Dell UltraSharp U3011 user reviews

4.0 stars

"Dell's new 30-incher is amazing - Big is better!" on October 12, 2010 by BillNYC

Pros: Delivering excellent performance and great colour control. Great screen real estate ? Adobe RGB and sRGB modes ? 10-bit panel ? Reduced screen wake/input switch time ? HDMI PBP with DVI or DisplayPort ? Six-axial colour adjustments.

Cons: The price will stop most though, this monitor is only for the truly serious.

Summary: Dell's new UltraSharp U3011 30-inch IPS LCD display offers a 2,560 by 1,600-pixel native resolution, a plethora of inputs, and a media card reader.
For years, computer maker Dell has made a name for itself for offering high-performance, reasonably priced computer monitors?and Dell still isn?t afraid to take on Apple in the high-quality display market: the company has just introduced its UltraSharp U3011 30-inch display, offering a native resolution of 2,560 by 1,600 pixels, in-plane switching (IPS) technology to reduce colors shifting with viewing angle, and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio.
Clearly aimed at graphics and video professionals?although we?re guessing there are more than a few gamers who will be interested?the U3011 sports 178° horizontal and vertical viewing angles, a 7ms response time, and 370cd/m&exp2; of brightness. The monitor also boasts a huge array of inputs, including two HDMI and DVI inputs, a DisplayPort input, VGA input, component connectors, and along with an integrated four-port USB 2.0 hub and a 7-in-1 media card reader. The U3011 also comes with a height-adjustable tilt-and-swivel stand and a security lock slot. The monitor is Energy Star 5 component, and consumes less than 2 watts in standby/sleep mode. However, it?s not exactly lightweight: the panel alone is 25 pounds.
Dell's stand design is now pretty much uniform, the only difference being that larger models like the U2711 and U3011 don't have the capability to pivot 90° into portrait mode. It's still a great stand though, with rack and pinion style height adjustment, tilt and swivel, and a hole through the neck for cable management. As with the U2711 though, you won't be able to remove the panel from the stand unless you have a torx driver. While we do wish that it was easily removable like the U2410, we'd imagine for a panel of this size the extra support the screws provide are needed.The U3011 features a lit mechanical power button at the bottom right, and a proximity sensitive strip above this. Bring the hand near and the bottom button lights up, giving you a perfect in-the-dark interface without having distracting lights all the time. Once you touch this button, the OSD appears on screen, the other buttons light up and are labelled in a context sensitive fashion on screen.
Annoyingly by default all these buttons emit a beeping sound when pressed, which can thankfully be turned off.Dell's cavalcade of options is carried over to the U3011, offering the usual RGB/YPbPr colour space; brightness and contrast; hue, gain, saturation and offset controls. The "Video" and "Graphics" modes have been removed, with all the presets now available under the one mode menu. Dell offers Standard, Multimedia (which has a red cast), Game (green cast), Movie, Warm, Cool, Adobe RGB, sRGB, xv Mode and Custom Color as preset options.

Scaling options are complete too, offering fill, 16:9, 4:3, aspect and 1:1 scaling modes. Sharpness is available on digital inputs, and picture by picture is there too. Here behaviour has changed a bit ? for your source you can only choose HDMI 1, HDMI 2 or component, the secondary picture being provided off any of the other inputs. It's nice to finally be able to have HDMI and DVI side by side, but those hoping for DVI side by side with another DVI connection will be disappointed.
The U3011 like the U2711 before it has support for six-axial colour calibration (RGBCMY) under the hue and saturation settings, which combined with the gain and offset controls should allow people to screw down their colour calibrations even further than the usual.
Dell's new 30-incher is amazing! I have duel monitors and YES! Bigger is better!


This is Billy Amato/NYC

Updated on Oct 12, 2010

Sorry there must be a bug in CENT website template (?) don't know why that is...

5.0 stars

"Lossless 5.1 audio for pc." on April 12, 2012 by teriusj

Pros: The only way I can get lossless 5.1 audio with my Logitech Z 5500 sound system. Connect with the HDMI and use the three 3.5 mm audio cables to the speakers, lossless audio.

Cons: Not touchscreen, no 3D, no speakers, no web cam and mic, and no TV tuner. But still get 5 stars.

Summary: If you have the money and want the best pc monitor on planet earth then this is it.

1.5 stars

"The Anti-Glare Coating Ruins It" on April 19, 2011 by markmcb

Pros: * it's huge
* ports
* buttons / menus
* in theory, a great screen under the anti-glare
* good return policy / service

Cons: ANTI-GLARE DISTORTS/SPARKLES THE COLOR.

Seriously. I couldn't work on this monitor without getting a headache. The anti-glare makes whites and light grays sparkle a lot. The angle you're looking at the screen determines where you see sparkles. So,

Summary: This monitor is (literally) not worth the headache. I returned mine about 7 days after receiving it. I kept thinking "I'll get used to it." You don't get used to it. Order it and see for yourself if you must, but I highly recommend looking for something else. I think I might go for the HP.

0.5 stars

"Completely overrated monitor and way overpriced." on January 6, 2012 by onetoomany81

Pros: I really can't think of one.... maybe ease of purchasing via dell.com?

Cons: Overpriced, poor product quality, poor gaming performance, terrible support

Summary: Don't be fooled by this CNET review..... If you are looking to waste money and eventually end up with a 30lb paper weight, this is your monitor. Otherwise, save yourself the money & frustration of dealing with Dells off-shored support teams.
_______________________________________________

After reading a number of positive reviews through various social media outlets & tech sites including CNET, I decided to take the plunge and drop $1400 on this POS.

First off, the actual image quality isn't all that impressive compared to much cheaper monitors with comparable resolution. Also, if your a gamer, the ghosting is immediately noticeable and after a few hours is really quite irritating.

Second, I really question the quality of the components Dell is now having their contract manufacturer use in the latest revision of these monitors (A04 onward). After having my monitor less than 12 hours, the LCD panel has already failed. This is something that can be expected from a cheaply manufactured LCD, but not from what is suppose to be a "high end" monitor based on its price tag.
Having worked in supply chain operations in the past, I am going to assume Dell opted to go with a cheaper components to cut down on the manufacturing costs in the newer revisions and thus increase their profit margin.

In any case, if you do make the mistake of purchasing this monitor which will inevitably fail, have fun working with Dell's support teams. They'll waste 45 minutes of your time to complete what should only take 2-3 minutes to troubleshoot. Then you'll have the pleasure of dealing with their returns process, but I'll save that for another rant.

Updated on Jan 6, 2012

By the way, it would be great if the CNET review was updated to indicate which revision was actually tested. After trolling many of tech sites & forums, it appears the product quality began to drop with revision A04. Dell is now shipping via A05 which is what my review was based on.