Dell’s UltraSharp 27 4K PremierColor Monitor (also known as Dell UP2720Q) is designed specifically for professional photographers and graphic artists, who need a high-resolution 10-bit IPS display that produces accurate colors when editing images. This 27″ 4K monitor is world’s first to feature both built-in colorimeter and Thunderbolt 3 in this size and resolution, and it is the first Dell monitor that can directly compete with other high-end offerings from companies like EIZO. In this review, we will take a close look at the Dell UP2720Q monitor and see how it performs for photography needs.
The Dell UP2720Q is a significant improvement over its predecessor, the Dell UP2718Q, which does not have a built-in colorimeter or Thunderbolt 3 connection options. It also has slightly better color accuracy. However, the IPS panel’s backlighting on the UP2720Q is also quite different, only having a total of 250 nits of brightness. In comparison, the UP2718Q has 1000 nits of brightness, which allowed Dell to incorporate HDR10 support. As a result, Dell had to drop HDR10 from UP2720Q, making it a more specialized display for color critical photo work, and not a particularly appealing choice for viewing HDR content. Personally, I see no point of having HDR on my screens, since it is way too bright anyway. My BenQ monitors have HDR and I can’t remember the last time I used it.
First, let’s go over the specifications of this monitor.
Table of Contents
Dell UP2720Q Specifications
| Description | Specification |
|---|---|
| Screen Size | 27″ |
| Resolution | 3840×2160 |
| Pixel Pitch | 0.1554 |
| PPI | 163 |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 |
| Panel Type | IPS |
| Backlight Technology | White LED Edgelight System |
| Color Depth | 10-Bit |
| Viewing Angle (Vertical / Horizontal) | 178° / 178° |
| Response Time | 8 ms (normal mode); 6 ms (fast mode) |
| Refresh Rate | 60Hz |
| Color Gamut | CIE1931 Adobe RGB 100%, CIE1976 DCI P3 98%, CIE1976 BT.2020 80% |
| Delta E | ≤ 2 (average) for CIE 1976 DCI-P3 98%, ≤ 1 (average) for CIE 1931 Adobe 100% |
| Color Modes | DCI-P3 D65 G2.4 L100 / BT.709 D65 BT1886 L100 / BT.2020 D65 BT1886 L100 / sRGB D65 sRGB L250 / Adobe RGB D65 G2.2 L250 / Adobe RGB D50 G2.2 L250 / Native / Custom 1 / Custom 2 / Custom 3 / CAL1 / CAL2 |
| Uniformity Compensation | Yes |
| HDR | No |
| Gamma | 1.6 – 2.6 |
| HDCP | 2.2 |
| VESA Wall Mount | 100x100mm |
| Display Screen Coating | Anti-glare treatment of the front polarizer (3H) hard coating |
| Built-in Colorimeter | Yes |
| External Colorimeter Support | Yes |
| Color Calibration, Management Software | Yes, CalMAN® Ready for Dell (sold separately), Dell Color Management, Dell Calibration Assistant |
| Factory Calibration Report | Yes |
| Input Ports | 1 x DP 1.4 (HDCP 2.2), 2 x HDMI 2.0 (HDCP 2.2), 1 x Thunderbolt 3 (DP 1.4) |
| Other Ports | 1 x Thunderbolt 3 Downstream (DP 1.4), 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Downstream, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Downstream (1 x BC 1.2 charging capability at 2A max) |
| Power Consumption (On / Sleep) | 44W (typical), 230W (maximum) / < 0.5W |
| Dimensions (With Stand) | H: 433.4mm ~ 563.4mm, W: 611.9mm, D: 212.0mm |
| Net Weight (Panel Only) | 5.55 kg kg |
| Net Weight (With Stand) | 9.71 kg |
| Tilt | -5° / 21° |
| Swivel | -45° / 45° |
| Pivot | -90° / 90° |
| Height Adjustment | 130mm |
| Operating Temperature | 0°C – 40°C |
| Operating Humidity (non-condensing) | 10% – 90% |
| Manufacturer Warranty | 3 Years |
| OS Support | Windows 7 – 10, MacOS, Ubuntu |
| Price (MSRP) | $1,999 |
While a number of specifications of this monitor are very similar to those of other 4K IPS monitors, the ones that really stand out are: color accuracy, built-in colorimeter, uniformity compensation, as well as Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. With the monitor being able to reproduce 100% of Adobe RGB at Delta ≤ 1, 98% of DCI-P3 and 80% BT.2020, it matches or exceeds some of the best panels offered by HP, NEC and EIZO. The built-in colorimeter feature is the first of its kind for Dell monitors, and a very welcome addition, as it removes the expense and the hassle of hooking up an external colorimeter to calibrate the display (plus, you can set the monitor to periodically calibrate itself). In addition, Dell’s UltraSharp Color Calibration Software (DUCCS) has been historically buggy, unreliable and limited in features, so it is nice to be able to get away from that with the hardware colorimeter.
