PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

Anunashamedlybasicbusiness

monitorasidefromtheinclusion

ofa1080pwebcam

Anotherhigh-qualityDellscreen,

buttheUltraSharp 25 costsonly

afewpoundsmore

Yetanotherbrilliantmonitor

fromEizo,butextraqualityand

pixelscan’tjustifythisprice

PRICE£155(£1 86 incVAT)fromebuyer.com PRICE£2 88 (£346incVAT)fromdell.co.uk PRICE£462(£554incVAT)

fromwexphotovideo.com

I

n most ways, thisisa stripped-back

screen.Thefixedstanddoesn’t even

offerheightadjustment,letalonepivot

support, withitsonlyflexibilitycoming

through20°oftilt.

Thenthere’s thepanel.Itperforms best

inStandardmode,whereitcovers88%of

thesRGBgamutoutofa 99%volume.There

isa dedicatedsRGBcolourmode,butthis

reducedcoverage by a coupleofpercent

andlockedustoa 241cd/m^2 brightness.

That’sfineinanoffice,butinStandardyou

havetheoptionto pushittomaximum– we

measured a peakof281cd/m^2 , somewayoff

Asus’claimed 300 cd/m^2.

Wesuggeststeering clearoftheother

colourmodes– Theatersimplyaddeda blue

tintanddroppedDCI-P3coveragefrom70%

to57%– butthisisstilla good-quality

panel.Forinstance,insRGBwemeasureda

6398Kcolourtemperature(notfaroffthe

target6500K)andanaverageDeltaE of 1.15.

Oddlyforsucha barebonesmonitor,it

comeswitha 108opwebcam. On launchthe

cameralaggedbehindtheaction,butwhen

weswitchedto60fpsin thesettingsit

suddenlybecameusable.Withnatural

coloursanda respectableintegrated mic,it

negatestheneedfora separatewebcam.

Bearinginmindthismonitor’sprice,

weexpectedtheworstof thestereo2W

speakers,butfroma baseoflow

expectationswecameawaypleasantly

surprised.Vocalsemergeclearly,and

there’sjustenoughbassto make music

listenable;atlowvolumes,atleast.

SoAsusgiveswithonehand andtakes

withanotherthroughout.Forexample,

there’sa USB-Bconnectorsoyou canuse

thewebcam,butnoUSB hub.Andthere’s

certainlynosignofUSB-Cfor a clean

dockingsolution.Weliketheinclusion

ofthe webcam, butunlessyoucanlive

withthebasicselsewhere,thenconsider

theEizoEV2360instead.

R

eviewedinisolation,theDell

UltraSharp 24 wouldbe a highly

attractivemonitor.Includinga

top-tierIPSpanelandelectronics– very

similarto thefarmoreexpensiveEizo

FlexScanEV2495– it packsa 1,920x 1,200

resolutionandcoversthesRGBgamut

withhighaccuracy.

It’salsosuper-bright,hittinga peakof

345cd/m^2 inourteststhatwasjustshyof

Dell’sclaimed 3 50cd/m^2. While othershere

beatitforall-roundcolour accuracy,with

anaverage DeltaEof1.03andpeakof 2.61,

theUltraSharp 2 4 producesnice-looking

whitesandisgenerallya pleasuretogaze

upon.Ouronlymeaningfulcriticismisthat

thecolourtemperaturesshouldbe 250 K or

sohigher:forexample,itcamein at around

6250Kat its6500Ksetting andaround

4750Kat5000K.

Ifyoudecideyouwanttotweakthings,

thenthere’sgoodnewsviaDell’sintuitive

OSD,allcontrolledviaa responsivejoystick

andsimple instructions. Thatreflectsthe

simplicityofwhat’sonoffer,mindyou,

witha limitednumberofpresetmodes

(Standard,Movie,Game,pluscontrolover

colourtemperature)tochoosefrom.

Thingsgetmoreinterestingwhenyou

lookatitsselectionof inputs.Theprimary

inclusionisa USB-Cportthatcan deliver

90Wofpowerto a laptop,butit’spossible

todaisychaina furthertwoscreensviathe

DisplayPortoutandthe bottom-mounted

USB-Cconnector.Toreinforceitsclaimsas

a docking monitor, therearethreeUSB-A 3

portsavailable,plusanRJ-45socket.

Witha tidyandflexiblestand,complete

with150mmofheightadjustment,it’sa

highlyattractiveoffering.Butallthis

excellentworkisundonebythe presenceof

Dell’sUltraSharp25,whichoffersalmost

identicalfeaturesina higher-resolution

panelthat’salso1inbigger.Ata fewpounds

more, it’s theobviouschoiceoutofthetwo.

L

astyearwedescribedthe EizoEV24 60

asexpensiveat£274incVAT,so

wheredoesthisleavetheEV2495at

twicetheprice?Toughtorecommend,is

thesimple answer, buttherearereasonsto

lookbeyondthepricetag.

Fora start,it’sa 24.1inratherthan24in

monitor,andthathashelpedEizotostretch

theresolutionfromFull HD to 1,920x 1,200.

Eizoalsoprovidesthebestelectronicsin

thebusiness,startingwith superb,even

backlightingthatmeansthere’sbarelyany

variationacrossthepanel.It stretchesall

thewayfrom1cd/m^2 to322cd/m^2 , too.

Whatyoudon’tgetisa widegamut.

TheEV2495istunedforsRGBandinthis

presetitcovered89%outofa 90%volume.

SwitchingtoMoviemode,made

ridiculouslyeasybythebestOSDinthe

land,takessRGBcoverageupto96%(106%

volume)andboosts DCI-P3coveragefrom

64%to75%.WhereEizoalsowinsversus

everyoneelseisthechoiceofcolour

temperatures,rangingfrom 4 000Kto

10000Kin 500Kincrements.

Another reasontochoosetheEV2495

overothersisitsflexibility,andwe’renot

justtalkingaboutitsRJ-45connector,

enormous 182mmofheight adjustmentor

thesmoothwayitpivotsineither direction.

IfyouconnectyourPC or laptopover

USB-C,thenyoucandaisychaina further

twomonitorsviatheUSB-Coutput.

Thenthere’sthe five-yearwarranty.For

thefirstsixmonths,you’realsoprotected

againstbrightsub-pixels.That’sthebest

warranty outthere,andwhilewe didn’tget

enoughfeedbackinthisyear’sExcellence

Awards(seep 33 ) to printa resultforEizo’s

reliability,theresponseswedidreceive

wereallexceptionallypositive.

Theproblemistheprice,especially

becausetheFullHDEV2480 is availablefor

£309and matchestheEV2495forquality.

SCORE SCORE SCORE

2
4

• 2
  5
  IN

M
O
N
IT
O
R
S^1 ,^920 x
1 , 080 23.^8 in

88 %

sRGB

70 %

DCI-P 3

1 , 920 x

1 , 200 24.^1 in

96 %

sRGB

75 %

DCI-P 3

1 , 920 x

1 , 200 24.^1 in

98 %

sRGB

77 %

DCI-P 3