DELL 24 Plus - S2425HSM 24 Inches 1920 x 1080 Pixels

Dell 24 Plus Monitor - S2425HSM. Enjoy crisp and smooth visuals with this 23.8-inch FHD monitor featuring 144Hz refresh rate, built-in speakers, and TÜV 4-star certification for eye comfort. Review: Loved it but not enough features - I’m particular about design. It took me 5 tries to find a monitor that met my needs. Thought I’d write up a review in case it’s helpful to someone else. No one has paid me for this review. Keep in mind I am using a monitor to extend the display of my MacBook Pro. My needs: I am a writer and wanted to be able to have multiple pages documents open at the same time. I also do some graphic design and wanted to have true colors represented on the screen. I live in a small cabin so this monitor would also need to serve as my TV—high streaming quality and beautiful resolution is a must. They pretty much only make 4K monitors in the 27” size and those are too large for me to use as a work screen and also too large for my space. That left me trying to figure out what smaller monitor would have a high resolution--it took multiple tries. I also am sensitive to light and wanted something that wouldn’t hurt my eyes after being in front of it for long hours. Dell 24 Plus Monitor - S2425HSM CONS There is no option to hook up a USB-C or thunderbolt cable on this monitor. Thus you can not charge your laptop by plugging it into the monitor. This monitor is designed so that you plug an HDMI cable into your laptop and then into the monitor. HDMI cables are bulky and don’t bend as easily as a USB-C or Thunderbolt cable. HDMI cables do not charge your laptop. USB-C or Thunderbolt cables are more bendy and charge your laptop directly from your monitor. You cannot have your MacBook in clamshell mode (laptop closed) without having your laptop charging cable plugged in. Thus instead of one USB-C or Thunderbolt cable you have the bulky HDMI and your laptops power cord. When I had all the cables hooked up it felt messy and it was all sort of awkwardly mashed into the desk riser I built. The text resolution of this monitor was pretty pixilated. Downloading Better Display and creating a virtual screen helped a bit. PROS 144Hz refresh rate The streaming quality wasn’t as good as some of the monitors I’d try later on but it was pretty darn good! Speakers are great. Pretty much no eye strain! It’s so odd but I completely fell in love with this monitor despite the fact that it really didn’t meet any of my core needs. I loved the color, the sleek design and the ease of the mini joystick on the monitor itself. The menu on this monitor via the joystick was really enjoyable and adjusting the settings produced effective results (more so than the U2424HE which I’ll review next). I actually liked the menu options on this (adjusting the color, brightness, gamma, screen mode etc) better than any other monitor. I loved the 16:9 ratio which I would return to when all was said and done. I barely was able to return this monitor because I was weirdly attached to it. I’d say this is perfect for a high school or college student. As far as budget monitors go, this is a really great option. If it had a USB C option I doubt I would have returned it or bought a thousand other monitors trying to find the right one. Dell UltraSharp 24" Hub Monitor - (U2424HE) CONS This monitor supposedly has better resolution than the Dell S2425HSM. I put them side by side and played the same show. No matter how I adjusted the settings, the U2424HE looked overly red. And the resolution wasn’t that much better, if at all. Text did appear to be slightly sharper but it wasn’t a significant difference. Contains a USB C Port but would not allow me to put laptop into clamshell mode without having laptop power cord plugged in. Only 60Hz refresh rate PROS None. I can’t recommend this for anyone. ASUS ProArt 24” (24.1” viewable) 16:10 HDR Professional Monitor (PA248CRV) CONS Text still wasn’t as sharp as I’d like. I didn’t like the screen ratio. But I didn’t know how much I would miss the 16:9 of that first Dell until I tried this one. This is more of a personal preference than a mark against the brand. It does have more vertical space if that is important to you. PROS It features a USB-C port (one step down from a Thunderbolt cable) that handles video, data, and charging simultaneously. Streaming quality was decent. Better than both Dells, not as good as BenQ or Asus PA24ACRV. Daisy chaining and comprehensive USB hub with 4 ports. No noticeable eye strain after adjusting settings a bit. I got very close to keeping this one but I couldn’t get over the ratio. It is a decent monitor though so I ended up giving it to a friend. BenQ MA270U 27” 4K 3840x2160 CONS At this point I was about at my wits end and thought that I’d have to get a 27” to get the resolution that I was after. I tried to use this as my work monitor and it was overwhelming. I know a lot of people use a 27” monitor but that was too much for me. 4K panels often require much stronger backlights to push light through those tiny pixels, which can be brutal for light-sensitive eyes in a small space. No matter what I did with the settings it was too bright. This monitor supposedly has blue light blocking technology built in. Look—if eye stain is an issue for you, what I realized is that less is more. Some of these high resolution monitors achieve true colors by using a lot of light, and no amount of filters, screen shade, night shift, blue light glasses etc, is going to help with that much light coming at you. Even when I took the opacity waaaaay down and had all the filters on I still felt like I was being radiated. This monitor is very large and heavy. Not great for a small desk set up in a small cabin. It about crushed my desk riser. PROS Really beautiful colors and crisp text. Super cool software download (from BenQ website) that allows you to adjust settings. No need for clunky buttons. Compatibility with Apple. I ended up giving this monitor to my partner to use as his new TV in the living room. Sitting back from it a few more feet, it’s easier to appreciate. ASUS ProArt Display 24” (23.8 inch viewable) 1440P Professional Monitor (PA24ACRV) This is the one I ultimately kept for myself. CONS My main complaint is that the physical design of the monitor feels a bit outdated. Sort of 90’s. Dell did a really great job condensing their buttons on their monitor to the one mini joystick. On the Asus monitors it’s a bunch of buttons across the bottom right side of the monitor. Feels clunky. These should be accessed through the joystick or hidden. Speakers are pretty awful. PROS 16:9 ratio It has very sharp text. The silver color of the monitor base is the same as my MacBook Pro. USB-C Power Delivery (A step down from Thunderbolt—working great for me). I only have ONE cable plugged in to the monitor and no need for the powercord for my laptop. Daisy Chain capability with multiple USB ports for mouse, external hard drive etc. and other types as well. Pixel Density (123 PPI). Standard 24" monitors are usually 1080p (~93 PPI), which macOS struggles to scale, leading to "gray/blurry" text. Much higher resolution than the Asus PA248CRV that I had tried. Text is crisp. Even crisper after implementing Better Display. Seriously try Better Display. Ask Ai how to set it up. Spending $21 for the pro version of this software can make a monitor like this feel like a much more expensive monitor because macOS assumes most of these monitors are a low-resolution screen. It doesn't use its high-quality "Retina" scaling. Using this software helps these monitors reach their potential. This monitor has a deeper black than the Dell monitors I tried where the text appeared to be a gray. Colors are vibrant and photos are incredibly vivid. Resolution quality is great in Adobe/Design work and during streaming. I noticed that when I’m streaming from Safari as opposed to Chrome, the quality is significantly better. Review: Great for the price and WFH - The monitor came perfectly packaged it is a little laggy but you can't beat it for the price all I need it for is my WFH job. The speakers if you are worried about them don't be these things really boom great sound quality. The color accuracy is awesome as well as the picture great for my online lectures for college too becaus eI can take notes on my lenovo 2n1 while the live lesson is on the other screen. Connectivity great as well had no issues there. Monitor quality I would give it a 8.5/10 it could come with more but you have to remember you are only paying $11. 9.00. So is the Value of the monitor worth it for the money I would say yes! If i can come back and upload pictures I will but it comes out so sleek and brand new. No real complaints for me