Dell U3223QE UltraSharp 32″ 4K USB-C Hub Monitor

As a visualization artist, color is very important to me. I have tried 6 different monitors recently and IPS black displays have consistently come out on top as the best bang for the buck. If you have the money to afford a 4K mini led or oled monitor then by all means but these dell monitors having amazing image quality for the price.

Having tried both the 27” and 32” version I can say the only difference was size and price. Although 4K on a 27” has greater ppi, the picture quality on the 32” was almost indistinguishable from the 27”. The 32” is however $300 more, so if you don’t need the extra space, go with the 27”.

Both monitors us the LG IPS Black displays, so if you want panels with the exact same picture quality, you can buy LG’s version of the monitors for significantly cheaper. $650 vs $850 for the 32” version. What Dell does is buy the display, improves quality control and warranty, packages it better by making it frameless on 4 sides instead of 3, adds features like a built in hub, kvm etc, so if you need all those extra features then buy Dell but if you’re just looking for an IPS display with the same image quality, LG has alternatives for much cheaper.

Pros:

Price is competitive for a 32inch IPS panel with a hub built in, ethernet is a much added welcome, Factory calibration is good. And thats is where the good stops which is really what a good monitor is supposed to do. Have a good image which this one does have. (Try to find it on sale under $900)

Cons:

* Slow hub (let me explain) When you use USB C (DP Alt) you have to choose between either higher resolution + Low Data Transfers [USB 2.0] or Choose Lower Resolution + High Data Speeds [3.0]

* IPS panel coating on this monitor is does not match the price asking. I wish DELL had given us an option to have this as glossy.

* Smart HDR and IPS Black are TERRIBLE: When enabled it makes me question if this is indeed an IPS panel or a VA one.

So THIS MONITOR IS NOT FOR YOU:

* if your work requires the absolute best resolution and high data speeds. Highest supported resolution is 4K at 60HZ which is plenty but this cannot be combined which high speed data transfers of usb 3.0 nor 3.1 gen 2 which this monitor advertises.

* If you require HDR (It is there but IT IS NOT)

* If you want a monitor to make you more productive. The cons will have you looking for more things to add instead of actually getting to work.

This MONITOR IS FOR YOU:

* if you can afford it without saving too much, if you have been saving for awhile to buy a monitor please pass on this one. If buying this monitor using credit card to pay in installments, I would also recommend you pass this one.

* The monitor is also for you if you only need high resolution and not fast data transfers all at once. Just one or the other (it is a trade)

* The Monitor is also for you if you need high data transfer hub but dont care much using a resolution lower than 4k 60HZ (4k @30HZ, 2.5K @30HZ, 2K @60HZ, or 1080P @60HZ) all testings done with a 2017 maxed out MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt (USB C) to DP Alt mode.

* This monitor is also for you, if you live in reality that most people don’t actually need fast speeds past USB 2.0 anyways (up to 480Mbps). Yes if you have 1Gig Internet you will see a drop when you select high resolution as speeds will be reduced which will affect your internet speeds. Yes if you are transferring large 4k files you will have to wait for forever. But if you are a casual user, transferring small documents, and occasional 2gb or 5gb video files – YOU WILL BE FINE.

I wish DELL did not rush this monitor, I wish they would have taken feedback from all past Q series both QS, QE, Q and listened to the users pain points and address those here.

SHOULD YOU BUY?

* If you can wait for next year’s release, by all means wait. Save that money by the time next year comes you will have earned interests on it and you will get a much better monitor.

* If you cant wait, see how much you have made this past month and if you can afford to buy this monitor without affect next month’s bills and spending, then go for it. It is a good monitor just Not GREAT and no off in terms of Price to performance. Even at 32inch note that most likely you will end up scaling both in MacOS and Windows. Which begs the question if you really even need a 32inch.

* If you CAN’T wait but DON’T have hundreds of dollars to buy this monitor then please consider Dell’s own Dell S2722QC 27-inch 4K USB-C which is available on Amazon at $380. For the money, this is a much better monitor, has USB C and can charge a 15inch MacBook Pro. The display panel also looks incredible and yes comparable to the QE. To the naked eye, one may even argue that they are same panels. Also at 27inch it looks very sharp.

