Artist Review: Dell U2717D IPS monitor (2560 by 1440)

Thanks to Dell for sending me another monitor to review, this time it's the Dell U2717D monitor. The previous one I reviewed was the Dell UP2716D. You can consider the U2717D the budget IPS panel (at 27-inch) since the premium panel spot is taken by the UP2716D.

This review will be from the perspective of an artist who work for print and digital. I also edit photos and videos, though not professionally.

For me to pick a monitor for graphic design or digital content, I will always choose one that has an IPS panel, matte screen and accurate colour reproduction. The Dell U2717D meets those criteria.

Specifications

What the monitor comes with

• Monitor
• Stand
• Power Cable (varies by country)
• mDP-DP Cable
• USB 3.0 Cable
• Drivers and Documentation Media (CD)
• Quick Setup Guide
• Safety and Regulatory Information
• Factory Calibration Report

The stand and mount are the latch-on type that's very easy to fix on. If you use a VESA mount, the measurements are 10 by 10cm.

Design of the monitor

Main highlight of the design would be the 7mm bezel that runs across the four sides of the screen. That bezel is about as thick as my Mac OS menu bar. The design is very similar to the UP2716D with the only difference being the UP2716D has a thicker bezel at the bottom.

Other notable features would be how slim it is. It's a LED screen that doesn't use a lot of electricity and hence does not give out much heat.

The ports included are the DisplayPort, HDMI and USB3. I recommend using the DisplayPort so that you can run the native resolution at 2560 by 1440. HDMI cables supposedly can support that resolution, but somehow, my Playstation 3 HDMI cable wasn't able to do that when used with the display.

Two USB 3 ports are by the left side. There's no card reader in this monitor so for photographers, you'll probably find it more convenient to plug in your own card reader permanently to one slot. USB 3 port can transfter 10GB under 2 minutes.

The menus and power physical buttons are below the bottom right. You can see the lit power button but it's not too distracting.

Performance

Dell monitors are supposed to be factory calibrated. Somehow for the set I received, I had to do a bit more calibration to get the colours I want.

After calibration, the colours look good. Although I feel that the UP2716D provides a bit more depth to the colours. However, you really need two monitors side by side to compare to see the difference, or you'll need a professional calibrator to tell.

Resolution at 2560 and 1440 on this 27-inch screen is great for graphic design work. The high resolution enables you to have a lot of working space on the desktop, and if you're layout out pages under A3 in size, you can view those pages at 100%.

I did not try gaming on it since I no longer have console. But I used to play Playstation 3 on my other 5-year old U2711 so this new U2717D has the same frequency, therefore it should not have any problems with console games. For gamers who want a faster refresh rate, Dell has other monitors and they are usually ones with glossy screens.

Backlight bleeding

There is backlight bleeding when the screen filled with black in a dark room.

For my set, the areas affected are top left and right, and bottom right. I compared it, again, to my old U2711 and that workhorse has even less to no backlight bleeding, and after 5 years still continues to amaze me, but it's starting to turn yellow. The UP2716D is still the champion when it comes to quality with no backlight bleeding, in fact you won't even know the screen is turned on.

Backlight bleeding is going to be an issue for those who likes to watch movies in a dark room, and where the movies have black bars top and bottom. If you're using this in an office environment, it's not really a big issue.

IPS glow? Didn't notice any.

Video review

Conclusion

This screen is for those who have a budget and want a quality IPS screen for better colour reproduction, especially those who do any sort of visual graphic work, e.g. photo or video editing, graphic design, digital art.

For those who have more budget, I recommend the UP2716D which to me is the better monitor. Since I belong to this group, this is the monitor I prefer when compared the U2717D. I've to say that I'm very tempted to get the UP3216Q also for the size and 4K resolution.

Availability

You can read more reviews on Amazon links (below), or read the full specifications on Dell's website.

| Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es