5

I am buying a 4k monitor for my workstation.

I am interested in the Dell 24 UltraHD 4K Monitor - P2415Q

But there is also the Dell UltraSharp 24 Ultra HD Monitor - UP2414Q

The only difference is "Premier Color" -- and $340.

It says

"PremierColor technology delivers vivid, true-to-life color and professional tools for detailed projects. Work confidently knowing your monitor is compatible with major industry color standards, and has wide color coverage such as 99% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB. Get exceptional color accuracy and consistency, right out of the box, with precise factory calibration to a Delta-E<2."

But I'm not sure how to interpret that, or if it's worth it. I'm also not sure how to make sense of the differences in technical specs. Can someone help guide me on what the advantages are of Premier Color?

4
  • I think this question would be a better fit for SuperUser since it is not a design question. Dec 18, 2014 at 13:45
  • Worth noting, unfortunately the PremierColor app feels as buggy as any of the other bloatware vendors usually add. For the life of me I can't figure out what the hell it is doing with the brightness settings while switching between profiles, booting, etc ... It acts quirky and severely annoying. I ended up simply turning it off, and now I have at least a 'consistent' experience. Jul 31, 2016 at 18:27
  • Main advantage is for Dell to mislead customers into sales, ie: dell.com/us/business/p/precision-15-7520-laptop/… "World's most powerful 15" mobile Workstation with Intel® processors, a PremierColor UHD display" ... "Display: 15.6" UltraSharp™ FHD IPS(1920x1080)"
    – samus
    Apr 21, 2017 at 18:42
  • However, Dell's CNC machined aluminum Edge-to-edge Corning® Gorilla® Glass NBT™ on 4K Ultra HD display Carbon fiber composite palm rest with soft touch paint is a whole other story.
    – samus
    Apr 21, 2017 at 21:04

3 Answers 3

9

What Dell calls "Premier Color" and HP calls "Dreamcolor" is marketing-speak for 10-bits per channel color. They are also pre-calibrated with a selection of color profiles for professional work in (especially) video and television, also applicable to photography and graphic design, which you can find in their specs.

You can use the full capabilities of a 10-bit monitor only if you have an OS that supports it and have a professional-grade GPU that will output 10-bit color. There is a good answer here with more details on that topic.

Unless you are doing truly color-critical work, the extra color depth and color presets may not be worth the extra cost, but it's worth noting that they can display sRGB, Adobe RGB (almost!), and several television standards, which are not achievable with the usual 8-bit/channel displays. The details are, frankly, highly technical and tl;dr for most purposes. If you Google "10 bit displays" you'll find a ton of information.

4
  • Thanks! I read the post from your link, and it helped. The concepts are more clear albeit a bit tl;dr indeed. But I'm stuck still trying to decide, because I LOVE high-precision color and clarity, yet only work in Photoshop (CS6 Master Suite) a few hours a week. My GPU (NVIDIA K1100M) can handle it, and Windows 7 supposedly can handle it, but I'm wondering if any programs other than Photoshop will output in 10-bit? E.g. Chrome, Firefox, Windows Photo Viewer? I'm having trouble understanding whether all programs will be seen in 10 bit or only ones like Adobe CS that specify it?
    – DoctorWhom
    Dec 20, 2014 at 9:50
  • 1
    Anything that displays on your screen will use the drivers and color profiles available on your system. The web is sRGB, so you'll get the full sRGB gamut in Chrome, et al, but the main advantage will be with your color work in Photoshop. The application specifies the color space and profile, the driver and monitor profile determine how to render the image on screen. A 10-bit display and GPU allow a more accurate rendering of the color gamut. Dec 23, 2014 at 21:10
  • Both monitors say 1.07 billion colors in the tech specs. Wouldn't that mean that they are both 10 bit?
    – Redsandro
    Feb 28, 2015 at 13:40
  • This answer is completely wrong. As pointed out by the quote in the OP question, Premiere Color is about having a better backlighting (GB-r vs traditional WLED) which allows to display MORE colors (specifically, up to Adobe RGB). 8 vs 10 bits is about avoiding banding, that means how many SHADES of the colors that you can display. Premiere Color: "how many floors has your house?". 8/10 Bits: how many steps to get to the top floor of your house?".
    – FarO
    Mar 31, 2020 at 8:23
5

