Dell S2240M 21.5-Inch Screen LED-lit Monitor

I recently bought this after comparing several other monitors. First, I had an AOC 27" monitor. The picture was decent and it looked nice, but the matte finish was too grainy. Particularly with only a 1920x1080 resolution, it was a large monitor for that resolution and it looked too harsh. So, I then gravitated to a Dell 27" S2740. This was much nicer, and looked beautiful. I was just a little uneasy with how pixelated the images and icons looked. Particularly since this was hooked up to a Mac Mini, it really didn't look very "Mac-like" and was a bit of a disappointment. That's when I decided at this resolution and price range, I needed to be in the 23"-24" monitor size range. I tried both the Dell 2440 and 2340. Although I slightly preferred the bezel and looks of the 24" monitor, the color depth wasn't even comparable to the 23". Which brings me to this review. The color depth is amazing, and particularly if you're using a Mac, the IPS panel looks as nice as an iMac any day of the week. The bezel is very thin, and the edge-to-edge glass makes it look contemporary and not at all out of place with the Apple gear. I'm not a gamer, so for web browsing, photo editing, and movie editing, this is top notch. Of the monitors I've ever used, the picture quality on this one is top notch. I would have still preferred this panel in the 2440's body, but that's a very small price to pay. One other thing to note, the "M" model just has the DVI connector, and the "L" has an HDMI. They are identical if you're going to use them on a computer, so save yourself over $50 and stick with the "M" model. Everything else is the same. If you're in the market for a great looking 23" monitor (especially if you have a mac), I'd highly recommend this one!

I'm a graphic designer and my trusty, incredible Samsung 24" 245BW finally bit the dust after four years of magazine layout and constant use. So I began looking for a replacement that can produce the accurate color spectrum I need for my work with enough screen real estate to work with magazine layout and menus on either side without overlapping the pages. While looking at monitors in Best Buy, I saw the Dell S2340M and the impressive image stood out among all other monitors in the display. And at the time, it was on sale for $159.99. But I was concerned about the reflective screen, so went with a 23" LG. The LG's image is very good but I couldn't stop thinking about the image quality of the Dell and after a few days decided to go ahead and give it a try. But when I checked the price again, it had gone to $229.99. Oh well. The LG is doing a good job, so put the Dell on the back burner and waited to see if the price would go back down with Christmas coming up. Then while doing a search, I found the Dell S2340M on Amazon for $139.99 with free shipping and immediately ordered it. Got it today and it's excellent. Image quality out of the box was spectacular, requiring only a slight adjustment of brightness. Magazine layouts pop with more life and appear closer to the printed product. Whites, grays, and blacks are pure...better than the LG and my old Samsung. Screen illumination is very even from corner to corner. Very accurate colors and contrast compared to the final printed magazines, which is what my work is all about. Text is very sharp and clear. I'm also a professional photographer and photos look amazing with good depth. BTW, I'm using an NVIDIA EVGA GT 610 video card with DVI connection. As for the reflective screen, I'm having no issues under any conditions in my home office. The only time I'm aware of reflections is with a dark subject, but have already learned to simply "look beyond" the reflections, at the subject. Really not a big deal, especially when considering the excellent image quality. As with the LG, the bezel is very thin and I love this design. Setup was a breeze, simply plug n play. Adjustments are pretty easy to navigate (MUCH easier than the LG) and there are plenty of adjustments to fine tune the image for my work. The base construction/connection is much better than the LG and is much more stable. The LG can be a bit wobbly if I bump the desk, while the S2340M is very solid. However, as many have mentioned, the concave connection area in the back is poorly designed and makes cable connections tight and impossible if you need an adapter. So let me remind those who want to use HDMI, the S2340M has no HDMI connector and I don't see any way of using an adapter without cutting out the bottom 'lip' of the concave. I'd suggest going with the "L" version of this monitor which has HDMI connection. It's still early and I've only had this monitor a few days, but so far it's excellent in providing accurate colors, very pure whites, grays, and blacks, accurate skin tones and realistic images that pop compared to the frosted screen on the LG. I'm not a gamer but like to play the old Quake III Arena on occasion, and although the graphics look good on the LG, they really pop on the S2340M and appear much clearer, with more depth. Makes me feel like I'm 'in' the game instead of on the surface. The LG's response time is 5ms, while the S2340M is 7ms, and both provide flawless game play with no lag, ghosting or other issues. It's just so much nicer playing on the S2340M because of the better image. Overall, for my needs this monitor would be excellent at the MSRP of $229.99 and is quite a bargain at the $139.99 I paid with free shipping. I've already returned the LG and will be ordering another one of these excellent monitors as a backup. Some reviewers felt this monitor is cheaply made and I'm sure many components are. However, I find the basic construction to be solid with very good fit and finish. Just wish Dell would have designed the cable connection area to be more 'adaptable'. UPDATE: I just received the second S2340M and it's every bit as good as the first one. I'm using it now and only had to adjust the brightness by 5 percent. Wonderful accurate color, sharpness, contrast and overall image/text quality. Pure whites/blacks/grays. BTW, incredible service from Amazon. I ordered this one on Friday Dec 20 using the free shipping option expecting to receive it after Christmas, but received it today, Monday Dec 23. However, apparently I got one of the last S2340Ms sold by Amazon direct at the lower price with free shipping and I'm sure glad I made the decision to order mine when I did.

