Question Are DELL's monitors good?

modeonoff

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Hello, how is Dell's monitors and their services in case something goes wrong? I read that they have a three year advanced replacement warranty. Do they honor it in case there is a problem with their monitors?
 
Hello, how is Dell's monitors and their services in case something goes wrong? I read that they have a three year advanced replacement warranty. Do they honor it in case there is a problem with their monitors?

Monitors: above average to excellent.

Customer service/warranty type stuff: from average to horrible, which means you should lower your expections. You may well be somewhere between disappointed and outraged if you ever have to deal with them.

Solution:

Buy another brand and hope I say hope their customer service is better. Not likely.

Hope you never have to deal with Dell after the purchase. Pretty good chance.

Pay money for whatever enhanced level of customer service Dell may sell. Statistically, that's usually a bad proposition and I don't know how much it would help in actual practice.

I own a Dell. It's been excellent for 5 years. I had a previous inexcusably bad customer service experience with Dell about a monitor. I bought another because I didn't think any other brand was better and I was willing to roll the dice. So far so good. It is out of warranty. If it dies tomorrow, I would buy another Dell.
 
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modeonoff

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What brand has good after-sales services besides Apple?

Few years ago I bought a LG monitor. Don't remember what happened. They suggested me to send a brand new monitor to them for repairing. No way I would accept that. I just returned it. I recall another time I asked them some technical questions about another monitor but they had no idea. So, I don't have very good impression on them.

Then the BenQ. Their support team is usually very responsive until they cannot offer a solution to a problem. Then they remain silent for a few days and send a follow-up email to see if everything is OK. Perhaps they hope that I would find a way to solve the problem myself. Probably just a company policy as they do the same thing for each email thread I created before closing the case. In my case, I said it is not OK as there are several issues that have not been resolved. Then, they remain silent again.

I know that I will need at least two 4K 32" monitors. Three would be better. I also don't like to buy models over a year old. So if a new model costing about $1K each has some design faults and I buy all three at the same time, I am doomed especially after the return period. If I buy one and use it for a few weeks and then order again. They may be out of stock and there is no guarantee that all three monitors will have the same color and brightness. Perhaps one way is to buy three mid-range monitors of about $450/each and not to worry about durability as they could be replaced at lower cost. Any suggestions?
 

modeonoff

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I've owned in the past and would have no issue buying a Dell monitor today.

It seems that their monitors range from good to excellent in general but after-sales services could be another story. Perhaps depend on the country. From 629 google reviews, Dell Canada has an average of 1.5 points out of 5. This looks horrible.

I contacted them this morning asking them to clarify their return policies. Then the guy said that he discussed with his supervisor and he could offer me about $90 discount/monitor and if I buy an extended 3-year warranty to extend it to six years at the same time, I only need to pay about $50/monitor. However, I had to order it at that time. I told him that I needed to think about it but he kept trying to make me to order. I asked him for a promotion code so I could enter it to get the discounts if I end up ordering. He said that there is no discount code. At the end, I just said I have to go. Now, I asked him if he could provide a secure link for me to place the order on their website with the special discounts. He said that there is no link and I would have to order it via the phone. He said that his supervisor could call me or I could call him. Is this normal? If I end up buying Dell, is it better to just place the order on their website even without that special discounts?
 
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USAFRet

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It seems that their monitors range from good to excellent in general but after-sales services could be another story. From 629 google reviews, Dell Canada has an average of 1.5 points out of 5. This looks horrible.

I contacted them this morning asking them to clarify their return policies. Then the guy said that he discussed with his supervisor and he could offer me about $90 discount/monitor and if I buy an extended 3-year warranty to extend it to six years at the same time, I only need to pay about $50/monitor. However, I had to order it at that time. I told him that I needed to think about it but he kept trying to make me to order. I asked him for a promotion code so I could enter it to get the discounts if I end up ordering. He said that there is no discount code. At the end, I just said I have to go. Now, I asked him if he could provide a secure link for me to place the order on their website with the special discounts. He said that there is no link and I would have to order it via the phone. He said that his supervisor could call me or I could call him. Is this normal? If I end up buying Dell, is it better to just place the order on their website even without that special discounts?
As with all online reviews, you mostly see the negatives.
100 people with a bad experience, vs 100,000 people with no problem at all.
 
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punkncat

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Keep in mind that Dell sells a WIDE variety of products. In my own opinion, anything THEY are willing to warranty for a long time should be quite good. They do sell low end stuff as well.

My only personal experience with Dell warranty was something that probably wasn't going to happen anyway. I wouldn't call it a 'bad' experience. They were quite responsive. I would have liked it to go my way...but didn't and fully understandable.
 
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Perhaps one way is to buy three mid-range monitors of about $450/each and not to worry about durability as they could be replaced at lower cost. Any suggestions?

Are you locked into mid and upper range expensive monitors for reasons related to perceived build quality, durability, or freedom from any issues? I'm not at all sure that would be a good reason. I am generally suspicious of quality control on PC related products, regardless of price.
 
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modeonoff

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Are you locked into mid and upper range expensive monitors for reasons related to perceived build quality, durability, or freedom from any issues? I'm not at all sure that would be a good reason. I am generally suspicious of quality control on PC related products, regardless of price.

Kind of. You are also right. After trying several monitors, it is also depending on luck as people called lottery.

Based on monitors I have tried, monitors about 1K have smaller backlight bleed and when watching 4K youtube videos with dark background, those monitors have color modes that could display black and black while cheaper ones showed black as ugly pixelated blocks. Also tried the 32" Samsung QLED TV. It also displayed ugly pixelated blocks in that batman movie.
 
What do you think of their U3223QE?


Kind of. You are also right. After trying several monitors, it is also depending on luck as people called lottery.

