Dell UltraSharp U2721DE Monitor Review

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 is small and nearly identical to most recent Dell monitors. It supports the monitor well, with very little wobble.

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 borders are very thin on all four sides, making it a great choice for a multi-monitor setup.

The Dell U2721DE has a very thin side profile, great if you're planning on VESA mounting it.

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.

Like most IPS monitors, the Dell U2721DE has a mediocre contrast ratio. This is especially noticeable in a dark room, where blacks tend to look gray instead. This isn't an issue in a bright office setting.

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.

Decent black uniformity. There's only a little bit of backlight bleed along the bottom edge, and it's not very noticeable.

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.

There are no signs of temporary image retention, which is great.

There's quite a bit of noticeable banding on this monitor, especially in darker shades of gray and green. This is a bit worse than most similar monitors we've tested, but still good overall.

There are no noticeable signs of color bleed on this monitor.

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.

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 only supports a 60Hz refresh rate, so these results are the same as the "Response Time @ Max Refresh Rate" results.

The backlight is completely flicker-free at all brightness levels.

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.

Outstanding low input lag, this results in a more responsive gaming experience.