One Month with the Best Monitor in the World: The New Dell 40" 5K120 HDR U4025QW

Dave spends a month with the brand new Dell 5K120 HDR monitor. For my book on life on the Spectrum: amzn.to/49sCbbJ
Follow me on Facebook at davepl for daily shenanigans!
The little air-quality clock I show in one scene (several folks have asked!): amzn.to/3Tjgt4q
Dell Ultrasharp 27" - amzn.to/49Hjjp8
Dell Ultrasharp 32" - amzn.to/3uDxjS4
Dell Curved 34" - amzn.to/4bWPt1V
Dell Ultrasharp 38" - amzn.to/49shAo3
Dell Ultrasharp 40" - www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-...
0:00: 💻 Review of a high-quality 40-inch curved 5K120 HDR monitor by Dell, emphasizing the speaker's expertise and independence.
3:20: ⚙️ Opportunistic acquisition of a malfunctioning monitor leads to a troubleshooting challenge.
6:00: 💻 High-resolution Dell monitor offers immersive gaming experience but excels in productivity tasks.
9:00: 💻 Versatile monitor with multiple inputs, including USB-C for laptop display and charging, and unique iPad connectivity.
12:17: ⚡️ Impressions of using the Dell 40" 5K monitor for a month, including performance and connectivity features.
15:29: ⚡️ Cutting-edge color accuracy, lightning-fast response time, and innovative Thunderbolt connectivity.
18:30: ⚙️ High-performance monitor with advanced features like variable refresh rate and dynamic refresh rate.

[@s.patrickmarino7289]

People who obsess over monitor brightness are just nit picking.

[@StefaanContreras]

😆

[@JamesOKeefe-US]

😂 nice

[@katwdesigns]

Aayyy! We're nitpicky but rightfully so! 😂 A lot of ultrawides lack adequate brightness so if you work next to a bright window, the screen can look dim. As an interface designer, accurate color and brightness is crucial because my whites look more like light gray... And think about how much whites and grays are our any app or website. It's a big issue if I can't tell them apart. 💀 Plus, I'm paying for these big windows for a reason. If I have to close my blinds and work in a dark room just to work effectively, it defeats the purpose. I might as well just live in a cave lol

[@picadediamante8492]

​@@katwdesigns your problem!

[@stuartedge5906]

@@katwdesigns I always look dim. I blame my multiple LG monitors.

[@supremebeme]

the camera cut to the monitor with you still talking was a nice touch

[@jeroenvermiljoen]

The NECs were sweet. I remember as a teen saving up from my summer jobs to buy a P750 and it trounced everything my friends had. NEC customer service was awesome as well. One time I had a later model exchanged for bad geometry even the service menu couldn't fix and they literally sent a courier (from Germany to The Netherlands, mind you) to pick it up and deliver a new one the next day, no questions asked. Their digital CRT projectors were superb as well, I continued using my XG-110LC well into the 2000s. Being loyal to the brand I also tried their first LCD monitors but they were pretty bland and I sadly moved on.

[@wreagfe]

I still have a NEC 20" WGX2 lying around in my basement, which was a pretty good 16:10 IPS lcd monitor. But it was hard to get at the time (in the Netherlands) and relatively expensive.

[@jimspc07]

Nec Monitors were quite good as long as they did not break down. Their printers were terrible and their support was lies and non existent. I managed a large IBM PC reseller service section in Sydney Australia in the mid to late 1980s and some NEC products were part of the sales offering. We had broken NEC equipment on every self in the building, all under warranty waiting parts. Nearly all printers and nearly all with the same fault. Broken paper feed knobs. Could we get spares. No. They were always "on the way" and "being produced now" as NEC Japan had not made any as spare parts. We stopped selling them. Nec was supposedly a very profitable going ahead company, yes, because it had no post sale support and warranty costs. But NEC disappeared from the market sometime after. This was not limited to NEC several Japanese companies had no post sales support. Unlike the US and European manufactures who had recommended lists of spares that should be carried depending on sales volumes and market penetration.

[@CarlenHoppe]

The monitor that I really wanted back in early 1994 was the Sony 17" trinitron. Unfortunately my parents were with me at the store. Dad freaked out that I was going to spend $1,200 (or so) on a new 17" monitor. I ended up leaving the Fry's with a NEC 4FGe 15" monitor. It was adequate. But certainly not worth saving that $500 delta. The 4FGE claimed to be 15", but it was really more like 13.7" as I recall.

[@Taras-Nabad]

I had a NEC 3D early on and then got a deal on a new NEC 6FG. That was a 150lb monitor.

[@elksalmon84]

I had Mitsubishi 750SB. No LCD can offer picture quality any close. But it was only 17"... So it had to go in april 2009, when was replaced by 1080p Samsung P2370. Since 2016 it's 4K LG 27".

