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Whether you’re a fan of Windows 8 or not, you really need to use a touch-screen monitor to fully appreciate its user interface and interactive features. Dell’s newest entry into the touch-enabled fray, the Dell P2314T, is one of the best equipped mid-sized models to hit our labs. It uses 10-point projected capacitive touch technology that provides excellent gesture and cursor control and its IPS panel delivers accurate colors and solid grayscale reproduction. It’ll cost you a good deal more than you’d pay for a traditional 23-inch IPS monitor, but if you’re ready to realize the full potential of Windows 8, the P2314T is an excellent choice.
Design and Features
Like the Acer T232HL($472.90 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) and LG 23ET83V-W( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window), the P2314T’s edge to edge glass design is reminiscent of a large tablet or a small HDTV, but more importantly, it provides plenty of room for swiping and flicking through the various Windows screens. The glass is very reflective, however. Beneath the glass the 1,920-by-1,080 panel is framed by one-inch black borders, and there’s a shiny Dell logo embedded in the bottom border.
The curved matte black cabinet is 1.7 inches thick and weighs 10.6 pounds. It has four VESA-compliant mounting holes for hanging the monitor on a wall or in a kiosk, and it comes with a heavy duty silver picture-frame type stand that lets you easily tilt the monitor from 10-degrees to 60 degrees so that it is almost parallel with the desktop.
On the right side of the cabinet are four function buttons and the power switch and the left side holds two USB 3.0 ports. Around back is a generous array of video ports including two HDMI ports with MHL (Mobile high-Definition Link) connectivity, one DisplayPort (1.2), and one VGA port. There’s also a USB 3.0 upstream port, two USB 2.0 downstream ports, and an audio output. The P2314T is not equipped with built-in speakers.
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Pressing any of the function buttons launches on-screen labels for each button. The Preset mode screen offers standard, multimedia, movie, game, text, warm, cool, picture presets. There’s also a custom color mode that allows you to change red, green, and blue intensity levels. In addition to brightness and contrast settings there’s a color settings menu with a choice of color formats (RGB and YPbPr) and an image enhance setting that boosts color contrast and sharpens the image.
Other settings include aspect ratio, sharpness, clock and phase (analog only), and horizontal positioning (analog only). Energy settings allow you to turn off USB power while in standby mode and enable the Energy Smart option which activates dynamic dimming to conserve power.
Dell backs the P2314T with a three-year warranty that includes an Advanced Exchange Service which guarantees a replacement after a phone consultation. Included in the box are HDMI video and USB upstream cables, a quick start guide, a resource CD, and a Velcro cable strap.
Performance
The P2314T’s 10-point capacitive touch screen makes it easy to master the many gesture commands that are an integral part of the Windows 8 user experience. Swiping, pinching, zooming, and flipping pages was quick and effortless, as was typing on the on-screen keyboard.
Color accuracy was quite good. On the CIE chart below, the boxes represent the ideal coordinates for red, green, and blue, and the dots represent the actual measured coordinates. As shown, red and blue color accuracy is spot-on and green is only slightly skewed (but still well within an acceptable range). Color swatches from the DisplayMate Color Scales test appeared evenly saturated and there was no evidence of tinting in the 64 Step grayscale.
The P2314T did a good job of displaying all steps of the 64-Step Grayscale test, but as was the case with the Dell S2340T, the dark grays could have been darker. Viewing angle performance was outstanding; there was no loss of color fidelity and the picture remained bright from any angle.
The P2314T used 16 watts of power during testing, which very efficient for a 23-inch touch-screen monitor. The Acer T232HL used 26 watts and the Viewsonic TD2340($999.99 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) used 24 watts. You will likely conserve even more power if you enable the Energy Smart dynamic dimming feature.
There’s a lot to like about the Dell P2314T. As a touch-screen monitor it provides smooth and precise swiping, pinching, and zooming gesture control, and its IPS panel delivers rich, accurate colors and wide viewing angles. Toss in a great selection of video inputs, including two HDMI ports with MHL capabilities and a DisplayPort, and a USB 2.0/3.0 hub, and you’ve got our new Editors’ Choice for mid-sized touch-screen monitors.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/dell-p2314t