These are honest and humble opinions from someone who has been waiting for so long for the perfect monitor at a reasonable price. While I have decided to keep this monitor (THIS IS NOT THE PERFECT Monitor) For now it does the job, but eventually 3 years to five I will be changing this one I suspect. And I wish DELL had a program where they can buy back these if they end up fixing all the issues mentioned above by next year.

I hope this review has been helpful in giving you insights about this monitor and your purchase decision. Thank you for reading and I wish you well!

I originally submitted this review on Dell’s website but was censored with no communication as to why they wouldn’t publish it. Only said it violated community guidelines. I am no expert whether financial nor tech but I wanted to provide some honest reflections from someone who bought this monitor with their own money and not sponsored. If only Dell had chosen to make this monitor’s ALT DP Thunderbolt then this would be an A+ monitor instead of a B- (Since thunderbolt can carry both power and high speed data but USB C is limited which is where this monitor falls short.

I used this monitor at work on a windows machine, it worked very well although my graphics card only managed 4K 30hz it was still usable. I hooked up my MacBook Pro at the same time and 4K 60hz worked very well and charged the MacBook too through usb c. The picture is colorful and bright, there are many color settings and I managed to get a close match to the MacBook Pro 14” screen color by adjusting the white balance.
The picture by picture mode is awesome, having a windows machine on one half and a Mac on the other half works very well. The 32” screen is large enough to work this way and the images autosize to fill the screen.
The Dell software is great, you can adjust the brightness, contrast and any other picture setting through both the mac and the windows pc without having to touch any buttons on the monitor.
I was concerned about 32” 4K and mac text sharpness, no problem here it’s very good. I came from a 5k iMac and the 4K 32” passes my sharpness needs no problem. I don’t need to change the resolution from 4K on the 32” it is small txt but readable. I have used 2K resolution but I preferred the 4K when the monitor is at arms length infront of me.
The brightness is good. I was concerned about this since I had a apple studio display for a month in spring and 600nits was great. However, the Dell is bright enough and I tended to use brightness between 90 and 100% during the sunny day which is ideal.
What would I change?
(1) not much to be honest
(2) I prefer glossy screens but that’s personal and the Dell is by no means unattractive
(3) add speakers and a microphone. I’m 50/50 about this as I may prefer my own choice of studio mike and monitors with good bass which only the studio display has!
(4) longer usbc cable, 3ft….really !
(5) I find the stand bulky the footprint is large, it’s very sturdy though and very effective. I’m just more in favor of the apple studio stand but that’s a smaller monitor.

In summary, a very sturdy monitor with great color accuracy and works very well with my mac and with windows pc which is exactly what I need – so I ordered one for home and can’t wait to start to use it and improve my productivity.

I had the chance to use this monitor recently and they really got everything right except for one thing.

I have had the LG UltraFine 5K for years now, so that’s my primary benchmark. I also recently tried the new Apple Studio monitor. That one wins from a pure quality point of view, but it’s just too pricey for what offers. The Dell I had to fiddle with settings to get it to stop looking terrible. I’m specifically mostly concerned with text clarity because I’m a software developer, and this would be my primary monitor to stare at code all day. The Dell is OK once you set it to one notch over into scaled with “more space” in Apple’s dumbed down selector. I would have expected the Dell’s native to be optimal, so that was weird.

I also use this one vertically.. so one note is that 32″ vertical is just about too tall. I found my neck cricking just a bit when looking up to the top (I have it centered in front of my eyes).

Anyways, even with fiddling, the quality is not there. I shouldn’t expect it, either, given the difference in pixel density, but I thought I’d see if it was good enough. Not quite, in my view. But I’m finicky.

The brightness was just about good enough. A smidge less bright than the UltraFine, but in my room with lots of windows it did OK.

I wish there were more “Retina” monitors available. I started looking mainly because I’ve noticed some ghosting on my UltraFines, and I don’t really want to buy this “old” technology again, but I also don’t want to spend $1700 for basically the same thing screen-wise.

So this one is OK, but just barely good enough for my purposes. I decided not to keep it.

This monitor replaced an 27″ 5K iMac as my primary work monitor. I needed to move from 2 computers into 1 and ended up getting a MacBook Pro and this monitor to replace an iMac and an older MacBook Pro. I would have preferred to get the 32″ Apple monitor but I didn’t have $5K to spend so this had to suffice. Still a relatively expensive monitor in my opinion. The good stuff; the screen size and resolution is fine enough for viewing at an arms distance on my desk. It’s not quite as revealing as my 5K was, but everything looks good, including fine text, so I don’t feel like I took a significant step backward on resolution for every day use. The thing has a TON of built-in ports and they all work great! I use almost all of them to connect my peripherals and devices. You forget how many you need until you get a new computer that doesn’t have many ports (Apple) and then you feel relieved that you can plug everything you own into the monitor and the Mac sees it immediately! The bad stuff; the screen is matte and reflects sunlight more than my glossy iMac did. I was surprised by how much more sensitive this screen was by comparison. Definitely something to consider if you use the screen in a room with a lot of ambient light. On cloudy days and other times when the ambient light is low, the screen looks fantastic and is easy on my eyes. I also miss having built-in: mic, camera and speakers. I use my new Mac in clamshell mode and not having these basic audio and video functions on the monitor seems like a miss to me. This is not an el-cheopo monitor. My workaround is using my iPhone as the camera and mic and I plugged a small powered speaker into the line out port which works fine for every day sound but I would have preferred if the monitor had these items built-in so I didn’t have to figure out the work-arounds. All in all, I would recommend this monitor. I think the pros outweigh the cons and until a more full-featured one comes along this is probably one of the best 32″ monitors in the sub $1K price range.

There’s a difference between IPS Glow and Light bleeds. Bezels can change how light bleeds from the edges and mine was pretty bad. I was disappointed to see this but it seems pretty common with Ultrasharp series as they use thinner bezels. I also have 3 x U2723QE that I purchased from Dell directly and I had to go through 2 replacements to receive ones that have minimal bleeds. I bought this 32 inch from Amazon because it is cheaper than buying it from Dell directly but Amazon won’t let me do a replacements. I have to return this for full refund, so I am considering a different brand instead going back to this model.

This monitor is a total fail due to the DPBS (Dell Power Button Sync) “feature” that can’t be disabled. I was very excited when I found this monitor that would allow me to remove from clutter and cables from my desk. The goal was to eliminate a docking station and KVM switch…both of which are built into this monitor. My plan was to plug my personal desktop into the Display port and my work laptop into the USB-C port with the 90w of power. On paper this monitor can do that…but in execution there is a major flaw. This monitor also has a feature called DPBS (Dell Power Button Sync) which links the monitor’s power button to the Dell power button on my work laptop. With both machines plugged in I can’t turn just the monitor off or else it will turn my work laptop off. I have to unplug my laptop and then I need another power source. There is not way to disable this absolutely stupid feature which is counter productive to the built in docking station and KVM. If you plan to actually use this feature look elsewhere. If you don’t need this feature then look elsewhere. You can find better monitors for less. If Dell would give us the option to remove this feature it would be a totally different review.

I purchased this monitor back in November from Dell when if first came out. The picture quality was not as good as my slightly older LG 27 Inch Monitor. It was a bit more matte than I care for and also where they show it daisy chained to another dell, you have to have a Dell PC for that. My older LG is much more similar to my Macbook Pro in screen quality. I had it mounted to a monitor arm that I keep fairly tight. I went to move the monitor up a bit and had my thumbs on the screen. I apparently applied too much pressure (it wasn’t much, I know because they this didn’t happen to the other side) and a giant crack spidered across the screen.
I know, my fault and I get it. However, you should know that I called Dell and was promptly informed that they do not offer screen repairs on monitors and that I would need to purchase another one.

I have two of these, connected to a MacBook Pro. Both have at various times stopped working for no reason. Just an error message of ‘no USB connection’. Tried switching outputs, inputs, using HDMI, etc no luck. Spent ages on the phone with someone who can barely speak or understand english (guess which country) who had no suggestions other than getting a new (non-Mac) computer or he could send me a refurbished replacement. Oh, also the menu and other text on screen all turned to Spanish ! Minor detail except that I don’t understand Spanish LOL.

Here’s where you’re gonna thank me : don’t buy a new computer and don’t get a refurbished replacement. Instead, unplug everything (computer and monitor, power and video cable) and then press and hold down the power button on the monitor for 8 seconds. Plug everything back in and you’re back in business.

Incredible to think that Dell does not know / recommend this. Losers on Reddit know more than Dell tech support 😉