Based on monitors I have tried, monitors about 1K have smaller backlight bleed and when watching 4K youtube videos with dark background, those monitors have color modes that could display black and black while cheaper ones showed black as ugly pixelated blocks.

I cannot think of any way out of your problem other than hoping.

If there was a clearcut superior brand/model, I can't imagine it would be in any way a secret.

It's getting near the end of the month. Maybe Dell salesmen and their supervisors will cut you a better deal over the phone than they might at mid-month.....as is said to often be the case when buying a car.

I'm something of a Neanderthal.....I buy only Dells with speakers, which the Ultrasharp series does not have. I don't know 4k from a 401k.
 
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modeonoff

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Am I correct that if I go nuts seeing backlight bleed and ugly pixilated blocks in dark background or scene, I should just go back to TV? The 49" 4K TV I used is too big. Tried the Samsung Q90A 32". It has no backlight bleed nor IPS glow but when I watched that batman youtube video, it showed ugly pixelated blocks. 43" TV might be a bit big. Haven't tried yet. For my work 2-3 32" 4K is the best.
 
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Am I correct that if I go nuts seeing backlight bleed and ugly pixilated blocks in dark background or scene, I should just go back to TV? The 49" 4K TV I used is too big. Tried the Samsung Q90A 32". It has no backlight bleed nor IPS glow but when I watched that batman youtube video, it showed ugly pixelated blocks. 43" TV might be a bit big. Haven't tried yet. For my work 2-3 32" 4K is the best.
You're never going to get away from pixelated blocks in dark scenes on videos, because that's simply the nature of how things work. For one, you're never going to get a smooth transition between colors across a large enough run of the screen. For most video formats, there's 256 shades of a pure color. In an HD resolution, there's 1920 pixels to go across. In dark scenes, this gets worse as you're now working with say 16 shades across the entire screen.

While dithering could be a thing to alleviate this, codecs don't incorporate this. Or at least, it won't store this data because it reduces the efficiency of the output. The player would have to be able to inject film grain or a similar effect.
 

modeonoff

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You're never going to get away from pixelated blocks in dark scenes on videos, because that's simply the nature of how things work. For one, you're never going to get a smooth transition between colors across a large enough run of the screen. For most video formats, there's 256 shades of a pure color. In an HD resolution, there's 1920 pixels to go across. In dark scenes, this gets worse as you're now working with say 16 shades across the entire screen.

While dithering could be a thing to alleviate this, codecs don't incorporate this. Or at least, it won't store this data because it reduces the efficiency of the output. The player would have to be able to inject film grain or a similar effect.

Are you referring to computer monitors or all displays including TV?

I read that the Samsung Q60A 32" is the best 32" 4K TV but when I tried it, it had serious problem with dark scene. Changing the color mode did not help. LG and BenQ monitors I tried also had this problem initially but after I changed to some color modes, the problem disappeared or at least masked that it became unnoticeable. For the BenQ one, skin color became a bit reddish though.
 
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Are you referring to computer monitors or all displays including TV?

I read that the Samsung Q60A 32" is the best 32" 4K TV but when I tried it, it had serious problem with dark scene. Changing the color mode did not help. LG and BenQ monitors I tried also had this problem initially but after I changed to some color modes, the problem disappeared or at least masked that it became unnoticeable. For the BenQ one, skin color became a bit reddish though.
Blocky artifacts are not a problem with the display, it's a problem with how videos are encoded and played back

Color issues may be a problem with the display, but unless you have the display calibrated or are settings someone else shared after calibrating their monitor, it's something you can't tell for certain. You could always adjust the monitor's settings to taste.
 
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modeonoff

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Given my complaints about various issues, what kind of display is recommended?
I wonder if going back to TV is better to me. Too bad the Samsung Q60A is the only 32" 4K TV in recent years. 43" may be too big.

How is the Dell U3223QE?
 
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Does that include product return within the return period?

I was within warranty on a major problem.

Had to make about 10 phone calls to Timbuktu customer service to get it replaced.

Hacked my way through a wall of English as a 4th language.

In every phone call I had to explain the problem and all prior phone calls each time.

Every phone call was to a different person. Whoever picked up the call by chance to an 800 number I dialed.

Each person I talked to said they would call me back. None did. I had to initiate contact 10 different times and retell my entire story every time.

Took 2 weeks.

Should have taken a max of 2 phone calls.

Would you get a big enjoy out of doing that?

Lower your expectations. Twice.
 
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Given my complaints about various issues, what kind of display is recommended?
I wonder if going back to TV is better to me. Too bad the Samsung Q60A is the only 32" 4K TV in recent years. 43" may be too big.

How is the Dell U3223QE?
I will say that I almost never have a problem with Dell's products. Unless things have changed, Dell typically sources their panels from LG, so going with a comparably priced or marketed LG monitor is likely as safe a bet.

At this point my only recommendation is to just pick something with a good rating from Rtings, TFT Central, or The Wirecutter. Or whatever Google search gives you for "best computer monitors"
 
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modeonoff

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I was within warranty on a major problem.

Had to make about 10 phone calls to Timbuktu customer service to get it replaced.

Hacked my way through a wall of English as a 4th language.

In every phone call I had to explain the problem and all prior phone calls each time.

Every phone call was to a different person. Whoever picked up the call by chance to an 800 number I dialed.

Each person I talked to said they would call me back. None did. I had to initiate contact 10 different times and retell my entire story every time.

Took 2 weeks.

Should have taken a max of 2 phone calls.

Would you get a big enjoy out of doing that?

Lower your expectations. Twice.


Last week I also sent an email to another Dell agent whom I chatted with recently. I asked about the new monitor and return/warranty policies. Never heard from him. If I need to return or have some issues with the product, I may also need to contact them many times.