[@psytcp]

Welcome to the club :) I have U4021QW for about a year now and LOVE it. Best investment and no back problems from twisting my body for looking on multiple monitors.

[@SNAFU56]

Oh and Dave, nice video editing and attention to detail - I appreciate paying attention to giving enough time for viewers to actually be able to read the hard coded text without having to rewind and pause the video, yet not having it on screen for too long where it becomes annoying. Keep up the good work.

[@Maverrick2140]

that blend from the video recorded off of the monitor to the source video was just perfect :P

[@dearmash]

And having that all be true while watching at 2x is perfection

[@cybermuse6917]

Love the history and review of this, I equally am super excited about this release! I also just bought and read your book and it was profoundly helpful in understanding certain parts of myself, for which I thank you greatly. ♥

[@GregLanz]

I had a couple of those NEC CRT's back when I worked for the oil company. They lent me one for home that they never asked for back and I used for a while after they were merged I was surplused. I am still using my Dell Ultrasharp from 2008 though not as my primary monitor it has been an incredible work horse and well worth what was a premium at the time but it wasn't curved and now I don't think I could go back to a flat monitor for my primary

[@jhonbus]

2:07 "I was part of the NT GUI team that was responsible for adding multiple monitor support" Dude, are there any of the good features in Windows that you're _not_ responsible for?! It seems if you pick any of the things that Windows has nailed from a useability perspective, it's got davepl's name all over it!

[@Sam-tb9xu]

I gotta multimonitor support on windows is something that drives me crazy to this day. Which monitor number gets assigned to which monitor seems to be a nondeterministic mess.

[@stevefxp]

OMG Dave you just made me flashback to the 90s...I had the same NEC Multisync display. I even got to take it home, to power my home PC. As to two of those monitors I know that trading floors will use them, but not side by side. They will be stacked on top of the other. Love all your gear in the background. You are making me want to pull out my original Apple I that is signed by Jobs and Woz!

[@MarioHachemer]

I love your channel, feels like watching my ideal future self talk about tech. Thanks Dave!

[@fraenkli]

I ordered mine 1 week ago. I'm glade to here from you, that I seem to picked the right monitor. Thanks for making such videos.

[@dougstarwalt8984]

I swear he said 'parsec'. I started chuckling and was totally entertained. Well done Dave!

[@tchmilfan]

Got to keep the display chromulent. Niche monitor geek jokes.

[@Dirtyharry70585]

He had Trekkie shock from the massive pixel count.

[@hotflashfoto]

He DID say it! I thought so, too, but now I'm sure!!

[@radnaut]

So awesome man! Great show! Thank you!

[@eliotmansfield]

broken kit was a valuable commodity in the 90’s for me because we had a way of getting it swapped for brand new kit - the same piece of broken kit may go through the system more than once each time providing a new bit of kit

[@LarsBerntropBos]

I had an ingenious Frankenbuild in 1987: A MacPlus, modded with an SE motherboard, an internal SCSI harddisk and a PC PSU and a fan, partly hiding behind an E-Machines "The Big Picture", a 1024 x 768 17" display with a slow phosphor, that had an asymmetric back so that the Mac just showed enough so you could access the Floppy drive. Word 4 was king for years on the Mac. An amazing step up from WordPerfect 5.1. Sadly no longer have it :-( Around 2001, I upgraded my Apple 13" Trinitron (gorgeous) to a Sun 17 inch LCD that lasted for many years. That was a rock solid display.

[@zynan]

Nostalgia! My Commodore Plus4 still works. I loved that computer. The cartridges, the cassette drive, the built-in spreadsheet and word processor, two games on cassette. So fun.

[@JPEaglesandKatz]

Back in the days as a Tech support I used to come across employees using their tube monitor which was capable of around 75 hz. Problem was it was set to 30ish hz... They didn't notice the flickering. I was wondering how many headaches they had each days. So I quickly fixed that display setting. They never complained about the horrible flickering.. Just amazed me as I could spot wrong display settings from a mile away. This new monitor your are test driving is just incredibly awesome.. I would love to get my hands on it.. But for you to take advantage of it I guess I would also need to get an RTX 4090.. that is looking at a total of € 4500,= at local prices here (NL)..... Guess I'll have to wait and keep using my Dell curved S3220DGF which is pretty good..

[@SomeTechGuy666]

"The holy grail" ? I remember when the "pizza box" Sun workstations came with 20" black and white CRTs. That was the holy grail back then. 1 MB of RAM and a 100 MB SCSI hard drive ! That was heaven. Everything has been gravy since then.

