As far equally consumer-grade desktop monitors are concerned, Dell's UltraSharp line are consistently among the nearly highly revered.

Dorsum in January 2022 we reviewed Dell'southward kickoff flagship 4K monitor, the massive 32-inch UP3214Q. Despite beingness the most impressive monitor TechSpot had looked at to appointment, the UP3214Q landed squarely in the early adopter category as evident by its tiled blueprint (essentially ii screens stitched together), limited 60Hz connectivity options, and a wallet-weeping $iii,500 initial MSRP. Information technology was likewise met with a general lack of 4K compatibility, support, and content – none of which were really Dell's fault, merely facts all the same.

All things considered, nosotros advised the "boilerplate" reader to wait it out as substantial improvements were inevitably in store for its successor.

Indeed, the successor – the UltraSharp 4K UP3216Q – hit the scene not all that long agone and with more than than two-and-a-half years of industry maturation in tow, nosotros revisit Dell's 32-inch 4K Ultra Hard disk UltraSharp offering.

Out of the Box

The UP3216Q, like its predecessor, is packaged and shipped in environmentally friendly cardboard – no foam here. Tucked neatly within is the monitor itself, an aluminum monitor stand with cable pass-through, a plastic cable embrace that goes over the rear I/O connections for a tidier look, a ability cable, a miniDisplayPort-to-DisplayPort cable, an HDMI cable, a USB 3.0 upstream cablevision for connecting the monitor to your estimator, an optical disc that includes drivers and documentation, a quick setup guide, obligatory safe and regulatory data and a mill calibration report.

Dell UltraSharp 4K UP3216Q - $1270

  • Diagonal Viewing Size: 31.5 inches (xvi:9)
  • Panel: In-Aeroplane Switching
  • Native Resolution: 3,802 10 2.160 @ 60Hz
  • Dissimilarity Ratio: 1,000 to 1 (typical) / 2M to 1 (dynamic)
  • Brightness: 300 cd/m2 (typical)
  • Response Time: 6ms (greyness to grayness) fast mode
  • Viewing Angle: 178° vertical / 178° horizontal
  • Adjustability: Tilt, Swivel, Peak
  • Color Support: 1.07 billion colors
  • Pixel Pitch: 0.182 mm
  • Backlight Technology: LED low-cal bar system
  • Display Screen Coating: Anti-Glare with 3H hardness
  • Color Gamut: 99.5% Adobe RGB, 100% sRGB, 100% REC709 and 87% DCI-P3
  • Iii-twelvemonth limited hardware warranty

  • Connectivity:
  • 1x DisplayPort, 1x miniDisplayPort, 1x HDMI (MHL), 4x USB iii.0 ports, 1x USB 3.0 upstream, 1x media card reader

  • Physical Specifications:
  • Dimensions (With Stand): Height: 482.6 mm (nineteen.0 inches) / 572.4 mm (22.5 inches), Width: 749.9 mm (29.5 inches), Depth: 214.0 mm (eight.4 inches)
  • Dimensions (Without Stand): Acme: 444.half-dozen mm (17.v inches), Width: 749.9 mm (29.5 inches), Depth: 51.5 mm (2.0 inches)
  • Weight (console only - for VESA mount): 8.six kg (18.92 lbs) / (with packaging):15.two kg (33.44 lbs)

Every UP3216Q leaves the factory with an boilerplate Delta-E < 2 calibration but more on that in a chip.

If you're familiar with the outset-generation monitor, the UP3216Q will experience like an sometime friend. Sitting side by side, y'all'd be hard-pressed to spot visual differences betwixt the 2 as they expect virtually identical (at least, when powered off). The IPS display is of the matte multifariousness with a mild anti-glare coating that's framed past an inch-thick black plastic bezel lined past a silver strip as you circular the corner.

A single power backlit button is positioned in the bottom right corner of the bezel. But above it are five unlabeled capacitive bear on buttons that lite upwards when activated, launching the on-screen carte du jour abreast them. Forth the bottom bezel in the very center is a shiny Dell nameplate that I could do without as the reflections it picks up can be distracting at times.

Sitting discretely on the left edge of the monitor is a 6-in-one menu reader and around back, a depository financial institution of connectivity ports comprised of – from left to correct – the power connector, an HDMI port, a DisplayPort, a miniDisplayPort, a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB 3.0 upstream port and three USB 3.0 ports. A fourth USB 3.0 is distinctly positioned outside of the grouping on the correct side every bit a charging port for your smartphone or other wireless device. On the contrary side, you'll find a security lock although a cable lock isn't included.

Unlike some monitors, there aren't any integrated speakers. Dell sells an optional soundbar (model AC511) for most $20 that attaches to the bottom of the display to provide basic audio if that'due south all you're looking for.