Similar to some high-end monitors, the Dell UP2720Q comes with uniformity compensation feature, which allows the screen to maintain even brightness across the screen. I tested the monitor’s uniformity using DisplayCAL software, and you can see the results by scrolling down below.
Lastly, being able to connect the monitor via Thunderbolt 3 is a pretty big deal, because it allows communication of both video and data, as well as simultaneous charging! That’s right – if you hook up this monitor to your laptop, it will be able to charge it with up to 90W of power. With Thunderbolt 3 being the standard on many Mac and PC devices now, all you have to do is hook up the power and one cable, and you have everything working, including the USB hub that hosts 4x USB 3.2 ports, and the extra Thunderbolt 3 downstream port. Further down below, I go through my experience using this monitor with my iMac Pro. If you want to connect the monitor via DisplayPort, you can do that too – the monitor supports HDCP 2.2 standard for both DP and HDMI input ports.
Does the Dell UP2720Q live up to expectations, and can it truly be a competitor to professional-grade EIZO, HP and NEC monitors? Let’s take a look at the monitor in more detail and see.
Monitor Setup, Overview and Build Quality
Setting up the monitor is easy – once you unpack it from the large box, first assemble the stand (which comes in two pieces), then attach the monitor to the back of the stand. Connect the power cable and put it through the cable management hole on the vertical arm of the stand. If you are going to be using the Thunderbolt 3 port, connect the cable to the 90W upstream port – this activates all downstream ports. If you connect via HDMI or DisplayPort, make sure to use the provided USB Type-C to USB Type-B cable to connect the upstream port to your computer to enable the USB hub.
I connected the monitor to my iMac Pro using the Thunderbolt 3 cable. Once attached, the monitor immediately recognized the connection and turned on. It is nice that the built-in hub provides another Thunderbolt 3 downstream port. This way, the monitor is not eating up another port on the iMac, and I can still connect other Thunderbolt 3 or USB devices to it.
If you have overhead or side lights in the room, it is a good idea to attach the provided monitor shading hood. The shading hood comes in a single piece with rubber dividers, making it very easy to attach to the sides of the monitor via magnets. Unlike some of the flexible plastic hoods on other monitors, this one will only work in horizontal orientation.
Build quality of the monitor is excellent. Dell engineers did a great job designing the screen, the navigation buttons and the on-screen display (OSD), which is very intuitive to use. The buttons are standard push-style buttons, not touch-sensitive ones that you can find on some of Dell’s monitors. The screen has a nice matte coating that does a good job at reducing reflections and glare.
The bezel is very thin, but the screen does not extend all the way to the bezel (about 3mm black area from left, top and right sides, and about 6mm from the bottom). That does not bother me personally, but it is something to keep in mind when using a dual screen setup. The stand is very strong and sturdy, allowing the monitor to be raised up to 130mm. You can set the monitor to either vertical or horizontal orientation. The screen tilts -5° to 21°, swivels -45° to 45° and pivots -90° to 90°.
