Dell U3415W Review - TFT Central (2024)

Introduction

There's been a fair few new Ultra-wide 21:9 aspectratio screens released by various manufacturers and it's an interesting optionin the desktop monitor market. We remember looking at theDell U2913WM back in early 2013 which was one of the first 21:9 formatdisplays released, offering a 29" diagonal and 2560 x 1080 resolution. Nowadayspeople are after something even bigger and there's been a fair few 34" sizedmodels released with 3440 x 1440 resolutions. We took a look at one such modelin September 2014 when we reviewed theLG 34UM95. We found the ultra-wide format quite appealing for day to day useand although it's an odd feeling when you first use one, you soon get used toit. Since then we've seen a couple of manufacturers delve into another new areaof displays, releasing 34" ultra-wide models but with a slightly curved shape tothem. Much like you can get with some LCD TV's, curved desktop monitors seems tobe a new trend manufacturers are exploring. Dell have bypassed releasing a flat34" ultra-wide model, and instead progressed straight to releasing the newcurvedU3415W which we have with us now for testing. We are keen to see how we get onwith the curved nature of the screen and how this screen performs overall in ourtests. Incidentally we are testing the A01 revision here.

Dell's website states: "Discoverone of the world�s first 86.5 cm (34") 21:9 curved monitors with a panoramicview, cinematic WQHD resolution and superb sound. An immersive panoramicexperience: The Dell UltraSharp 86.5 cm (34") Curved Monitor engages you in anew wrap-around viewing experience with a 21:9 ultra-wide curved screen thatoffers more display area and enhanced viewing comfort."

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Dell U3415W Now Available

Specifications and Features

The following table gives detailed informationabout the specs of the screen:

The U3415W offers a good range of modern connectivity optionswhich are similar to other recent UltraSharp screens. There are1x HDMI 2.0, 1x MHL, 1x DisplayPort and 1x Mini DisplayPort input interfaces provided for videoconnections. There is also a DisplayPort out connection for daisy chainingseveral screens. There is no DVI or D-sub offered here. Cablesare provided in the box for DP > Mini DP and HDMI.

The screen has an internal power supply so thereis only the need for a kettle lead power cable (provided). There are several additionalfeatures as well for this screen. These include a factory calibration, 4x USB 3.0 ports(with 2x upstream connections) and an audio out port (headphones not supported).The screen also has 2x 9W stereo speakers (rare for Dell screens), Picture InPicture (PiP) and Picture by Picture (PbP) support and a uniformity compensationmode.

Below is a summary of the features and connectionsof the screen:

OSD Menu

Above: OSD control buttons on the bottom right hand edge

The OSD menu is accessed and controlled through aseries of 5 touch-sensitive buttons located on the bottom right hand edge of thebezel. There are small grey circles on the bezel marking where the buttons arewhich are discrete. They don't light up at all, even when pressed. There is asmall power LED bar underneath the power button which glows white during use andpulsates white on/off when the screen is on standby. We did find that sometimesthe buttons were a little unresponsive when you first press them, but seemed towork better once you were within the menu sections.

Pressing any of the buttons pops up the quickaccess menu which is shown above. From here by default you have quick access tothe volume control from button 1, input selection from button 2, the main menu (3) and a button to exit(4). The power on/off button is shown as well, as button 5 above. You canpersonalize the quick access options here through the main OSD if you want.

Using the quick access options pops up a smallermenu specific to that selection. For instance the input selection quickaccess menu is shown above.

The menu is split in to 11 sections shown down theleft hand side, with the options relevant to each section then shown on theright. The first section gives you access to the brightness and contrastfunctions as shown above. You will notice the familiar Dell energy bar in thetop right hand corner as well, showing your power consumption and a useful quickindicator to your brightness level in fact.

The second section allows you to switch betweenvideo input source.

The third 'color' section has a few options relating tothe colour setup, including most notably access to the preset mode menu shownabove.

The 'Display' section has a few useful features.There are options for the hardware level aspect ratio control at the top, withsettings for wide 21:9, wide 16:9, auto resize and 1:1 available. You can alsoaccess the response time control here, and theuniformitycompensation function.

The next menu allows you to control the Picture ByPicture (PbP) and Picture In Picture (PiP) functions as shown. Have a look atthe user manual online for more info about available configurations.

The 'USB selection' menu allows you to choose thevideo input which will link you back to a specific PC for USB functionality.With 2x USB upstream ports on the screen you can connect the display back to twoPC's if you need to, and then choose which PC is active via the menu when usingdifferent video inputs.

The audio menu allows you to control the speakervolume and input source.

The 'Energy' menu controls a couple of powersaving features as shown.

The 'Menu' section allows you to adjust the OSDmenu itself.

The 'personalize' section allows you to customisewhat quick access options are available, depending on what you need to accessmost often. A Useful feature.

Finally the 'others' section has a few optionsincluding allowing you to turn the button sound on/off.

All in all the menu was very easy to navigate andwell laid out. The control buttons were mostly responsive and sensitive, and thetouch-sensitive nature gave them a premium feel. There were quite a few optionsto play around with as well, and the ability to customise the quick access menuwas useful. The menu also remembered which section you were last in when youexit which is quite handy.

Power Consumption

In terms of power consumption the manufacturerlists typical usage of 55W and less than 0.5W in standby. They also listmaximum power usage of 130.0W (*) but this is with maximum brightness, DellSoundBar and USB connected also. We carried out our normal tests toestablish its power consumption ourselves.

We tested this ourselves and found that out of thebox the screen used 48.3W at the default 75% brightness setting. Once calibrated the screen reached32.1W consumption, and in standby itused only 0.5W. We have plotted these results below compared with other screenswe have tested for reference.

Panel and Backlighting

Panel Part and Colour Depth

The Dell U3415W features anLG.Display LM340WU2-SSA1 AH-IPS panel which is capable of producing 1.074billion colours. As we understand it the panel offers an 8-bit colour depthwith additional Frame Rate Control (FRC) stage added to support 10-bit content.Keep in mind whether this is practically useable and whether you're ever goingto truly use that colour depth. You need to have a full 10-bit end to endworkflow to take advantage of it which is still quite expensive to achieve andrare in the market, certainly for your average user. This includes relevantapplications and graphics cards as well, so to many people this 10-bit supportmight be irrelevant. The part is confirmed when dismantling the screen.Incidentally we are testing the A01 revision here.

