Review: Dell 6K 32” Monitor U3224KDA - Possibly the best value for money monitor for your Mac

[@macanolli]

Finally, a decent monitor review from a developer, not just another “content creator”. Thank you

[@ctr289]

That stupid stuff at the top should have been removable, it looks ridiculous

[@baat-pakki]

That's how reviews should be done. Ultimate. To the point, no BS. I love it.

[@christophersmith108]

Great review. You covered everything I wanted to know, briefly, but with just the right degree of depth. Thanks!

[@chadgarber9312]

Really can't thank you enough for the review. Thank you for taking the time to thoroughly reviewing the little bits: Teams interactivity, hideaway port access, camera & downside to older Intel Macs and speaker mesh. I'm currently using 1x27" Cinema Display (glossy glass is terrible in my location) along side a 2k 27" Dell Monitor. I'm curious about a single monitor solution and have been looking to a single monitor solution. Comparing the 27" 5k Studio Display price point to this Dell, to me, seems like the best solution to me, when comparing the two (monitor, speakers & webcam). The fact you're comparing to an XDR should make really understand the deal this monitor is. Factor in the built in hub, 90W power & hide-away ports for quick access, this is now the monitor I'd consider over the Studio Display. Of course, the Studio Display has the Mac design aesthetic which we all appreciate. However, since most of us work for a living and have peripherals we need, this review has me convinced this monitor will be what I aim to purchase.

[@benfrainuk]

Depending on what you do, consider the U4025W too. Out next week. Only 5K2K compared to this but it does have 120Hz. I’ll be getting one as an upgrade for the U4021W I have currently

[@sarentopi1502]

The text is much smoother looking on the 6k

[@michalwiktorow2188]

I recommend Michael Stapelberg Can Dell’s 6K monitor beat their 8K monitor? (2023) - blog comparison - I think we need push Dell to restart production of 8K again.

[@DarkPhychic]

@@michalwiktorow2188 Actually Even 6k will Do but With Glossy Screen,The Matte Screen gives a blurry look compared To glossy,Just Like 5K Studio Display of Apple...

[@Love-Henry]

There were many moments that I felt the camera should really be pointed at the product being reviewed (the monitor), rather than the presenter. Thanks for the in-depth review.

[@Lacrom23]

Great review! I like this consumer approach. If this monitor had a glossy screen like Apple's, no webcam, no speakers I would buy it for 2000 Companies overcomplicate things with these gimmicky speakers and webcams that people would never use (I use webcam and speakers from Macbook + headphones most of the time). Anti-glare coating pretty much does not make sense if brightness is around 500 nits, but it makes the image grey

[@randallbrander8157]

I have bought a USB-C to HDMI/DP cables and have used it on the Intel Macs at 60hz through their Thunderbolt USB-C Ports. I just did a video after watching this one proving you can do it at 4k>. I was interested in the 6k because it was cheaper than the Apple XDR plus stand. I have 8K HDMI cable but in order to get 4k you have to have the HDMI 3 which are finally installed in the M3 Laptops. So I bought these cables from Best Buy which bypassed the HDMI Port on the older Intel and M1 Macs to get the 60hz either using the cables converting from Thunderbolt C to HDMI/DP on the monitor. I have hooked it up to 4K tv's and the monitor that is shown on the video. Sorry to hear that you had trouble connecting. Thank You for this video. Cheers!

[@monokeee]

The Macbook Pro 2019 display driver issue has been fixed with macOS Sonoma. It's now possible to use the monitor at 60hz with the 16" MBP :)

[@aysbg]

Its noticeable more clearer and sharper on the 6k screen. Its mainly because the 6k resolution is what that apples "retina" resolution, so the MacOS scales perfectly.

[@Ahmed-Ali]

Thank you! You sold me the 40" when you showed how convenient it is to put the three VS Code columns and browser together. I used to have 32" and thought about adding another smaller monitor or just buy a bigger one, and you drove it home

[@benfrainuk]

Wait a few weeks and get the U4025QW which is the updated model with 120Hz refresh! 👍

[@danlucraft]

Thank you this so useful. I’m a developer too and I’ve been trying to figure out what to replace studio display with bc it’s just not enough space when coding The dell 40 was a strong option but I was worried about the PPI. I think you’ve convinced me that it will be fine Cheers!

[@benfrainuk]

Excellent, the most recent version has 120Hz too which is very nice 👍

[@willjohnson2722]

Thank you for your review. My good man, I would keep the monitor and upgrade your computer (but I don't need the extra window space). I've had Apple laptops for over 20 years and the step up to Apple silicon has been the biggest jump of them all. I can immediately tell the difference in sharpness watching this at 1080p on a 4k monitor. I agree it's subtle but very noticeable. I'm kinda surprised there aren't more options out there for high resolution monitors, considering almost everyone uses a computer.