Initial Impressions
I have been running the BenQ SW271 alongside my iMac Pro for a while now, so I already knew what to expect from a similar 4K monitor. I changed the Display options on the iMac Pro to “Scaled” and picked option #2 from the left, which made the fonts about the same size as on the primary display. Pressing the Info button revealed 3840×2160 resolution at 60 Hz, which is the native refresh rate of the monitor.
After I set everything up, I opened up a white document on the screen to see if there are any dead pixels – there weren’t any. With uniformity compensation turned on, brightness of the monitor looked pretty even, and I did not see any green / magenta tint issues that I have previously seen on other monitors, including the BenQ SW271. Using the OSD, I navigated to Uniformity Compensation and turned it off, then again inspected the screen. I honestly could not see much difference between the two, which is why it was more meaningful to run a DisplayCAL uniformity test to really see how even the brightness of the monitor is (further down below).
Factory Calibration Accuracy
Every Dell UP2720Q comes with a color calibration factory report, which shows calibration data for sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3, Gray-Scale Tracking, Gamma, Brightness Uniformity and Color Uniformity. My report showed excellent results for both sRGB and Adobe RGB (less than 1 Delta) and DCI-P3 was also good (less than 2 Delta). Brightness uniformity showed 98-100% uniformity in 25 measured areas, while color uniformity ranged from 0.22 to 1.27, with the extreme left corner being the worst (all other areas were less than 0.9 Delta).
Still, I decided it was a good idea to test the accuracy of the factory calibration using the X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter. I fired up DisplayCAL and measured Adobe RGB. Below are the results:
This is an excellent result from factory calibration. As promised, average Delta was less than 1 and Maximum Delta was less than 1.5. I tested the accuracy of sRGB and DCI-P3, which were also within the norms.
Hardware Calibration via Built-in Colorimeter
From there, it was time to fire up hardware calibration using the built-in colorimeter and see how it does when compared to the i1Display Pro. This is the part I was a bit worried about, since differences in colorimeters can sometimes create issues when assessing colors.
Starting up hardware calibration was a breeze – you can do it directly from the OSD without having to run any software tools. Once you bring up the menu, simply go to Calibration, select Calibration Target (I picked CAL1 as the target for DCI-P3, D65, G2.4, L120 and Uniformity Compensation turned on), set Calibration Speed to Comprehensive for better accuracy, then select Calibrate Now to start the process (make sure the monitor is turned on for at least 20 minutes before you start). The monitor turns off the feed from your computer, enters calibration mode, and a round circle drops to the bottom of the screen. From there, the door on the bottom opens up, and the colorimeter rises vertically to calibrate the screen:
With the Extended Calibration turned on, the colorimeter spends quite a bit of time with gray colors, then towards the end runs all the colors. Once done and the circle gets to 100%, the colorimeter goes back in and you are presented with a message on the monitor, asking if you want to review the calibration results. That’s it, the monitor is now hardware-calibrated! The process is very simple and straightforward, and best of all – it works like a charm!
After hardware calibration was done, I decided to fire up DisplayCAL and verify DCI-P3 D65 calibration with the i1Display Pro colorimeter. Here are the results:
Wow! It looks like Dell’s hardware colorimeter is excellent – look at how well it measures with the i1Display Pro. I was skeptical about the hardware colorimeter on this monitor, but it looks like Dell did a great job with it, and it matches the best consumer-grade colorimeter on the market today!
After this was done, I decided to calibrate the second CAL2 target to sRGB, D65, G2.2, L120, with Uniformity Compensation turned on. I followed the same process, which worked out really well, according to DisplayCAL.
For the first time with Dell, I was actually happy to be able to do all this without having to download and run DUCCS. Having seen how often DUCCS crashed and presented problems before, I would rather not deal with extra software if I don’t have to. Still, I went ahead and downloaded the Dell Calibration Assistant, which worked fairly well on macOS Catalina 10.15.3. This software tool is not meant to calibrate anything – it is there to assist with setting up hardware calibration and verification. For example, you can click on which color space you want to calibrate and how often:
I set up mine to calibrate every 200 hours, but you can schedule calibration to be run as often as every day.
