Dell U2724DE review: A do-it-all display with gobs of ports

Best Prices Today: Dell U2724DE

$649.99

It’s good when folks hear, isn’t it?

Such is the case with Dell’s Ultrasharp U2724DE. The firm’s Ultrasharp line has lengthy served as a strong go-to for workplace productiveness, however an absence of help for gamer-friendly options and above-average pricing held the lineup again from dominance. The U2724DE, nevertheless, fixes practically all my complaints with previous Ultrasharp screens. The result’s a unbelievable do-it-all show.

Further studying: See our roundup of the best home office monitors to find out about competing merchandise.

What are the Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE’s specs & options?

The U2724DE’s most essential specification is arguably the refresh charge of 120Hz. Ultrasharp screens often keep on with 60Hz or 75Hz. The identical is true of competing productiveness screens from BenQ, Viewsonic, and HP, amongst others. A better refresh charge enhances movement efficiency and makes the U2724DE extra appropriate for leisure, particularly gaming.

• Display measurement: 27-inch widescreen
• Native decision: 2560×1440
• Panel sort: In-Plane Switching (IPS) Black
• Refresh charge: 120Hz
• Adaptive Sync: VRR
• HDR: None
• Ports: 1x Thunderbolt 4 upstream with DisplayPort 1.4 and 90 watts of Power Delivery, 1x Thunderbolt 4 downstream with 15 watts energy charging, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 upstream (knowledge solely), 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 downstream with 15 watts energy charging, 4x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 downstream, 1x DisplayPort 1.4 in, 1x DisplayPort 1.4 out, 1x 2.5G RJ45 (Ethernet), 1x HDMI 1.4 with VRR,
• VESA mount: 100x100mm
• Speakers: None
• Price: $649.99 MSRP

The U2724DE’s value of $649.99 stays excessive for a 27-inch monitor, however it’s truly $130 lower than the previous U2723QE. It’s additionally justified by the monitor’s extraordinarily lengthy checklist of connectivity options. Those who don’t care about connectivity ought to contemplate the same U2724D, which removes Thunderbolt 4, Ethernet, and a few USB-A ports to hit a extra obtainable $479.99 MSRP.

How is the Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE’s design?

The Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE doesn’t upset the corporate’s design route. It embraces a minimalist look with skinny show bezels on all sides, together with the underside, forcing Dell’s brand to maneuver to the stand.

Matt Smith

Around again you’ll discover an expanse of shiny silver plastic that principally succeeds in faking a brushed-aluminum look. The monitor additionally feels strong when dealt with, although its plastic development is noticeable when you go hands-on.

Dell’s bundled stand offers important ergonomic adjustment together with top, tilt, swivel, and 90 levels of rotation to be used in portrait orientation. Its vary of adjustment is powerful, too, with as much as 45 levels of swivel left or proper and 25 levels of tilt.

Matt Smith

The stand has a flat base and skinny neck with built-in cable routing. It’s visually plain, however functionally excellent: The small but hefty base retains the monitor planted whereas consuming little or no area in your desk. The base is flat, too, so it’s straightforward to relaxation gadgets on the stand itself.

How is the Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE’s connectivity and menu?

Matt Smith

Buckle up. The Dell Ultrasharp’s U2724DE is intensive, and it takes a while to elucidate.

I’ll begin with video connectivity. The U2724DE has HDMI, DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C (with DisplayPort alternate mode) for a complete of three video inputs. That’s fairly commonplace for any monitor bought in 2023, although the inclusion of Thunderbolt 4 is uncommon.

It additionally has DisplayPort-out and Thunderbolt 4-out, every of which helps “daisy chain” connections to further screens. You can join a PC to the U2724DE, then join a second monitor to the U2724DE. That’s a wonderful function for many who personal a laptop computer with only one video output. It also can scale back cable litter behind your desk.

Data connectivity is simply as broad. The Thunderbolt 4 port helps knowledge connections and can operate with both Thunderbolt or USB-C enter, in addition to ship as much as 90 watts of energy for charging a related gadget. There’s additionally a second USB-C upstream port that may solely deal with knowledge (no energy, no video), which could show helpful when connecting a desktop or second PC.

