Dell's latest 4K monitor is unrivaled for home-office features

Dell is on a little bit of a tear with its Ultrasharp monitor line. In 2022 it launched the U3223QE, the primary monitor with a brand new IPS Black panel that improves distinction over prior IPS shows. That was adopted by the U2724DE, an IPS Black workplace monitor with a 1440p 120Hz panel and intensive connectivity together with Thunderbolt 4 and Ethernet. Now, the Dell U3225QE is first to market with a brand new 4K 120Hz IPS Black panel—and, as icing on the cake, it gives as much as 140 watts of USB Power Delivery.  

Read on to study extra, then see our roundup of the best home office monitors for comparability.

Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE specs and options

The Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE’s headline function is the IPS Black panel. Dell says it’s the most recent era of IPS Black and quotes a distinction ratio of 3000:1, an enchancment over the prior panel’s quoted distinction of 2000:1. It’s additionally a 31.5-inch 4K panel with a refresh price of 120Hz. Prior IPS Black panels had been obtainable at 4K 60Hz or 1440p 120Hz.

• Display measurement: 31.5-inch 16:9 widescreen
• Native decision: 3840×2160
• Panel kind: IPS Black
• Refresh price: 120Hz
• Adaptive sync: HDMI VRR
• HDR: Yes, VESA DisplayHDR 600 Certified
• Ports: 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x DisplayPort 1.4-out, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C upstream with 140 watts of Power Delivery, 1x Thunderbolt 4 downstream with 15 watts Power Delivery, 1x USB-C 10Gbps upstream, 1x USB-C 10Gbps downstream, 1x 3.5mm audio line-out, 6x USB-A 10Gbps downstream, 1x RJ45 with 2.5Gbps Ethernet.
• VESA mount: 100x100mm
• Audio: None
• Additional options: Ambient mild sensor
• Price: $999.99 MSRP

However, the IPS Black panel is barely half the story. The different half is connectivity, because the U3225QE has Thunderbolt, USB-C, and Ethernet, in addition to USB Power Delivery as much as 140 watts. It helps daisy-chain show connections and packs a complete of six USB-A connections. That’s a variety of ports!

The monitor debuts with a retail worth of $999.99. Although costly, it’s in keeping with different flagship 32-inch 4K workplace and productiveness displays with Thunderbolt connectivity. At the time of this evaluate, HP’s Series 7 Pro is $879.99, BenQ’s PD3225U is $999.99, and Dell’s older U3223QE (the U3225QE’s direct predecessor) is $669.99.

There’s additionally a 27-inch model of this monitor known as the U2725QE. It has the identical show panel know-how, decision, refresh price, connectivity, and is roughly comparable in design. It will retail at $699.99. While I examined the 32-inch mannequin, I count on this evaluate to be consultant of the 27-inch mannequin, too.

Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE design

The Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE doesn’t take the corporate’s design in a brand new path, however that’s to its benefit. Ultrasharp displays have settled on knowledgeable look that pairs slim black bezels up entrance with a easy silver plastic round again. It’s not fancy, but it surely does the job and gives a premium really feel (although it’s not as alluring as Samsung’s current Odyssey OLED line).

Matthew Smith / Foundry

It’s the same story with the ergonomic stand, which adjusts for top, tilt, swivel, and might pivot 90 levels into portrait orientation. The stand is secure, but the bottom is small, which minimizes its footprint in your desk. A 100x100mm VESA mount is offered to be used with a third-party monitor stand or arm.

A small gap within the stand gives cable administration. It’s adequate for a number of connections, however if you happen to plan to fill each port on the monitor, you’ll seemingly discover that not all cables can match by means of it concurrently.

Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE connectivity

Connectivity is vital for any monitor, however for the Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE, it’s make-or-break. Fortunately, the monitor doesn’t lower any corners.

Video inputs embrace one HDMI, one DisplayPort, and two Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C ports, all of which help video enter. That’s a complete of 5 video inputs. All video inputs help the monitor’s most refresh price and backbone, too.

The Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C ports can deal with knowledge, and one in every of these ports gives as much as 140 watts of USB Power Delivery. That’s greater than most rivals, which generally supply 90 to 100 watts of Power Delivery: The HP Omen Transcend 32 is the one various we’ve but reviewed to supply 140 watts of Power Delivery. Upping the utmost to 140 watts means the U3225QE can ship sufficient energy to deal with Windows laptops with entry-level discrete graphics.

There’s a second DisplayPort, as properly, which helps daisy-chain connections. That means you possibly can enter video to the U3225QE after which output from it to a second monitor. It’s useful if you happen to’re connecting a laptop computer with restricted video-out connectivity, because you solely want one video port to attach two displays. There’s a Thunderbolt 4 downstream port too, and it additionally helps daisy-chain connections.

The Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C ports move knowledge to 4 downstream USB-A ports, every of which gives knowledge charges as much as 10Gbps. That’s one other connectivity benefit, as knowledge charges of 5Gbps are extra widespread (though it must be famous that you just gained’t see 10Gbps if transferring knowledge over all of the USB-A ports concurrently). KVM swap performance is included, too, to assist customers shortly swap between two related PCs.

A pop-out hub on the monitor’s lower-left bezel gives fast entry to 2 USB-C ports with as much as 15 watts of Power Delivery, in addition to a USB-A port. This is helpful if you wish to switch knowledge with a thumb drive or cost your smartphone. The USB-C hub feels a bit low cost, nevertheless, due to its plastic development. Dell ought to think about including some steel to this portion of the show since customers will continuously contact it.

The U3225QE’s lengthy checklist of connectivity ends with 2.5Gbps Ethernet, one other unusual function. Most fashionable Windows laptops with USB-C lack an Ethernet port, so having one constructed into the monitor is helpful. A 3.5mm audio-out jack rounds out the connectivity.

Just a few rivals supply some comparable choices. The HP Omen Transcend 32 has 140 watts of USB Power Delivery, whereas the BenQ PD3226G gives Thunderbolt 4 with a number of USB-C and USB-A downstream ports. But the U3225QE’s mixture of Thunderbolt 4, USB-C with 140 watts of Power Delivery, and a pair of.5Gbps Ethernet places it forward of the pack.

Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE options

The Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE’s intensive connectivity is flanked by a number of options that might show helpful in a house workplace. It’s a flicker-free panel (that means it doesn’t use PWM to handle brightness) which, although not unusual, is appreciated. More uncommon is the monitor’s ambient mild sensor, which may robotically alter brightness based mostly on the ambient brightness of your room. It will help scale back eyestrain by guaranteeing the monitor isn’t overly vibrant.

Users can management the monitor’s settings with a joystick tucked round the proper aspect of the monitor. Dell’s on-screen menus are a lot bigger than most rivals, which makes them simpler to learn. The picture high quality choices embrace changes like shade temperature, hue, and saturation, in addition to preset modes for sRGB, DCI-P3, and AdobeRGB.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Options can be modified with Dell’s Display and Peripheral Manager (DDPM), which has obtained an replace. DDPM 2.0 has a extra streamlined interface and a ribbon-like fast menu that retains widespread choices shut at hand.

One function you gained’t discover, although, is built-in audio system. Their absence is a bit uncommon, as workplace displays typically present a pair of 2-watt audio system, however Dell Ultrasharp displays sometimes skip them. The lack of audio system isn’t a dealbreaker, as monitor audio system are normally fairly dangerous, however one thing to bear in mind.

Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE SDR picture high quality

SDR picture high quality is crucial for any monitor however particularly vital for an workplace and productiveness monitor just like the Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE. Most productiveness apps don’t even help HDR. To obtain strong SDR, the U3225QE calls on a brand new IPS Black panel that guarantees even higher distinction than earlier than.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

First up, nevertheless, is brightness. Here the U3225QE reached a most sustained SDR brightness of 469 nits. While not the best quantity, that’s a superb outcome and interprets to an ultra-bright picture on the monitor’s most brightness setting.

A brightness of 469 nits is way too excessive in most settings. But if you happen to want a monitor that may look vibrant in a sunlit room, or in a starkly lit company bullpen, the U3225QE can do the job. It additionally has an anti-glare coat. It’s efficient, however I’d name it extra of a semi-gloss quite than matte end.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Dell says the U3225QE has the most recent IPS Black panel know-how with a quoted distinction ratio of as much as 3000:1. I measured a distinction ratio of 2900:1 with the monitor at 50 % of its most brightness.

As the graph reveals, that’s a superb outcome. The LG MyView, the one monitor on the graph with a traditional IPS panel, reaches a mere fraction of the U3225QE’s distinction. The different displays on the graph, all of which have an older IPS Black panel, are nearer to the U3225QE however nonetheless notably behind.

The enhanced distinction ratio gives a nice, immersive high quality to the picture. Dark pictures can nonetheless endure “IPS glow,” a hazy look attributable to the monitor backlight, but it surely’s definitely minimized in comparison with different IPS displays.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The U3225QE additionally did properly in shade gamut. It produced 100 % of sRGB, 98 % of DCI-P3, and 92 % of AdobeRGB. These are glorious outcomes that ought to please most artistic professionals. The monitor is well-suited to modifying movies, images, and digital artwork.

However, the U3225QE does discover itself in opposition to robust rivals. The Asus ProArt 5K and BenQ PD2730S 5K present higher protection of DCI-P3, although they’re a tad weaker in AdobeRGB. And whereas I didn’t embrace any QD-OLED displays on the graph, as they’re not direct rivals, they have an inclination to offer higher AdobeRGB protection. The U3225QE’s shade gamut is nice however typical for a high-end monitor.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The U3225QE does properly in shade accuracy, the place it delivers the bottom common shade error amongst shut rivals. That’s fairly a praise, as most displays on this class already deal with tight shade accuracy. Results like this point out an exceptionally lifelike picture that even probably the most crucial viewers will admire.