[@davidclift5989]

Dam, I can remember humping one of those around to give demonstrations to customers. We had padded bags for all the individual components, but the monitor was a two-man lift.

[@SomeTechGuy666]

@@davidclift5989 Yeah Sun was all proud of how small their computer was and then there was the huge monitor that went with it. It was very good for its time though. It gave the user enough screen real estate to view the analog clock beside a code window. LOL. Way nicer than a 13 or 15" CRT.

[@ericsbuell]

The "gravy" 👍seems to improve with every dip into the pot.

[@IntiniOfficial]

Thank you for this video, Dave! I too am a multi monitor lover. I started with a Hercules card and a VGA card to get two monitors and then coding in MS QuicBasic and Assembly to write on each of them for a home made alarm using the parallel ports as inputs for sensors. Keep up the great work! Thank you so much!

[@NickSealPueo]

Thank you Dave for making these videos. You have setups I aspire to which somehow still seem obtainable.

[@PeterSarazin]

I was running dual monitors in a DOS environment for debugging with Borland C++ and also with Clipper 5.x in the early 1990's. It was possible to have a VGA monochrome card and an ATI VGA Wonder in the same machine as they used separate memory addresses. If "memory" serves me you could run the monochrome VGA card at either B000 or B800. This configuration allowed you to have the app you were debugging on the color screen and the debugger running on the monochrome. Or you could do it the other way around and have the debugger on the color monitor and the application running on the monochrome. It was a much better environment for debugging a Small Grroup Insurance Proposal System with many complexities of different rules by state which drove product availability and rating. There was a presentation layer, a product availability module, and a rating engine that was used both for quoting new business and also used renewal rate calculations.

[@altosack]

Yes, you remember correctly! I was running both a monochrome and color display, both in graphics mode, so I could more quickly make sure my (custom!) graphics code worked on both. It was painful to give up the monochrome display, but I eventually did to support 800x600 VGA, which required the full 64k address space (both 0xB0000 and 0xB8000). Well, actually, I temporarily gave it up so I could double-buffer my graphics… For me, the most impressive thing about W95 was its ability to _virtualize_ my double-buffered VGA code in a 640x350 window on a 1024x768 desktop, with the CPU utilization at less than 30% on a 33 MHz 486. (!!!) Of course, it sucked so much in so many other ways, I’ve been a Linux user since ‘96, but hey, I give credit where it’s due.

[@nicholash8021]

@@altosack what distro do you prefer for your desktop PC?

[@andynn6691]

Full stack DOS application sounds like a tech stack 1 level deep :-D

[@PeterSarazin]

@@andynn6691 It was a Insurance quoting system written in Clipper 5.x ( a compiled version of dBase) There were modules for product availability and a rating engine. The front end was Clipper 5.x with console/io functions that we wrote in C. We also used a CAS 2.0 fax library so that our agents could fax quotes directly to clients. We were using Blinker for compiling and linking. The data was stored in dBase .dbf files using the foxpro .cdx indexes as they performed better. The software was distributed to insurance agents around the country on 3½ and 5¼ disks that we created on our own disk duplication machines and mailed out. Not bad for the early 1990's 🙂

[@YellowRambler]

Same here on and 286 with a VGA card and old monochrome card, does anyone remember control keys to switch back and forth between monitors, it’s not important but it just bothers me I can’t remember it.

[@codemaster442]

I went to dual 40" HDTV's in about 2006 when TV's were finally suitable to use as a monitor. I still use 2 40" screens as monitors as well as a 23" touch screen. Love your videos and thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience!

[@alexanderdorner7604]

I have the U3818DW since 2017 and love the KVM. I added an usb hub to the back and hooked up my DAC/Headphone Amp, Mouse, Keyboard, Microphone and Webcam to it. The usb-c connection connects it to my work laptop and DP to my private PC

[@justinspoerle1739]

I have been running a U3419W for about two years now. It's hard to go back to dual 27" monitors at the office. Though I do have a 27" in portrait at home now I use mainly when working at the house. Thanks for the great content, Dave!

[@kentclarstroem]

My favorite ever monitor was the Sun branded 17" Sony Trinitron. I hung on to that for many years!

[@nadtz]

I had 2 Sony Trinitron's that I also held onto for a long time, loved those things and the only reason I don't still have them is they were too big/heavy for me to bring when I moved states

[@SpectatingApexPubs]

When did you finally part ways with and why?

[@jovetj]

Part of me still misses CRTs.

[@TonyPombo]

The Trinitrons were great, but once I noticed the two horizontal lines (from the damper wires), I could never "not see them", and it drove me crazy. I had to replace them.