Screen Coating

Thescreen coating on the U3415W is a light anti-glare (AG) offering. It isn't asemi-glossy coating, but it is light as seen on other modern IPS type panelsincluding other recent Dell offerings like the U2715H and U2515H for instance. Thankfully itisn't a heavily grainy coating like some old IPS panels feature, including someold Dell models circa 2011. It retains its anti-glare properties to avoid too manyunwanted reflections of a full glossy coating, but does not produce an toograiny or dirty an image that somethicker AG coatings can. There were someslight cross-hatching patterns visible on the coating when you inspect itclosely, but not to the extent that you can see on the U2713HM which was knownfor this issue affecting some users.

Backlight Type and Colour Gamut

The screen uses a White-LED (W-LED) backlight unitwhich has become very popular in today's market. This helps reduce powerconsumption compared with older CCFL backlight units and brings about someenvironmental benefits as well. The W-LED unit offers a standard colour gamutwhich is approximately equal to the sRGB colour space (99% sRGB quoted).Anyone wanting to work with wider colour spaces would need to consider widegamut CCFL screens or the newer range of GB-r-LED type displays availablenow. Ifyou want to read more about colour spaces and gamut then please have a read ofourdetailed article.

BacklightDimming and Flicker

We tested the screen to establish the methods usedto control backlight dimming. Our in depth article talks in more details about acommon method used for this which is calledPulse Width Modulation (PWM). This in itself gives cause for concern to someusers who have experienced eye strain, headaches and other symptoms as a resultof the flickering backlight caused by this technology. We use a photosensor +oscilloscope system to measure backlight dimming controlwith a high level of accuracy and ease. These tests allow us to establish

1) Whether PWM is being used to control thebacklight
2) The frequency and other characteristics at which this operates, if it is used
3) Whether a flicker may be introduced or potentially noticeable at certainsettings

If PWM is used for backlight dimming, the higherthe frequency, the less likely you are to see artefacts and flicker. The dutycycle (the time for which the backlight is on) is also important and the shorterthe duty cycle, the more potential there is that you may see flicker. The otherfactor which can influence flicker is the amplitude of the PWM, measuring thedifference in brightness output between the 'on' and 'off' states. Pleaseremember that not every user would notice a flicker from a backlight using PWM,but it is something to be wary of. It is also a hard thing to quantify as it isvery subjective when talking about whether a user may or may not experience theside effects.

100% 50%0%

Above scale = 1horizontal grid = 5ms

At 100% brightness a constant voltage is appliedto the backlight. As you reduce the brightness setting to dim the backlight aDirect Current (DC) method is used, as opposed to any form of PWM. This appliesto all brightness settings from 100% down to 0%. The screen is flicker free as aresult, much like many of Dell's other recent screens. Oddly they don'tadvertise this as a selling point, but they probably should as it's a positivething.

For an up to date list of all flicker-free (PWM free) monitors please see ourFlicker Free Monitor Database.

ContrastStability and Brightness

The brightness control gave us a very good rangeof adjustment. At the top end the maximum luminance reached 300.22 cd/m² which washigh, and spot on in fact with the specified maximum brightnessfrom the manufacturer. There was a decent 284.37 cd/m² adjustmentrange in total, and so at the minimum setting you could reach down to a lowluminance of 15.85 cd/m². This should be more than adequate for thosewanting to work in darkened room conditions with low ambient light. A setting of28 in the OSD menu should return you aluminance of around 120 cd/m² at default settings in the Standardpreset mode. It should be noted that thebrightness regulation is controlled without the need forPulse Width Modulation, using a Direct Current (DC) method for all brightness settingsbetween 100 and 0% and so the screen is flicker free.

We have plotted theluminance trend on the graph above. The screen behaves as it should in thisregard, with a reduction in the luminance output of the screen controlled by thereduction in the OSD brightness setting. This is not a linear relationship asthe brightness adjustments between settings of 80 and 0 control a steeperluminance range than settings between 100 and 80 as you can see.

The average contrast ratio ofthe screen was excellent for an IPS panel with an average of 1146:1. This waspretty stable across the brightness adjustment range as shown above although atthe lowest brightness settings it did fluctuate a little.

TestingMethodology

Animportant thing to consider for most users is how a screen will perform out ofthe box and with some basic manual adjustments. Since most users won't haveaccess to hardware colorimeter tools, it is important to understand how thescreen is going to perform in terms of colour accuracy for the average user.

We restored our graphics card to default settings and disabled any previously activeICC profiles and gamma corrections. The screen was tested at default factory settings using the DVI interface, and analysed usinganX-rite i1Pro Spectrophotometer (not to be confused with the i1 Display Procolorimeter) combined withLaCie's Blue Eye Pro software suite. An X-rite i1 Display Pro colorimeter wasalso used to verify the black point and contrast ratio since the i1 Prospectrophotometer is lessreliable at the darker end.

Targets for these tests are as follows:

• CIE Diagram - validates the colour spacecovered by the monitors backlighting in a 2D view, with the black triangle representing thedisplays gamut, and other reference colour spaces shown for comparison

• Gamma - we aim for 2.2 which is the defaultfor computer monitors

• Colour temperature / white point - we aimfor 6500k which is the temperature of daylight

• Luminance - we aim for 120 cd/m², which isthe recommended luminance for LCD monitors in normal lighting conditions

• Black depth - we aimfor as low as possible to maximise shadow detail and to offer us the bestcontrast ratio

• Contrast ratio - we aimfor as high as possible. Any dynamic contrast ratio controls are turned off hereif present

• dE average / maximum -as low as possible. If DeltaE >3, the color displayed is significantly different from thetheoretical one, meaning that the difference will be perceptible to theviewer.If DeltaE <2, LaCie considers the calibration a success; there remains aslight difference, but it is barely undetectable.If DeltaE < 1, the color fidelity is excellent.

Default Performance andSetup

The Dell U3415W comes factory calibrated, showingtheir focus on providing a high quality product suitable for colour criticalwork. The screen is packaged with a calibration reportunique to your screen, confirming the targets set and met during that process.Here they have factory calibrated the default 'Standard' preset mode to a 2.2 gamma, 6500k white point and with adE colour accuracy of <3. A copy of the calibration report from our unit isprovided below for reference:

Default settings of the screen were as follows:

Dell U3415W - Default Settings / Factory Calibration

Initially out of the box the screen was set in thedefault 'standard' preset mode which carries the factory calibration discussedabove. The screen was bright as it was set ata default 75% brightness setting. Colour balance and gamma feltgood, and you could tell it was a standard gamut screen. We went ahead and measured the default state withthe i1 Pro.

