My two U2723QE monitors that I ordered arrived yesterday, in preparation for my Mac Studio Max that should be arriving in a week or two.
I got them to replace my two existing monitors:
- 2017 27" iMac (5k retina display) and my current machine
- 2011 27" iMac (1440p display) connected through Target Display Mode
I set one up, Rev A01 and manufactured in January 2022. I'm planning to set up the other once the Mac Studio arrives.
My primary use cases:
- Photography, color correction and editing in Lightroom
- Work, spreadsheets and documents
Some early notes:
- I have a 2017 MacBook Pro that I use for work. I connected it via the included USB-C cable, and my 2017 iMac through USB-C DisplayPort adapter + the included DisplayPort cable, and it's super convenient to use the input menu to switch back and forth between the two. Orders of magnitude easier than moving the Thunderbolt cable between the MBP and my iMac. The USB hub in the monitor is also really helpful, and eliminated the dongle hub that I was using before.
- When I first connected the 2017 MBP, the refresh rate was 30Hz, not 60Hz. I had to go into System Preferences, and manually set the refresh rate to 60Hz. I'm not sure why this wasn't the default to begin with.
- The brightness and color is great overall. That being said, when I set the color profile to DCI P3 on the Dell monitor, and mirror the same YouTube video between the 2017 5k iMac, the greens appear slightly more vibrant on the iMac. When watching a movie on Disney Plus, the skin tones look slightly warmer on the iMac. I ordered a monitor calibrator, so we'll see if that makes any difference.
- When comparing the 5k iMac to the 4k Dell display purely from a pixel and resolution perspective, the iMac is very marginally better, but not so much that I could easily pick between the two without getting in close. I set the Dell to an interpolated 1440p scale, and from a sitting distance of ~2-3 feet, I don't have any issues with it. This was my biggest concern switching from the iMac to the 4k display, and it doesn't bother me.
- I tried to see if there was any contrast/darkness difference between the 5k iMac and the Dell from the IPS Black, but I couldn't see anything significant.
I was deciding between these monitors, and the Apple Studio Display. I ended up going with these monitors because for less than the price of a single Studio Display, I was able to replace both older iMac displays. At least out of the box, the color gamut appears to be slightly worse than the 5k iMac in a direct comparison. If I wasn't looking at both at once, I'd be very happy with the color and quality of the Dell monitors.