[@wtmayhew]

I’ve still got my Sun Trinitron. The 1152 x 900 resolution was a bit odd, but it was a fabulous picture for its day. Also that funky D shell size B connector with the coaxial ports and 13 pins or whatever it was had to be the strangest video interface cable o the planet. It was kind of cool that Sun used Apple ADB for the mouse and keyboard cables.

[@cbob213]

There is a software called Synergy that will let you mouse between 2 computers. Mac and Pc.

[@JasperWaale]

I also work on Linix , but steal your speed a bit

[@niek5526]

Microsoft has Mouse Without borders, works the same, only windows though

[@GottZ]

that's not the solution to the problem though. the question is to swap the screen input.

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

Synergy is for continuous experience for two different systems with single mouse/keyboard and clipboard sharing. Bought out by Logitech iirc. People say it works, but haven't tried it. So it may be the one for the OP to try out. There's also lots of various software for one-system multimon setups. Display Fusion, Actual multiple monitors, etc. the latter having lots of options including which window opens where, grid setups, hotkeys, etc. I can imagine two of those dell monsters one-above-the-other :)

[@LeifNelandDk]

​@@GottZuseful if you have one monitor per machine but only want one kbd/mouse.

[@rickkarrer8370]

My original background was in design (now in IT), and I am extremely sensitive and picky with monitors. I really appreciate all the beautifully saturated colors using this video, as it looked great on my 32 inch 4K LG.

[@fteoOpty64]

Oh, I had similar obsession during that era, I managed to scrounge up a Dec 20 inch crt from an engineer that retired since I was the "System Support" crew in our Dec installation. It was on a Dec Mate workstation that had a 286chip on it. The most interesting aspect was setting the monitor to "non-intelace" mode that was great for my eyes. This I did from Houston, London, Wellington and Hong Kong when I was travelling on the job. My technical customers loved me so much that divisions used to fight over my time. And they were a bunch of government scientists!!!. Memories...

[@Ltech-ludditetechnologies]

I too have a Dell 38" with a Macbook and love it, excellent review this will be my next screen, thanks Dave.

[@daryljones285]

Thanks for the tip! I just ordered one based on your review.

[@DavesGarage]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@SeanClarke]

This is what I'm getting - HP E45c G5 44.5-inch super ultrawide. I'll also add a couple of smaller screens at the sides, but haven't decided what models they'll be. Upgrading from a 49" 4K TV that I've been using for almost 5 years. I do not play games on any of my computers, just work stuff.

[@bbocjcp]

Oh Dave, you just took me back through 30 years of my computing career . The NEC Multisync, the Trinitron, the huge amount of space they took up in the corner of my desk

[@tommyboi0]

This might be my new favorite channel and I barley understand your ramblings of relics from yesterday year but damn is it fascinating to learn. Thanks Dave!

[@evilutionltd]

I'm running 3x 40" ultrawide LG monitors off a Mac Studio. They are the 40WP95CP-W so only 5K72. Having 10 feet worth of diagonal monitor is something you get to live with easily. I could never go back.

[@von...]

I'm a mere mortal with vertically stacked 21:9 3440x1440 monitors, but I agree - ultrawide monitors are my only solution to both gaming & productivity. The only reason I would use a 16:9 monitor these days would be if I were a streamer with a dedicated vertical chat/stream monitor on the side.

[@lucasrem]

72 hertz !!! just a TV !

[@smiththers2]

My neck would hurt unless that whole 10 feet was probably 10 feet away lol. I use a Samsung 55" QLED for a monitor and that's hard to be closer than 3-4 feet...

[@evilutionltd]

@@lucasrem It's a Mac, I'm not gaming on it.

[@evilutionltd]

@@smiththers2 if your neck hurts if you regularly use it, that's a health issue. My eyes are 35 inches from the centre of all 3 screens. I use the very outside edges of the outside monitors for things I don't use regularly like CCTV monitors and stock readouts. Whatever I'm doing like editing photos or video will be in the centre monitor. The inside edge of the outside monitors will be open folders of things I need and whatever I have playing on KZbin.

[@darindelegal1102]

Seems we've had very much the same journey on displays! I started my snobbery with the Wyse VT-420 displays connected to VAX-VMS that provided 48 lines of text rather than the pedestrian 24 lines. I had the same series of NECs, Trinitrons, and Viewsonics (multiple sizes) before going LCD. Dell UltraSharp has always been my go-to as their professional screens, particularly the factory color calibrated ones were workhorses! I also went to the 34-inch Dell curved. Recently, I've switched to the Samsung NEO G9 49" for my personal workstation, relegating the Dell 34" to my WFH desk, but this new Dell looks amazing! Thanks for your video and consistently engaging content! For those of use who've been around since Windows and before, I can relate to so many of your topics. Also, was thrilled to see you were a Corvette guy as well!

