30 JULY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE389
THEDELLULTRASHARPUP 272 0Qisa
feature-packedprofessionalmonitorwitha
built-incolorimeter,a4Kresolutionand
Thunderbolt3connectivity.Becauseofthat
impressivespecification,itwillset youback a
cool £1,337. That’s ahuge amount of cash, but
this panelisaimed at photographers and
designers, so image quality has to be top-notch.
BIG SHOT
This is oneofthe first professional screens
from Dell to include acolorimeter, andit’s a
welcome addition: it means it can be calibrated
to runaccurately with awide varietyofcolour
spaces.The 27in screen size andhugepixel
density also means the UP2720Q has loads of
desktopreal estateavailable forany task,
staying crisp and precise throughout.
Dell has used IPS technology,whichmakes
sensefor colouraccuracy. The60Hz refresh
rateand 8msresponsetime are fine forwork,
but notbrilliantfor fast-paced animationtasks
or gaming duringdowntime.
Elsewhere,the display has 10-bit colour
and arrives with lofty ambitionswhenitcomes
to gamuts,including100% sRGB and Adobe
RGB coverage,a98%DCI-P3level and 80%
coverage of BT.2020. The UP2720Q canalso
use the DCI-P3,BT.709, BT.2020, sRGB, Adobe
RGB 65 andAdobe RGB50colour spaces.
The UP2720Q has inarguablyexcellent
connectivity.Thisincludesasingle DisplayPort
1.4connection andtwo HDMI2.0 ports,
alongside aUSB Type-C Thunderbolt 3.0
port that handles theusualdataand image
transfer alongside 90W of powerdelivery–
handy fordrivingasecond screen.
Thereare also two full-size USB3.1 and USB3
ports, with oneofthe USB3portscapable of
delivering2Aofpower forchargingphones.
Adjustmentoptions are good, too: there’s
130mmofvertical movement alongside 25°of
tilt and90° of swivel,
along with theability to
rotatetoportrait mode
and fit on 100mm
VESA mounts. Build
quality is excellent, and
the UP2720Q looks
smart generally, with its
sleek metal baseand
slim bezels. Setting it
up doesn’trequire any
tools,and its weight of
9.7kg is perfectly reasonable.
TheUP2720Q can be managedwiththe
onscreen displayorwith Dell’s Colour
Management. Both areunfussy and effective,
withsensibleorganisation.The menus offer
lots of options, with the usual brightness and
colour settings alongsideoptions to laygrids
across the screen or schedule calibrations,and
therow of navigation keys on thebottom
bezel can be customised. Picture-by-picture is
supported,but picture-in-picture is not.
PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
Dell provides factory calibration on each
UP2720Q,which means great imagequality
out of thebox. At factory settings, theDell’s
average andmaximum delta-Efigures of 0.27
and 1.28 arestupendous –some of thebest
we’ve seen. Thecolour temperature of 6,872K
is alittle high, but it’s not farenough awayfrom
the6,500K ideal to causenoticeable issues.
TheUP2720Q also performswellwhenit
comes to gamut coverage.Itblastedthrough
the sRGBgamutat99.8%,and rendered 96.1%
and95% of theAdobe RGB and DCI-P3
gamuts.Those two latter figuresare slightly
below Dell’s claimed results,but they’re still
easily good enoughtoenable working in these
colour spaces. TheUP2720Q also handles
around80% of the BT.2020 space.
By default, the panel runs at abrightness
level of 154cd/m^2 .That’s modest, but it still
provides enough luminance forworktasks.
Thatfigure is joined by astunning black level
of 0.16cd/m^2 ,which is lowenough to deliver
tremendousdepthand
subtlety in darkerareas.
Thefactory contrast
level of 968:1 is fine, but
below Dell’s quoted
figureof1,300:1. It’s
goodenoughfor design
work, but ahigher result
would have allowed for
moreversatility.
Thecontrast and
black point levels were
maintaineddwhen we increased
brightness to its maximumlevel of 255cd/m^2 ,
and colour accuracyand temperature were
maintainedhere too. Activating the screen’s
various gamut modes alsosaw thesecontrast
and accuracylevelsremainconsistent,with
contrast levelshovering around 1,000:1and
delta-E levelswellbelow2.0 –beneath the
point wherehuman eyes can detect deviation.
The Asus ProArt PA34VCisbrighter,with
slightly better contrast than Dell’s monitor,but
itsdelta-E figureswere higher and it couldn’t
handle theAdobe RGBorDCI-P3 gamuts.
BenQ’sDesignVue PD2720U has marginally
better contrast and colour temperature along
with comparable gamut coverage, butslightly
poorer delta-Eand Gammafigures –soit’s
veryclose to theDell in terms of accuracy.
ALLTRADES
The Dell UltraSharp UP2720Qcosts morethan
bothofthese other monitors,but it justifies
theextra outlayinimportant areas, particularly
theversatility affordedbyits ability to work in
awider variety of colour gamuts.
It’s not perfect–thecontrastand colour
temperature could bothbebetter,especially
considering how costly this display is –but
nonetheless, the UP2720Qoffersample
qualityfor awide range of designand image
workloads alongside agreat rangeoffeatures.
MikeJennings
DELL UltraSharp
UP2720Q
★★★★★
£1,337•From http://www.ballicom.co.uk
VERDICT
It’sexpensive,butDell’sdisplayservesup
pro-levelqualityandgreatfeatures
4KMONITOR
SCREEN SIZE27in•RESOLUTION3,840x2,160•
SCREEN TECHNOLOGYIPS•REFRESH RATE60Hz•
VIDEOINPUTSHDMI,DisplayPort, Thunderbolt3•
WARRANTYThreeyears RTB•DETAILSwww.dell.com•
PART CODEUP2720Q
SPECIFICATIONS
CONNECTION PORTS
HDMI x2
USB3.1 x2 USB3x2
DisplayPort
3.5mm
headphone jack
USB Type-C
