Dell U2718Q Review - 27-Inch 4K UHD IPS Monitor 

Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q is a captivating monitor. It has a modern look that is appealing for demanding gamers and content creators. It is an affordable model that gives you the best of low input lag and reasonable HDR gaming. With an InfinityEdge display, it offers a borderless screen and stunning 1.07 billion colors.

You not only get to enjoy vivid colors but also brilliant colors in the media content you create.

Pros:

• 4K UHD screen resolution
• 10-bit color support
• Supports HDR gaming
• Low input lag
• 178-degree viewing angles

Cons:

• Lacks adaptive refresh support
• Limited to 60Hz refresh rate in HDR

Design Features

 Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q looks minimalistic, but it has a sturdy build that promises years of good use. You’ll like its borderless design as it gives you more to look at whether you are gaming or editing photos and videos. Its black and gray finish speaks of a modern design that will look good in any office.

With a thick stand and base, this monitor offers superior stability when using it in whatever position that you want. It can pivot to 90 degrees, swivel from -45 to 45 degrees, tilt from -5 to 20 degree, and height adjust up to 130mm. It offers an ergonomic setup such that you can angle it in the most comfortable viewing position.

Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q also offers cable management through a hole in the stand. It helps to maintain a neat desktop because you’ll have lots of cables to deal with thanks to the vast array of ports that it offers.

Since this monitor has thin 8mm borders, it is just the right pick when you want a multi-monitor setup. It is also easy to flush mount on a wall because it won’t stick out too much.

Controls and Connectivity

Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q offers premium features including an OSD menu. You can change settings fast and easy with the click of a mouse button. It has settings for brightness, sharpness, color format, aspect ratio, color temperature RGB, saturation, etc.

This monitor has ‘Easy Arrange’ a feature that allows viewing apps side by side. It improves multitasking and helps make workloads easier and manageable. You will be able to enable HDR on the Onscreen menu which will help you view, play, and edit in HDR10.

Apart from managing settings with a mouse, this monitor also comes with a set of four responsive buttons.

Connectivity isn’t limited on Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q. It offers four USB 3.0 ports with two of them supporting fast charging. It comes with an HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2, Mini DisplayPort 1.2, and a 3.5mm audio jack. On this monitor, only HDMI supports HDR, and you cannot connect a series of devices using the DisplayPort.

Also, you won’t get a set of speakers on this monitor.

Image Quality

Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q is at the center of color consistency. It offers a 1300:1 contrast ratio on an IPS panel. It is nice to see 10-bit color depth support and accurate colors owing to its 4K resolution. When it comes to brightness and dark room performance, we like that it reaches 350 nits of brightness.

The monitor performs well in averagely lit rooms because it suffers backlight bleeding and glare. You will want to use it in places where you can control the lighting. Its out-of-the-box calibration reveals a monitor that is quite accurate. It covers 97% of sRGB which is okay with an IPS panel.

But its DeltaE and gamma are a bit disappointing as it comes calibrated at DeltaE 2.83 and gamma at 2.21. The monitor requires some calibration in DeltaE and gamma bringing the two settings down to 0.56 and 2.19 respectively.

Since it is an HDR monitor, we expect that it covers DCI-P3 color gamut. But it doesn’t, which means it cannot achieve full HDR10 performance. It cannot reproduce dark colors as they should since it has limited color gamut in HDR.

But there’s some eye relief if you spend countless hours in front of the monitor. Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q invests in Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to manage the brightness settings.

Gaming Performance

Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q does not have features like FreeSync and G-Sync. But it does not mean that you are going to be followed by stutters and unending streaks. It has a low input lag at 9ms and a response time of 5ms. It is highly responsive whether you are on SDR or HDR although it is not flicker-free.

This monitor games at a 60Hz refresh rate. It handles motion reasonably since its motion blur is barely noticeable. If you are just playing and not testing the screen, it is not going to be a bother. But if you are observant and looking for the streaks, you will find them.

Another thing with this monitor is that HDR gaming is also limited. It has low peak brightness and a narrow color gamut that most games will not take advantage of HDR technology on this monitor. A better monitor for HDR gaming is LG 32UD99-W.

Flaws of the Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q Monitor

This monitor lacks local dimming which means it won’t perform great in a brightly lit room. Second, it only supports an HDR signal over HDMI, and you have to source the HDMI cable. You will also have challenges when using HDR with Windows 10 as its implementation does not work.

The result will be a washed-out image and inaccurate color performance when using HDR with SDR content. You have to turn HDR off when using Windows 10 and turn it back on manually when you need it to use with different content that supports the technology.

Conclusion

There’s much to like about the Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q monitor for everyday office work and gaming. Owing to its 4K resolution and low input lag, it manages to put out decent gaming performance. Its ergonomics is also on point for digital media creators allowing you to experience solid editing.

But with its HDR limitation, it can be a rocky path when trying to find content to use with the monitor since not most games do not have full support for HDR. It is a nice offering if you are not excited about HDR rather than what it offers in terms of overall picture quality.