DisplayCAL Software Calibration
To make my display look even better and more consistent with the iMac Pro, I decided to software-calibrate it using DisplayCAL. The goal was to create two color profiles for the monitor: DCI-P3 for CAL1, and sRGB for CAL2. As long as I don’t forget to switch between these via System Preferences -> Display when toggling between CAL1 and CAL2, it was going to work great. For editing photos, my goal was to default to DCI-P3 color space for both hardware and software calibration.
As always, calibrating with DisplayCAL was a breeze. I picked the same 6500K target whitepoint, 2.4 gamma and medium calibration speed in the calibration tab, while leaving white and black levels “As measured”:
In the Profiling tab, I selected Single curve + matrix and Extended testchart for LUT profiles that resulted in 175 color patterns, which was good enough for my recalibration process. I went ahead and clicked “Calibrate & profile” to start the process. Dell’s hardware calibration did a pretty decent job with adjusting RGB channels and target luminance:
I went ahead and clicked “Continue on to calibration”. The calibration process took about 25 minutes. Below is the profile information, showing the DCI-P3 color gamut:
And a visual representation of DCI-P3 vs sRGB gamut coverage:
Here is the final measurement report after software calibration:
That’s a little better compared to hardware calibration earlier. It seems like this step is not necessary for most photographers out there – hardware calibration by itself should be sufficient.
Evaluation of Uniformity
Unfortunately, the built-in colorimeter of the Dell UP2720Q only scans the bottom part of the display and it is unable to measure brightness uniformity, so we have to rely on other tools to do the job. Thankfully, DisplayCAL is a wonderful tool to do this in combination with an external colorimeter like the i1Display Pro.
I selected a 5×5 grid and measured each part of the square, placing the X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter in the middle of each one. Below is the result, showing DeltaC deviations:
As you can see, Dell did an amazing job at keeping the screen of the UP2720Q uniformly bright – the DisplayCAL uniformity test passed every square with recommended tolerance, something I have not yet seen from a Dell monitor. This is in line with results from high-end EIZO and NEC monitors!
Summary
As you can see from this review, the UP2720Q is Dell’s first true professional monitor that delivers superb results. The monitor came with very accurate factory calibration (which I was able to verify using DisplayCAL), and the built-in hardware colorimeter worked as well as X-Rite’s i1Display Pro for calibrating the screen, which was rather surprising to see. The built-in colorimeter is a game-changer for Dell, and the first of its kind for the company’s professional line of monitors. Although the provided color spaces worked out quite well out of the box for photo editing, I was able to accurately calibrate the monitor for DCI-P3 and sRGB color spaces without any issues. Once fully calibrated, it was a pleasure to see that the colors and tones of images looked identical between my iMac Pro and the Dell UP2720Q, something I had a hard time achieving with other monitors in the past. The Uniformity Compensation feature also worked very well, keeping the whole screen equally bright.
Combined with 4K resolution, Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and a myriad of different input and output ports, the Dell UP2720Q is arguably one of the most feature-rich monitors on the market today. I applaud Dell for making such a fine tool for professionals. It is finally nice to see a worthy competitor to EIZO, HP and NEC.
For more information about this monitor, please see the Dell UP2720Q page on Dell.com.
Where to Buy
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Dell UP2720Q
- Features
- Build Quality
- Resolution
- Color Uniformity
- Brightness Uniformity
- Connectivity Options
- Ergonomics
- Power Consumption
- Factory Calibration
- Calibration Potential
- Value
Photography Life Overall Rating
Great review! Extremely detailed and with a lot of important information you simply cannot find on other reviews (for example: “you want monitor for photo editing, then choose ips, its better than tn :D) . I am always interested in reading your take on photography related topics.
Sadly 2k for a monitor is quite a lot for me right now, Do you have any recommendation about a good monitor around 700$ (for example the non UP version – dell u2718q or dell u2720q). After my research I found out that I can either get adobe rgb and 2,5k or 4k and srbg for my budget. As a person who doesn’t print much, I wonder if the adobe rgb will be that much of a bonus as most of my clients and me view the images on a screen. Thanks in advance!
Kristian, thank you for your feedback!