[@cleverabbit]

Great comparison with 5k2k, thank you

[@toddeddie4242]

Do the built in Mac volume controls work with this monitor?

[@zesta77]

This looks like a decent option if you need a single display and need it to be matte. Otherwise, for the same money, I would prefer 2 27" Studio Displays. I really wish there were more options for 5K, 6K, and beyond.

[@benfrainuk]

Agree. Suppose the sad fact is the lions share of ‘high end’ displays are made for gamers, so typically we see a lot of advances in high refresh 4K screens. The market for high resolution monitors meanwhile must be comparatively small. Fingers crossed we see some more hit the market soon.

[@ctr289]

the anti-glare is vomit-inducing, I'd rather use a glossy 4K with better clarity

[@anderm1598]

That is exactly what I needed to know; thanks.

[@binzjim]

thank you for the review. how can this monitor connect to external speakers and make them available to all computers connected to the monitor? I'm using a U3223QE which has an aux output. but seems this 6K doesn't have this port. thank you!

[@n0zyk]

Ben, thanks for the review! I have a Philips 4k already, seems that I do not need that :D Very useful video

[@vangore2781]

thanks for this review!

[@alanbenham4139]

A super "man on the street" sort of review. Thank you.

[@zathrasyes1287]

How about highfrequency coilwhine? This can be very annoying.

[@benfrainuk]

Didn’t hear any while I had it

[@stanislawcronberg3271]

I'd be buying it instantly if it didn't have the camera/speakers :)

[@benfrainuk]

I know they don’t help with aesthetics but they (particularly the camera) are genuinely pretty good. I hear you though, given the option, I would probably opt for a ‘just screen’ option too

[@stanislawcronberg3271]

@@benfrainuk The main problem is that I already have studio speakers as well as the 4k webcam from logitech. If someone is already spending this much on a monitor, it feels off including webcam/speakers. Thanks for the great review, I will need to patiently wait longer for a 32" monitor. Currenly on a 27" 4k EIZO :)

[@benfrainuk]

@@stanislawcronberg3271 yes, 27” 4K of that quality is going to take some beating 👍

[@neil8877]

Ive just bought this monitor for my Mac Studio and it's great - but the webcam in use keeps turning itself off and on - causing my image to freeze - anyone else had this? ive updated OS and Firmware...to latest.

[@Tigerex966]

It also has better real contrast than apple which is only 1000 to 1 and suffers from blooming and ghosting and latency.

[@antonio_carvalho]

Great review! Oh, I'm reading your book, thank you for that as well! Excellent content!

[@benfrainuk]

Thanks and thanks again! 🙏

[@nigeljbrown1]

Great review...however..just looking at the specs of both the 40 and 32, when looking at graphics pictures...you only have a 15.43 inch height, the 32 is 17 inch and then you can tilt it which is a big difference when editing photo's. I have a 43 inch essentials made my screen look like the viewable area of both dimensions. The difference is substantial especially on portrait orientations.

[@Tech_Publica]

You have exactly the two monitors I am wishing to buy... the 40" 5k2k and the 32" 6k... I would love to have the extra space, I am a dev myself and I care a lot about text quality as I am spending most of my time looking at text... I have seen many reviews here on youtube stating that to have efficient and clear scaling with a mac you need to have a PPI that s close to either 110 or 220, and if you don' t the scaling that the mac will apply will hurt performace and make things slightly fuzzy... saying that for max clarity you should go for a 5k 27" like the apple studio display or 32" 6k like the pro display hdr or the dell 6k... What do you think about this? What scaling do you use on your 40" 5k2k? And with that scaling you find that text clarity is really almost the same as with the 6k? What scaling are you using on both?

[@benfrainuk]

It’s a personal thing. I stuck with the 40” as I opted for more screen real estate over slightly better text clarity. The 6K is clearer. But for me the 40” is good enough and lets me fit more on screen. I’m simply more productive and comfortable with it. Dell has free returns so my advice would be order the U4025QW and the 6K and decide for yourself. I run my 40” at 1.5 scale. No issues with performance. If you have a M2 or later that new Dell 40” can do 120Hz too which is another plus point.

[@Tech_Publica]

@@benfrainuk thanks for the reply and yes that 40" at 120hz sounds so tempting...

[@udyb]

Did I understand correctly? You didn't use it at 2x scale?

