
By albatros_la
#5540
Well, that's a really useful information, Don. So, this could not only put Dell U2311H ahead Nec EA231WMi, but it can also mean that the 231 could be better than the newer 232. Do we have to assume that marketing (-> "LED is newer than old lamps: buy it!") is killing the quality of the "cheap IPS products"? Maybe, and that sounds really bad...
By Don
#5541
Based upon the reviews I mentioned earlier, both the Dell U2311H and the NEC EA231WMi seem better choices than the NEC EA232WMi. The Dell can be bought here for €229,- while I would have to shell out €343,- for the NEC. If both monitors were priced the same, the choice would have been much harder.

Some of the marketing claims are not exaggerated: a WLED-lit panel does tend to be thinner than a CCFL-lit panel, but that is mainly of interest to notebook users. Both LED and CCFL age deminishing quality in the process, but I am not convinced that WLED is a better choice per se.

Tftcentral.co.uk features an article on LED-backlighting as well.