Conclusion
(...)
From a performance point of view we were pleased with the out of the box performance, including the reliable Adobe RGB and sRGB colour space emulations and factory calibrations. The results after software profiling were pleasing although the contrast ratio was not as good as we would have hoped from a modern IPS panel. The hardware calibration was pretty inflexible in terms of device support, and the lack of any reporting functionality from Dell's software was a shame. Nevertheless it seemed to produce good results on the most part, especially being useful with the Adobe RGB emulation and for retaining tonal values to produce smooth gradients. Obviously the GB-LED backlight delivers a wide gamut and the AH-IPS panel used offers 10-bit support as well for those users who need either. The backlight dimming was fine as well, with PWM not being needed to control the backlight within a comfortable range. Below a setting of 20% brightness PWM was introduced but at a very high frequency which is unlikely to cause too many problems for users.
One area which disappointed us again was the uniformity correction. We had seen from our U2713H tests that it didn't seem to work at all, but had been more impressed with its implementation on the U2913WM since. With the U2413 the function did work, but it was practically unusable since it wasn't available in any of the main modes you'd want to use it, and even when you did find one where you could, it would lock the brightness at a setting which was too high and uncomfortable for any prolonged use. Along with support for more hardware colorimeter tools for LUT calibration, this is an area we'd like to see Dell address if they can.
Dell have made some positive changes with the new screen though, and the move to a lighter AG coating is very welcome. The addition of USB 3.0 and the return of the card reader was also very nice. The lag was also nice and low when using the 'game' preset mode, and we are grateful to Dell for including a mode to help bypass some of the signal processing. The pixel response times were also decent, although there were some issues with overshoot in some circumstances which was a shame. A more balanced and better controlled overdrive impulse would be welcome here.
Like the U2713H we feel it falls a little short of being a truly high end professional screen, but given its retail price is ~£273 less than something like the NEC PA241W it is still an interesting alternative. It carries some of the performance features you might want and certainly delivers with a wide range of connections, adjustments and extra features. Another very good screen from Dell and well worth considering if you want something high end, but at a very reasonable cost.