TheCIE diagram on the left of the image confirms that the monitors colour gamut(black triangle) is roughly equal tothe sRGB colour space. There is some minor over-coverage in some blue and red shades, andsome minor under-coverage in some green and red shades but not by anything significant.Default gamma was recorded at 2.2 average, leaving it with a very small 1% deviancefrom the target which was excellent. White point was measured at 6470kbeing <0.5% out from the target of 6500k which was again very pleasing.

Luminance was recorded at a bright 292 cd/m² which istoo high for prolonged general use. The screen was set at a default 75%brightness in the OSD menu but that is easy to change of course to reach a morecomfortable setting without impacting any other aspect of the setup. The black depth was 0.26 cd/m² at this defaultbrightness setting, giving us an excellent (for a IPS panel) static contrast ratio of1134:1. Colour accuracy was good out of the boxas well with a default dE average of 2.0, although a maximum of 5.2 showed there weresome errors. Testing the screen with various gradients showed smooth transitionswith no sign of any banding thankfully. There was some gradation evidentas you will see from most monitors in darker tones. Overall the default setupwas very good, with the gamma and white point being well configured out of the box,and the screen also offering a low dE. Looks like thefactory calibration does provide a reliable setup for the screen which should befine for most users once they've adjusted the brightness setting. Good workDell.

Calibration

We used theX-rite i1 Pro spectrophotometer combined with the LaCie Blue Eye Prosoftware package to achieve these results and reports. An X-rite i1 Display Procolorimeter was used to validate the black depth and contrastratios due to lower end limitations of the i1 Pro device.

Dell U3415W - Calibrated Settings

We changed to the 'custom color' preset mode firstof all which would give us accessto the RGB channels, as well as the brightness and contrast settings which areavailable in all the modes. All these OSDchanges allowed us to obtain anoptimum hardware starting point and setup before software level changes would bemade at the graphics card level. We left the LaCie software to calibrateto "max" brightness which would just retain the luminance of whatever brightnesswe'd set the screen to, and would not in any way try and alter the luminance atthe graphics card level, which can reduce contrast ratio. These adjustmentsbefore profiling the screen would help preserve tonal values and limitbanding issues. After this we let the software carry out the LUT adjustments and create anICC profile.

Average gamma was now corrected to 2.2 average,correcting the minor 1% deviance we'd seen out of the box in the 'standard' presetmode. Thewhite point was maintained at the target, now measured at 6501k, but that wasalready reliable out of the box. Luminance had been improved thanks to theadjustment to the brightness control and was now being measured at 120 cd/m². You maynote that you need a higher brightness setting to reach this level in this'custom color' preset mode than in the 'standard' mode. Thisleft us a black depth of 0.11 cd/m² and maintained an excellent static contrast ratio(for an IPS panel) of1091:1. Colour accuracy of the resultingprofile was very good, with dE average of 0.4 and maximum of 0.8. LaCie wouldconsider colour fidelity to be very good overall. Testing the screen with various colour gradientsshowed mostly smooth transitions. There was some slight gradation in darker tonesbut no banding introduced due to the adjustments to thegraphics card LUT from the profilation of the screen which was pleasing. You can use our settings andtry our calibrated ICC profile if you wish, which are available in our ICC profile database. Keep in mind that results will vary from onescreen to another and from one computer / graphics card to another.

CalibrationPerformance Comparisons

The comparisons made in this section try to giveyou a better view of how each screen performs, particularly out of the box whichis what is going to matter to most consumers. When comparing the default factorysettings for each monitor it is important to take into account severalmeasurement areas - gamma, white point and colour accuracy. There's no pointhaving a low dE colour accuracy figure if the gamma curve is way off forinstance. A good factory calibration requires all 3 to be well set up. We havedeliberately not included luminance in this comparison since this is normallyfar too high by default on every screen. However, that is very easily controlledthrough the brightness setting (on most screens) and should not impact the otherareas being measured anyway. It is easy enough to obtain a suitable luminancefor your working conditions and individual preferences, but a reliable factorysetup in gamma, white point and colour accuracy is important and not as easy tochange accurately without a calibration tool.

From these comparisons we can also compare thecalibrated colour accuracy, black depth and contrast ratio. After a calibrationthe gamma, white point and luminance should all be at their desired targets.

Default setup of the screen out of the box wasvery good with a gamma within only 1% deviance from the target and white pointbeing <0.5% out.Colour accuracy was good as well thanks to the factory calibration with dE 2.0 average.Contrast ratio was also excellent for anIPS panel ataround 1134:1 out of the box. It is too bright of course, but that's easy toturn down via the brightness setting. This factory calibration was a littlebetter than other recent factory calibrated UltraSharp screens from Dell, whichshowed a little more error from the targets in the table above. We wereimpressed by the factory setup here on the U3415W.

The display was also very strong when it came to black depthand contrast ratio for an IPS-type panel. With a calibrated contrast ratioof 1091:1 it was very comparable to theLG 34UM95 34" flat format screen (1064:1). It was notquite as high as we'd seen from some other recent smaller screens from Dell,like theU2515H (1138:1) for instance, but it was still very good. Of courseit can't compete with VA panel types which can reach over 2000:1 easily, andcommonly up to 3000:1, even a little over 4000:1 in the case of the 40"Philips BDM4065UC.

Viewing Angles

Above: Viewingangles shown from front and side, and from above and below. Click forlarger image

Viewing angles of the U3415W were very good as youwould expect from an IPS panel. Horizontally there was very little colour toneshift until wide angles past about 45�. A slight darkening of the image occurredhorizontally from wider angles as you can see above as the contrast shiftedslighting. Contrast shifts were slightly more noticeable in the vertical fieldbut overall they were very good. The screen offered the wide viewing angles ofIPS technology and was free from the restrictive fields of view of TN Filmpanels, especially in the vertical plane. It was also free of the off-centrecontrast shift you see from VA panels and a lot of the quite obvious gamma andcolour tone shift you see from some of the modern VA panel type offerings. All asexpected really from a modern IPS panel.

