Dell U3219Q Review

We purchased the Dell U3219Q so our expert reviewer could thoroughly test and assess it. Keep reading for our full product review.

Over the last few years, 4K monitors aimed at professionals for use in an office have become ever more prevalent as prices continue to drop to reasonable levels. One such monitor that fits this bill is Dell’s U3219Q, a 4K display featuring a beautiful 32-inch screen targeted at businesses and creatives. The specs for this pricey monitor are pretty impressive, but we’re going to break things down and see how it does in the real world.

Design: Fancy materials and well-designed ergonomics

Some business-tailored monitors can be pretty lacking in the design department since they’re mostly aimed at function over form, but thankfully, this Dell is actually quite a looker. The U3219Q is made from premium materials with brushed metal around the stand and rear, and black plastic elsewhere. While not an exact match, it definitely looks and feels a bit like an Apple iMac, perhaps intentional on Dell’s part to pair with a MacBook. 

Also at the rear is the VESA 100x100 mount for attaching the U3219Q to your mount of choice. The bezel at the front is nice and thin with a tiny little groove to allow for some venting. As far as thickness, this monitor is perhaps the thinnest of any 4K display we’ve tested, measuring at just 1.8 inches thick. Overall the build quality on this display is fantastic and you shouldn’t experience any issues with it.

The stand itself is very wide to support the 32-inch display, meaning it’s solid and sturdy. It also features some well-thought-out ergonomics for adjusting the monitor to your specific comfort. The stand allows you to easily swivel, rotate, tilt and shift the height up or down. While some larger monitors lack good ergonomics, this Dell does a solid job, which is a welcome surprise. Also on the stand, there’s some nice touches for managing cables with a large hole for cable management. 

For port placement, there are a lot of options to handle tons of different inputs. It’ll hook up and connect with most accessories or devices with no issue, essentially providing users with an extra USB hub. Most of the hookups are angled towards the base, facing downwards, which should allow for the monitor to be almost flush with a wall, as opposed to jutting straight out the back directly into a wall.

Setup Process: A breeze to use

The setup process for this particular Dell is as straightforward as any new display. Of course your setup will likely differ based on how you plan to use it, but it’s largely the same in general. To begin, unbox it, remove all the protective wrappings and films, put the stand together by simply screwing on the base with the thumbscrew, snap on the monitor and then hook up your cables.

With the basic setup done, it’s a wise choice to find an ICC profile online and make further changes to boost the U3219Q’s visuals a little more via the monitor’s baked-in settings. You can adjust these by using the menu buttons under the bottom of the monitor. While these are easy to reach, they are much clunkier than something like LG’s joystick option for navigating the menu, but they get the job done alright. 

Image Quality: Good for professional use, not so much for gaming

Boasting a contrast ratio that’s one of the best stacked against similar IPS displays, the U3219Q does well in this area overall, but the black uniformity and underwhelming local dimming hurt the blacks considerably, adding up to decent performance but nothing amazing. Local dimming is also only available in the HDR mode, but the easily noticeable ghosting renders this pretty much useless.

For brightness, the U3219Q does very well in bright rooms (with additional reflection reduction from the anti-glare coating), though the HDR brightness isn’t quite enough for most games or movies, leading to slightly hindered experiences. Clouding and backlight bleed are pretty bad here as well, but this is unfortunately common on almost all of these types of displays. That said, the grey uniformity is solid and we didn’t see any “dirty screen effect” during our testing.

Right out of the box, the U3219Q has great color accuracy in the standard mode, but this can be enhanced even more with a little adjusting, so we recommend finding a good ICC profile online. The monitor should work well for all but the most demanding professionals requiring top-notch accuracy or color gamut.

Sadly, Dell suffers in the motion category pretty harshly. The most glaring negative here is a lack of flicker-free capabilities. There’s both a slight flicker and wobble that we found noticeable unless the backlight was completely maxed out. The U3219Q is somewhat saved by having an acceptable pixel response time for viewing higher frame rate videos or gaming. The refresh rate is set to 60Hz, which is the standard with 4K displays at this time.

All in all, the monitor is not great for heavy gamers, but should perform well for some light entertainment users (this is a business-style display after all).

Software: Solid features and on-screen controls

Having a shoddy on-screen control or software can really bring a good monitor down. Luckily, the Dell U3219Q features both a suitable on-screen option and an additional display manager via Dell's “Display Manager” software. In these, you can fine-tune settings, access extras like PIP (picture-in-picture) mode, or select the ability to use two PCs at the same time on one monitor. We found PIP mode to be a great option for increasing productivity for those who want to jump between multiple monitors. 

While the Display Manager doesn’t allow for customization of all the settings the on-screen version does, it definitely makes quick adjustments to things like brightness a breeze to do with added keyboard functions, so it’s a welcome addition. The U3219Q doesn’t pack a ton of software or various modes and extras, but this is not a gaming monitor, so that’s somewhat expected.

Price: Not an arm and a leg, but at least an arm

With 4K monitors dropping in price pretty much across the board, it’s no surprise to see the Dell U3219Q come down a bit as well. Not too long ago, this was a roughly $1,000 display, but you can typically expect to pay around the low $700s to higher $800s now with a bit of fluctuation between merchants.

While it’s nice to see the price drop, this monitor is still one of the more expensive 4K options around. In its lineup, it is fairly competitive, so the price might not be so hard to swallow for many.

Dell U3219Q vs. LG 32UL950

For starters, the Dell U3219Q is roughly $100 to $200 cheaper on average than the LG 32UL950, so if cost is the biggest factor, the Dell is probably best. However, the LG does support AMD’s FreeSync tech, making it a much better option for gamers, with additional inputs to further enhance this distinction. The Dell stand is undoubtedly superior though, as you cannot adjust anything but tilt with LG’s 32UL950. If you plan on using the VESA mount for it though, that’s a moot point.

If you’re a big gamer looking for a 4K monitor, we’d go with the LG, but for those who want to use a display strictly for business, the Dell will save you some extra cash and perform mostly the same in terms of image quality.