Dell U2713H review

The Dell U2713H is a top-of-the-range 27in IPS monitor with a massive resolution of 2,560×1,440. It’s one of the latest in Dell’s UltraSharp family, and it has seriously impressive image quality.

The screen’s colour accuracy was outstanding, as our colour calibrator showed it was already displaying 100% of the sRGB colour gamut at its default settings. With such a perfect score, we had no need to calibrate it, and its colour coverage was incredibly deep across red, green and blue colour spaces. This is one of the few screens we’ve seen that doesn’t require colour calibration out of the box, and it even performs well in wider-ranging colour gamuts, managing 99.5% of Adobe RGB, too.

We also recorded a high contrast ratio of 997:1. This is in line with Dell’s claimed figure of 1000:1 and it’s the highest ratio we’ve seen from an IPS monitor. Combined with the screen’s low black level of 0.21cd/m², this led to highly impressive results in our subjective image tests. Our high contrast test photos had plenty of detail in both the light and dark areas of each image, and colours were rich and vivid. Solid blacks and whites were also very deep and true, and reds, blues and greens had so much punch and vibrancy that we almost forgot we were looking at a matt finish screen instead of a glossy model.

Another trick up this screen’s sleeve is its rotatable and height-adjustable stand. This gives you a generous amount of screen tilt as well as lets you work in portrait mode, but on a screen this large (let alone with a resolution this big) portrait mode seems slightly overkill. It gives you an incredible amount of space, so much so that you can easily fit two pages of a Word document on it with room to spare, but you may find reading in portrait mode on such a large display uncomfortable.

In its normal horizontal mode, there’s still plenty to like about the U2713H. It has a wide range of inputs, including dual-link DVI, HDMI, two DisplayPorts (one input and one output, so you can daisy-chain more than one monitor off a single DisplayPort), a mini-DisplayPort, a four-port USB3 hub, a headphone jack and a 9-in-1 card reader on the side of the bezel. There aren’t any integrated speakers, but it is compatible with Dell’s AX510 SoundBar (which will set you back an extra £35 from Dell).

The display’s viewing angles were also hugely impressive. Even facing the screen almost side-on produced only the smallest alteration in the level of contrast, although we found its vertical viewing angles were slightly narrower. In portrait mode, horizontal viewing angles were narrower still, but its vertical viewing angles were excellent, as even standing up to read resulted in very little change in contrast.

The Dell U2713H is a superb monitor. It’s expensive, but you’re also getting one of the most accurate and feature-equipped screens money can buy. It wins a well-deserved Ultimate award.