Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-01-19)

26

Reviews

CHOOSETHERIGHTSPECS

PC MONITOR❘£429fromAmazonwww.snipca.com/ 40543

DellUltraSharp 25 US B-C U2520D

Everypixel tells astory

VERDICTAsuper-sharpscreen

offeringfantas ticpicturequalit y, but it’s

expensive andhas fiddlymenucontrols

★★★★★

ALTERNATIVEBenQ PD250 0Q

£279Thisissignificant ly cheaper

despitebeing

thesamesize

andresolution,

but it doesn’t

have USB-C

ports

SPECIFICATIONS

25inIPSscreen••2560x1440-pixelresolution••60Hz

refres hrate••5msresponsetime••1x HDMIport••

2x DisplayPort••2x USB-Cport••3x USB3.0ports

• •383x568x185mm(HxWxD)••6.4kg••Three-year
  warrantywww.snipca.com/40022

Memory

cardspeeds

What arethey?

Standardiseddata-transferspeed

ratingsareappliedtoSDcardsbythe

SDAssociation(www.sdcard.org).

Devicesrequiringhighratesofdata

transfer(suchasdigitalcameras

dealingwithhigh-resolutionvideo)

requirefasterSDcardsthandevices

thatsimplyusethecardsfordata

storage.

Howdotheywork?

Acard’sspeedisratedaccordingtothe

minimumwritespeeditcanmanage.

Youmayfindacardyou’reusingis

actuallyfasterthanitsspeedrating,but

itshouldneverbeslower.Ifyou’renot

surewhatspeedratingyouneed,check

therequirementsofthedeviceyou

intendtousethecardwith.

What arethe specs?

TheratingsarecalledSpeedClass,

whichreferstohowquicklydatacanbe

writtentothecardinmegabytes

persecond(MB/s). SoaSpeedClass

2cardcanbewrittentoataspeedof

2MB/s,whileaSpeedClass10card

(liketheSanDiskcardpicturedbelow)

canbewrittentoat10MB/s.This

numberappearsinsidea‘C’(which

standsforClass) onthecarditselfand

onthepackaging.Ifotherspeedsare

quotedonthepackaging,thesewill

be maximumor ‘u pto’ speeds, which

maybemuch faster butcan’t be

guaranteed.

CanIchangeitlater?

No.Ify ou need faster speeds, you’ll

have buyanewmemory card.

ismoreconvenientlyontheleftedge,

alongsideoneofthetwoUSB-Cports.

WhereDelllagsbehindsomeofits

rivalsisinthedatedapproachtothe

on-screenmenu,whichcontrolsthe

monitor’ssettings. Thisreliesonfour

awkwardlypositionedsmallbuttonson

theundersideofthebottombezel,and

it’s nottheeasiestsystemtonavigate.

Youshouldn’thavetoaccessthemoften,

though,onceyou’vegotthemonitorsetup.

Thebaseandstanddesignaremore

cuttingedge,nottakingupmuchdesk

spaceandofferingalltheflexibilitymost

peopleneed.Fromitssupportforpivot

modetothe 9 0-degreeswivel,Dell’s

engineeringistopnotch,offeringsmooth

transitionsthroughout.

19 Januar y–1February2022•Issue 623

Avividscreen

offeringhighlevelsof

colouraccuracyand

brightness

Thismonitormakesasuperbfirst

impression,withslimbezelsonall

foursidesandasleekblack-and-grey

colourscheme. Thestandisplainand

inconspicuous,soshouldmatchany

desksetup.

24 inscreensarefarmorecommon

than 2 5inoptions,whichprovidesthis

monitorwithaslightsizeadvantageover

rivals.However,whatreallyliftsthis

panelabovethecrowdisitshigher

resolution.Agenerous2 56 0x1 440 pixels

ratherthanthemorestandard1 980 x1 080

fullyjustifiestheUltraSharpbranding,

andgoessomewaytoexplainingits

higher-than-averagepricetag.

Itcontinuestoimpresswhenyou

switchiton,withasuperbsetofresults

inourbenchmarktests.Outcomesfrom

ourcolorimeterwereexcellent,showing

thatthescreencanreproduce 9 5percent

ofcoloursinthesRGBcolourstandard.

Astron gcontrastratio of 1,140:1 adds

punchto theimages, andits maximum

brightnes slevel of 366cd/m2should be

good enoughformostconditions.

Andthe pluspointsdon’t endthere.

OneUSB-Cconnection(on the

back) delivers up to 90Wof

power–more than enoughto

charge most laptops.It can also

daisychainasecondmonitor via

aDisplayPortoutput, andthere

arealsoDisplayPort andHDMI

inputs.

The threeUSB3.0portsallow

it to work as asimplehub,but

you’ll need to be able to connect

your computer viaUSB-C to do

so.Two of thoseUSB 3.0

portssit at therear, butone

ba

po

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aD

ar

inp

itt

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