Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. See how we test. Beyond that, spending time on shelves brings down prices on monitors in a dramatic way. That means you can buy the better U3415W for over 25 percent less than you’d spend on the curvier model. Sometimes, newer isn’t better.

The increased curvature improves your field of view to reduce reflection and create near-uniform visual focus, so you can work for longer without feeling tired. It adds depths, breadth and wrap-around view to give everything you watch look more realistic. The monitor also has many features that make it useful as a shared display between two sources. It has both picture-in-picture (PIP) and picture-beside-picture (PBP) modes, each with a few sub modes; for example, the PBP Aspect Ratio mode shows both inputs side by side but preserves their aspect ratio, even if their aspect ratio is different. The monitor's EDID even has a (1720x1440) entry so an input can fully cover half the screen in PBP mode. title=More%20Expert%20Tech%20Roundups&type=articles%2Cvideos&tags=tech-roundup&count=6&columnCount=6&theme=article The biggest upgrade to this year's Dell-branded S-series displays is the elevated aesthetics, giving it a look that's just as clean and almost as premium as Dell's upgraded Alienware monitors. With minimal bezels on the top and side edges and a new Platinum Silver color, the S-series looks more modern and minimalist. Creatives will appreciate the wide color support of these panels -- all three panels support 99% of the sRGB color space alongside AMD FreeSync technology.On the rear of the monitor, you’ll find I/O ports including a DisplayPort 1.2, mini DisplayPort 1.2, an additional DisplayPort 1.2 out, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and 4 USB 3.0 ports. There’s an additional two USB 3.0 ports on the monitor’s side, too, making the U3417W one of the most USB friendly monitors I’ve ever reviewed; a nice thing for anyone using a bunch of peripherals. All of the ports are fairly easy to access, as Dell has mercifully stayed away from using any weird covers or oddly recessed ports. The curved 34-inch monitor offers stunning immersive viewing experience to make your presentations, games and movies explode off the screen. Its sharp WQHD 3440 x 1440 resolution helps to bring your content come to life in precise colour detail, and its extensive connectivity options guarantees outstanding usability. We’re used to seeing ultrawide monitors with mediocre audio offerings, if any at all, so the U3417W’s prowess here is a pleasant addition. Well covered As usual, Dell’s construction consistency is high, and there are no panel gaps or awkward flex points to speak of. In fact, apart from the Acer Predator series, both Dell screens have the best construction in the ultrawide category. No shortage of plugs The 16.9-pound cabinet is supported by a stand that offers 60 degrees of swivel, 26 degrees of tilt, and 4.5 inches of height adjustability, and the rear panel contains VESA mounting holes for wall mounting. There are four function buttons, a Power switch, and two 9-watt, down-firing speakers embedded in the lower bezel. At the rear of the cabinet, facing downward, are two HDMI inputs, a full-size DisplayPort input, a mini-DisplayPort input, and a full-size DisplayPort output that can be used to connect multiple monitors in a daisy-chain configuration. They share space with an audio output, two USB 3.0 downstream ports, and a USB 3.0 upstream port.

There’s some good news here, in that 3,440 x 1,440 is a relatively high-end resolution, and there’s plenty of connection options to hold you over through several video connection revisions. These traits should make the Dell relatively future-proof if you can tolerate its image quality shortcomings. After calibration, the Dell 3417W accuracy is excellent. The calibration was done on the 'Custom Color' picture mode, which was already good out of the box, but the calibration helped to fix the minor issues. Both the white balance dE and color dE were brought down under 1, which is under what most people would notice any irregularities. The colors are a bit more precise than before calibration, as they are now mostly on targets, as before calibration, the red, green and yellow were a bit over-saturated. The U3417W provides excellent color accuracy out of the box. On the chromaticity chart below, the colored dots represent our color measurements results as measured with a colorimeter, and the boxes represent the ideal color coordinates as defined by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE). As you can see, red, green, and blue colors are perfectly aligned with their corresponding boxes. Moreover, colors appeared uniform and evenly saturated in the DisplayMate Color Purity and Uniformity tests and while displaying scenes from Marvel's Captain America: Civil War on Blu-ray. The U3417W monitor with WQHD 3440 x 1440 resolution is tuned at 99% sRGB to ensure the colours look amazing from the very first use. Plus, the 178-degree wide-viewing angle lets you admire the WQHD resolution at virtually any angle, from centre to side points, without losing the breathtaking colours and brightness. Stream audio directly from your smartphone or tablet, display content to your monitor and charge your devices at the same time with the convenient connectivity of the HDMI (MHL) ports. There are 6 additional USB 3.0 ports for ultra-fast connectivity and the option to add most, if not all, your peripherals, from keyboards to cameras, to create a well-equipped workspace.The Dell U3417W has speakers that can get decently loud, but not nearly as loud as headphones or dedicated speakers. There’s two 9-watt speakers in the U3417W, and honestly they’re not too bad as far as monitor speakers go. They’re still fairly worthless for gaming, so you’ll need another set of better speakers or a headset, but they’re decent enough for watching videos. The on-screen display is handled by four small buttons underneath the right side of the monitor. The buttons are easy to use, and stand out enough that I never found myself screwing up the navigation through various menus. Dell’s Ultrasharp monitor line includes three-year warranties, and the U3417W is no different. Of course, that doesn’t cover accidental damage, and the U3415W sports the same warranty, so there isn’t much of an incentive there. Our Take No. While Dell’s ultrasharp lineup, and even the older U3415W, can compete with the best monitors around, the U3417W falls short of our benchmarks in a number of key areas. Calibrating a monitor is often a good way to improve its weaker points, if those are color accuracy or gamma. Unfortunately, it can’t help the Dell’s poor contrast ratio, or low maximum brightness.

It’s not all bad. Its color accuracy is a little high comparatively, but still close enough for almost all users — only photographers and digital artists are likely to notice the difference.Also, the U3417W doesn’t utilize any variable refresh rate technology, such as Nvidia’s G-Sync or AMD’s FreeSync. Sometimes, this can lead to screen tearing, but thankfully this didn’t appear to be a major issue with through many hours of playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Destiny 2, Overwatch, and Battlefield 1. I did get the sense that motion in fast-paced gaming scenarios could have been somewhat smoother with variable rate tech on board, but overall it didn’t seem to really detract from my gaming.