[@neeosstuff7540]

Thanks Dave, you manage to make almost any content really interesting!

[@Aggnog]

It should have had 1600 height, this is basically a downgrade to the 38" ultradwides from a few years ago for anyone who cares about screen estate.

[@txkingg]

How is 2160p in height a downgrade?

[@damienretro4416]

O.L.E.D. or G.T.F.O.

[@jeffself7981]

I'm only a couple months away from paying off my M2 Ultra and was prepared to buy a second Studio Display. But now you've got me rethinking this.

[@johndonker319]

I have the older brother of this monitor (the non-120 Hz 40 inch 5k one). It's pretty nice as well. It's absolutely enormous.

[@lucasrem]

I keep waiting too, or this DELL, Samsung Qled gen 2 Odyssey ?

[@psytcp]

love everything about it. The 50/50 split, the docking station, the sharpness and colours. what's not to love?;)

[@michaelshafer2996]

I got a gen 2 odyssey ark in early december and can say its a pretty serious screen, i dont edit videos so cant comment on color accuracy but it is massive and really immersive, tons of features i wont utilize but the multi screen is sweet​@@lucasrem

[@Brian-L]

Back when the DRMO auctions were a thing, one of the lots I won had two minty 21” NEC Diamond Pro monitors on the pallet. Both me and the wifey ran those beautiful displays for ages. Threw my back out one time moving one of those beasts solo. So worth it at the time.

[@jcdentonunatco]

been waiting for a monitor like this for so long. Very excited to see they are finally coming to market. Will wait a bit for them to become more reasonable, but its finally here!

[@jamesgazin9447]

I was an early multiple monitor adopter as well. I used two networked Win2k PCs (each with its own monitor) along with a KVM switch (minus the V). Now-a-days, my main Linux box has two big monitors and between VNC and Virtual computers, I can control any computer in the house.

[@CharlesinGA]

Yep, just bought a LG 35 4K inch curved display to go with my Win 11 desktop. I enjoy being able to split the screen with two or more programs displayed at once.

[@frstesiste7670]

I started with dual monitors on Windows 98. It was nightmare with poor support and drivers. I clearly remember getting it to work once with my initial setup (one supported Matrox card and one not quite supported card driving a LCD-screen). Worked OK though as soon as I got two supported cards. Since then I've always had multi monitors getting bigger and better over time. My preference is not a curved screen, but one main screen in the middle and smaller screens on the sides. Suits my needs better than one huge screen. I find it very convenient to place utilities windows on one (or two) of the smaller screens while the main screen is used for whatever I'm working on. Just replaced my last really old 24" Dell and currently I've a four screens setup with a 30" as the main display, two cheap Lenovo 2560x1440 screens on one side and a LG Dual Up (2560x2880) on the other. My next upgrade will most likely be the 30" main screen which is getting old and could benefit from a resolution upgrade.

[@jaytynenski3972]

New to the channel. Impressed to the brim with the quality of information and clarity of delivery. Also come from Amiga background and got very nostalgic seeing the old computers in the background. Obviously subscribed and left a like! looking through your archive now and exited about the future videos. Thank you!

[@thetechpastor]

Thank's Dave. Entertaining as always. I am actually excited for this monitor, since having another 5K display for my Mac would be nice.

[@rampagerick]

Oh man, this brings back memories. My first color monitor was some no-name 15" CRT. Sometime around Win98 SE I managed to finesse a pair of 19" Sun workstation CRTs with 13W3 input. It was fun finding an adapter for those in the pre-Amazon days. As I recall I had to open them up and solder a sync wire jumper. They supported some obscene refresh rate, and at one point i had an Asus video card with wired LCD shutter glasses for some decent 3D. My first LCD would have been a 15" Viewsonic around 2004. I'm the only person in our office with Dell monitors, been running triple 27"s for about 4 years now.

[@tjf7101]

Dell makes a nice monitor. I’ve had a U2420 for over a decade now. No problems and still going strong.

[@TheOcnetgeek]

The IBM 3290 Displays were pretty nice for their day. Worked on those while working in a NOC and having side by side sessions or quad sessions was ahead of its time

[@homeslice1958]

As always, Dave, you provide a very informative and comprehensive review of hardware that you like! I have the older Dell U4021QW monitor, and I absolutely love it. I've never really wanted another monitor until I saw this video, as the 3-year-old version is still great. The resolution and overall dimensions are the same, but this one ups the refresh rate from 60 to 120 Hz, adds dedicated KVM functionality (I can accomplish pretty much the same thing with the funky Dell Display Manager software) as well as those nice pop-down ports. I may just have to consider upgrading to this newer version, it looks pretty awesome!