Above: View of anall black screen from the side. Click for larger version

On a black image there is a characteristic whiteglow when viewed from an angle, commonly referred to as "IPS-glow". This is commonon most modern IPS-type panels and can be distracting to some users. If you viewdark content from a normal head-on viewing position, you can actually see thisglow as your eyes look towards the edges of the screen. Because of the sheerhorizontal size of this 34" panel, the glow towards the edges is more obviousthan on small screens, where there isn't such a long distance from your centralposition to the edges. Some people may find this problematic if they are workingwith a lot of dark content or solid colour patterns. In normal day to day uses,office work, movies and games you couldn't really notice this unless you wereviewing darker content. If you move your viewing position back, which isprobably likely for movies and games, the effect reduces as you do not have suchan extreme angle from your eye position to the screen edges. The glow effect wasa little less than on flat 34" ultra-wide screens as the curved nature created asmaller angle between your eyes and the edges of the screen.

Panel Uniformity

We wanted to testhere how uniform the brightness and colour temperature was across the screen, as well as identify anyleakage from the backlight in dark lighting conditions. Measurements of the luminanceand colour temperature were taken at 36 points across the panel on a purewhite background. The measurements for luminance were taken using BasICColor's calibrationsoftware package, combined with an X-rite i1 Display Procolorimeter with a central point on the screen calibrated to 120 cd/m². Measurements for colour temperature (white point) were taken usingBasICColor software and the i1 Pro spectrophotometer which can more accuratelymeasure the white point of different backlighting technologies. The below uniformity diagram shows the difference, as a percentage,between the measurement recorded at each point on the screen, as compared with thecentral reference point.

It is worthnoting that panel uniformity can vary from one screen to another, and can dependon manufacturing lines, screen transport and other local factors. This is only aguide of the uniformity of the sample screen we have for review.

Uniformity of Luminance
Uniformity Compensation = Off

The luminance uniformity of the screen was moderatehere. The left and right hand edges were a bit darker than the central areasof the screen, dropping down to 96 cd/m² in the most extremecases (-25%). The central areas were a bit more uniform though.Approximately 67% of the screen was within a 10% deviance of the centrallycalibrated point which was reasonable.

UniformityCompensation Feature

Like on some of the high end UltraSharp models theU3415W features a uniformity compensation feature within the OSD menu as shownabove. This isn't something Dell have made much fuss of oddly, but it's afeature again normally reserved for pro-grade screens. We've seen similartechnologies used on NEC and Eizo screens in the past with some positiveresults. Dell have used it in the past on models like theU2413, U2713H, U3014and UP3214Q, but not on recent more mainstream UltraSharps like theU2414H,U2415 or U2715H.

We had seen fromthe U2713H testing that this uniformity compensation mode seemed to donothing in reality to change the actual performance of the screen. Whenswitching to the "calibrated" mode you could see a visible change in thebrightness of the screen but when verifying the variations across the screenwith a colorimeter, no improvements had been made. This was a disappointmentcertainly, especially when we then later tested theDell U2913WM which had the same feature which seemed to work pretty well.When we thentested the feature on the U2413 andU3014 we found it did help improve the already pretty decent luminanceuniformity of the screen but concluded it was largely pointless in practice. Itcould not be used in the factory calibrated preset modes (Adobe RGB and sRGB),or in the hardware calibrated modes (CAL1 and CAL2) which are surely the modesmost users are going to use. If you then wanted to use it in one of the othermodes (e.g. standard preset), you had to have the screen at a bright 50%brightness setting, and you cannot change it from this. So really it was prettyuseless in real use. It's a shame, and it seemed a very odd choice reallyconsidering the type of screen these models are.

Thankfully whenwe later tested theUP3214Q Dell had made a few improvements to its use, although it stillwasn't perfect. The uniformity compensation feature could be used in thestandard, color temp and custom color modes only. Again, as with the othermodels it cannot be used in the factory calibrated sRGB of Adobe RGB modes, orin your hardware calibrated CAL1 or CAL2 modes. This in itself severely limitsits practical usage. When using the feature in any of the three preset modes wementioned, you can at least enable it no matter what brightness setting you areat. You no longer need to revert to the default and overly bright 50%brightness, and instead it can be activated at whatever brightness setting youhave set the screen to already. Once enabled in the 'standard' or 'color temp'presets, the brightness and contrast options are then locked so you cannotchange away from your setting without first turning the uniformity compensationfeature off. At least you have some flexibility to use the feature at differingbrightness settings though. When using the 'custom color' preset mode, you CANchange the brightness even with the feature active, so that gives you even moreflexibility thankfully in that mode. All of this does mean that you can only usethe feature when using the screens native colour space, and there's no way touse sRGB or the Adobe RGB emulation modes and have uniformity compensationactive at all.

With thefeature included again now on the U3415W we were keen to see how it worked,and if it offered any benefits in improving the uniformity of the screen.The option was available when using the standard, colour temp and customcolor preset modes only. It was greyed out when using the other preset modeslike game or movie. Once enabled the brightness and contrast controls becomelocked which is a shame, so you are stuck at whatever luminance Dell havedecided to lock this at. If you look in the OSD menu you can see the energybar indicator is at maximum, suggesting the backlight is turned up to full,but then digital white level adjustments are made to provide the uniformitycompensation and also reduce the luminance output. We measured the luminancein the standard preset mode at ~174 cd/m² so it was certainlymuch lower than the maximum brightness of 300 cd/m², but stillquite bright compared with a recommended 120 cd/m² level.

If we stickto the standard preset mode for now, we can compare the before and afterimpact of this feature on the setup of the screen.

Dell U3415W - Default standard preset mode
Uniformity compensation = Off

Above is out out of the box default setup discussed earlier in the review, withthe uniformity compensation feature turned off. Brightness is set at the default75 setting in the OSD.

Dell U3415W - Default standard preset mode
Uniformity compensation = On

Turning the uniformity compensation feature onbrought about a few changes to the image. Firstly, the luminance output wasdimmed quite a lot, and we measured the brightness now at 174 cd/m².The brightness setting in the OSD cannot be changed, and the power indicatorbar shows full energy usage suggesting it was turned up to 100 in reality. So the reduced luminance here is now down todigital white level adjustments. Because of this, the contrast ratio iscrushed a lot, down from 1134:1 to 629:1. Not too severe, but certainly abig drop. Most uniformity compensation features from all manufacturers willlead to some loss in contrast ratio. Other aspects of the setup were notaffected much, although gamma increased a little to 2.3 average, increasingthe error a few percent.

Dell U3415W - Calibrated Custom Color preset mode
Uniformity compensation = Off

We also tested the before and after performance from our calibrated 'customcolor' preset mode. Above is the calibrated result from earlier on in thereview.