To be honest, having tested a number of Dell monitors in the past, I cannot recommend their lower-end monitors for serious editing. Instead, I would recommend to go with NEC’s PA-series monitors, which offer excellent calibration potential with SpectraView II and X-Rite i1Display Pro. They also have uniformity compensation, which most lower-end Dell monitors don’t…
BenQ has a 2k monitor for about your price range: BenQ SW2700PT 27″ 16:9 Photographer IPS Monitor. It’s an older monitor but seems to have had good reviews.
User uniformity reports like the one did by Nasim with DisplayCAL were not so good. I remember some 3dC in the grid.
Also Benq’s Palette Master Elements is as worse or worser than DUCCS.
Wow, what a reasonable price for such a monitor and even more with the built-in colorimeter. And thank you very much, Nasim. I, for quite a while, stopped reading hardware announcements. So I am happy I read PL and know I would not miss important news.
I got two Dell U2711 (wide gamut), calibrated. I also installed the corresponding ICC profiles in my raw processor (darktable) for the paper and printer my photos are printed to.
So my question is: Should I upgrade to the Dell UP2720Q? My first guess is: No. I sometimes work on a calibrated Asus G74SX laptop monitor and I must say: There is not much difference to my calibrated Dell U2711. If I compare the final print to the image on the monitor, I am pleased with the colour accuracy.
And then I learned: not many photographers even use calibrated displays. Still, I am curious about the UP2720Q. Thanks, Nasim. Cheers! -jan
Jan, I appreciate the feedback!
Dell made a few excellent monitors in the past (most notably the U2410 and U2413, although you had to make sure to get a good sample), but after these releases came unreliable monitors with poor panels. I am happy that Dell is coming back to the serious game with the newest releases – I hope the trend continues.
In regards to upgrading to the Dell UP2720Q, I guess it depends on your budget and your needs. It is a much better monitor than your U2711, especially in terms of color accuracy and uniformity, but is it worth spending $2K for it? That’s something you will need to decide for yourself. Many IPS panels can be calibrated to yield decent results, but for color critical work (especially studio and product photography), a good, consistent panel is a must-have.
It is true that most photographers do not calibrate their screens, but most don’t really care in the first place, and they are hobbyist photographers who are just looking for quick results. Anyone who is serious about their work should properly calibrate their screens.
Was pleased to see you compliment the U2410, I used 2 of these monitors for a 6 years of my career in Graphic Design but never bothered to spend the money to colour calibrate them.
Still have 1 boxed in the cupboard as a backup monitor.
Janek, I had two U2410s that I used for years. After that, I got two U2413s to use with my other PC. These monitors lasted forever. After about 8 years, my first U2410 started showing issues, where the screen would be very dark initially, but after a long warm up, it would come back to normal. I gave these monitors to a friend, and he is still using them today!
Thank you, Nasim. I am tempted though. One should profile the whole work flow including the camera. I used www.targets.coloraid.de/ (very affordable!) to calibrate the colours of my Nikons. Especially the red colours are very accurate now. Some time ago I took some business portraits (studio, flash) of my wife. She used a decent reddish non-glossy lipstick which she likes very much. The portrait was fine, the skin tones were quite accurate, but the colour of the lipstick had changed a bit. That was the first thing she spotted. Even Nikons superior JPG-engine did not produce the correct colour, although it was close. The calibrated input ICC profile produced a perfect lipstick colour. (But I still struggle with the bright blue LED stage lights as they are often very intense. )
Conclusion: I wouldn’t bother with a (even) better monitor unless the whole work flow (camera, monitor, printer/ink and paper) is “ICC profiled” and a correct white balance (using e.g. a grey card or a colorimeter) is used.
Jan, color calibration can be quite complex for many photographers. I think a good first step in the right direction is to calibrate the monitor :)
Camera calibration is a great thing if you can ensure to work in the same lighting conditions as you had when calibrating. If that changes just a bit, or if you have to work with mixed light sources like unreliable LED, metal-halide and fluorescent lamps of exotic colour profiles, you calibration gets rather pointless.