[@pitiedvod]

This is one of few monitor hubs that provide the power required for my Dell Precision laptop since I need 130W and this can output 140 W. It has meant I could rip out so much extra equipment and do everything from this one display. I do wish I had a 1 ms or 2ms response time, but I don’t really use this for gaming so it works out okay.

[@keithbrianlewis5123]

Great insight, Dave! So glad I finally found an old I.T. kindered spirit who speaks our world so well. Your videos are amazing! Keep them coming!

[@billmannering5381]

Love your channel. We are about the same age and have similar experiences, albeit I was not a Microsoft wiz kid. Watching this made me remember my Sony Trinitron 21 monitor I had that like you was my last CRT monitor. The size was huge but the weight is what killed me. I am a large strong man and hauling that thing around was a huge PIA. I also remember the tow feint lines that all Sony Trinitron CRT's had. I think they were for a filter or something but they were there when the monitor was mostly all white or a very light color. So fun going down memory lane with you.

[@piyushkhengar]

From one Amiga lover to another, thank you for the recommendation. I bought this monitor because of this video, and I absolutely love it!

[@SimonVideo]

That's an insane amount of bandwidth for a single port. Definitely a dream monitor

[@phobos258]

Dell has been making great monitors for years. I've always loved thier ultrasharp line.

[@christopherthake8701]

Nice to see you had the U3818DW. My current monitor for two years now, using the KVM to connect to my 2012 12-Core Mac Pro 5,1, 2018 i7 Mac mini and my Lenovo work Laptop (connected via the HDMI through a Dell Dock). It it is hard for me to go into the office and use a 24" display ever again. I can do everything on this display. Thinking I will get that 40" to pair with an Mac Studio next year when I finally replace my 2018 mac mini

[@penguinlust6749]

I've always been a fan of the Apple/Dell 16 by 10 monitors -- the Apple 30'' Cinema Display is still one of my favorite monitors -- especially the later upgraded ones. The fact that Dell still makes a variant of these just goes to show how good these monitors were for the time. These monitors are approaching 20 years old now.

[@suspicionofdeceit]

I’m running 3 Dell monitors from 2008,still going strong.

[@c1ph3rpunk]

I used our 2020 WFH stipend to purchase a standing desk and my first 32” Ultra-Wide IPS curved display, I’ll never go back to dual heads. And I’m one that adopted dual very early, 1993-ish on my Sun workstation, a Sparc 10 iirc with dual frame-buffers. Had two of those Sun monitors that took a forklift to get them on the desk. People though I was nuts, “why do you need two?”. Fast forward a decade and everyone wanted two. I’m over it, UW IPS any day.

[@FewcanJAM]

Great video Dave! What a impressive monitor. That KVM is a huge selling feature for me. Being able to work off my desktop during my day job and then switch to my Macbook for personal use in the evening is a huge selling feature

[@robflores5172]

I ordered one this week for Music Production. Wanted something big but not too big, that could take thunderbolt for display with my mac studio and my dell xps laptop, that had good image quality and a higher than 60hz refresh rate. My main need was being able to have my arrange window and mix window and track window all displayed when i need them while having enough space to not feel cluttered.

[@lennywintfeld924]

I remember going down to the local computer store (remember those) and plunking down $1050 for a NEC Multisync 17". This was back in the day when a dollar was still worth 50 cents. I never regretted the purchase, and there was no complaint from my wife once she saw the screen. The monitor you're reviewing is likely cheaper than the NEC after accounting for inflation. I wish I needed it.

[@DevilsHandyman]

The biggest monitor I managed to snag when I worked at Microsoft was a NEC 17" multi-sync. That thing was so deep. It also helped create heat in the room I was in that had x86, mips and alpha machines all multi processor and for a time a PPC box before that was canceled.

[@pdunderhill]

One very lucky day in 2009? my local Arts College had a clear out of their hardware and I obtained an NEC Multisync Monitor along with an Epson A3 Printer, that VDU was superb but huge and heavy. Now using an AOC Agon 34 inch ultrawide curved monitor which is a joy.

[@Sevenfeet0]

I love the walk down memory lane. In college I ultra-splurged on a Mac II with the Apple Color Monitor (Trinitron) that was my go-to screen for many years. But it's rival was the NEC Multiscan which was also one of the best out there. As for curved screens, I daily drive two Samsung C34H89x, one for each Mac. They aren't anywhere in the class of the Dell you have but they work and my company paid for them for remote work (the offices have them too).

[@Indra_Ninja]

First time viewer to the channel really enjoy this format of product review with a bit of story telling here and there

[@billyhowerdel5476]

I've had this monitor for 2 weeks. I work in Logic Pro 80% of the time. It's a great upgrade from my 1440 LG 34". I'm able to use it at it's native 5120x2160. Sharp, perfect size for music production.Highly recommend it!