The U3225QE’s robust shade accuracy was thrown barely askew by its shade temperature and gamma efficiency which, though good, didn’t match its top-tier shade accuracy. I measured a default gamma of two.1, which implies content material is a bit brighter than best. Color temperature, in the meantime, got here in at 6300Okay, which is hotter than the goal of 6500Okay. These are small variations, although, and could be altered with the monitor’s settings.

Sharpness is nice. The U3225QE’s 31.5-inch 4K panel gives a pixel density of about 140 pixels per inch and appears detailed in a variety of content material.

However, displays with a better pixel density are extra widespread than they was. Asus’ and BenQ’s 27-inch 5K monitor each pack 217 pixels per inch, which is over 50 % higher than the U3225QE. Those displays are smaller, after all…however with a pixel density that prime, merely shoving a 27-inch 5K monitor a number of inches nearer to your face (such that it appears as massive as a 32-inch monitor) is legitimate and can nonetheless end in higher perceived sharpness than a 32-inch 4K monitor.

In abstract, the U3225QE’s SDR picture high quality is superb however not distinctive. It scores properly by most metrics however typically finds itself matched or crushed by price-competitive displays. The new wave of 27-inch 5K displays are an particularly alluring various if sharpness and shade efficiency are vital to you, although they’re caught at a 60Hz refresh price.

Dell’s new IPS Black panel scores its greatest win in distinction. That will make the U3225QE’s extra immersive picture preferable if you wish to use the monitor in a wider vary of content material, from productiveness apps to films and video games. 

Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE HDR picture high quality

While seemingly for use in SDR, the Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE helps HDR and is VESA DisplayHDR 600 licensed. That’s a better degree of certification than most productiveness and workplace displays, which generally have DisplayHDR 400 certification.

However, the U3225QE’s added brightness doesn’t make for an awesome HDR expertise. This is usually because of the monitor’s distinction and the way in which the backlight system works.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The U3225QE has a traditional LED backlight which, not like Mini-LED backlights, is just not break up up into dozens or a whole bunch of zones. Because of that, the U3225QE can’t show a really vibrant object in a single nook of the show with out elevating the brightness of your complete show floor. That’s an issue for high-contrast HDR scenes, and it leads to a flat, boring look.

That’s to not say the U3225QE is hopeless, nevertheless. HDR help is helpful if it’s essential to work on HDR content material, resembling HDR video, and need to preview it in your show. Also, whereas the HDR expertise isn’t good, it does have an edge in opposition to rivals with decrease HDR brightness, such because the Philips Creator Series 27.

Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE movement efficiency

Dell upgraded a few of its Ultrasharp shows, such because the Dell U2724DE, to a refresh price of 120Hz about one yr in the past—however these shows had 1440p decision. The U3225QE brings 4K with 120Hz, so there’s no want to decide on between refresh price and movement efficiency.

With that mentioned, the monitor world is shifting faster on refresh price, and your opinion of the U3225QE’s refresh price will rely in your perspective. If you’re knowledgeable used to a 60Hz monitor—which, to today, stays a particularly widespread refresh price for the class—the U3225QE will knock your socks off. Text is extra readable in movement and Windows feels extra responsive.

But if you happen to’ve seen a variety of 240Hz or 360Hz OLED displays currently, the U3225QE would possibly nonetheless disappoint. Motion readability is nowhere close to what you’ll expertise from a 4K OLED gaming monitor just like the Acer Predator X32 X3 or HP Omen Transcend 32. Fast-paced video games look fairly clear on the U3225QE, however tremendous particulars (like a reputation or spell impact above a fast-moving enemy) could be onerous to make out.

Still, I applaud Dell’s continued pursuit of upper refresh charges in Ultrasharp displays. It’s an edge over rivals nonetheless caught on 60Hz. It additionally makes Dell’s displays extra interesting if you need a single monitor to deal with Microsoft Word when you’re clocked in and Marvel Rivals after you clock out.

Should you purchase the Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE?

The Dell Ultrasharp U3225QE continues the corporate’s management in skilled productiveness and workplace displays. Compared to its friends, the U3225QE has a slight edge in picture high quality and a major benefit in connectivity thanks in no small half to the inclusion of Thunderbolt 4 with 140 watts of Power Delivery. The U3225QE additionally gives 4K decision with a 120Hz refresh price, one thing nearly exceptional for a productiveness and workplace monitor.

Pricing can also be within the U3225QE’s favor. The monitor’s retail MSRP of $999.99 is pricey, however it is a flagship monitor with a mix of options you’re not going to search out elsewhere. Competitive displays, like the BenQ PD3225U and the Asus ProArt PA329CV, sometimes lack a number of of the U3225QE’s options, just like the 120Hz refresh price, Thunderbolt 4, and Ethernet. That makes the U3225QE a simple suggestion if you need a flagship workplace and productiveness monitor.