Calibration means getting all involved hardware to work best in a well-defined environment. Mostly the environment is not calibrated. I agree with Nasim, a calibrated output workflow will save a lot of printed paper. A calibrated input workflow would save a lot of colour adjustments, but only if the light conditions are constant.
And the lipstick problem could easily have been solved with a masked layer and adjusted colour of the lipstick, but you know that, right?
What do think about this Dell monitor versus the BenQ SW 271
Olav, you can read my thoughts in the BenQ SW271 review. In short, it is an inferior panel that has color and uniformity inconsistencies. If you are OK with that, and you are willing to go through some samples to find one that is decent, then you can give it a try. This Dell is a whole different level, in line with the likes of EIZO, HP and NEC.
Why do the put those ports under and behind???
Have you tried to used one? Without swinging the screen into portrait mode, then doing the acrobatics while trying to hit the God damn port is like trying to shoot a deer while blindfolded….
Stupidity in it’s purest form.
Red, I think all manufacturers are worried about the aesthetics of their monitors, so they intentionally place the ports behind the monitor. This monitor actually has two ports on the bottom left side of the monitor to make it easier to quickly connect devices…
Great review…As an Apple fan, this review makes me question another iMac retina vs this Dell + a “loaded” Mac Mini.
Not sure which way is the better way to go – the Dell is going to be a better monitor than the iMac Retina screen for photo editing. I wish Apple made the iMac Retina screens with matte finish rather than glossy…
Not sure if I’d buy another Dell monitor. I had a u2413 and while not anywhere near as nice as my eizo it was still amazing for the price. The problem was after about 12 months it started shutting off and on repetitively after being on for about 20 minutes straight. This was about the time they were finally out of stock everywhere. Google searching turned up several others with the same issue… Some sort of hardware failure causing overheating on a component. For $400 or whatever I paid I wasnt happy about it.
PS starting about the beginning of this week I’ve been getting really annoying ads on Photography Life … The ones that form a border on all sides of your phone’s screen… Frequently popping up too
Abomb, I had a pair of U2413 monitors for years – excellent screens for the money, great value!
I guess you had bad luck with yours. I used and abused the U2413s for years, and they are still working!
Thanks for letting us know about the ads. Could you please take a screenshot and send it to me? Thanks!
Is L120 not too dark for working? What kind of ambient lighting do you have? I find in a one north window room I need to be at least at 200. Also, can you talk a little about how uniformity compensation works on this? Is it a preprogrammed factory table based on each table or can you update it over time?
Yuri, not in my environment – it is fairly dark in my basement :) I used to do L150-200, but that’s just too bright for me now.
In terms of uniformity compensation, I really don’t know how it works on the technical level. There is no adjustment that I can see on the monitor that lets you tweak it – you either have it turned on, or turned off. I think it is a factory calibration for uniformity…
They zone map screen like in Nasim’s uniformity report. Correction is done in a destructive way: If right side is reddish than center at RGB 100%, they lower R output on side and they may lower overall RGB in center so they match in brightness too. This is the reason UC destroys contrast, max brightness is reduced but light leaked on RGB 000 (black) is the same. Also some models may zone tweak backlight.
“Bad panels” result in higher contrast & maximum brightness destruction when UC is ON. “Good panels” need less correction so you loose less contrast when UC is ON.
It is clearly seen on prad.de review for Benq SW270C, compensation left 600:1 contrast at D65 which is mediocre if we compare it with native 1000:1. Eizo had some units suffering issues like this in the now extinct… CS270?… I do not remember model name. It was no good and was replaced quickly with CS2730 which do not suffer these issues and offer usual high QC from Eizo.
Asus offers that zone mapping by user measurements but it does not work as intended, it fixes brightness but leaves color worse. Same for their HW calibration software. Mostly useless.
Great review. This looks like a great screen. However, the BenQ PD3200U is the best value and one of the best out there for photo editing.
Motti, I have two BenQ monitors, both higher-end than the one you specified. While great value, they cannot compete with the Dell UP2720Q – it is a completely different class…
Benq’s sRGB models in PD series should be fine for their price.