[@iliaspappas8367]

Thank you for the nice review. I wonder if it will support 60Hz for the M1 and M2 Macbook books. Did you get to test that?

[@benfrainuk]

I think the M1/M2 will be absolutely fine. I tested on an M1 Mac Studio with no issues

[@bewegbar]

great review, on the spot! Maybe i missed it, but what will be your alternative choice?

[@benfrainuk]

I’m keeping with the Dell U4021QW I already have for now. 👍

[@DarkPhychic]

I would like to know what scaling setting are you using on each monitor the 6k and also the other 40" one, since text sharpness is dependent on it

[@benfrainuk]

Will have both been 1.25 (so the 40” would be giving you a usable display of 4096 across, give or take)

[@HB-ji8lh]

How is the speaker compared to the one on Apple studio display? Does it have decent amount of treble and bass?

[@benfrainuk]

Not tried them both in the same environment but I would be very surprised if the Dell was better than the Apple Studio Display. The Dell sound is fine for office type stuff (calls, watching a you tube vid) but I wouldn’t rely on it for anything more

[@pjmorgan]

Better Display app can probably fix that. Even if you have to clone the EDID of another monitor.

[@infamous_R]

For me biggest issue - it is ultra ugly

[@itshadouken]

Seriously. Like all Dell monitors. I just don’t get what dell is doing with these great monitors that look like they belong in the Windows 2000 era and no gloss 🤷‍♂️ i used to manually peel the anti glare coating off 😂

[@digitaldisruptlabs]

Amazing review! Useful information and realistic impressions. Thanks!

[@igillis1]

@4:23 “I use Neovim…by the way”

[@aguynamedben]

Niceeeee

[@ivanzundel8444]

Should also work if you use an egpu with your Intel laptop.

[@nsiebenmor]

Is the contrast increase from "IPS Black" noticeable?

[@michaelkhalsa]

I have the 27-inch version with ips black, and it definitely is.

[@fatgrouch]

Is there a way to take the web cam off this monitor ?

[@benfrainuk]

Unfortunately not. Surprised they haven’t done a sibling product without it as it’s a common complaint

[@fatgrouch]

@@benfrainuk Thank you for your reply I'm thinking about buying that "board" and turn the 5K iMac to become a monitor, I have a few 5K iMac sitting at home and office not doing much.

[@MatthewPomar]

Thank you for the review. I'm using a 2019 16" MacBook Pro, but with discrete graphics (AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB). Will I still be limited to 30 Hz?

[@benfrainuk]

Hi Matthew, I don’t know but there is a long thread on macrumors about this monitor. It’s worth reading that or adding the question to be sure.

[@vogam]

anyone tried connecting iPad to this display? if so, would you mind sharing if it ran @ 60 Hz? thank you

[@deangrande7002]

Great review. Just checked Apple's tech specs re the 2019 Intel MBP, and it suggests the max resolution is 6016‑by‑3384 resolution at 60Hz. Whereas, this monitor has a native resolution of 6144 x 3456 at 60 Hz. Perhaps you could create a new resolution of 6016 x 3384 @60Hz in MacOS and see if that works... just a thought

[@benfrainuk]

Worth a shot. Although I’ve sent the one I had back now so can’t try it. Would be interested to know if it works for reference though 🤔

[@PaulSebastianM]

What code font is that?

[@benfrainuk]

Victor Mono

[@georgedoubleyou4098]

Great point with the amount of windows. Would have expected to fit a lot on there, but if the size of the things cant be smaller (because you cant comfortably read it anymore) than the increased resolution is of no use. Probably will go with the 5k2k Ultrawide. Thanks!

[@benfrainuk]

Yes, it’s a tricky call. I really thought that once I saw the 6K the extra sharpness would be impossible to resist but I just really appreciate the extra space. Practically, it’s just more productive for me. Looks like I’ll be stocking to 5K2K until 8K3K comes along 🤣

[@bibleredpill]

Watched a bunch of reviews. Can't find anyone who shows whether or not you can control brightness and sound from the Mac keyboard.

[@AleksandrRik]

I think thunderbolt 4 can solve the 60 hz problem

[@Tigerex966]

No thunderbolt 5 and gpu power and ram

[@YaroslaffFedin]

Anybody tried removing the anti glare on it? I hate it!

[@bart9522]

Thanks for your reply on my other comment. What keyboard do you have?

[@benfrainuk]

A great many! The one on the desk is a Kinesis Advantage 360 Pro

[@bart9522]

@@benfrainuk Thanks for sharing, looks interesting (but pricey).

[@robertposteschild2353]

Playstation 5 doesn't support resolutions higher than 4k, that's why you didn't see a performance difference. The display output is the same 4k, just stretched out to 6k to fit your monitor.

