Our Verdict
The Dell UltraSharp U2717D is a decent monitor for a mixed usage. It has a wide viewing angle which makes it easy to enjoy from many viewing positions, and its screen is quite bright. Unfortunately, its uneven blacks hinder its picture quality, and its higher than average input lag makes it less desirable for gaming.
- Wide viewing angle
- Very flexible stand
- Uneven, cloudy blacks with visible backlight bleed
- Higher than average input lag
Good monitor for usage in an office. Its highly adjustable stand makes it easy to set up in a position comfortable for long hours of work. Its pivot feature combined with its wide viewing angles also make it easy to share with neighboring colleagues. It does get decently bright, but its handling of reflections could be a little better.
Passable monitor for playing video games. While it handles motion blur decently, the Dell U2717D's input lag is quite high when used in its native resolution. This is less of an issue for people that use wireless controllers instead of a mouse and keyboard, but the monitor also lacks more advanced features like a high, variable refresh rate.
The monitor does about average for multimedia consumption. Its picture quality is decent, but its less than stellar blacks leave a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, it also lacks any advanced features such as support for HDR and wider color gamuts.
Decent monitor for media creation. The Dell U2717D's decent brightness and acceptable color accuracy make it suitable for more casual production of movies of photography. Its decently high resolution is also quite useful. Unfortunately, its relatively low contrast and lack of support for wider color gamuts like DCI-P3 might make it less attractive to professionals.
HDR is not supported, which is common as it is relatively new to monitors. For an HDR model, see the Samsung CHG70.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the U2717D, which is a 2017 model 27" Ultrasharp monitor. There are many other sizes and year variants of the Dell Ultrasharp monitors, listed below.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their monitor doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Model | Size | Year | Resolution |
| U2715H | 27" | 2015 | 2560x1440 |
| U2717D | 27" | 2017 | 2560x1440 |
| U3417W | 34" | 2017 | 3440x1440 |
| U2718Q | 27" | 2018 | 3840x2160 |
Popular Monitor Comparisons
The Dell UltraSharp U2717D is a productivity-oriented monitor with decent picture quality and great ergonomics. It is decent for a range of usages but hard to recommend overall as it tends to be higher priced or worse performing than the competition. See our recommendations for the best PC gaming monitors, the best monitors for photo editing, and the best 1440p monitors. See also our recommendations for the best mice and the best keyboards.
The Dell U2719D and the Dell U2717D are very similar overall, but the U2719D performs better. The U2719D has much lower input lag, but worse black uniformity. The U2717D has a mini DisplayPort connection, but other than that, there isn't much difference between these models.
The Dell S2417DG is better than the Dell U2717D. The S2417DG has a much lower input lag, a faster pixel response time, a much better refresh rate, and better motion handling in general. All these make it a much better monitor for gaming. The Dell U2717D, on the other hand, has an IPS panel (vs. the TN panel of the S2417DG) and this gives it much better viewing angles that are useful in office environments where you might want to share your work with the person sitting next to you.
The Dell S2721D is better than the Dell U2717D for most uses. The S2721D has significantly lower input lag, higher refresh rate, and much better reflection handling. It also has a better color gamut and gradient handling, and it supports variable refresh rate. The U2717D has much better ergonomics, as it allows for height and swivel adjustments, and can rotate to portrait mode.
The ViewSonic VX2758-2KP-MHD is much better than the Dell U2717D. The ViewSonic has significantly better motion handling, black uniformity, and viewing angles, but the Dell's build quality and ergonomics are much better. The ViewSonic has a higher refresh rate of 144Hz, supports FreeSync, and has a much lower input lag than the Dell.
We buy and test more than 30 monitors each year, all of which we purchase ourselves, without cherry-picked units or samples. We put a lot into each unbiased, straight-to-the-point review, and there's a whole process from purchasing to publishing, involving multiple teams and people. We do more than just use the monitor for a week; we use specialized, custom tools to measure various aspects and deliver objective, data-driven results. We also consider multiple factors before making any recommendations, including the monitor's cost, its performance compared to the competition, and whether it's easy to find.
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