Dell U3415W - Calibrated Custom Color preset mode
Uniformity compensation = On

Oddly in the 'custom color' preset mode the uniformity compensation feature hada massive impact to the image appearance, and this is without changing any otheraspects of our calibrated screen state. You could spot a noticeable change inthe gamma of the screen when the setting was first enabled, and we measured theaverage gamma now as 2.7, leaving a bit 21% deviance. Luminance had again beensuppressed down to 160 cd/m²through the digital white level adjustments, leaving us again with a crushedcontrast ratio of only 593:1, compared with the 1091:1 we had before. Colouraccuracy was also now way off as well because of the adjusted gamma, with dEaverage 3.9, maximum of 8.9. We would suggest sticking to the standard presetmode if you're going to use the uniformity compensation feature. In the OSD youcan actually have the feature turned on or off for different preset modes whichis quite handy, and it remembers what you last had selected if you go back tothat preset mode again.

Let's have a lookhow it affects the actual uniformity of the screen as well:

Uniformity of Luminance
Uniformity Compensation =On

With the compensation feature turned on, theluminance uniformity was much better and extremely good in fact. There was verylittle deviance across the whole screen with only minor differencesmeasured of a few percent. All of the screen was within 5% of the central pointof the screen. The feature worked well at correcting the luminance uniformity,although it was a shame it wasn't a bit more flexible.

It seems that theuniformity compensation mode makes a mess of the custom color preset mode, so ifyou do want to use it, stick with the standard preset mode. It doesn't impactthe setup in the standard mode much, other than crushing the contrast ratio by asignificant amount. You do have to live with a locked brightness as well and aluminance output of ~174 cd/m² which is a bit of a pain.

Backlight Leakage

Above: All black screen in a darkened room. Click for larger version

As usual we also tested the screen with an allblack image and in a darkened room. A camera was used to capture the result. Thecamera showed there was some backlight leakage here with some clouding detectedin the corners, particularly the top left. This could be noticed with the nakedeye as well, so if you are working with a lot of dark content, or in darkenedroom conditions this may be a bit distracting. It wasn't major leakage, butthere was some there.

General and Office Applications

One of the key selling points of ultra-widescreens like the U3415W is it's high resolution and large screen size. The 3440x 1440 display offers a sharp but comfortable picture. Its pixel area is about1.8 times larger than an Ultra-Wide Full HD 21:9 monitor, and about 2.4 timeslarger than a Full HD 16:9 monitor. It provides an efficient environment inusing Microsoft Office programs showing 47 columns and 63 rows in excel.Thankfully the high resolution is of a very comfortable size on the 34" panel,with a 0.2325mm pixel pitch is is very comparable to a 27" 2560 x 1440 monitor(0.2331mm). This means you are basically getting a wider desktop to work with,with a similar font size to a 27" model, and maintaining the same verticalresolution as well. If you're coming from a lower resolution / larger pixelpitch you may still find the fonts look quite small to start with, but like the27" 1440p models out there you soon get used to it. Side by side multi-tasking on this screen is excellent andyou really do have a nice wide area to work with. We liked the curved format ofthe display actually for day to day office work. It just felt a bit morecomfortable than a flat screen on a model as wide as this, bringing the cornersa bit nearer to you. You didn't really notice the curve in normal use but weliked the feel. Probably down to user taste, so if in doubt try and see one in person.

The light AG coating of the IPS panel doesn'tproduce any graininess to the image like some aggressive AG solutions can and sowhite office backgrounds look clean and clear. The wide viewing angles of theIPS panel technology provide stable images from different angles, meaning youcan use the screen if you want for colour critical work, photos etc. This paneltechnology still offers the widest viewing angles and so is well-suited tocolour work. Some contrast shifts and IPS-glow may be evident because of thevery wide size of the display, as you glance towards the edges from a centrallyaligned position. That's hard to avoid on such a large desktop monitor fromclose up, even with IPS technology. The defaultfactory calibration setup of the screen was very good in allregards, and we were alsopleased with the strong 1089:1 contrast ratio (after calibration) as well.

The brightnessrange of the screen was also very good, with the ability to offer a luminancebetween 300 and 16 cd/m². This should mean the screen is perfectlyuseable in a wide variety of ambient light conditions, including darkened rooms.A setting of ~28 in the OSD brightness control should return you a luminanceclose to 120 cd/m² out of the box in the standard preset mode. On another positive note, the brightnessregulation is controlled without the need for the use of the now infamousPulse-Width Modulation (PWM), and so those who suffer from eye fatigue orheadaches associated with flickering backlights need not worry. All of therecent Dell screens we've tested have been flicker free, so it's a wonder theydon't start advertising this as a key feature really, as everyone else seems tobe focusing on it.

There was noaudible noise or buzzing from the screen, even when specifically looking for itusing test images with a large amount of text at once. The screen also remainscool even during prolonged use. There is a 'paper' preset mode available fromthe menu which may be useful if you want to set up the screen for different usesperhaps and made the image much more yellow. There are only 2x HDMI and 2xDisplayPort connections (1 regular, 1 mini) here so connectivity could beconsidered a little limited for some older systems.

The screen offers 4x USB 3.0 ports which can beuseful and it was nice to keep this up to date with the modern version. Here, 3 of them are on the underside back with thevideo connections, and 1 is on the back of the screen (the charging capableport) since the profile of the screen is too thin to really make them easy toinclude on the edge of the screen. The screen even has the ability to beconnected back to two different PC's using the dual USB upstream connections,meaning you can use the USB hub from two different inputs to the screen if youwant to. There are integrated 2x 9W stereo speakers which are reasonable for theoccasional YouTube clip or mp3. An additional audio-out connection is provided,although oddly it doesn't support headphones and Dell haven't provided aheadphone port here.

There are no further extras like ambient lightsensors or card readers which can be useful in office environments. There was agreat range of ergonomic adjustments available from the stand allowing you toobtain a comfortable position for a wide variety of angles. The VESA mountingsupport may also be useful to some people as well. The thin bezel and edgedesign of the screen make it a possibility for multi-monitor setups, althoughthe sheer size of it might make that difficult for most people. You need onemassive desk to cope with 2x 34" ultra-wide screens!

