Dell U2414H: Backlight Bleed/Leakage

Just bought this monitor with the intention of using it either with my HP notebook or for my mini-itx system (hadn't decided). It certainly looks decent, no dead pixels, no annoying buzzing or anything, however there is a degree of backlight bleed/leakage which is above and beyond simple IPS glow.

I initially took some photos in darkened room during daytime at 25% brightness 65% contrast (the settings I found comfortable for my eyes in normal lighting) with sRGB, then at 38%/75%. As the difference was negligible I've only linked to a shot of the latter. http://imgur.com/3slaT4O

What do you guys think of the severity? I'm very much in two minds here as I'm aware a replacement could easily be worse or have other issues.

Cheers.

 

Indeed, chances are it'll have the same issue. Doesn't look too bad (there are far worse examples), but think you can fix it to some extent.

Since there's hardly bleed on the bottom-right it suggests that the front bezel is clipped too tight against the lcd in the other three 'corners'. That, or the screws are tightened too far, pushing the back of the lcd against the monitor housing. Try and run without front bezel and loosen all screws a bit; if the issue's gone then it was assembly error, if not then it's in the lcd itself and only a new panel could alleviate the issue (a gamble).

 

That is way too much light bleeding to be honest. Wayy too much.

 

Yep, it's not the worst but it ain't great either. I'd be very loathe to try and pull it apart, frankly it doesn't look the easiest to do so either plus your warranty goes down the drain.

With decent ambient lighting it's just noticeable (top left) when viewing a letterboxed movie, nonetheless it seems a little excessive for a 24" screen.

Screen uniformity in general is decent, colours and images very good, however I'm finding text reading a tad on the disappointing side. Indeed I'm finding my Probook (17" 1600x900) actually better. That may be because I'm very much used to it of course.

So it's a coin toss at the moment. I don't really want to get caught up in an endless process of returning/exchanging, searching for something new. On the other hand I'd rather not settle for a unit than is below the expected standard.

Will sleep on it.

 

I won't need to sleep on it. Closer inspection this evening has revealed a stuck pixel near the top of the panel towards the right hand side. http://imgur.com/jUDTHH6 So that's an instant return, thankfully I bought from amazon.co.uk meaning it should be painless. Unlike getting it back into its cardboard shipping housing which will require the patience of a saint.

I'm now considering the Iiyama Prolite XB2483HSU-B1 with it's AMVA+ panel. Reviews for it (and its larger sibling) appear to be excellent and any backlight issues should be less obvious. It won't win awards for prettiness but if it's hassle free and text and images are crisp they'll be no complaints.