Curved-screen monitors haven't quite taken the market by storm, but they are beginning to trickle in. With the UltraSharp U3415W ($1,199.99), Dell joins LG and Samsung in releasing a gargantuan, 34-inch, ultra-wide, curved display designed to bring enhanced panoramic viewing to the desktop. This monitor uses In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel technology to deliver rich, accurate colors and solid gray-scale performance, with wide viewing angles. It is equipped with numerous I/O ports and offers a USB hub and daisy-chaining capabilities, and it comes with a height-adjustable stand. The U3415W($799.99 at Dell) doesn't come cheap, but you get a lot of monitor and great performance for your money. It's our top pick for ultra-wide monitors.
Design and Features
Dell's UltraSharp monitors have always maintained a pleasing aesthetic, but the U3415W takes it to another level with a slick, (mostly) bezel-free design that makes the gigantic 34-inch panel look even larger than it already is. The U3415W does sport a thin (3/4-inch), matte-black bottom bezel that holds a Dell logo, four touch-sensitive function buttons, and a Power switch, but the top and side bezels are practically microscopic.
The slightly curved 34-inch Wide Quad High Definition (WQHD) panel has a maximum resolution of 3,440-by-1,440, a 300-nit brightness level, and a 21:9 aspect ratio. It is housed in an 18.6-pound, matte-black cabinet measuring 32.5 by 14.7 by 3 inches (HWD), and it has a non-reflective, anti-glare coating. The cabinet is supported by a square, silver stand with a mounting arm that gives you 4.5 inches of height, 60 degrees of swivel, and 26 degrees of tilt maneuverability. By way of comparison, the LG 34UC97-S( at Amazon) offers tilt adjustability, but lacks support for height and swivel adjustments. The U3415W has a pair of 9-watt speakers that are very loud and deliver robust, distortion-free audio. You don't get booming bass with these speakers, but they do provide enough bottom to keep from sounding tinny.
You get a boatload of ports with this monitor, including two full-size DisplayPort connectors (one in and one out) that allow you to daisy-chain multiple monitors, a mini-DisplayPort input, an HDMI 2.0 input, a separate Mobile High Definition (MHL) input for connecting to and charging smartphones and tablets, an audio line-out for external speakers, and six USB 3.0 ports, two of which are upstream connectors that allow you to share a keyboard and mouse with two PCs. My only gripe here is that all of the USB ports are at the rear of the cabinet; a few side-mounted ports would make it easier to plug and unplug peripherals like thumb drives and MP3 players.
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The U3415W offers plenty of basic and advanced picture settings and a user-friendly menu system. In addition to Brightness, Contrast, and Gamma settings, there are seven picture presets (Standard, Multimedia, Movie, Game, Paper, Color Temp, and Custom). If you choose the Custom setting, you can tweak Offset and Gain levels for red, green, and blue colors, as well as Hue and Saturation levels for red, green, blue, cyan, yellow, and magenta colors. Other adjustments include Sharpness, Dynamic Contrast, Picture-in-Picture (PIP), and Picture-by-Picture (PBP) settings, as well as a calibrated Uniformity Compensation setting that adjust all areas of the screen to maintain uniform brightness and color with respect to the center of the screen.
The U3415W comes with a 3-year warranty on parts, labor, and backlight. Included in the box are a mini-DisplayPort cable, an HDMI cable, and an upstream USB cable. You also get a printed Quick Start Guide and a CD containing a User Guide, drivers, and Dell's Display Manager software, which allows you to change picture presets using a mouse and keyboard and apply presets to specific applications. It also contains an Easy Arrange utility that lets you use predefined or custom window layouts.
Performance
The U3415W delivers very accurate colors out of the box. As shown on the chromaticity chart below, red, green, and blue colors (represented by the colored dots) are all very closely aligned with their ideal CIE coordinates (represented by the boxes). As is usually the case with quality IPS panels, colors appear evenly saturated and rich in tone. Gray-scale performance is also top-notch; the panel had no trouble reproducing every shade of gray on the DisplayMate 64-Step Gray-Scale test and displayed intricate highlight and shadow detail on my test images.
As was the case with the LG 34UC97-S, the U3415W's curved screen brings you a bit closer to the action while gaming or watching movies. Playing Call of Duty: Black Ops on the big screen was exhilarating, as was watching Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Blu-ray. The 34-inch, wide-screen is ideal for users who typically work with several windows open, as well as those who work with large documents or spreadsheets.
The panel's 5-millisecond pixel response keeps ghosting to a minimum, but doesn't eliminate it completely. I observed slight ghosting while playing Burnout Paradise on the Sony PS3 console but only when the background was very dark. Input lag (the time it takes for the monitor to react to a controller command) is a non-issue, thanks to the U3415W's low 10.5-millisecond lag time (as measured with a Leo Bodnar Lag Tester).
Despite its size, the U3415W doesn't draw a lot of power. It averaged 55 watts during testing while operating in Movie mode, which is pretty much in line with the LG 34UC97-S (56 watts in Cinema mode). In Standard mode, the U3415W used 46 watts, which is much less than the 32-inch Dell UP3214Q's( at Amazon) 88 watts.
Conclusion
Whether you're looking to replace your dual-monitor setup with a massive ultra-wide monitor or want to bring the curved-screen experience to your desktop, the Dell UltraSharp U3415W is an excellent choice. Granted, you'll pay a premium for all of this screen real estate, but the U3415W is actually $100 less expensive than the LG 34UC97-S and offers better all-around performance and a height-adjustable stand, which is why it is our Editor's Choice ultra-wide monitor. If the U3415W's price is too steep, however, check out the 29-inch Acer B296CL($209.00 at Amazon); it's not nearly as big as the U3415W, doesn't have a curved panel, and it's not a WQHD monitor, but it is a reasonably priced ultra-wide monitor that offers good performance and lots of features.
The Dell UltraSharp U3415W is a huge, 34-inch, curved-screen monitor that delivers outstanding performance and is packed with features.
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