Dell Launches the UltraSharp U3824DW 38-inch Ultra-wide Curved Monitor

[TheLostSwede]

Dell has added a new display to its UltraSharp range and this time around we're looking at a 38-inch ultra-wide display with a resolution of 3840 x 1600 pixels. The display uses an IPS Black panel with a 2000:1 contrast ratio and it covers 100 percent of the sRGB and REC.709 colour gamuts, as well as 98 percent of the DCI-P3 and Display P3 colour gamuts. Sadly it only has a brightness of 300 cd/m² and it's unclear if this is an 8-bit + FRC or a true 10-bit panel, as Dell only mentions support for 1.07 billion colours. It uses a standard WLED backlight, so no fancy miniLED backlight here and as this display is intended for work use, it also only appears to support 60 Hz refresh rate with a response time of 8 ms in normal mode.

Other features include a built-in KVM switch courtesy of a pair of USB-C ports, with the primary supporting USB PD up to 90 W, as well as DP Alt mode, with the second port only supporting USB 3.2 Gen 2 data at up to 10 Gbps. Other inputs include two HDMI 2.1 ports and one DP 1.4, while the outputs consist of five USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps Type-A ports, two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps ports, a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet jack and a 3.5 mm audio line out jack. One interesting feature is that the built in Ethernet supports network boot, something that isn't a common feature on monitors and it also has the ability to lock the wired port to one of the two connected computers in KVM mode. The stand supports height,swivel and tilt adjustment. The asking price for the U3824DW is US$1,529.99 and it's available from Dell now.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[ZoneDymo]

Seems like a really high price for what it is

 

[Bwaze]

Yeah, why the OLED-like price?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Seems like a really high price for what it is

Niche market?

 

[Bwaze]

If I search IPS curved monitors larger than 37" and with similar unimpressive resolution, it's not a unique product.

 

[konga]

Seems like a really high price for what it is

It's a pretty normal price for a high-end UltraSharp.

 

[Tek-Check]

It's a pretty normal price for a high-end UltraSharp.

Unfortunately, this is not a high-end monitor. Silly overprised.
Dell is arrogant with UltraSharp price proposition for such a underwhelming display specs. Let it rot on shelves.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Seems like a really high price for what it is

Wow, yeah what a joke. I thought it would be 576 zone mini-led and 120Hz for that price if not OLED. Good to see higher res than 3440 x 1440. Let's hope others follow with much more compelling products.

 

[Chaitanya]

Wow, yeah what a joke. I thought it would be 576 zone mini-led and 120Hz for that price if not OLED. Good to see higher res than 3440 x 1440. Let's hope others follow with much more compelling products.

That 3840x1600 @60hz is typical resolution for 38" ultrawide monitors using that IPS/VA panel from whole host of manufacturers. Also given these seem to be low volume products dont expect any improvements to panel in future.

 

[ymdhis]

Yeah, why the OLED-like price?

Ultrasharps are workhorse monitors with factory calibrated colors and built in USB hubs. That's also why they don't have gaming features, but have a 2.5GbE port instead. The last one I used worked for 9 years straight.

Though I agree that among the 38 inch models, this one has quite a bit too much premium.

 

[Chrispy_]

I was initially interested in a 2000:1 IPS panel, but then all of the other specs basically suck for my needs, including the price.

I'm a fan of VA, given the cost and burn-in risk of long-term OLED ownership as a desktop monitor, but 90% of the VA panels on the market have garbage dark-transition overdrive. I can count on my fingers the number of models that have decent, smear-free blacks.

IPS would be the better technology if it wasn't so catastropically terrible at black levels in general, so a 2000:1 contrast ratio and low peak brightness implies that this is an IPS that can actually display black rather than a washed-out grey. IPS backlight uniformity is also quite hard to get right and this is made doubly obvious by the backlight bleed on a dark screen - so I'd like to see a review of this monitor somewhere just to see if it's really 2000:1 and also how bad the uniformity is.

 

[Chomiq]

Unfortunately, this is not a high-end monitor. Silly overprised.
Sharp is arrogant with this price proposition for such a underwhelming display specs. Let it rot on shelves.

Sharp? I think you meant Dell.

I was initially interested in a 2000:1 IPS panel, but then all of the other specs basically suck for my needs, including the price.

While contrast is improved with those panels they aren't fast enough for higher refresh rates. There are new FastIPS panels out there that have static contrast ratio at around 1450:1. Lenovo Y27QF-30 has one like that, 1440p 16:9 240 Hz.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Grossly overpriced and very under-spect. Hard pass.

 

[eldon_magi]

I got a great deal on a HP Z32k G3 screen, which is a IPS black 4k screen with thunderbolt4 etc.. 60Hz only but i'm not a gamer.

I can just say that IPS black is no joke. As an example just after i got the screen it was in a dark room, running KDE with a dark theme. In KDE the taskbar button turn orange for event notification.

I walked into the room and wondered why all the walls are orange, and when i looked at the screen i first thought there had been a shortcut, and something had burnt a glowing hole in the bottom of the screen. It was just the taskbar notification.