Above: photo oftext at 3440 x 1440 (top) and 2560 x 1080 (bottom)

The screen is designed to run at its nativeresolution of 34400 x 1440 and at a 60Hz recommended refresh rate. However,if you want you are able to run the screen outside of this resolution. We testedthe screen at a lower 2560 x 1080 resolution to see how the screen handles theinterpolation of the resolution, while maintaining the same aspect ratio of21:9. At native resolution the text was very sharp and comfortable as we've alreadydiscussed. When running at a the lower resolution the text is still pretty sharp, with lowlevels of blurring. You do lose a lot of screen real-estate as well of coursebut the image seems to be interpolated well.

Responsiveness and Gaming

The U3415W is rated by Dell as having a 5ms to 8ms G2G response time,depending on the setting selected,which indicates the panel usesoverdrive /response time compensation (RTC) technology to boost pixel transitionsacross grey to grey changes. There is user control over the overdrive impulsewithin the OSD menu using the 'Response Time' option. Thepartbeing used is theLG.Display LM340WU2-SSA1 AH-IPS panel. Have a read about response time inourspecs section if you need additional information about this measurement.

We will first test the screen using our thoroughresponse time testing method. This uses an oscilloscope and photosensor tomeasure the pixel response times across a series of different transitions, inthe full range from 0 (black) to 255 (white). This will give us a realistic viewof how the monitor performs in real life, as opposed to being reliant only on amanufacturers spec. We can work out the response times for changing between manydifferent shades, calculate the maximum, minimum and average greyto grey (G2G) response times, and provide an evaluation of any overshoot presenton the monitor.

We use anETC M526oscilloscope for these measurements along with a custom photosensor device.Have a read ofour response time measurement article for a full explanation of the testing methodology and reporteddata.

Response Time Setting Comparison

The U3415W comes with a user control for theoverdrive impulse available within the OSD menu in the 'display' section asshown above. This isn't something Dell used to provide, but they've started tofeature it on their new models which is pleasing. Previously the user was relianton the factory setup and often this has lead to issues with overshoot on somemodels (e.g. Dell U2413, U2713H, U3014). There are two options available here inthe menu, for 'normal' and 'fast' modes.

First of all we carried out a smaller sample setof measurements in both of the 'Response Time' settings. These, along with variousmotion tests allowed us to quickly identify which was the optimum overdrive settingfor this screen.

First we tested the screen with the Response Timeoption set to 'Normal' which according to Dell should have an 8ms G2G responsetime. Response times varied somewhat, with some transitions being quite a bit slower at around12 - 15ms, and some even reaching as high as 20ms. Others transitions werefaster, reaching down to 6 - 7ms and living up to the spec at least. Overall wemeasured an average 10.3ms G2G response time which was moderate for an IPSpanel, but not as fast as we'd seen from other recent Dell models like the 24"U2415 for instance (8.6ms with response time 'normal'). In this response timemode there was very little overshoot at all across any transition so there wereno annoying dark or pale halos like you might see where overshoot is at a higherlevel. We had perhaps hoped for a little faster performance here given ourrecent experience with Dell screens. Let's see if the 'Fast' mode can offer anyimprovements at all.

With the Response Time setting now switched up to the 'Fast'mode, response times had improved quite a lot down to 7.1ms G2G average. However, thiswas at the cost of some very noticeable overshoot which was too high to makeit practical for most uses. The overdrive was being applied too aggressivelyhere, trying to reduce response times, but introducing too manyside-effects sadly. The 'Normal' mode was optimum on this model we felt. Thiswas a shame as we had hoped for faster response times here,but without the overshoot problems which had been introduced. Maybe somewhere inthe middle would have been a better balance, reaching down to around 8.5ms G2Gwould have been nice without overshoot, as quite a few other good 60Hz IPS screenshave managed in recent times. You're better sticking with the 'normal' mode hereto avoid the noticeable overshoot.

If we take some test photos using the PixPerAntool you can make some further visual comparisons between the overdrive'Response Time' settings. With Response Time set to 'normal' the moving imageshowed some low levels of motion blur, but nothing too major. There was no signof any overshoot artefacts in this mode which was pleasing. When you switch to the 'fast' setting, theblurring is reduced a noticeable amount and the image becomes sharper as response times are boosted.However, some noticeableovershoot is evident in these particular colour transitions in the form ofobvious dark trailing. We know from ouroscilloscope measurements that a fair few transitions show significant levelsof overshoot so we prefer the 'normal' mode.

More Detailed Measurements - Response Time =Normal

Having established that the Response Time 'Normal' mode seemed tooffer the best response/overshoot balance we carriedout our normal wider range of measurements as shown below:

The average G2G response time was more accuratelymeasured at 10.6ms which was moderate for an IPS panel overall. Some transitionswere faster at as low as 6ms minimum, particularly when changing to white (x >255). The rise times were a fair bit slower than the fall times on average, witha few problematic transitions which were quite a lot slower. These were mostnoticeable when changing from black to dark grey.

There was pretty much no overshoot as well in thisResponse Time mode, with only a couple of transitions showing anything at all, andeven then, fairly low.The overdrive impulse was being applied well and in a controlled fashion which was pleasing.We had seen that boosting the RTC in the 'Fast' mode just led to too muchovershoot.

Display Comparisons

The above comparison table and graph shows you thelowest, average and highest G2G response time measurement for each screen wehave tested with our oscilloscope system. There is also a colour coded mark nextto each screen in the table to indicate the RTC overshoot error, as the responsetime figure alone doesn't tell the whole story.

The response time performance of the U3415W usingthe 'Normal' Response Time setting was moderate overall for an IPS-type panel. With anaverage G2G response time of 10.6ms measured, it was a little slower than someother recent Dell screens like the U2515H (9.3ms) and U2715H (9.9ms), althoughnot by a huge amount. Our reference point for a 60Hz IPS panel is the Dell U2415(8.6ms) which until recently was the best we had seen from an IPS panel withoutintroducing a lot of overshoot. The newAcer XB270HU with a 144Hz IPS-type (AHVA) panel had reached a veryimpressive 5.5ms G2G without overshoot, although that screen operates at a muchhigher refresh rate than the U3415W of course. The 'Fast' Response time modepushed pixel transitions faster, but did result in some significant overshoot soshould probably be avoided. Modern TN Film panels are still much faster,reaching down to 2.9ms for instance in the example of theAsusROG Swift PG278Q (with moderate overshoot).

The screen was also tested using the chase test inPixPerAn for the following display comparisons. As a reminder, a series ofpictures are taken on the highest shutter speed and compared, with the best caseexample shown on the left, and worst case example on the right. This should onlybe used as a rough guide to comparative responsiveness but is handy for acomparison between different screens and technologies as well as a means tocompare those screens we tested before the introduction of our oscilloscopemethod.