Getting started with the UP3216Q is about equally easy of an experience as you can imagine. With the monitor out of the box, you lot tin elect to install it on a wall or defended arm associates via VESA mountain or exercise as I did and use the included aluminum stand up. The easiest way to do this is to lay the monitor face down, insert the summit portion of the stand up'due south mount offset then snap the bottom into identify.

Initial Utilize, Showtime Impressions

More than a decade ago when apartment panel televisions were simply starting to trickle into the market, one of my best friends purchased a fifty-inch plasma TV (I call back he paid several one thousand for a Zenith set). At a fourth dimension when the largest CRTs were in the 32- to 36-inch range, a 50-inch plasma was like sky on Earth. Its sheer size and Hard disk resolution ensured that you'd need a bib to take hold of all the drool.

My start week with the UP3216Q afforded a very similar experience.

Up to that point, I had been using a triple monitor configuration comprised of two 22-inch and ane 24-inch 1080p monitor and so needless to say, 32 inches was a big step up.

I've been using the UP3216Q for close to 2 months at present, primarily paired with my desktop workstation running on a mundane Radeon R7 250 graphics carte du jour that cost less than $100 back in the day, using DisplayPort through a miniDisplayPort-to-DisplayPort cable which affords me 60Hz activeness. In other words, no need for anything special to get proper 4K resolution back up.

Nosotros are giving away this Dell monitor forth with an XPS 13 laptop.

If you read our recent Dell parcel article (and giveaway!), I also spent some time using the UP3216Q with Dell's own XPS 13 and the 2022 Razer Bract, the one-time in the function of a desktop replace and the latter for gaming. Regardless of which system it's mated with, Dell'south 32-inch UltraSharp is sure to put a grinning on your face.

After a week or so, I'd become accepted to its size. Information technology'due south the sort of thing you take for granted until you jump back to what you were using earlier. For example, a couple of weeks agone I needed to apply my girlfriend's PC to impress something out. She has a newer 22-inch, 1080p LCD panel and wow, merely wow. Information technology was equally if every individual pixel was vying for my attention... not a proficient matter.

Equally many 4K monitor owners will attest to during initial setup, you'll desire to ensure you're using a 60Hz refresh rate. Y'all'll demand to enable HDMI 2.0 in the monitor'due south settings menu to get 60Hz across HDMI or simply apply DisplayPort.

Adjustments, Features and OSD

The included aluminum stand offers basic height, tilt and horizontal hinge adjustments although vertical rotation (for portrait style) isn't possible. At its highest point, there's simply shy of 5 inches of space between the tabular array and the bottom of the monitor and at its everyman point, y'all've got just 1.5 inches. You also get 45 degrees of left / right hinge as well as a mild forrard tilt and a scrap more ambitious rear tilt (around five and xx degrees, respectively).

Elevation and swivel adjustments were fine although I establish the monitor a bit "wobbly." With my artillery on the desk typing away, motion tin sometimes transfer through the desk-bound to the monitor, exhibited every bit a small flake of side-to-side shake (as if you were trying to rotate the brandish into portrait fashion). Indeed, this is magnified greatly if you lift upwards on one corner of the monitor. Elevating the monitor from its lesser-most position helped convalesce some of the issue although at this price point, I'd much adopt a sturdier feel.

It's easy to be swooned by the UP3216Q'southward size and pixel density simply that's only the tip of the iceberg. As an UltraSharp monitor with PremierColor, you lot'll get true-to-life color options right out of the box without the need for extensive calibration. The UP3216Q displays 99.5 percentage of the Adobe RGB colour infinite, 100 percent of the sRGB gamut, 100 percent of the older REC709 standard and 87 pct of the newer DCI-P3 gamut. The ii latter standards are likely ones you haven't heard only if you lot're in the television or movie manufacture, rest assured that the UP3216Q can handle those color-disquisitional projects.

For most, if a monitor meets the "centre test," it's good to go. That'southward not always the example, however, as some are sticklers for specifications and functioning or but need it to work purposes.

Dell ships each UP3216Q only after it has gone through color calibration from the factory. You'll receive a report specific to your monitor that charts a number of metrics including colour uniformity, brightness uniformity, gamma, grey-scale tracking and more. Optionally, you tin can pick upwardly a colorimeter to further fine-melody the display to your liking, merely for my apply, that wasn't necessary.

Touching the pocket-size "dot" but above the power push button activates the on-screen brandish and lights up the corresponding touch-sensitive buttons beside them. The menus are clean and well laid out with various settings exactly where y'all'd wait them. If you're familiar with other UltraSharp displays, you should feel right at home here.

I actually adopt this touch-activated approach versus physical buttons as those are often positioned on the side (or even on the back) of monitors which makes information technology difficult to see their descriptions from a normal seated position.

