When comparing Dell P2418HT vs Planar Helium PCT2785, the Slant community recommends Dell P2418HT for most people. In the question“What are the best monitors?” Dell P2418HT is ranked 18th while Planar Helium PCT2785 is ranked 30th. The most important reason people chose Dell P2418HT is:
The Dell P2418HT has two programmable bezel keys that can be programmed to access the most commonly used functions.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Has programmable keys
The Dell P2418HT has two programmable bezel keys that can be programmed to access the most commonly used functions.
Pro Works well with Windows
Those who work with Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 will not need to install any additional software or drivers to run the Dell P2418HT.
Pro USB hub
The monitor’s USB hub consists of two downstream and one upstream USB 3.0 ports which can be used to charge peripheral USB devices or connect them to your computer.
Additionally, the Dell P2418HT supports fast charging.
Pro Flicker-free
The Dell P2418HT doesn’t put additional stress on your eyes because its backlight doesn’t flicker. Monitor’s flickering can cause severe eye fatigue after extensive use.
Pro Excellent touchscreen monitor
The Dell P2418HT is among the best touchscreen desktop monitors in its price range because its picture quality, touchscreen capabilities, connectivity, ease of use, and range of ergonomic adjustments are superior to what the majority of competitors on the market offer.
Pro Good overall picture quality
Not only does the Dell P2418HT offer substantially better picture quality than its competition, its native contrast ratio, peak brightness, gamma, and color accuracy are on par with what the best desktop monitors offer.
The monitor’s premium-quality panel allows it to display beautiful images, with reasonably thick and intense blacks, vibrant and accurate colors, and realistic mid-tones. Dark scenes look excellent thanks to the monitor’s native contrast ratio of 1138:1 that makes blacks appear rich and deep. Colors pop and look vivid as the panel approaches peak brightness level of 250 nits. The intermediate tones look lifelike thanks to the P2418HT’s near ideal gamma value of 2.23.
Moreover, the monitor’s color inaccuracies are insignificant since its average color error dE of 2.19 is imperceptible.
Pro Well-designed articulated stand
The monitor’s articulated stand allows you to switch between desktop and touchscreen modes quickly. Its heavy base and rigid arm ensure that the monitor doesn’t feel loose.
Furthermore, the stand supports a generous range of ergonomic adjustments that will let you get the best possible viewing angles.
Pro Responsive touchscreen
The P2418HT’s touchscreen panel feels excellent to use thanks to the monitor’s high accuracy and excellent responsiveness. Swiping, pinch-to-zoom, multi-finger, and two-handed operations are also present due to the 10-point touch support.
The panel’s touchscreen resolution of 4096x4096 ensures high accuracy as it gives the monitor more than 16 million touch-spots which are distributed across the 23.8-inch display of the Dell P2418HT evenly.
The touchscreen feels highly responsive because of its low input lag of 35 milliseconds, which is an excellent value for a touchscreen since even the fastest smartphones/tablets are usually noticeably slower.
Pro Good overall picture quality
Not only does the Dell P2418HT offer substantially better picture quality than its competition, its native contrast ratio, peak brightness, gamma, and color accuracy are on par with what the best desktop monitors offer.
The monitor’s premium-quality panel allows it to display beautiful images, with reasonably thick and intense blacks, vibrant and accurate colors, and realistic mid-tones. Dark scenes look excellent thanks to the monitor’s native contrast ratio of 1138:1 that makes blacks appear rich and deep. Colors pop and look vivid as the panel approaches peak brightness level of 250 nits. The intermediate tones look lifelike thanks to the P2418HT’s near ideal gamma value of 2.23.
Moreover, the monitor’s color inaccuracies are insignificant since its average color error dE of 2.19 is imperceptible.
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).
Cons
Con Unsuitable for gaming
Button presses may feel delayed and disconnected while playing fast-paced FPS games because of its high input lag of 70 milliseconds.
Con Picks up fingerprints
The monitor’s plastic front layer seems to attract noticeably more fingerprints than other monitors that use glass coating.
Con Can’t fight glare
The monitor will not look good in a bright room because its 250 nits of brightness are not enough to fight glare and reflections.
Con Needs calibration
To unleash the full potential of the Dell P2418HT, you’ll need to calibrate it. The calibration procedure will take you around 5-10 minutes since all the key settings are available on the Internet.
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.