Dell UltraSharp U2722D monitor – Specs, Pros / Cons: Here’s How To Reach Pro-Grade Color Accuracy

With a name like UltraSharp, Dell is certainly aiming to impress Creators, and their U2722D model is a 27-inch Quad HD monitor with superb connectivity and plenty of stand adjustment. So far it seems very impressive, but you know what can truly make it a must-have screen for creators? Having wide color coverage and professional-level color accuracy.

While the former is out of our hands, we can certainly help with the latter, as our Display Profiles have helped numerous laptop screens and now monitors to be the best they can possibly be. After we ran our tests, we’re now sure that any designer or Creator can pretty much safely pick the Dell UltraSharp U2722D and be sure that he or she will get sharp and deep colors that are as accurate as ever. Without spending more time, let’s get to the meat and potatoes with this overview of the UltraSharp U2722D.

You can check the current price of the Dell UltraSharp U2722D here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Contents

Specs sheet, What’s in the box?, Drivers, Design, Connectivity, OSD menu

What’s in the box?

The box contents include the monitor and stand, as well as a DisplayPort cable and a USB Type-A to Type-C cable. We also can’t forget the power cable, as without it everything’s kinda useless.

Assembly

Dell have made the assembly process as simple as possible, as everything can be done by hand with no tools necessary. The steps are shown below.

Drivers and Software

Dell has the drivers as well as their Display Manager available to download on the monitor’s Support Page.

OSD Menu

Design and Connectivity

The Dell UltraSharp U2722D has a design that perfectly suits the office. With the silver finish and thin bezels, it looks and feels modern, especially with the higher QHD resolution, which produces some impressively detailed visuals. There’s much to talk about with the stand too, as it allows the monitor to move in all directions. There’s height adjustment and tilt, which can give you a better viewing angle as if the IPS panel didn’t do that already. Furthermore, with the Swivel and Pivot mechanisms, you can have the monitor in portrait mode, or twist them just enough to where they seamlessly blend when you have multiple screens. The stand also has a cable channel, for easier cable management.

On the back, there are 100 x 100 mm VESA mounting points for a desk or a wall mount, as well as all the ports. You get one HDMI 1.4 port, and two DisplayPorts, one of which can be used as an output signal, so you can daisy chain a second monitor, reducing cable clutter to your PC. There are also two USB Type-C ports, three Type-A ports, and an audio jack.

Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

The Dell UltraSharp U2722DE offers a sharp QHD IPS panel that’s stretched across a 27-inch screen. This means a pixel density of 108.79 pixels per inch. The refresh rate sits at a measly 60Hz, however, since this device is catered towards productivity freaks and maybe designers, depending on the tests below, the refresh rate isn’t that important. According to Dell, the monitor completely covers the sRGB gamut. So, let’s check for ourselves.

Color coverage

Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.

Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of Dell UltraSharp U2722D can show:

Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, and digital cinema, and photo editing
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content

Dell UltraSharp U2722D: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 100% of the sRGB gamut, and 97% of the DCI-P3 gamut.

(Fig.1)Dell UltraSharp U2722D covers 100%% of the Web colors (sRGB)

This means that if the Dell UltraSharp U2722D tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.

Color accuracy

Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the one you’ll see on the Dell UltraSharp U2722D. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.

For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.

Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of Dell UltraSharp U2722D, the Average color accuracy was 2.6 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowers to 1.9 dE (Fig. 3), which is a 1.4x increase in accuracy. Also, the dE is just a smidge lower than the 2.0 value which we consider the entry barrier for a professional-grade monitor. So while not the greatest, the device is certainly ready to handle color-related work. And just so you know, values below 1.0 are generally indistinguishable to the human eye.

(Fig. 2) Dell UltraSharp U2722D in its factory condition

(Fig. 3) Dell UltraSharp U2722D with our display profiles

Comparison in the Display P3 color space

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).

Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile

Gaming and Movies

We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

• $9.90 BUY NOW

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Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

• $9.90 BUY NOW

Buy Now Checkout Added to cart

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

• $9.90 BUY NOW

Buy Now Checkout Added to cart

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount

• $19.90 BUY NOW

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Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the Dell UltraSharp U2722D.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Verdict

The Dell UltraSharp U2722D super casually offers some very deep color coverage, almost covering the entire DCI-P3 gamut, which gives you cinema-grade colors and image quality, especially on this QHD IPS panel. Thanks to our Web Design and Office Work profile, you also get professional-grade color accuracy, with a dE value of 1.9,  so the monitor can be used in any sort of studio setting by Designers, Architects, and anybody else who values accurate colors.

As for its overall design and features, you get a modern look, with an adjustable stand, so you can mingle with the height, as well as put the monitor in portrait mode, turn it on its axis, also known as swivel, and tilt it for a better viewing angle. Another plus of the monitor is the wide port selection, with both DisplayPort and HDMI port connections, as well as several USBs (both Type-A and Type-C). One feature that can certainly save space and reduce clutter is the ability to daisy chain a secondary monitor, with the second display port being used to output signal.

Overall, this is a high-quality screen for a studio, having all the bells and whistles for any creator, along with the robust I/O to back up any accessories and peripherals.

You can check the current price of the Dell UltraSharp U2722D here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Pros

• Very adjustable stand
• Wide color coverage – 100% sRGB and 97% DCI-P3 coverage
• Our profiles adjust the accuracy below the 2.0 entry point for color-related work
• Wide port selection with both USB Type-A and Type-C ports

Cons

• The price is a bit high

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