What's really neat here is the ability to almost split up the monitor into two and have 1 colour space on the left and another on the right. Once again, this will actually only benefit professionals in settings where color accurateness is paramount.

A couple of other nifty features are PIP (picture show-in-moving picture) and PBP (picture show-by-picture). With either of these modes activated, you tin connect a secondary arrangement and view its output on the same screen as your principal computer. It's something that'll probably go nether-utilized merely the option is there if y'all need it.

Image Quality and Performance

The panel features a subtle anti-glare coating, making it ideal for utilise in brightly-lit environments similar office cubicles or home offices with the blinds pulled back. The blanket just introduces a tiny amount of grain and is really only nowadays if you become real close and are looking for it.

At an average altitude of around 23 inches from the screen (give or accept a few inches), the 140 PPI panel looks admittedly stunning. Text is razor sharp (fifty-fifty when you lean fashion in, you can't make out the individual pixels) and images, especially high resolution ones from photo-sharing sites like Flickr, look gorgeous. As best I can tell, there'southward no yellow tinge around the edges like we did with the UP3214Q.

The console seemed to exhibit a tiny bit of IPS glow but this appears to be the work of viewing bending more than annihilation as the glow disappears when I dorsum up from the screen by a couple of anxiety. What is concerning, however, is image retention.

Also called image persistence or ghosting, image retention shows itself every bit a faint remnant of a high contrast paradigm that may have been on the display in a fixed location for a long period of time. I typically run a solid black wallpaper with only one-half a dozen or so icons on the desktop. While inspecting the UP3216Q for IPS glow and backlight drain, I discovered that my desktop icons were very faintly visible with a solid blackness image over that surface area.

Dell is certainly aware of the gamble equally information technology offers an LCD workout part in the monitor'due south settings carte du jour. I ran the conditioning program for most an hour but the faint images are still visible. Perhaps more than time would rectify the issue simply since we're giving abroad this monitor (and Dell's XPS 13 notebook), it'll exist upwards to i of our lucky readers to decide.

Wrap-Up

The Dell UP3216Q is one hell of a monitor, period. The key difference between this new version and the one we looked at a few years back is the non-tiled design. As a outcome of this, too as more mature hardware and compatibility, I didn't see any quirky issues – fifty-fifty when running Windows 7.

Those who use Windows 10 will be happy to learn that scaling works, and reliably so, if you need. Some older programs practice spoil the experience, looking a bit blurry, merely for the most part you'll get a seamless experience.

If you read my recent commodity on the XPS 13 as a desktop replacement, you already know that I'm a huge proponent of productivity. Before the UP3216Q showed up at my doorstep, I'd been using a trio of lower-resolution displays to maximize productivity albeit at the expense of physical space on my desk. The UP3216Q has been a existent centre-opener. Running at its native resolution without scaling, I tin can have six windows open up and in view at all times with plenty of physical space to spare on my desk.

Needless to say, my triple HD monitor days are numbered equally I fully intend to make the bound to a single, large 4K display just like this one (hopefully sooner rather than later on).

Every bit of writing, the Dell UP3216Q tin can be yours for effectually $ane,270 from Amazon, which is in the neighborhood of other premium priced displays in this category. What you go, however, is a flexible, wide-gamut display with phenomenal paradigm quality that'll surely be the envy of all who lay eyes on it. The pattern isn't all that inspiring merely that business rapidly fades when you ability it up.

For the boilerplate user, this is likely going to exist too much monitor. Unless you lot spend a pregnant amount of time behind the keyboard (for piece of work or entertainment), you'll probably be best served to keep some greenbacks in your wallet and leap for something a bit more affordable.

What's more, diehard gamers will almost certainly want to pick up something that supports Nvidia'south Thousand-Sync or AMD'south FreeSync for a college/variable refresh charge per unit. The 6ms response time (in fast mode) is more than acceptable for well-nigh simply if you lot want the accented best display for gaming purposes, it'll be plant elsewhere.

Shopping shortcuts:

  • Dell UltraSharp 4k UP3216Q 31.v" monitor on Dell.com
  • Dell UltraSharp 4k UP3216Q 31.5" monitor on Amazon

Information technology's all the same relatively early for 4K but it's far plenty along that buying into the hardware makes sense for many. 4K is on its style to becoming the next large thing and with 8K yet many years away, you might also take advantage of the all-time that'due south currently available.

Pros: An early adopter's dream, all over again. 4K monitors should all exist this big. Great image quality and viewing angles. Factory calibration delivers with strong colour accurateness results. Excellent connectivity options.

Cons: Included stand up tin be a scrap wobbly. Serviceable but not a truthful gaming monitor.