This is a phenomenal monitor for the price. It does have a VERY glossy screen, which looks awesome in low light conditions. Even in my room with reflected sunlight (not direct), there is a lot of reflections on the screen. That being said, I'm not using the monitor for work, mostly web browsing and watching video, so I will put up with the reflections for those purposes since the display quality is so awesome. The reflections aren't as noticeable when the background is mostly white or when playing video. They are more noticeable when the background is stationary and darker. If you like glossy screen monitors, read the other reviews, I don't think you'll be disappointed. PS, the only calibration I did out of the box was to turn the brightness up from 75 to near 100 (I like it bright). The colors already look awesome. Text is sharp and legible, images are crisp, and the contrast is good. The monitor design itself is very sleek and lightweight...very nice!!! Here are my only two negatives on this monitor so far: 1. The control buttons are on the right side of the monitor (not the front), and are difficult to access where my monitor is set up. I don't understand why monitor manufacturers feel the need to hide the buttons, just put them in front, I don't care what they look like, at least the power button if nothing else! 2. The dvi connector is placed in a very awkward position on the back of the monitor. If you are using a hdmi cable with dvi adapter at the monitor, you will NOT have enough space to make the connection. I had to buy an hdmi to dvi cable without adapter to make the connection, and even that just BARELY fit. They definitely could have located the dvi connection to make it much more easily accessible. Those are only two minor issues, not enough to warrant taking off a star. I love this monitor!!!

Well I researched long and hard before choosing a monitor for my Mac Mini 2012. This was the only one that had a 5 star reading here and other sites. I thought it was a home run. My disappointment is the way text looked on it. Yes the picture of the lion from the Mac screen saver was pretty, but the fonts and text were terribly pixelated with jagged edges. It looked the content of individual letters was bleeding through their boundaries. Now I am using an "outdated" Dell 17-inch monitor from circa 2006 and the text looks way better. I'm not only giving it a bad rating because of the text rendering. The stand was terrible, and the monitor would wobble as I typed. Moreover the connection for the power chord was very flimsy. As many observed, the port connections were ridiculously impractical. I used (and purchased!) three different cables in an attempt to improve the image (HDMI, DVI, Thunderbolt adaptor) and none of them would fit into the little plastic clip provided for such a purpose. I think people let themselves be seduced by the physical appearance of the monitor with its minuscule bezel, but really it's not very practical and the image is not very sharp. Back to square one.

Spent a fair amount of time reading reviews and made the dive into this IPS monitor. There are more technical reviews, but I'll touch on the four or four items which helped me make the choice... 1. Wanted something to work from a plug and play status with windows and mac. This fits the bill (using an adapter for the mac to a mini display port from the HDMI to DVI cable). Terrific picture quality for both windows and mac. 2. Wanted a monitor with (I believe it's called) HDCP to allow me to watch my movie collection with no issues. Some movies won't display on all monitors, and this has something to do with digital rights...who knows. All I know is I have had no issues running my movies on this whatsoever. 3. Wanted descent viewing angles. IPS displays are a tad better than many VT displays, and this monitor is no exception. Insane how I can look at the monitor from a sharp angle and still have a good view. 4. Wanted good colors. Again, can't complain so far and this monitor looks terrific. Lot's of customization too if you spend some time learning the controls and tweaking to your preferences. Build quality is good, I like the stand and the product is quality, of that there is no doubt. Now the little things that deducted a star... First - Not the fastest response if you are a gamer. If you play a lot of first person shooters you will see ghosting on this monitor. For games like Diablo III, LoL, and others that are less demanding I think you will be pleased. Playing Assassins Creed, not so much. Second - Although this lacks VESA mounts there are third party mounts made for this monitor which will provide a capability to mount on a wall. I found them on ebay before I made the purchase. They are cheap, around $10.00. But that's another $10.00 you have to add and it should be standard on a monitor today. Third - One last knit-pick is that the connectors for cables are in a somewhat difficult place and my connectors BARELY fit. The angle of the back of the screen and the recess where the connectors have to go is a pain. A few extra millimeters here would have been appreciated. For my needs (mostly office, some photos, some videos and an occasional game such as Civilization or DiabloIII) it's a good purchase...now that I see this in person, and the display so vibrant, I wish I had jumped up to the 23 inch version ;-)