Good sRGB displays are reasonably priced these days… the troubles start when you add widegamut backlight to the mix. Unless there is strict QC, uniformity issues happen … and that comes at a price as we see in this Dell or in the cheapest but highly reliable widegamuts Eizo CS series.
I have no experience with Thunderbolt, and I’m working with PC’s. I’m about reading for a new machine. Unfortunately, AMD-based motherboards (with one itx exception) lack Thunderbolt implementation, so it would probably be an Intel build. This monitor looks very appealing, especially if attached via Thunderbolt.
Assuming a PC build with a Thunderbolt-equipped motherboard, how would this Dell monitor be connected to the PC? Does the video card need a Thunderbolt port, or does the motherboard send the video card output over the motherboard’s Thunderbolt port?
Related question: are there good, large external drives taking advantage of Thunderbolt speed? Until now, I’ve just been using Seagate USB3 external drives for backups. Transferring terabytes of photo files is sloooowwwwww…
Jim, the Thunderbolt 3 connection is there for any newer machine that has TB3 built-in (many new PC motherboards, as well as laptops now have TB3). However, you are not locked to Thunderbolt with this display – you can still use HDMI and DP connections, which work great too (both are latest standards).
Macs have got it easy, because they output video via Thunderbolt and that feature is built to every Mac. With PCs, I guess it depends. If you have a high-end video card and you want to output from the video card to the monitor, then you should probably use the DP connection instead – I haven’t seen a single high-end card that has a Thunderbolt-out port.
In regards to large external drives with TB connection, if you don’t go with an NVMe PCIe external drive, TB simply does not make any sense, because hard drives are going to be limited to 100-200 MB/sec anyway. Even standard SSDs are limited to around 400-500 MB/sec, so you are limited by the storage type itself. So if you want TB speeds, you should be buying NVMe PCIe SSD storage, which is going to cost you a pretty penny…
How does type on emails and webpages look on a 4k monitor? I worry about the type not being large enough for me to see.
Jay, it is not a problem – you simply use larger fonts. On a PC, you usually want to go between 120%-150% (depending on your vision). On a Mac, you just toggle between different scaling options.
Good review! Thanks.
I just ordered this Monitor.
I use it for photografy
Now i have the U2413
I have the first Dell that came in a 2560×1600 px version and with an almost Adobe RGB spectrum.
It still works fine after 10 years +; If i calibrate it, once in a while, i notice that the colours hardly drift.
Since we are looking more and more at screens, a good calibrated monitor is for a photographer a must.
You need a good reference to be sure that the photos you send out are just the way you want them.
I use my old Dell and a calibrated reference printer to be sure of that.
About calibrating your camera; I agree that it can make sense for the images made in a controlled environment in which you also made the profile; the standard profiles provided with the camera are good for general photography.
Hi Nasim,
Widegamut LEDs with almost full AdobeRGB and p3 coverage are likely to use newer WLED PFS backlight, not old GB-LED (94% P3). For measuring with an i1displaypro this correction is HP Z24x correction, bundled with default set of spectral corrections for DisplayCAL and labeled “99% AdobeRGB & 98% P3” or something close to that.
With newer versions of DisplayCAL you can plot the spectral power distribution of each correction, so you can see where they are different (huge in red).
A “peasant” i1displaypro may not show huge differences corrected with RG_phosphor or with a more accurate one for these backlights, but that accuracy or lack of accuracy depends on each colorimeter sensivity curves in firmware.
Regarding HW cal, software cal or factory cal there is a important thing aside from deltaE… it’s the a*b* range. Individual greys can be at less than 1dC to their reference grey, but between them one could be a little red than reference and another a little green, so actual color distance between those 2 greys (without brightness) can exceed 2.
For example in you factory calibration AdobeRGB report we see a not good 1.8 range, or P3-D65 HW calibration gets a 1.5 range which “could” be easy spoted by eye on a grey gradient. I’ve seen U2413 and U2717H with 1.5x range after DUCCS and greys show slight but visible gren/red tint on gradients. We discussed this issue with DUCCS and Xrite guys, when I requested those improvements in v1.5.x that were partially solved in v1.6.x.