 

[chodaboy19]

Specs are very similar to their own Dell Alienware AW3821DW:

Alienware 38 Inch Curved LCD Gaming Monitor - AW3821DW | Dell USA

View the Alienware 38 Inch Curved LCD Gaming Monitor (AW3821DW) featuring NVIDIA G-SYNC Ultimate certification, or shop all Gaming Monitors at Dell.com.

www.dell.com

 

[Yrd]

I guess the price hike is for the KVM and ethernet jack. Because it looks, spec wise, exactly like their other 38".

 

[b1k3rdude]

Er, when I can buy the AW OLED for under £900, this is a hard nope.

 

[WorringlyIndifferent]

$1600 for 300 cd/m^2? Perfect if you'll be working in a dark cave, but monitors have been significantly brighter than that for many, many years now. Is this 2007? That would explain the exorbitant price.

 

[Chomiq]

Specs are very similar to their own Dell Alienware AW3821DW:

Alienware 38 Inch Curved LCD Gaming Monitor - AW3821DW | Dell USA

View the Alienware 38 Inch Curved LCD Gaming Monitor (AW3821DW) featuring NVIDIA G-SYNC Ultimate certification, or shop all Gaming Monitors at Dell.com.

www.dell.com

Except AW3821DW has a G-Sync module and goes up to 144 Hz and has a contrast of 800:1 in reality.

 

[Tek-Check]

It's a pretty normal price for a high-end UltraSharp.

"High-end UltraSharp" does not mean anything high-end on this hyper expensive monitor.
This product is like one of those plastic Alienware prebuilds that was demolished in a review by Steve from Gamers Nexus for absurd propriatery motherboard that cannot be changed and i9 CPU that was chocking in its own cooler.

Dell needs a serious rethink of staffing responsible for design of this line of monitors and other products. It's nonsense.

That 3840x1600 @60hz is typical resolution for 38" ultrawide monitors using that IPS/VA panel from whole host of manufacturers. Also given these seem to be low volume products dont expect any improvements to panel in future.

I hope they manufature the lowest possible volume as they will never sell any higher volume for this price. On which planet their marketing and price setting team lives?

 

[trsttte]

I was initially interested in a 2000:1 IPS panel, but then all of the other specs basically suck for my needs, including the price.

I'm a fan of VA, given the cost and burn-in risk of long-term OLED ownership as a desktop monitor, but 90% of the VA panels on the market have garbage dark-transition overdrive. I can count on my fingers the number of models that have decent, smear-free blacks.

IPS would be the better technology if it wasn't so catastropically terrible at black levels in general, so a 2000:1 contrast ratio and low peak brightness implies that this is an IPS that can actually display black rather than a washed-out grey. IPS backlight uniformity is also quite hard to get right and this is made doubly obvious by the backlight bleed on a dark screen - so I'd like to see a review of this monitor somewhere just to see if it's really 2000:1 and also how bad the uniformity is.

I've seen reviews of the other IPS black monitors Dell has launched (27'', 32'', 34'' UW) and they measured close ish to the advertised 2000:1, I think the lowest i've seen was high 1800's

Dell U2723QE Review

The Dell U2723QE is a 27-inch, 4k office monitor. It features an IPS Black panel that Dell claims delivers deeper blacks than regular IPS panels, and it has seve...

www.rtings.com

Dell U3223QE Review

The Dell U3223QE is a 32-inch, 4k office monitor. Part of Dell's UltraSharp lineup, it sits alongside the Dell U2723QE and has a lot of features and connectivity...

www.rtings.com

Rtings even has them going slightly above. Problem is the price given how they're only in business monitors at the moment.

 

[Minus Infinity]

That 3840x1600 @60hz is typical resolution for 38" ultrawide monitors using that IPS/VA panel from whole host of manufacturers. Also given these seem to be low volume products dont expect any improvements to panel in future.

Yeah I just checked although most have much higher refresh. Still there aren't a lot of 38" UW options. We need this resolution in the 34" panels with mini-led, wide colour gamut and 120Hz. 34" sells in much higher volumes. Given we can get 4K mini-led 144HZ 32" monitors, I can't see why we can't have UW 3840 x 1600 in 34".

 

[Chaitanya]

"High-end UltraSharp" does not mean anything high-end on this hyper expensive monitor.
This product is like one of those plastic Alienware prebuilds that was demolished in a review by Steve from Gamers Nexus for absurd propriatery motherboard that cannot be changed and i9 CPU that was chocking in its own cooler.

Dell needs a serious rethink of staffing responsible for design of this line of monitors and other products. It's nonsense.


I hope they manufature the lowest possible volume as they will never sell any higher volume for this price. On which planet their marketing and price setting team lives?

Most dell customers who will be buying these are office users so yeah their customers will be asking for volume discount to start with, also given this is Dell just wait for a few months in order for discounts to start appearing from resellers.

Yeah I just checked although most have much higher refresh. Still there aren't a lot of 38" UW options. We need this resolution in the 34" panels with mini-led, wide colour gamut and 120Hz. 34" sells in much higher volumes. Given we can get 4K mini-led 144HZ 32" monitors, I can't see why we can't have UW 3840 x 1600 in 34".

True, there has been a lack of interest in increasing of resolution of 34" monitors while we have gotten quite a bit of innovation in that form factor whether it is Panel types, refresh rates, etc...