I am really happy with this monitor. Connectivity wise, it... can connect to virtually anything you want to throw at it. I have my PC connected via DVI and a chromecast in the HDMI. (But it also has a second DVI-D as well as a display port, VGA, Component and Composite.) The picture quality is fantastic and it's nice to have that little bit of extra resolution, although I am finding I need to scale it in windows in some applications. It is great for doing colour correction in video and has adapted to my work flow nicely. 27" is also a nice size and just gives that little bit of extra real estate compared to my old 24" monitor. And when watching shows, you can lean back just that little bit further in your chair. The menu system is also one of the nicest I have used on a monitor, not only does Dell manage to keep it hidden but it is also really easy to use when you do need it, just hover your hand near the right bezel and then use the LEDs that appear to make any changes. The menu itself is nicely designed, things are easy to find and it seems well thought out. Build wise, it seems solid with a great stand that supports a wide array of positions (and I've found that as it can just swivel round, it's easier to plug things in.) The extra features are also quite nice - the USB hub gives a couple of extra ports, and whilst it's a bit slower with USB drives it is great for peripherals, especially as my PC doesn't have many front panel USB ports and I don't have to bend down to plug anything in. I can also power my little speaker and chromecast off it, which cuts down on cables. The SD card reader again is a nice feature, and whilst it is no where near as fast as my USB 3.0 one, it is useful for getting files off a second card (such as an audio recorder or card with less files on.) For the price I paid for it (£120), it is a fantastic deal.
Verified purchase: Yes
If you ...need a large monitor I can't think of any better than this. With a resolution of 2560x1440 is is only slightly smaller vertically than the 1600 pixels of a 30" display, but much smaller in dimension, saving valuable desk space. The build quality is very good, with a very solid and supportive stand which has full range of movement for adjusting position. The range of inputs provides everything you could ever need, including 2 DVI ports, display port, VGA for legacy equipment, and usefully HDMI, component and composite ports for consoles and video playback. The menu system is comprehensive and clear, and the touch button panel is easy to use and unobtrusive when not in use. Finally the screen and image quality. For professional design work this display is very nice. It provides so much screen real estate that you no longer need a multiple monitor setup to use Photoshop, or do some video editing. Some people will prefer the larger dot pitch of a 30" at the same resolution, but being used to smaller 1920x1080 22" and 24" displays the dot pitch is about the same so I was happy, and comfortable, with it. The only think I will mention is that it takes a couple of days to fully get used to the size of the display if coming from a smaller screen. Initially it felt like the screen was warping towards me, but that sensation has gone and I've loved it ever since. The main negative some people state about this display is its anti-reflective coating. Most consumer monitors these days have a high gloss coating which enhances contrast and give the image more punch. This is great for games and watching films, but isn't so useful for anything productive. With a reflective screen you have the issue of natural and artificial light sources interfering with the display, as well as often seeing yourself in the screen. With this monitor you don't get any such issues as the coating successfully stops reflection and lets you see exactly what you are looking at on the screen. I'm used to similar coatings on other monitors so didn't find it a problem, but some have said it takes a couple of weeks to fully forget about it and enjoy the display. So that is something to consider. The display has a number of preset modes, the most useful of which are the sRGB and AdobeRGB modes. The others are mostly gimmicks but those 2 modes are all you need to maintain fairly accurate colour for print work and general design. I also keep it on sRGB for everything else. Dell do calibrate this monitor at the factory and provide a confirmation calibration sheet with the monitor to confirm this. Dell include all the cables you would need in the box, and you must use the provided DVI cable if you want to run the monitor in its full native resolution. You are also provided with VGA, display port and a number of other cables. So who is this monitor/display for? Anyone needing a display for photographic, design, 3D or video work will really benefit from it. It's also a very nice gaming monitor, if expensive for just that purpose. Just make sure you have a graphics card capable of running it. I would recommend a card with at least 1GB of VRAM. I initially ran it using an ATI Radeon HD4870 1GB card and it ran it perfectly. So any card from that point onwards will be fine. I'm now using an ATI Radeon HD6950 with it and it can run most games in full resolution on high settings, so very nice for gaming as well as design.
I use computers for publishi...ng and photo editing and have always used the highest resolution I could get my hands on. The Dell U2711 is one of the highest resolution desktop monitors available, at 2560 x 1440 pixels, yet its 27" size means that it is usable at desktop distances. To put that resolution into perspective, I can easily read two full A4 or Letter pages side by side and still have room to keep an eye on my emails at the side of my screen. In use the actual resolution is 109 dots per inch - significantly higher than most monitors. Windows XP defaults to 96 dots per inch, so some minor desktop adjustment is needed to make things scale accurately. Images are, quite simply, stunning. This is a 3.68 megapixel display, and Dell guarantee that there won't be a single dead or stuck pixel, which is quite a feat. In comparison, a HDTV screen is 1920 x 1080, or just over 2.07 megapixels. Colour rendition is very good. Each monitor comes with its own colour calibration test certificate, and of course there are a range of colour temperatures that can be selected from the onscreen control panel. When I first used the monitor I couldn't work out where the controls were! Then I waved my hand near the bottom right corner and a little blue square lit up. This was the capacitive touch system in operation: there are 5 virtual buttons built into the surround, offering all the usual controls (brightness, contrast, colour temperature, input selection etc) and also an unusual picture-beside-picture facility that displays images from any two inputm side by side. Yes, i was able to watch PAL video side by side with a 2560 x 1440 computer desktop - and still more-or-less read the text from the computer. This is one stunningly impressive piece of equipment. Connectivity is good, with VGA, 2 x DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI, Component and Composite inputs. Some cables are supplied, including VGA and DVI - a nice touch. There is also a USB printer-type cable to connect the internal USB hub and card reader, which handles xD, SD, MS/MMC. Irritatingly, for a professional-grade monitor that will surely be used by professional photographers, there's no CF slot. But that's the only gripe I have. I elected to get a Dell SoundBar to accompany the U2711, and it clips neatly to the bottom of the screen and derives its power from a dedicated 12V socket on the bottom of the monitor. A nice touch is that the SoundBar is turned off when the monitor goes into power save mode (or is turned off by the power switch). Using the monitor for action games is simply stunning. I enjoy first-person-perspective action games and, while generating that number of pixels per second taxes my (older) graphics card, the visual results are incomparable and immediately immersive. No matter what you need your monitor for - DTP, spreadsheets, games, image processing or whatever - the Dell U2711 gives you a magnificent view onto an enormous desktop.
For such a big screen the price was fab, also looks eve...n better than the photo. The discription said 'a few external scratches' these were no problem. I googled the instructions and got a HDMI, got it working no problem, connected to my Windows 10 Home Computer.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This is a wonderful monitor. Very ...sharp and bright, and the resolution of 2560 x 1440 gives a huge working area, but the characters look much smaller than my other monitor. Perhaps 32 inch screen would be more comfortable to work at this resolution. After receiving this monitor, I realised that my old desktop PC wasn't capable of showing at this resolution. So I bought EVGA NVIDIA GT640 2GB DDR3 PCI-E Graphics Card, which works fine. So before you order this monitor, you should check if your machine works with this monitor. My Macbook Pro 13 didn't work either.