I mean while HW CAL range 1.5x is not so good (need to check visually on a gradient to confirm that), factory calibrated AdobeRGB a*b* range seems “no good” for working with B&W photography.
All your DisplayCAL captures show a*b* range summary, which is very good and a very usefull information, that’s ho I spotted that issue, but maybe unexperienced users need a litte clarification when this value is past 1.5 : make a visual check, if it is bad and your graphics card does not cause banding, calibrate with DisplayCAL on top of HW calibration to fix it.
Although uniformity is excellent (as you named, unseen in previous Dells) I would like that in a $2000 display there were no such issues with range… which is at 99% certain caused by software (factory cal or HW autocal). If you do not have a neutral grey panel from start like those Eizos because of quality/price constraints you have to take more measurements on uncalibrated grey ramp… otherwise you’ll end with this issues.
Do you mind to tell us how many black to red (or black to green/blue/white) measurement takes integrated calibration system? Old 1.5.x DUCCS measured 11 (4×11) and it went to 20 (4×20) on DUCCS 1.6.x solving partially this issue. Raising this issue may lead to Dell releasing an update (software/firmware) fixing the range we see in you HW cal P3 report.
Also thinking about video,
-would you mind to tell us contrast ratio with Uniformity Compensation ON and OFF? For example default factory sRGB mode UC ON and OFF.
-did you made uniformity report with UC ON or OFF?
-did HW calibration software/firmware system lower contrast beyond expected value like DUCCS did? This is important for video users. For example if you use Davinci Resolve you may get better contrast (less black level at 100cd/m2 white) on old Dells if you go to custom color, fix whitepoint with the RGB gains, and make a LUT3D to Rec709 with DisplayCAL rather than go through DUCCS.
As always, thanks for the review!
Hello, I’m using two up2716d. Before was u2713h setup. Now thinking about 4K display.
Can you tell if this newer WLED PFS backlight safe for eyes with no PWM as the older Gb-r-led ?! Thank you.
To use or do not use PWM in a LED backlight does not depend on phosphor technology applied to a led (AFAIK).
You can have 20KHz PWM in a GB-LED, or DC, or DC with X KHz additional ripple. All of them cause no PWM related issues to our sight. PWM issues are related to full ON/OFF PWM under a few KHz (typical 200-400Hz PWM)
If you wish to know if UP2720Q uses PWM, the amount of it (full or DC+ripple) and frencuency a review needs to measure it. There are “home ways” to try to detect it with a camera, but specialized HW is required for an actual test.
Thank you again, for posting the DispCal Uniformity report — it is invaluable!
What video card would I need to run this 4 k monitor and my 1080P U2413 at the same time?
Thank you for the detailed and informative review?
I work in management and perform 90% of my work from a home office setup. (mostly MS Office, presentations, conferencing, etc.)
I am looking for almost a year for a replacement of my trusty Dell U2412M, which I had for more than 10 years. I want a 27inch 4K, as I prefer the good DPI and crisp text offered by the scaled look on higher resolutions. I am also an amateur photographer.
It is clear for me that this monitor is complete overkill for my requirements, however the monitor is the center of my daily work and want it to be perfect.
At the same time I am very picky about image quality and do have a very OCD nature and have a high trouble when I see imperfections (especially with uniformity, backlight bleeding, blooming, colors, etc).
Other monitors that I am considering are the Benq SW271, Eizo EV2785, EIZO CS2740 (upcoming).
Assuming a budget around 1500-1600EUR, What recommendations would you have for me? :)
You are mixing sRGBs & widegamuts.
sRGB: Eizo EV or NEC EA, NEC have HW calibration with SV2 + i1displaypro
Widegamut: Eizo CS2740… benq never was an alternative, color uniforemity is too poor. You may try the UP like Nasim, it depends on actual price of CS
Thanks for the awesome review. For anyone interested, this display is on sale in the US store at the moment for $1599 vs $1999 list price: www.dell.com/en-us…ccessories