[@boostedmaniac]

Like you, I'm a bit of a snob for monitors too. I started with a Sony CPD-1304 CRT monitor for many years. I loved the vertically flat screen, and excellent blacks compared to the lesser monitors my friends were using. I moved to Samsung 17" 191T afterwards, and finally a Dell 30" capable of 2560x1600. Now I'm thinking of either this 40" Dell or maybe the 40" LG.

[@randy206]

I went to a curved, 34" samsung ultrawide a few years ago and i absolutely love it.

[@boydpukalo8980]

Wow your Amigas are in immaculate condition. Zero yellowing. Impressive.

[@davideyres955]

That very NEC monitor is the reason I have a bad back! It weighed a ton and lifting it badly was a good way to get yourself a bad back as I proved. The old days of hitting the degaus button and the potential flicker if your lighting was not optimal. I always made a point of getting my users the best monitors I could buy because people are looking at for 8+ hours a day.

[@bobzwolinski3793]

I also believe bigger is better when it comes to monitors. I have 32 inch Dell that i use daily. I've considered moving to an even larger curved monitor and your video helped move me closer to making that leap. Thanks again for your good solid reviews!

[@spikederailed]

Ive been using a Dell D3221QS, 32" 60hz curved 4k for 3 years or so now. I got it for work and after seeing it in person my boss got one for himself as well. I absolutely love this display for productivity work so i can just imagine how much better their new model is. 120hz is the only thing i wish this had. It sits above a trio of 360hz alienware monitors, and by comparison it feels "laggy" i guess is the best way to describe it

[@Jacobhopkins117]

I’ve run Dell UltraSharps at work for as long as I can remember. They’re workhorses. But Ive been stuck on 1080p for a while. Going to the real estate on my 1440p display at home is always an upgrade. I think this is the display to replace my 3 1080p UltraSharps. May even be worth my own investment if I can’t convince a requisition. Thanks, Dave!

[@hotflashfoto]

I have had three Dell UltraSharp 4K 27" monitors for several years and really like them. Some day I plan to set up a second PC station and that curved baby looks like an ideal candidate. Thanks for the info!

[@markmonroe7330]

Excellent presentation. Thank you. I am currently using two 4k 28" Acers but this might be a nice replacement. I see they also have a 43 and a 49 inch version but they appear to be different monitors with different specs.

[@HydraulicDesign]

My final CRT was a "22 inch" Hitachi, it wasn't flat but it was capable of crazy-high refresh rates and weird high resolutions meant for radiology way beyond what my video card could handle with 3D acceleration. I did a 3-year lease-to-own deal on it so it cost like CDN$3600, and it was totally worth it.

[@jettyjason]

As a color expert, it is nice to hear the albeit short callout on the specs of the 40". What would be more interesting on such a monitor of that size is the uniformity. A lot of larger monitors struggle to keep backlighting and color uniformity across larger spans. But it certainly looks like a heck of a piece of kit!

[@Schyz]

The software you are looking for to move the mouse between your PC and Mac is called Synergy. There is an open-source version called "barrier" but it hasn't been updated for some time.

[@znatnodobre]

Great story and review! Thanks for sharing Dave!

[@bbertram2]

I recall getting my first LCD monitor, Dell 24" @ $1200 CDN back in like 2004? Still works today! My kid has it, lol. This is a nice monitor!

[@orestes_io]

Loved this video. I feel the same way about my 32" curved QWHD monitor. Perfect for writing software :)

[@moebius2k103]

I rocked a SGI 21" with BNC connectors for years. It was the holy grail around the turn of the century. My last CRT.

[@BackForwardPunch]

I just went through a deep dive to get a new monitor, and bought and returned several that did not work as advertised. I wanted to go with an ultrasharp, but the one I ordered did not work with KVM on my pc/mac combo. Dave, you think just like me! Jealous of that screen!!! I went for a 3440x1440 144hz from ROG with a 1900R curve. I do programming work and some gaming and it felt like the best combination of features for me 👍

[@jacklambert7809]

Just a small correction: when the term "Retina Display" was introduced by Apple for the iPhone 4, Steve Jobs said it needed to be about 300 dpi at the distance a phone is typically held. The lowest ppi they have called Retina is 218.

[@TheCynysterMind]

always well put together... way out of my price range but like you I have been a dual monitor guy for some time now.... I have One 4k monitor and my biggest issue is that many of my applications have not been coded for such high resolutions. Yes some of my best applications are those I used on windows 95 and still use to this day.