34" 8msG2G LG.Display AH-IPS (Response Time = Normal)

In practice the Dell U3415W performed best withResponse Time set to 'normal'. There were pretty low levels of motion blurand no ghosting visible. Thankfully no overshoot was detectable in these testswhich was pleasing and we know from our oscilloscope measurements that there'svery little in this response time mode.

34" 8msG2G LG.Display AH-IPS (Response Time = Normal)

27" 8msG2G LG.Display AH-IPS (Response Time = Normal)

25"8ms G2G LG.Display AH-IPS (ResponseTime = Normal)

24" 8msG2G LG.Display AH-IPS (Response Time = Normal)

We can start by comparing the U3415W against otherrecent Dell UltraSharp screens in sizes between 24 and 27". In practice theU3415W was very close to the U2715H model, with response times being onlyslightly slower. There were comparable levels of blurring to the moving imagethere. The 25" U2515H was a tad faster, but not by much. The 24" U2415 showed asharper moving image than the U3415W and also had a slightly lower level ofovershoot as well. That model represents about as good as you can get from amodern 60Hz IPS panel without overshoot being introduced.

34" 8msG2G LG.Display AH-IPS (Response Time = Normal)

34" 5msG2G LG.Display AH-IPS (Response Time = Middle)

We can also compare the U3415W with the other 34"ultra-wide display we've tested, the LG 34UM95. The LG was marginally fasterthan the Dell in our measurements, but in practice it was hard to separate thetwo to be honest.

34" 8msG2G LG.Display AH-IPS (Response Time = Normal)

27"4ms G2G AU Optronics AHVA (IPS-type)@ 144Hz (OD = Normal)

27" 1msG2G AU Optronics TN Film @ 144Hz (OD = Normal)

23.5" 4ms G2GSharp MVA + 120Hz

We've also included a comparison above against3 very fast 120Hz+ compatible screens we have tested. The other screens shownhere are all aimed primarily at gamers and have various features and extraswhich make them more suitable overall for gaming.Firstly there is a comparison against theAcer Predator XB270HU which is a 144Hz refresh rate IPS-type (AHVA) screen.It showed very fast pixel response times, improved in fact as you increase therefresh rate setting. There was no overshoot detected at all as long as youstick with the optimum 'normal' OD setting. The display also features otheradvanced gaming functions like NVIDIA's G-sync, and Ultra Low Motion Blur (ULMB)mode which really helps reduce perceived motion blur in practice.

There is also a comparison with the excellentAsus ROG Swift PG278Q with its 144Hz refreshrate and fast response time TN Film panel. This showed very fast pixel response times and smooth movement thanks toits increased refresh rate. There wassome slight overshoot noticeable on the Asus but nothing major. This model alsofeatures NVIDIA G-sync and ULMB support.

Lastly there is the MVA basedEizoForis FG2421 screenwith a fast response time (especially for the panel technology being used) and120Hz refresh rate support. There is also an additional 'Turbo 240' motion blurreduction mode which really helps reduce the perceived motion blur in practice.

While these pixel response tests from PixPerAngive one view of the performance of the panel, there is something else going on as well here which can't be picked out by the camera. All of these othergaming models arerunning at 120Hz (or higher) refresh rates, which allows for improved 120fps+ frame rates andin some cases the support of3D stereoscopic content as well. This can really help improve smoothness andthe overall gaming experience so these screens still have the edge when it comesto fast gaming. Any additional extras to reduce perceived motion blur can alsohave a real benefit in practical terms, and again not easy to pick out with thiscamera method.

The overall gaming performance of the Dell U3415Wwas decent enough. The two response time settings allow you to choose thebest option for your needs. The 'normal' mode was our preferred option, giving amoderate IPS response time of 10.6ms G2G, without introducing anyreal overshoot. Not quite as fast as we had hoped compared with some of Dell'ssmaller IPS UltraSharp models. It is ascreen lacking higher refresh rate support or any advanced gaming features likeblur reduction modes or G-sync/FreeSync, but as a general 60Hz screen withreasonable IPS gamingperformance, it's fine. The curved format of the display provided a slight boostin immersion we felt in gaming, helping to make it feel like the screen iswrapped around your field of view a little. This could be a nice option forimmersive simulator type games in practicular.

Additional Gaming Features

Aspect Ratio Control - The U3415W has 4 options foraspect ratio control through the OSD 'Display' menu as shown above. Thereare options for wide 21:9, 16:9, auto resize and 1:1 pixel mapping. Nice to seean auto aspect ratio option available which will maintain the source inputaspect ratio and scale to fill as much of the screen as possible. Also great tosee a 1:1 pixel mapping mode. Those options would have been handy on otherrecent UltraSharp models like the U2415 which is a native 16:10 format andlacking the ability to handle a 16:9 source ratio properly.

Preset Modes - There is a specific 'game' available in theOSD which appears to make the image a little cooler than our calibrated custommode. It gives you access to the dynamic contrast ratio control if you want touse it as well.

Lag

We have written an in depth article aboutinput lag and the various measurement techniques which are used to evaluatethis aspect of a display. It's important to first of all understand thedifferent methods available and also what this lag means to you as an end-user.

Input Lag vs. Display Lag vs. SignalProcessing

To avoid confusion with different terminology wewill refer to this section of our reviews as just "lag" from now on, as thereare a few different aspects to consider, and different interpretations of theterm "input lag". We will consider the following points here as much aspossible. The overall "display lag" is the first, that being the delay betweenthe image being shown on the TFT display and that being shown on a CRT. This iswhat many people will know as input lag and originally was the measure made toexplain why the image is a little behind when using a CRT. The older stopwatchbased methods were the common way to measure this in the past, but throughadvanced studies have been shown to be quite inaccurate. As a result, moreadvanced tools like SMTT provide a method to measure that delay between a TFTand CRT while removing the inaccuracies of older stopwatch methods.

In reality that lag / delay is caused by acombination of two things - the signal processing delay caused by the TFTelectronics / scaler, and the response time of the pixels themselves. Most"input lag" measurements over the years have always been based on the overalldisplay lag (signal processing + response time) and indeed the SMTT tool isbased on this visual difference between a CRT and TFT and so measures theoverall display lag. In practice the signal processing is the element whichgives the feel of lag to the user, and the response time of course canimpact blurring, and overall image quality in moving scenes. As people becomemore aware of lag as a possible issue, we are of course keen to try andunderstand the split between the two as much as possible to give a completepicture.

