Dell UP3214Q Review
by Chris Heinonen on April 1, 2014 12:00 AM ESTThe Dell UP3214Q is both a wonderful looking display and a maddeningly frustrating one. When it works correctly, it produces beautiful images that are incredibly sharp. It has a fairly uniform screen and the full AdobeRGB color gamut that allows it to work well for professionals and image editing.
However, the hardware and software support for UltraHD is at a stage that it will likely drive you crazy. MST would work, and then stop working when the PC goes into sleep mode. A firmware update would fix it, and then another software update would cause that to stop working again. The Dell Calibration software never quite worked for me, no matter what USB port or video port on my PC I used (though I know one person who managed to get it working fine).
Software support is also an issue. While the OS X 10.9.3 update holds a lot of promise to make this work well, it currently does not work elegantly with a Mac. With a PC it is even worse as Windows 8.1, despite the promises to work better for HiDPI, still has many issues and really does not do well with multiple monitors. App support on the PC side is also worse than on the Mac side, with far more poorly scaled elements on screen in different applications.
Of course, OS and App support is not something Dell can help. In an ideal environment, the UP3214Q works well. As a single PC display, it is fantastic and the high-resolution display, when scaled, is wondrous to see. However, running it at 60 Hz kept causing me issues and 30 Hz is annoying in real world use. Updated versions of HDMI and DisplayPort promise to remedy this situation, but right now it is troublesome to deal with.
The combination of these issues leads me to want to wait for UltraHD displays until all the pieces are in place. Unless the resolution is essential to you, there are simply too many potential issues right now. The Dell UP3214Q is a beautiful display, but unfortunately it's also temperamental and is not plug-and-play at this point.
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Death666Angel - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
On the topic of HiDPI and scaling: I have a 11.6" 1080p laptop (XE700T1C) and have no issue with it running at 125% and that is with using my finger most of the time (I only use the pen when I am already holding it because of note taking). 11.6"@1080p is 190 DPI, this is just 140. Unless you are using multiple monitors and suffer issues because of that, you need to get your eye sight fixed if you have having "high DPI" trouble with modern Windows .Bob-o - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
Would love to see Anandtech evaluate all products on linux. . . at least a 1 paragraph "I tried it" kind of thing. . .houkouonchi - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
I tested this monitor on linux. Works better on linux than all the rest because of the MST BS. On linux you just set it in a config file and never have problems and you don't have to worry about drivers 'dancing' their way around the problem. Not only that only on linux allows both GPU and monitor scaling of all resolutions while the display is in MST mode. People can't get scaling working at all on this on windows when the display is in MST mode.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8oPyKDriiQ
lord solar macharius - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
Just FYI - these issues have all know since the monitor went on sale last December. Dell's stance currently is if you want one with a fixed firmware you have to give up your new monitor and accept a refurbished replacement.http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/periph...
Darrenn - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
170 watts power usage! Are you kidding me? Typical 32 inch led monitors use around 30 watts. Somebody had to tell manufacturers that power usage is supposed to go down not increase by a factor of almost six.MrSmartyAss - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
Hey, it's still April's fools day... that price is a grotesque joke. Just save your hard earned $$$ for the Vizio P-series and forget that DELL even offers this HDMI 1.4 embarrassment of an UHD monitor.AnnonymousCoward - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
Ok seriously. The picture on anandtech.com is stretched, to give the screen an aspect ratio of 2.24! But no, this isn't a 21:9 screen.dgingeri - Wednesday, April 2, 2014 - link
"Sure, you can run a desktop at full resolution with no scaling but that is almost impossible for anyone to actually use."I use a 27" WQHD (2560X1440) monitor without any scaling, and it works beautifully. That's ~109DPI. It's not that much harder for a 32" UltraHD monitor to do the same. The DPI for that monitor calculates out to about 137DPI. I don't agree that it would be "almost impossible for anyone to actually use."
nquery - Wednesday, April 2, 2014 - link
The key is having good OS support for HiDPI. This is at least coming to OSX in 10.9.3.I have a 2013 retina MBP driving a Dell UP2414Q on 10.9.3. It works really really well. I have it set to 2x scaling most of the time ("Retina" in Apple parlance) and so have a super super crisp display for software development/text all day long. I don't game much but all apps work perfectly. It is like looking at a 24" recent smartphone, iPad. The only issue I have is that on occasion the display will not wake from sleep, but a quick cycle of the monitor power button resolves its and all windows return to where they were. Once Dell fixes the firmware for this I will likely exchange it. Otherwise the build quality and image is superb.
Before people chortle that it is waste to have an OS scale a 4k monitor to 1080p, remember that even though the effective resolution is 1080p for text with OS X scaling, the full 4k resolution is still available for use by imaging apps, games, etc. And sometimes I simple change the OS scaling to provide a 2560x1440 desktop if I need more 'real estate'. But my primary goal with HiDPI is to finally have crisp, sharp readable text on a big screen. 4k @ 32" is not about HiDPI, it's about desktop real estate. So it depends on what your needs are.
fyi, I was recently able to buy the 24" Dell Ultrasharp for < $1000 all in with some careful shopping. That's a few hundred more than the recently announced Samsung UD590 but it's far nicer IPS panel.
CalaverasGrande - Wednesday, April 2, 2014 - link
I don't know what is wrong at Dell. They never had the industrial design chops of Apple or IBM/Lenovo's products. But they were still head and shoulders above the other PC and display makers. The current Dell displays are just ugly. Not talking bout the picture quality, rather it's chassis and stand.Seriously, what is up with that hideous stand? There is not one angle that looks right on it. And the chassis with the silver and dark grey is very out of place on a $3k monitor.
The Lenovo UHD-4k designs are far more professional looking. Asus qhd/4k/uhd displays are also more pleasing in a Honda CRX kind of way.
Samsung and LG's professional offerings are similarly far less ugly.
I know it may sound trite, but hey, if I am sitting in front of it 40+ hours a week it matters.