[@davidguedj4489]

Hi, the panel is matte or glossy ? thanks

[@Tech_Publica]

I really wonder why you were going to spend mroe than 2k on a monitor but you are still using an old intel macbook when a m3 one but even an m1 would make a monster upgrade..

[@benfrainuk]

It’s a work laptop 😉

[@Tech_Publica]

@@benfrainuk yes but don' t you work better with a better laptop? `I don' t want to sound like a fanboy, but while for example upgrading from a M1 to a M3 would be stupid for most users an upgrade from intel to apple silicon is a must in 2024... I did it this year and it was long overdue... and it s fantastic to work with a laptop that so cool and silent most of the time, besides being super performant. At this point you might be tempted to wait for the M4 model but do the upgrade!

[@benfrainuk]

@@Tech_Publicayes but unfortunately I don’t get to decide when I get an upgrade at the day job

[@Tech_Publica]

@@benfrainuk in that case I would consider an upgrade to the company I am working with :)

[@andywarwhol]

It's good that there are products for every user on offer, but this monitor is not my cup of tea.

[@glenbaker8593]

If you're spending that much on your monitor might as well upgrade that old macbook ;) Great thorough review, thank you

[@benfrainuk]

One I was issued with from the day job so not so easy, unfortunately ;)

[@bart9522]

Why would you have a 3000 dollar monitor and still have an Intel Mac.

[@benfrainuk]

Work - standard issue!😉

[@Tigerex966]

Intel macs were not cheap and last a long time

[@prevailrob]

neovim user 👍

[@PaulSebastianM]

It's the bandwidth. Not Apple's support.

[@benfrainuk]

From that particular GPU do you mean?

[@PaulSebastianM]

@@benfrainuk yeah, or more likely its port. A 6K at 60Hz requires 30 Gbps. 120Hz doubles that... while Thunderbolt 4 has like 32Gbps available for data transfer.

[@DarthVader-y1y]

Sorry, but you don't have the vision to value 220 PPI against 160 or less PPI! 4K on 32" is simply too little to get a high quality sharpness. Only with 6K is it really good. You will see that in 5-10 years when such monitors will be the standard.

[@benfrainuk]

Hmm, I thought I’d made that clear. It’s not that I or anyone with 20/20 can’t see the difference, you can see it on the footage of each. It’s more to highlight that depending on your needs (eg I value the extra screen space) it might not be as essential as you first think

[@baat-pakki]

Agreed with what you said, but I think the perceived notion of improvement is not big enough. I have a dual 4K 32" and I want to experience 6K quality but I would rather experience glossy as opposed to a matte panel. I would also like to experience 144 Hertz. I don't know whether it will make a difference to me as a developer.

[@benfrainuk]

@@baat-pakki nothing 6K at 120Hz or above I know of. We have a smaller 4K/120Hz screen in the house and it is very nice but you can definitely get by without 120Hz for dev work. Very nice on games though! If a 5K2K with 120Hz comes along I’ll definitely be wanting to check out out 👍

[@adrianbool4568]

​@@benfrainuk if the 6K monitor did work at 60Hz on your MBP; would you still sacrifice the larger space of your 5K2K monitor for the slight (?) sharpness improvement of the 6k? You seem to be a similar vintage to myself; perhaps our aging eyes are finally an advantage! ;-)

[@benfrainuk]

@@adrianbool4568 ​​⁠really tough call that Adrian. Now I’m used to the real estate of the 40” I think that would probably sneak the win for me. But it does still annoy me it isn’t 6K res!!! Hoping in a few years there will be something 40” UW with 6K/8K!

[@sarentopi1502]

That is one ugly expensive monitor

[@ВиталикВиршин]

type c 140w good, 60hz is bad

[@jirex1]

Ultra ridiculously ugly, otherwise great specs monitor🤘

[@sky_folk]

macbook GPUs continue to suck

[@ctr289]

the anti-glare is vomit-inducing, I'd rather use a glossy 4K with better clarity

[@castawaydotcom]

Excellent review, just what I needed from a dev's point of view. One question, do you miss the curve from the 40" compared to this one? I thought anything bigger than 27" should have a curve. I had a 29" flat LG wide monitor and I returned it because looking at the code/text in the corner was weird and I found myself dragging everything to the center.

[@benfrainuk]

If you are used to a curve, it feels oddly flat at first but after a week or so I didn’t even think about it. Not sure I would go bigger than 32” without any curve though

[@castawaydotcom]

@@benfrainuk Thanks for sharing your experience Ben 👍I guess I have to sit a little further away.