Both the Thunderbolt 4 and USB-C ports hyperlink up with the monitor’s intensive USB hub. It features a complete of 4 downstream USB ports (one USB-C and three USB-A). There’s a 2.5G RJ45 jack, too, which helps an Ethernet connection. The RJ45 is a killer function if you have to add wired community connectivity to a tool that lacks it, and it’s not often discovered on screens. The reality the U2724DE helps 2.5G Ethernet, fairly than the much less succesful however extra frequent Gigabit Ethernet commonplace, is icing on the connectivity cake.

A 3.5mm audio jack rounds out the choices. It exists just for audio pass-through, because the U2724DE lacks audio system.

Dell additionally throws in just a few further options together with an ambient mild sensor (which might mechanically regulate display brightness), a KVM change, and a picture-in-picture / picture-by-picture mode. Most rivals embrace these options, too.

Matt Smith

The U2724DE’s many ports are managed via a responsive, intuitive on-screen menu accessed from a joystick tucked across the decrease proper bezel. The accessible picture high quality choices are a bit restricted, nevertheless. Dell gives a customized colour mode that permits RGB colour adjustment and offers a choice of colour temperature choices, however gamma adjustment will not be supported.

How is the Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE’s SDR picture high quality?

Dell’s Ultrasharp U2724DE slots properly throughout the dwelling workplace and productiveness enviornment. It’s an odd area for one motive: Image high quality isn’t essentially essential, as long as it’s “good enough.” Fortunately, the U2724DE doesn’t use this as an excuse to slack off, and it delivers picture high quality that’s on the prime of its class.

Matt Smith

The U2724DE’s brightness is a bit weak, however intriguing. Its most brightness of 328 nits is a good bit decrease than most up-to-date Dell screens and far decrease than Dell’s debut IPS Black monitor, the U2723QE, which hit an excessive 449 nits. The U2724DE additionally drops HDR help—these variations are associated.

Still, the U2724DE’s brightness is sufficient for many conditions and assisted by an efficient anti-glare coating, which helps scale back glare when a light-weight supply is reverse the monitor.

Matt Smith

The Dell U2724DE gives a robust distinction ratio of 2190:1. That doesn’t set data, as OLED screens can obtain successfully infinite distinction, however it’s good for a monitor on this class. The U2724DE’s distinction is roughly twice as a lot as most competing dwelling workplace and productiveness screens.

It achieves this with an IPS Black panel. This new panel sort, which debuted in early 2023, reduces the hazy grey “IPS glow” that’s typically seen when screens on this class present darkish, shadowy scenes. The downside isn’t eradicated, however it’s lowered, which helps the U2724DE ship a extra immersive, impactful picture.

Matt Smith

The U2724DE’s colour gamut spans 96 % of DCI-P3 and 87 % of AdobeRGB. That’s a large colour gamut and offers a wonderful vary of colours, although it’s additionally common for screens on this class and value bracket.

The U2724DE is an efficient selection not just for productiveness but additionally for duties that require robust colour efficiency, like photograph or video enhancing. With that mentioned, Asus’ ProArt monitors like the PA279CRV are a better option if colour gamut is your prime precedence.

Matt Smith

Color accuracy, in the meantime, is mid-pack however greater than sufficient for dwelling workplace and productiveness screens. It gives a lifelike picture that doesn’t undergo notable variances in any explicit colour. The identical is true for many rivals although just a few, just like the Viewsonic VG2756-2K, veer outdoors the norm.

The U2724DE hit the best default gamma curve of two.2 and a default colour temperature of 6600Ok, which is just a hair off our goal of 6500Ok. These figures reinforce the monitor’s balanced, reasonable picture high quality. The picture is neither too cool or too heat and it shows content material at a luminance near what its creator meant.