The signal processing element within that is quitehard to identify without extremely high end equipment and very complicatedmethods. In fact the studies by Thomas Thiemann which really kicked this wholething off were based on equipment worth >100,1000 Euro, requiring extremely highbandwidths and very complicated methods to trigger the correct behaviour andaccurately measure the signal processing on its own. Other techniques which arebeing used since are not conducted by Thomas (he is a freelance writer) or basedon this equipment or technique, and may also be subject to other errors orinaccuracies based on our conversations with him since. It's very hard as aresult to produce a technique which will measure just the signal processing onits own unfortunately. Many measurement techniques are also not explained and soit is important to try and get a picture from various sources if possible tomake an informed judgement about a display overall.

For our tests we will continue to use the SMTTtool to measure the overall "display lag". From there we can use ouroscilloscope system to measure the response time across a wide range of grey togrey (G2G) transitions as recorded in ourresponse timetests. Since SMTT will not include the full response time within itsmeasurements, after speaking with Thomas further about the situation we willsubtract half of the average G2G response time from the total display lag. This should allow us to give a good estimation ofhow much of the overall lag is attributable to the signal processing element onits own.

Lag Classification

To help in this section we will also introduce a broader classification systemfor these results to help categorise each screen as one of the following levels:

• Class 1)Less than 16ms / 1 frame lag - should be fine for gamers, even at high levels

• Class2) A lag of 16 -32ms / One to two frames - moderate lag but should be fine for many gamers.Caution advised for serious gaming and FPS

• Class3) A lag of morethan 32ms / more than 2 frames - Some noticeable lag in daily usage, notsuitable for high end gaming

For the full reviews of the models compared here and the dates they were written(and when screens were approximately released to the market), please see ourfullreviews index.

We have provided a comparison above against othermodels we have tested to give an indication between screens. The screenstested are split into two measurements which arebased on our overall display lag tests (using SMTT) and half the average G2Gresponse time, as measured by the oscilloscope. The response time is split fromthe overall display lag and shown on the graph as the green bar. From there, thesignal processing (red bar) can be provided as a good estimation.

The screen showed a total average display lag of25.6 ms as measured with SMTT 2. Taking into account half the average G2Gresponse time at 5.8ms ('Normal' Response Time setting), we can estimate thatthere is ~19.8 ms of signalprocessing lag on this screen, just over 2 frame of delay. This is a moderatelag, and might make the screen a little limited when it comes to very fastgaming and FPS.

Movies and Video

The following summarises the screens performancein video applications:

• 34"screen size makes it a good optionfor an all-in-one multimedia screen, andpushing towards the diagonal size of a lot of smaller end LCD TV's even.

• 21:9aspect ratio is well suited to videos and particularly movies, leaving smallerborders on DVD's and wide screen content at the top and bottom. The ultra-wideaspect and size is well-suited to watching movies and really works well.

• 3440 x1440 resolution can support full 1080 HD resolution content.

• Digital interface support HDCP for any encrypted and protected content

• HDMI and DisplayPort connections available.Nice to see HDMI connectivity included for modern DVD players, Blu-ray,consoles etc.

• Cables provided in the boxfor HDMI and DisplayPort.

• LightAG coating provides clear images with no major graininess, and without theunwanted reflections of a glossy solution.

• Widebrightness range adjustment possible from the display, including high maximumluminance of ~300 cd/m² and a very good minimumluminance of 16 cd/m². This should afford you very good control fordifferent lighting conditions. Contrast ratio remains stable across most ofthat adjustment range as well and is excellent for an IPS-type panel at>1000:1. Brightness regulation is controlled without the need for PWM and sois flicker free at all settings which is pleasing.

• Blackdepth and contrast ratio are excellent for an IPS-type panel at 1089:1 aftercalibration. Detail in darker scenes should not be lost as a result.

• Thereis a specific 'movie' preset mode available for movies or video in the OSDwhich looked noticeably cooler than out calibrated custom mode. It gives youaccess to the dynamic contrast ratio option as well if you want to use it.

• Goodpixel responsiveness which can handle fast moving scenes in movies withoutissue. No real overshoot issues which is good news. Just stick to the 'Normal'Response Time setting for optimum performance.

• Wide viewing angles from IPS panel technologymeaning several people could view the screen at once comfortable and from awhole host of different angles. White IPS glow from an angle may be an issuefor some darker content.

• Someslight areas of backlight leakage but nothing major on our sample which isgood. Some uniformity variations may be visible on darker movie scenes indarkened room conditions.

• Good range range of ergonomic adjustmentsavailable from the stand, making it easy to position the screen in differentways for viewing from different positions.

• Integrated 2x 9W stereo speakers offered on this model, may be ok for the oddvideo clip but probably not for any movie viewing.

• Decentenough range ofhardware aspect ratio options available which is very useful for externaldevices.

• Picture By Picture (PbP) and Picture In Picture (PiP) are available on thismodel.

Conclusion

The size and format of the Dell U3415W took a fewdays to get used to, but after that we really did enjoy working with the widedesktop space, high resolution and comfortable pixel pitch size. The curvedformat was also nice to work with we felt, providing an immersive experience anda more natural feel than the flat 34" models we've seen. Performance wise thefactory calibration was very pleasing, with a decent setup out of the box. Thiswas coupled with a strong IPS contrast ratio as well which impressed us. The useof a flicker free backlight and light AG coating, as we've seen from all recentDell UltraSharp models, was great news as well. Something which Dell shouldreally start promoting we think.

Unlike the LG 34UM95 we tested, the stand was farmore versatile here, offering a good range of adjustments. Connectivity was goodand it was nice to see a few extras such as the dual USB upstream, integratedspeakers and USB 3.0 support offered here. Dell have done a good job with thefeatures on this model. They've even included a high end feature from theirpremium grade screens, the uniformity compensation function. This worked verywell at improving the panel uniformity, it's just a shame it's not more flexiblein its operation - being locked at a certain brightness level when used.Response times were moderate for an IPS panel, but we had perhaps hoped for alittle better given some of the smaller IPS models we've tested from Dellrecently. Maybe the 'fast' response time mode could have done with being alittle less aggressive to make it more useable.

Overall the U3415W offered some good all-roundperformance you'd expect from a modern IPS panel. It was coupled with a nice setof extras, stand adjustments and features making it a nice choice if you areafter an ultra-wide screen in this size range.

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Dell U3415W Now Available