The Dell U2721DE is a decent 1440p, 27" monitor. Dell's UltraSharp lineup tends to focus more on office features than gaming, and this one is no exception. It has great connectivity, including USB-C power delivery support, and it even has a built-in RJ45 (ethernet) port, which is extremely rare. Like most Dell monitors, it has excellent ergonomics and a simple design that looks great in any setting. It's not as good for gaming though, as it has a limited 60Hz refresh rate, a relatively slow response time, and no dedicated gaming features, and like most IPS monitors, blacks look gray in a dark room. Overall, it's a very good office monitor and a decent choice for media creation, but gamers are likely to be disappointed by it.
The Dell U2721DE is a decent monitor overall. It's a very good office monitor, with excellent ergonomics, wide viewing angles, and great connectivity options. This also makes it a good choice for media creation. It's a bit limited for gaming, as it has a low refresh rate and no dedicated gaming features. Like most IPS monitors, it has a low contrast ratio, so it's not as good for watching videos in a dark room.
The Dell U2721DE is a very good office monitor. The 27", 1440p screen delivers decent text clarity, and it has some great connectivity options. The image remains accurate when viewed at an angle, and it has excellent ergonomics.
Decent monitor for gaming, but the Dell U2721DE doesn't support any advanced gaming features, like a variable refresh rate. It has excellent low input lag, for a responsive gaming experience, but the refresh rate is limited to 60Hz, and the response time isn't very fast.
This is a decent monitor for multimedia. The Dell UltraSharp U2721DE has wide viewing angles, great screen real estate, and low input lag. It also has good reflection handling and good peak brightness, so glare shouldn't be an issue in a bright room. Unfortunately, like most IPS monitors, it has a low contrast ratio, so it's not as good for watching videos or playing games in a dark room.
The Dell U2721DE is a good monitor for media creation. The 27", 1440p screen is great for multitasking, and it has excellent ergonomics, so you can easily adjust it to an ideal viewing position. It also has wide viewing angles, excellent gray uniformity, and good reflection handling. Unfortunately, there's a bit more banding than most monitors we've tested, which might be an issue for media creation.
The Dell U2721DE doesn't support HDR.
The Dell U2721DE has a very simple design that doesn't stand out. Like most Dell monitors, it has very thin bezels, great for a multi-monitor setup, and the base is very small, so it doesn't take up a lot of space. It has decent build quality, despite being almost entirely made of plastic.
The stand on the Dell U2721DE has excellent ergonomics. The hinge on the back is a bit different from most recent Dell monitors, resulting in a slightly smaller swivel range, but this shouldn't be an issue for most people.
The back of the monitor is clean, made of a single plastic panel. Like most Dell monitors, there's a cutout in the stand for cable management, and the stand can be quickly removed via a quick release button.
The Dell U2721DE has good overall build quality, very similar to the Dell UltraSharp U2720Q. The outside panels are entirely made of plastic, but there are no obvious issues or weak points in the construction.
This monitor doesn't have a local dimming feature. The video is for reference only.
Good peak brightness, similar to the Dell U2720Q and the Dell Alienware AW2720HF. It's bright enough even for a bright office environment.
This monitor doesn't support HDR. If you want a similar monitor with HDR support, check out the Dell UltraSharp U2520D.
Like most IPS monitors, the image remains accurate, even when viewed from the side. This is especially important if you like to share your screen with someone sitting beside you, or if you like to sit close to the screen, as the sides of the screen remain uniform. If you want an IPS monitor with better viewing angles, check out the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV.
Good vertical viewing angles. Colors start to wash out if you're too far above or below eye level, so a proper height adjustment is important, but this shouldn't be an issue for most users.
Like most recent Dell monitors, the Dell U2721DE has outstanding gray uniformity. The sides of the screen are a bit darker than the rest, but this isn't very noticeable. In near-dark scenes, the uniformity is even better, and there are no noticeable issues.
Out of the box, this monitor has decent accuracy. Gamma is a bit high, so most scenes appear a bit darker than they should, and the color temperature is a bit warm. Most people won't notice any issues with colors, and most shades of gray are displayed accurately.
After calibration, the Dell UltraSharp U2721DE has outstanding accuracy. Any remaining inaccuracies aren't at all noticeable, and the color temperature is extremely close to our calibration target of 6500K.
You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and shouldn't be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model due to manufacturing tolerances.
Excellent SDR color gamut. Coverage of the most commonly used sRGB color space is nearly perfect. Although it has good coverage of the wider Adobe RGB color space, content creators looking to master content in Adobe RGB might want to look elsewhere.
Excellent SDR color volume. It's mainly limited by the low contrast ratio, as it can't display dark, saturated colors very well. It also can't display very bright blues, which is common on LCD monitors.
The Dell U2721DE can't display HDR color gamuts.
The Dell U2721DE doesn't support HDR.
The Dell U2721DE has a matte anti-glare finish, which helps to reduce reflections in a bright room. It's not as effective as the coating on the Dell Alienware AW2720HF, but it's better than the Dell U2720Q and good enough for most rooms.
Decent text clarity, similar to the LG 27GL83A-B. It benefits from enabling ClearType (top photo), especially in diagonal lines, like on the letters R and N.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
Normal | Chart | Table | Photo |
Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
The Dell U2721DE has decent response times, but it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, which may be disappointing for gaming. There are two overdrive settings: "Normal" and "Fast". "Fast" is a bit faster, but there's significant overshoot in almost every transition, so we don't recommend it.
This monitor doesn't have an optional black frame insertion feature.
The Dell U2721DE has a simple 60Hz refresh rate, and it doesn't support any of the variable refresh rate technologies, which is disappointing for gaming.