When comparing Planar Helium PCT2785 vs Dell UltraSharp U2715H, the Slant community recommends Dell UltraSharp U2715H for most people. In the question“What are the best monitors?” Dell UltraSharp U2715H is ranked 19th while Planar Helium PCT2785 is ranked 30th. The most important reason people chose Dell UltraSharp U2715H is:
As expected from an IPS panel, viewing angles are great. Horizontal adjustments don't change the colors much at all. When tilting in the vertical axis, the image can darken slightly.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Decent black levels, good contrast ratio
The black levels are respectively low at 0.16cd/m², which helps the contrast ratio achieve 1100:1 which is much lower than the advertised 5000:1, but still quite good.
Pro Pretty fast response times make the system feel quick
The response time is 12ms, which isn't lightning fast, but it's still quick enough to make the system feel more responsive than cheaper monitors. While not fast enough for high-level gaming, this monitor won't make your system feel slow or unresponsive.
Pro 'Massive tablet' design is unique, and versitile
It really does look like a massive tablet with a kickstand - but that's not a bad thing. There's no stand visible, leaving the front looking very clean. The stand can angle anywhere from 15-70 degrees which allows for flexible use, or it can be folded in and used flat on the desk or even mounted using the VESA mounting holes.
Pro Built-in speakers, webcam, and mic
This monitor has many peripherals built-in, and unless you use them heavily they will do the job just fine. Unless you feel the need for dedicated hardware, the built-in stereo speakers work well enough, and the webcam and mic are acceptable quality for occasional recreational use (for business calls or other uses where quality is important, you'll want to upgrade to dedicated hardware).
Pro Great viewing angles
As expected from an IPS panel, viewing angles are great. Horizontal adjustments don't change the colors much at all. When tilting in the vertical axis, the image can darken slightly.
Pro Lots of ports
With 5 USB 3.0 ports (one of which can act as a charger), 2 HDMI ports (with MHL), a DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort, as well as a DisplayPort out port for daisy chaining multiple screens
Pro Fully adjustable
It has tilt, swivel, height adjust and can be pivoted 90 degrees in both directions.
Pro Great for multi-monitor setups
The thin plastic bezel (1mm) and small 6mm screen boarder makes this a great screen to put side by side with another to minimise the deadspace between dual monitor setups. Also, an extra DisplayPort out means daisy chaining is possible.
Pro Fantastic screen quality
Dell calibrates the U2715H's screen in the factory to very precise measurements, and each monitor will have their own unique calibration report.
Cons
Con Disappointing color accuracy
The MVA panel (multi-domain vertical alignment: in-between of TN and IPS technologies) doesn't reproduce colors very accurately. It scores just 82% of the sRGB color gamut, while other panels offer high 80s and even above 90%. This display's weakest points are with the green and cyan shades, while reds and blues appeared just fine.
Con Dim display
The display doesn't get very bright - at just 172cd/m² this panel is very dim. Many monitors can achieve 300cd/m² or higher brightnesses.
Con Takes much more power than similar monitors
Without using the ECO mode, this monitor requires about 50 watts to power it. This is double than other monitors. There are different levels of ECO modes, however these dim the display and barely get down to the power level of other monitors when they are all enabled.
Con Buttons can be unresponsive
The captive buttons on the right side of the bottom bezel don't light up at all, and can be unresponsive when you first try to activate them.
Con Poor panel uniformity
While this will vary unit to unit, TFT Central found that the luminance uniformity on their unit was poor. The right side of the screen was up to 30% brighter than the left corners of the screen. It wasn't obvious at first glance, however for color-accurate work it could become an issue.