Others have talked about the differences in the panel (WLED versus GB-r backlight). But there is also a difference in the electronics - where the P2415Q is superior. The older monitor must be driven as two logical displays over MST to run at full refresh. It appears to the video card as two 1920x2160 screens and it is up to the video driver to tile them back again. Not all video drivers can do this correctly all of the time, or they may do it but not support rotation. That said, the driver support has improved since the monitor was first released.

Additionally, with Nvidia cards, two logical outputs are 'used up' by the MST arrangement, so a card which supports two screens will only be able to drive a single UP2414Q over MST, even if there is a second DisplayPort physically present on the card. (This is the case for the NVS 310 for example.)

You can run the UP2414Q without MST, so it more straightforwardly appears as a single screen, but then refresh rate is limited to 30Hz. If you want to switch to lower resolutions (for gaming perhaps) then you need to switch off MST in the monitor's on-screen menu.

By contrast, the P2415Q can be driven as a single screen at 60Hz.

There are also some firmware bugs with the UP2414Q, particularly related to waking from sleep mode. I had to install the Windows utility Don't Sleep to work around it. I think the newer firmware releases (A01 and A02) may fix this, but the firmware isn't upgradable and you don't know when buying a UP2414Q from Dell which firmware revision you will get.

So it's annoying that there is no single best choice. You may consider the NEC EA244UHD-BK, which I think combines the UP2414Q's panel with superior electronics, but it costs more than either of the Dells.

2
  • I've had a horrible time with the UP2414Q and a MacBook Pro 15". It will often even crash the computer when I unplug the monitor. I've switched to using HDMI (with the lower refresh rate) to see if it's any more stable. Using the DisplayPort with full refresh is just painful. I don't have any experience with the P2415Q, but am tempted to try it. Aug 27, 2015 at 19:49
  • You can also try turning off DisplayPort 1.2 in the monitor's menu - then you will get 30Hz as with HDMI, but at least you get to keep using your DisplayPort cable, if that's any consolation.
    – Ed Avis
    Aug 28, 2015 at 11:09
5

P2415Q use panel with cheaper and worse WLED backlight, while UP2414Q use panel with better and more costly GB-r backlight http://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?pagesize=50&order=panel_id&panel_type=&product_composition=&brand_family=&panel_size_inch=23.8&resolution_pixels=38402160&brightness=-1&gray_depth=&viewing_angle_function=&lamp_type=&signal_type_category=&rohs_compliance=&button=Search

Read about differences between WLED and GB-r here: https://pcmonitors.info/articles/the-evolution-of-led-backlights/

Edit by third party

GB-r LEDs allow the emission of the three colors separately (red, green, blue), while white LEDs emit a continuous spectrum. The result is that the saturation of each color can be improved and you get a "greener" green, "redder" red and "bluer" blue. They are so saturated that if you display them at maximum saturation they really "burn your eyes" if you have never experienced them. Doing the same with sRGB displays (WLED) just gives you "so so" greens, reds, blues. It's like OLED, if you ever compared it with normal LCD TVs.

As result, you can display more colors. 8 vs 10 bits has nothing to do with it.

3
  • Hi abc, could you please explain a bit more what we'll find behind the links you provide and why it answers the question? That way, your answer is still of value in case the link breaks at a later time. Link rot is the main reason we really dislike link-only answers here. Thanks for your effort and keep contributing!
    – Bakabaka
    Dec 18, 2014 at 10:35
  • Thanks for your response. What Bakabaka said would be incredibly helpful if you could! I've been reading your links and related, and understand more about the concept, but not whether it really will have a noticeable difference and under what circumstances.
    – DoctorWhom
    Dec 20, 2014 at 9:42
  • @DoctorWhom I updated the answer. Also, the other one you accepted is wrong.
    – FarO
    Mar 31, 2020 at 8:25

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .