In a world of refresh rates high enough to give you a nose bleed, crazy pixel counts and utterly baffling HDR features, the new Dell P2723DE keeps it simple. This 27-inch monitor is all about getting things done and doing so as ergonomically as possible.
Screen size: 27-inch
Panel type: IPS
Resolution: 2,560 x 1,440
Brightness: 350 nits
Contrast: 1,000:1
Response time: 5ms
Refresh rate: 60Hz
Colour coverage: 99% sRGB
HDR support: None
Connectivity: DisplayPort 1.4 upstream and downstream, HDMI 2.0 x2, USB-C with 90W PD upstream, USB 3.2 hub
It’s a 1440p panel rather than 4K, for instance, runs at a mere 60Hz and makes absolutely no claims to HDR thrills. Instead, it offers IPS panel tech for good viewing angles along with heaps of connectivity, including USB-C with power delivery, ethernet passthrough and a USB 3.2 hub, plus support for DisplayPort daisy chaining.
Overall, Dell makes pretty modest claims for this panel’s visual performance. There’s no local dimming, modest brightness and contrast performance and unspectacular response times. Dell doesn’t even bother quoting coverage of gamuts like DCI-P3 or Adobe RGB. So, this monitor isn’t aimed at serious content creation. It’s more of an overall workhorse than a high fidelity image processing machine. And yet, there's plenty to like here.
Dell P2723DE review: features
Dell’s new productivity-focused monitor is built around a 27-inch IPS panel with 2,560 by 1,440 pixels. So, it’s a conventional 1440p 16:9 model. Likewise, it clocks in at 60Hz, cranks out a moderate 350 peak nits of brightness and hits 1,000:1 static contrast.
In other words, this is resolutely an SDR panel. There’s no fancy local dimming, ultra high contrast or eye-popping contrast. Dell doesn’t even claim broad colour coverage thanks to the likes of, say, quantum dot tech. There’s just workmanlike 99 percent coverage of the plain vanilla sRGB gamut. And that’s it, no figures for DCI-P3 or sRGB, though any monitor that can’t quite cover off sRGB fully isn’t going to get anywhere near 100 percent coverage of those more demanding gamuts.
However, where the Dell P2723DE does deliver is connectivity. The main attraction is the USB-C port, which supports 90W of power delivery and hooks into a four-port USB 3,2 hub and an ethernet port.
The upshot of which is that you can hook up a laptop to this monitor, keep it charged, drive the display and connect all your peripherals, such as external drives, keyboard and mouse, and also connect to wired networking. And you can do that all over that single USB-C cable. The only slight snag is that the bundled USB-C cable is very short, so depending on your preferred desk arrangement, a longer replacement might be required.
Speaking of ports, the P2723DE has both DisplayPort upstream and downstream, allowing for daisy chaining of a second display, again all with just one cable. Design wise, the Dell P2723DE keeps things pretty corporate, albeit with nice slim bezels on three sides of the panel for a contemporary look. The all-plastic build quality is sturdy enough if not exactly luxurious, and the stand supports tilt, height and swivel adjustment, but not rotate into portrait.
Dell P2723DE review: price
At $495 in the US and £396 in the UK, the Dell P2723DE is very expensive for a non-HDR 1440p 27-inch monitor. The fully featured USB-C hub with ethernet and DisplayPort daisy chaining does help to mitigate the high pricing. The price is quite hard to justify compared with similar 4K monitors, including Dell’s own S2722QC, which delivers the full 4K with USB-C functionality, albeit minus the ethernet and daisy chaining, for less money.
Dell P2723DE review: performance
As a 350 nit SDR monitor, the Dell P2723DE isn’t hugely punchy. But it is decently calibrated from the factory with accurate colours, neutral colour temp and no major image quality flaws. Gradients are rendered nice and smoothly and there’s no visible compression on test scales. The IPS panel delivers good viewing angles, albeit contrast is merely adequate and there’s a little of that characteristic IPS glow visible off angle.
Given the mainstream remit, you wouldn’t expect the Dell P2723DE’s OSD menu to be crammed with features. But you can opt to enable pixel overdrive to achieve the quoted 5ms response performance, at which point some fairly obvious overshoot and inverse ghosting is visible. The standard response is quick enough for most purposes and avoids those issues.
What you won’t find in the OSD menu, however, are any gamut presets for sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3 or other colour spaces. There are individual RGB adjustments, but some basic gamut presets would have been welcome. Nor is there any HDR support at all. This is a purely SDR monitor. In any case, the limited gamut support doesn’t make for a great proposition for serious content creation. This monitor is much more a general workhorse than a precision content creation tool.
Speaking of precision, the 1440p resolution makes for reasonable pixel density. MacOS’s font rendering in particular appreciates nice, tight pixels and 1440p on a 27-inch panel is certainly preferable to 1440p on a 30 or 32-inch monitor in that regard. But you’ll still get much nicer fonts in both MacOS and Windows - not to mention sharper image detail - from a 27-inch 4K display.
Should you buy the Dell P2723DE?
No question, the Dell P2723DE delivers a strong productivity feature set. The SDR image quality suffers no major flaws, the ergonomics are good and the connectivity outstanding.
But you’d have to be very, very keen on the DisplayPort daisy chaining and ethernet port to choose it over cheaper 27-inch monitors with USB-C connectivity but a sharper 4K panel, including Dell’s own S2722QC. In the end, the Dell P2723DE is a good monitor that’s tough to recommend at its current pricing for all but niche installations with very specific requirements around ethernet connectivity and multi-monitor setups.
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