Dell UltraSharp U2312HM

In a marketplace dominated by 24” monitors, 23” models are quickly becoming niche products reserved for people who know exactly what they need and how much they want to spend. The 23” Dell U2312HM hopes to give these buyers precisely what they want. On paper the U2312HM appears to be very similar to its larger brother the U2412M, which we reviewed not all that long ago. It combines a decent IPS panel with a full feature set, good power efficiency, and it offers all of this at a price even more appealing than that of the U2412M. This is the key to why 23” models have attained such a hardcore following.

Many budget-minded consumers consider the loss of a mere inch of diagonal screen real estate in return for a significantly lower MSRP a tradeoff worth making. As this minor reduction in viewing area usually allows buyers to opt for an IPS panel instead of a TN unit, anything lost in size is gained in quality. This can be a major deciding factor for movie fans, gamers, or would-be photographers who simply cannot afford a U2412M, U2412 or Asus ProArt. Indeed, with an asking price of just $239—the same as that of a moderately priced TN monitor—there is little reason not to opt for an IPS panel these days.

In the case of the UltraSharp U2312HM, what exactly do you gain and lose by opting for this model instead of a similarly priced TN model? Is it literally just a U2412M shrunk down to a smaller form factor, or is the only thing they have in common the UltraSharp name?

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