[@BurningHorizons]

Great review Dave. I run multi PC successfully switching using Dell Display Manager. I've found the software is susceptible to cable choice. I've not worked out why one cable works over another. (and isn't cost related - some cheap cables work, whereas more expensive ones don't). Hope this helps.

[@paulsolovyovsky1702]

You just made me feel old..still have the VIC20, C64, and C128 with tape and 1541 sitting next to me. The 386 with a math coprocessor was a big thing. Great video as always, people don't remember that the serial port to connect that printer of yours weighed more than a brick

[@jimrhea5484]

Jeez that's amazing. Pricey, but it shows what's next. Super impressive.

[@MisterAnderson91]

Hey Dave, you can switch monitor inputs through Dell Display Manger if you install it on your PC and Mac. You'll have to install the software on both. The mac software has a smaller supported model list but yours will be in there.

[@dr_jaymz]

I bought a samsung curved ultrawide a couple of years ago. I wasn't bothered about, nits, brightness, usb c charging at the time, I just wanted the most desk space and have had dual monitors since windows 2000. It was a great purchase that I would buy again. I adapted to it very quickly but there are some things to note - the main one was that snapping windows left or right, with the ultrawide this required software fiddles etc, and has never worked to my liking. Hit full screen on a video and you get a video in the middle with black at the sides, I have a plugin for chrome that means I can full screen left - right or zoom to fill-width (keeping the aspect) which works brilliantly with films. The speakers are tinny but I have studio monitors for sound. Still, I find setting the audio to the display speakers works better for video conferencing for various reasons. It will do 144Hz and I usually have it set to 120Hz. It probably isn't retinal but I'm on the wrong side of 45 for that to be a problem and the blacks are black and there's no bleed I can see - I don't sit in a dark room watching contrived display calibration videos, I have work to do. The colour accuracy is as good as you'll get for under 1k and I have clibrated it, print outs come out the same as I intended. It will do HDR and here I don't think it excels, either that or all the HDR footage I see is shot in the fog on dark nights - I think that is what directors think HDR is for, they now exclusively use only the first 1% of the brightness because they can. Finally, you will find the same actual panel model number inside a handful of monitors including Dell. One last thing is that if you spend too long in front of a curved monitor and then look at a flat screen you can occasionally think the flat screen is convex which makes you feel a little weird.

[@MitchCrane]

I'm still running a Samsung Syncmaster 940bw LCD monitor as a second display and it works like the day I bought it 17 years later.

[@silencer51]

I have it's predecessor, the U4021QW, using an earlier revision of this same panel, and it truly is the best monitor I've ever used.

[@studiogerk]

I am a fellow multi-monitor guy from what back when. Those multiple 20 inch trinitron based monitors were hard on the desks! I killed more than one desk back in the day LOL. Was even worse when I added the 3rd 20" Sony on a swing arm! I now use one monitor, but it's a 55" Samsung Ark. Love the size, love the curve, the panel itself ... not so much, but hey, it's HUGE.

[@trevorkokotylo2224]

Took just one video I saw from Dave and I was instantly astounded by his competence. Back in the day, we had Commodore PETS running CP/M and it was like whaaat? Networked access to a dual floppy disk unit. It took years before DOS got that far. And the NEC monitor, well, yeah. Had one where I was working although it was a showpiece and I certainly didn't code with it in front of me. So I went through those days as well - just without his level of intellect. In case anyone is wondering, Dave's the real deal.

[@urbpharmer2718]

I'm probably just a few months behind your upgrades. I remember a dual monitor card called the Matrox 400 that I used for many years. Dual 21" NEC Multisync setup was awesome but you needed a solid desk with room behind it.

[@timothystockman7533]

I'm with you on CRT monitors, the last setup I had was a dual screen: big NEC multi-sync with a small, 15 inch Sony Trinitron. I watched live video on 9/11/2001 in my office on that NEC...

[@CharlieMartorelli]

Nice, 5K is the Holy Grail resolution for Mac users like myself. When I was last shopping for a display I found mostly 4K displays. I really wanted a 5K display for proper OS scaling/performance . I ended up getting a Apple Studio Display, which is 27 inches in size. It has a resolution of 5120 x 2880, so macOS will double the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the UI, thus rendering your desktop at the equivalent of 2560 x 1440. Since macOS has been designed for this, everything appears at its intended size. I also loved the trip down monitor memory lane in the beginning of the video. That brought back some great memories.

[@thehotdoglover]

On the Mac, in HiDPI resolutions, you're actually driving the monitor at 2x the resolution you select. So 2560x1440 is actually driven at 5k; 3840x2160 at 8k, etc. If you use SwitchResX you can see the difference between 3840x2160 1:1 and 3840x2160 HiDPI mode (8k). Since there's no anti-aliasing anymore in MacOS, it makes a big difference.