Wanted to write a review to help other mac users, I've tried other IPS monitors, a Samsung and even the Dell 2740 IPS display but have found most monitors lacking when when it goes up against a Mac display. If you're like me and have been using Macs for most of your life for design and photo work, your eyes are going to be sensitized to even little changes in color rendering which most people won't even notice. Almost every other display next to my iMAc so far after about and hour's use I've wanted to throw it against a wall. There will always be something that is just going to bug you and overtime drive you nuts. Luckily for me, I came across this one in a store and immediately saw that it came darn close to the output resolution and pixel quality I'm used to from looking at mac displays. This one is as close as you can get to the color render that a mac display outputs. With everything else so far I've seen annoying pixelation and crappy anti-aliasing around the edges on text and pictures when viewing web pages and this monitor comes close to matching the colors on a mac. It is not going to rival a Cinema display mind you, I'm going to be upfront with that, BUT it is a close enough trade off to the price point that it becomes a cost effective and a serious contender. I'd say It comes about 90% close to what a designer or photo/video professional would need, which is the trade off instead of paying for a cinema display. I saw one review on here [which I seriously hope was written by an insolent child who didn't know any better) telling designers to go pony up for a very expensive display and to stop complaining about how other monitors that don't match up to a mac are great and designers should suck it up and pay a lot more, this person obviously has no idea on what real workflow is really like for a working professional and I would love to rip this person a new one. However, back to the matter at hand, other Mac users have also reviewed this item to be close to color matching on an Apple display, so really as a secondary display option, this is good enough. You're paying about 15% to the Thunderbolt display for even to the trained eye close to 90% color render match. For some reason Dell wasn't able to replicate this quality in any other monitor except this one. Hope this helps all Mac users out there.

I have 2 other 21" Dell UltraSharp IPS monitors in my office that I love, they are a couple years old and were much more expensive than this one. I picked up this monitor for an extra computer, mainly because of it's low price and because of my positive experiences with other Dell monitors. After unpacking and setting up this new monitor, I was disappointed with the overall finish and quality. This monitor does have a great picture, the colors look rich and the blacks are deep. The problem is, this monitor is glossier than the top of Mr. Clean's head. The base, bezel and screen all have a high gloss finish. The gloss on the bezel distracts from the picture, but the main problem is the high gloss on the screen itself which causes a lot of glare. If there is ambient light in the room or if it's anywhere near a window, some parts of the screen have so much glare they are impossible to see. Pros: --------------- + Low Price + Thin Bezel + IPS + LED + Tilt Adjustment + Superb Picture + Excellent Brightness + Good Colors Cons: --------------- - Gloss finish on the screen itself is highly reflective, causing a lot of glare - Glossy base is a fingerprint & dust magnet - Height is a bit low - No height or pivot adjustments, only tilt (Listed in the description, so not a surprise - just be aware of it.) - Not compatible with VESA mounting options Conclusion: --------------- If you need a monitor to use anywhere near natural light, there will probably be glare on the screen that can sometimes make the picture hard to see. If you don't mind the high gloss finish or will use this monitor where glare is not an issue, this may be an excellent monitor for you. The picture does look amazing behind all that glare. In my case, the amount of glare I get on this monitor in my office (which has many windows) makes it almost unusable. **2014 Update** I am no longer using IPS monitors. I switched to Samsung's AD-PLS and have never looked back. I strongly recommend Samsung Samsung S22C650D 21.5-Inch Screen LCD Monitor for anyone experiencing glare issues or just wants a matte finish. It's matte black, has a gorgeous picture, VESA mounts, and Amazon has it at a great price. I'm currently using three of them. Thankfully the piano black gloss monitor trend seems to have died down a little, we have some great matte finish and anti-glare options available now.

I use two of these side by side as an extended desktop on my windows 7 editing workstation. I bought them frantically based on my first impressions of the stunning design and price, and LOVE them! When I bought them, I was planning on using them until I had the time to deliberately choose monitors better for my situation, but these are so great that I've kept them! I love them. Great color reproduction when I do image work, and superb performance when I work in After Effects and Premiere. I only have four minuscule gripes about these monitors: 1. Design of the ports makes it hard to plug in cables that are longer than a few inches. I can't use a DVI to HDMI adaptor on the monitor end because there isnt room for the ports to plug in. 2. There is a slight color difference between the two monitors, but it could just be how i have them calibrated. I haven't tried to fix them. Nothing bad! 3. Only a DVI port, no HDMI. 4. The glossy base is both fingerprint prone and scratches very easily... but I just keep a black screen-cleaning cloth on top of each base. Not a big deal at all. I liked Dell's monitor utility at first to auto set different modes based on the open application, but I got annoyed of it and uninstalled it. Overall, however, I HIGHLY recommend these monitors. Best monitors in my entire office (13 brand new monitors, all different make/model). I plan to phase these in as others die. Truly the best monitors for the money. I would love VESA mountability and physical rotation, but this isn't in the right classification to get those features. Super slim and right amount of gloss. Truly a great design and perfect performance. EDIT_______YEAR LATER So, I loved these so much that I've purchased a total of 6 others for other computers at my office. We want to replace all monitors with these as they die. Truly great. RECOMMEND~!!!