Displays review
Dell UltraSharp U2723QE Review: Superb Colour, Contested Contrast
Colour accuracy good enough that reviewers stopped calibrating it. The IPS Black contrast claim is the part where the measurements stop agreeing with each other.
By Paulo GerchonPublished 2 min read
Illustration, not a photo — we don’t have a licensed image of this product yet.
Dell
Dell UltraSharp U2723QE
Good · researched from 4 sources
Buy it for colour accuracy, pixel density and the fact that one cable replaces a dock. Do not buy it expecting the contrast figure on the box, because the one source that measured it independently did not get there.
- Buy if
- People doing colour-critical photo or video work who want accuracy out of the box · Anyone running a laptop who wants a single cable for video, power and Ethernet · Text-heavy work where pixel density matters more than refresh rate
- Skip if
- Gaming, at 60Hz with no variable refresh and visible smearing · Anyone buying it for HDR · Dark-room work where corner backlight leakage will show
We don’t list prices, because Amazon’s change hourly.
What IPS Black is for
Standard IPS panels have a contrast ratio around 1,000:1, which is why blacks on them look grey in a dim room. VA panels do better on contrast and worse on viewing angles and colour. IPS Black is Dell and LG's attempt at keeping IPS colour while roughly doubling the contrast.
It works, in the sense that every source agrees this is visibly better than ordinary IPS. How much better is where it gets interesting.
The contrast measurements do not agree
Display Ninja reports the panel reaching 2,000:1 and sometimes 2,300:1, with the caveat that this varies between units. ITPro measured 1,649:1. Digital Camera World lists 2,000:1 but is repeating the specification rather than reporting a measurement of their own.
There is no way to reconcile those from the outside. Panel lottery is real on monitors, ITPro tested one unit and Display Ninja tested another, and both are credible. What you can take from it is that 2,000:1 is the ceiling rather than the floor, and that a unit landing in the 1,600s is apparently possible.
ITPro's brightness result points the same way. They measured 170 cd/m2 in SDR against a 400 nit rating, which is a large gap on a panel sold partly on being usable in a bright room.
Colour is the part nobody argues about
ITPro measured an average Delta E of 0.33 in sRGB mode, with the worst single sample at 0.99. That is better than a lot of monitors achieve after you have run a calibrator over them, and it is what the monitor is actually for.
DCI-P3 mode is looser, averaging 1.48 with saturated reds reaching 3.48. Coverage lands at 100 percent sRGB and 97 to 98 percent DCI-P3 across sources, with Adobe RGB in the mid to high 80s, which Digital Camera World flags as the weak spot for print work.
The cable situation
The reason to pay for this over a cheaper 4K panel is that it replaces a dock. One USB-C cable carries the picture and 90W back to a laptop, and the monitor supplies Gigabit Ethernet, five USB-A ports and a second 15W USB-C.
ITPro's complaint is worth repeating: choosing between maximum resolution and maximum USB data speed in the menu is finicky. That is a bandwidth trade-off inherent to USB-C rather than a Dell failing, but the interface for it is confusing enough to be called out.
Where the corners are
Uniformity. ITPro measured brightness 9.4 percent down at the bottom right and 5 percent off at the upper left, with contrast slipping outside tolerance along the left and bottom edges and what they describe as obvious backlight leakage.
And motion. It is a 60Hz panel with no variable refresh, and ITPro measured 8ms grey-to-grey against a 5ms rating, with visible smearing. Display Ninja reached the same conclusion about response times being slower than regular IPS. Neither is a surprise on a colour-first office monitor, but both are reasons this is a specific tool rather than a general one.
How it scored
The overall 7.3 is the weighted average of these five criteria — we never adjust it by hand.
Panel performance
ITPro measured average Delta E of 0.33 in sRGB mode. Both ITPro and Display Ninja put sRGB coverage at 100 percent and DCI-P3 at 97 to 98 percent.
Value
Digital Camera World calls it worthy of serious consideration for professional editing, but it is priced above ordinary 4K panels and the extras are connectivity rather than image.
Build quality
150mm of height adjustment with swivel, tilt and rotate per Digital Camera World. Display Ninja found the stand prone to wobbling and ITPro found the height mechanism sluggish.
Ease of use
A 90W USB-C hub with Ethernet is the reason to buy it, but ITPro found the USB-C mode selection between resolution and data speed finicky.
Panel uniformity
ITPro measured brightness varying 9.4 percent at the bottom right and called backlight leakage obvious along the left and bottom edges.
Pros and cons
What we liked
- ITPro measured average Delta E of 0.33 in sRGB, which is accurate without calibrating anything
- 163 pixels per inch, which is what makes small text stop looking soft
- One cable carries video, 90W of charging, Ethernet and five USB ports
- 150mm of height adjustment plus swivel, tilt and portrait rotation
What we didn’t
- ITPro measured contrast at 1,649:1 against the 2,000:1 specification
- ITPro measured SDR brightness at 170 cd/m2, well short of the 400 nit rating
- Backlight uniformity measured 9.4 percent off at one corner with visible leakage
- 60Hz with no variable refresh, and response times slow enough that ITPro saw smearing
- HDR is nominal, with Display Ninja counting only four dimming zones
Specifications
| Panel | 27in IPS Black |
|---|---|
| Resolution | 3840 x 2160, about 163 PPI |
| Contrast | 2,000:1 rated; Display Ninja reports 2,000 to 2,300:1, ITPro measured 1,649:1 |
| Brightness | 400 nits rated; ITPro measured 170 cd/m2 in SDR |
| Colour accuracy | sRGB average Delta E 0.33, DCI-P3 average 1.48 per ITPro |
| Colour gamut | 100 percent sRGB, 97 to 98 percent DCI-P3, about 85 to 89 percent Adobe RGB |
| Refresh rate | 60Hz, no variable refresh rate |
| Response time | 5ms GtG rated, 8ms measured by ITPro |
| USB-C | 90W power delivery, plus a 15W quick-access port |
| Other ports | DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC, HDMI, RJ45 Ethernet, five downstream USB-A |
| Stand | 150mm height, 60 degrees swivel, minus 5 to plus 21 degrees tilt, rotates to portrait |
How we researched this
We have not had this unit on the bench. This review synthesises the manufacturer’s published specifications, independent measurements and owner reports listed below. Every figure on this page comes from one of those sources rather than our own measurement.
4
sources reviewed
ITPro is the only source publishing a full set of its own instrumented results, and supplies the measured contrast, brightness, Delta E figures, uniformity variance and response time. Display Ninja contributed the contrast range across units, the HDR dimming zone count and the stand observation. Digital Camera World supplied the connectivity list and the stand adjustment range. We could not read Dell's own specification page, which is JavaScript-rendered, so every rated figure here is attributed to the reviewer reporting it. The contrast and brightness disagreements between ITPro and Display Ninja are reported as disagreements rather than resolved, because we have no basis for preferring one unit's results over another's.
What we read
Common questions
Does the Dell U2723QE really hit 2,000:1 contrast?
Do I need to calibrate it?
Is it any good for gaming?
What does the USB-C hub actually replace?
How bad is the backlight uniformity?
The bottom line on the Dell UltraSharp U2723QE
Buy it for colour accuracy, pixel density and the fact that one cable replaces a dock. Do not buy it expecting the contrast figure on the box, because the one source that measured it independently did not get there.
How it compares
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