The Dell UltraSharp U2520D is the replacement to the Dell U2518D and it's a good overall monitor. It's very good for office use because it has wide viewing angles, impressive ergonomics, great out-of-the-box color accuracy, and its 1440p resolution makes text clear to read. It also has a USB hub with a ton of connectivity options, including a USB-C input that supports DisplayPort Alt mode, allowing you to display an image from a device and charge it at the same time. If you're a photo editor, you should be happy to know it has great coverage of the Adobe RGB color space and it has impressive gradient handling. Unfortunately, with its IPS panel, it can't display deep blacks since its contrast ratio is low and it has mediocre black uniformity. Luckily, it has excellent gray uniformity, so solid colors across the screen, such as on a web page, look uniform without many dark areas.
The Dell UltraSharp U2520D is a good monitor for most uses. It's best-suited for office use as it has wide viewing angles, impressive ergonomics, and a high 1440p resolution. It's also great for media creation because it has great coverage of the Adobe RGB color space. Even though this monitor isn't designed for gaming it still provides a satisfying gaming experience with its extremely low input lag and impressive response time. It also supports HDR10 but the HDR experience is limiting as it doesn't get bright enough to truly bring out highlights.
Very good for office use. The Dell UltraSharp U2520D has a high 1440p resolution and its 25-inch screen is big enough for multitasking. It has wide viewing angles, so you can share your screen with others and not lose image accuracy. Sadly, its reflection handling is just okay and it doesn't handle direct sunlight well. On the upside, it has impressive ergonomics, so you can place the monitor however you like.
The Dell UltraSharp U2520D is good for gaming. It's not designed to be a gaming monitor and it lacks features like variable refresh rate and black frame insertion. However, it still has an extremely low input lag and an impressive response time for a 60Hz monitor, resulting in minimal motion blur. It's an ideal monitor for casual console gamers.
The Dell UltraSharp U2520D is good for consuming media. It has a high resolution and wide viewing angles, so you can watch the latest videos online with a few friends. Unfortunately, it doesn't handle reflections well and it's not ideal for dark room viewing as it has a low contrast ratio and mediocre black uniformity. However, its stand has impressive ergonomics, allowing you to place the monitor how you like.
The Dell UltraSharp U2520D is good for content creators. Its 25-inch screen provides a high pixel density and the stand has impressive ergonomics. The monitor has great coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing and it also has impressive gradient handling. It's not ideal for working in bright environments as it doesn't handle reflections well. However, it has wide viewing angles if you need to share your screen with others.
The Dell UltraSharp U2520D is okay for HDR gaming. Its HDR experience is a bit limiting as it doesn't get bright enough to bring out highlights and it has just decent coverage of the DCI P3 color space used in most HDR content. It's good for gaming as it has an impressive response time and extremely low input lag but it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and it doesn't support any VRR.
This monitor has the same stand as other Dell monitors. It's smaller than the Dell U2518D and doesn't take up a lot of space. It supports the monitor well but there's still some wobble.
The back of this monitor is very simple. It can be VESA-mounted and it has a quick-release button to take it off from the stand too. The stand has a hole used for cable management.
The screen itself is thin and won't stick out much if VESA-mounted. With the stand attached, the entire monitor gets thicker but it's still thinner than the Dell U2518D and Dell UltraSharp U2720Q.
This monitor doesn't have a local dimming feature. The above video is for reference only.
The UltraSharp U2520D has very good peak brightness. It gets bright enough to combat glare and the screen's brightness remains consistent with different content. The UltraSharp U2520D doesn't get as bright as the Dell U2518D, but it's brighter than the Dell UltraSharp U2720Q.
The peak brightness in HDR is just okay. It gets bright enough to bring out some highlights but it still doesn't give you a true HDR experience.
Like most IPS panels, the UltraSharp U2520D has a great horizontal viewing angle. The image remains accurate from the side, which is ideal for sharing your screen with others.
The vertical viewing angle is alright but it's nothing special for an IPS panel. You lose some image accuracy if you mount the monitor too much above eye level.
The Dell UltraSharp U2520D has great out-of-the-box color accuracy. Most colors only have slight inaccuracies to them and the color temperature is slightly warmer than the 6500K target, giving the image a red/yellow tint. Unfortunately, gamma doesn't follow the curve well so most scenes are darker than they should be.
The color accuracy is near-perfect after calibration. The color temperature is much closer to the target and the gamma follows the curve well, but some bright scenes are still over-brightened.
You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and should not be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model due to manufacturing tolerances.
The UltraSharp U2520D has an outstanding SDR color gamut. It has near-perfect coverage of the sRGB color space and it has great coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing. This is an improvement from the Dell U2518D.
Decent HDR color gamut. It displays a wide color gamut for HDR content but it's a bit limited. It has decent coverage of both the commonly-used DCI P3 color space and the wider Rec. 2020 color space.
The UltraSharp U2520D shows no sign of image retention after displaying a high contrast static image for 10 minutes.
Okay reflection handling on the UltraSharp U2520D. It handles a moderate amount of light well but struggles in bright rooms. This is good for most office environments, but you shouldn't place it in direct sunlight.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
Normal | Chart | Table | Photo |
Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
The UltraSharp U2520D has an impressive response time, especially for a 60Hz monitor, which is ideal for console gaming. The recommended Overdrive setting is 'Normal' since there's a lot less overshoot than the 'Fast' setting.
The UltraSharp U2520D doesn't have a black frame insertion feature.
The Dell UltraSharp U2520D is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate. It doesn't support any variable refresh rate technology either. If you're looking for a gaming monitor with a high refresh rate and VRR support, check out the Dell Alienware AW2521HF.
The UltraSharp U2520D has an extremely low input lag for a 60Hz monitor, similar to the Dell UltraSharp U2721DE.
Note: the monitor only supports 10-bit HDR over DisplayPort and not HDMI. However, we can't test HDR input lag over DisplayPort.