Surprisingly, the U2724DE receives a downgrade in decision in comparison with the previous U2723DE: Resolution is lowered from 3840×2160 (4K) to 2560×1440 (1440p). Pixel density is in flip lowered from roughly 163 pixels per inch (ppi) to 109 ppi. It’s an enormous discount, and it may be observed when viewing small fonts or high-resolution photographs and movies. Still, 1440p seems fairly sharp on a 27-inch show, and it’s greater than sufficient to deal with dwelling workplace and productiveness duties. 1440p can be an excellent middle-ground for gaming, as 1440p decision is way much less demanding on GPU {hardware} than 4K decision because of the decrease pixel depend.

Overall, the U2724DE delivers a vibrant, enticing picture with good colour efficiency and powerful distinction (for its class). It didn’t go away me in awe, however I used to be pleased with what I noticed, and I believe the monitor’s picture high quality walks a fantastic line between value, picture high quality, and options.

How is the Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE’s HDR picture high quality?

HDR will not be accessible on the Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE. This is technically a downgrade from the U2723QE, and most equally priced rivals provide HDR help.

However, as I’ve talked about repeatedly throughout quite a few critiques, the overwhelming majority of screens that help HDR make a multitude of it. This contains the older U2723QE and rivals just like the Asus ProArt PA279CRV. Monitors on this value vary sometimes lack a Mini-LED backlight or OLED panel, which limits the brightness and distinction they will obtain. That in flip restrains the added element and depth HDR is supposed to supply.

So, whereas the absence of HDR is notable, it’s not a drawback. Those who need first rate HDR want to think about costlier screens just like the Innocn 27M2V and Alienware AW3423DWF.

How is the Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE’s movement efficiency?

Matt Smith

I’ve spent the previous couple of years complaining about Dell Ultrasharp screens that lack a excessive refresh charge. Now, it’s occurred: Dell has listened. The U2724DE (and its non-Thunderbolt sibling, the U2724D) has a most refresh charge of 120Hz.

It’s an enormous deal. An enhanced refresh charge improves movement smoothness and readability in video games and makes the Windows desktop really feel extra responsive. A refresh charge of 120Hz may not set data, however it’s clearly an enormous achieve over 60Hz, and it’s apparent when utilizing the monitor. Text is usually straightforward to learn when scrolling via a doc and fast-paced video games present far much less blur.

Dell has amped the refresh charge to 120Hz, however the monitor’s pixel response instances of 5 to 8 milliseconds are mediocre. OLED screens, against this, can hit a response time beneath 1 millisecond. This means the U2724DE’s movement seems softer than a gaming monitor with a decrease pixel response time and the identical refresh charge. Still, the U2724DE’s readability is significantly better than most dwelling workplace and productiveness screens, nearly all of which stay caught at 60Hz.

The U2724DE’s Adaptive Sync help is a bit unusual. Dell doesn’t declare official AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync help however does help “VRR as per specified in HDMI 2.1.” My AMD Radeon 7800 XT video card acknowledged the Dell U2724DE as an Adaptive Sync Compatible show over each HDMI and DisplayPort (and I confirmed it functioned with Nvidia’s Pendulum take a look at). The Dell U2724DE additionally accepted G-Sync over HDMI from an Acer Nitro V 15 laptop computer with RTX 4050 graphics, however DisplayPort was a no-go.

Official help could be preferable, and its absence leaves me involved house owners might encounter conditions the place Adaptive Sync doesn’t work or doesn’t work properly. In my expertise, although, it labored properly alongside an AMD video card.

Is the Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE value it?

The Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE is a unbelievable jack-of-all-trades. It boasts a sensible design and intensive connectivity, but additionally delivers a horny picture alongside a 120Hz refresh charge. The result’s a particularly versatile monitor that’s equally helpful for dwelling workplace productiveness, gaming, and content material creation. Some sacrifices are required to attain this (most noticeably, a downgrade from 4K to 1440p decision), however that’s partially excused by an MSRP that’s $130 lower than final yr’s mannequin. That makes the U2724DE a straightforward advice not only for dwelling workplace use, however for anybody who wants a flexible 27-inch monitor.