Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor overview: Massive and in cost

Finest Costs At the moment: Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor

Again in my day, a 21-inch CRT show was thought-about gigantic. Today, pc screens can ceaselessly attain TV-like dimensions—and the Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor is among the many largest screens but. This 52-inch behemoth suggestions the scales at 40 kilos and ships in a field roughly as massive as most 65-inch HDTVs. It additionally has an unlimited $2,899.99 MSRP. So, is it definitely worth the worth?

Learn on to study extra, then see our roundup of the most effective screens for comparability.

Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor U5226KW specs and options

The star of the present is actually the Dell Ultrasharp 52’s show panel. It’s not solely massive at 51.5 inches diagonally but additionally pixel dense with a decision of 6144×2560. It’s an IPS Black panel and affords refresh charges as much as 120Hz.

• Show measurement: 51.5-inch, 21:9 side ratio
• Native decision: 6144x,2560
• Panel kind: IPS Black LCD
• Refresh fee: 120Hz
• Adaptive sync: VRR suitable
• HDR: None
• Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4, 4x USB Kind-A 10Gbps downstream ports, 3x USB-C 10Gbps upstream port, 1x Thunderbolt 4 40Gbps upstream ports with DisplayPort 1.4 and 140 watts of Energy Supply, 1x RJ45 2.5GbE Ethernet, 1x USB Kind-A 10Gbps downstream, 2x USB-C 10Gbps downstream with 27 watts of Energy Supply
• Audio: 2x 9-watt audio system
• Further Options: Mild sensor, VESA mount
• Software program help: Home windows 11, MacOS later
• Value: $2,899.99 MSRP

There’s much more to the story than the show panel, although. The Ultrasharp 52 has a give attention to connectivity that spans a Thunderbolt 4 port, 5 USB-A ports, 5 USB-C ports, and Ethernet. It additionally supplies 140 watts of Energy Supply over Thunderbolt 4, a critical improve over the extra typical 65 to 90 watts.

None of this comes cheaply, nevertheless. The monitor has an MSRP of $2,899.99 and is at the moment offered at that worth.

Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor design

The Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor is massive. Actually massive. The 52-inch ultrawide show supplies roughly the identical complete show space as a 48-inch widescreen tv although, resulting from its 21:9 side ratio, the Dell Ultrasharp 52 is a number of inches shorter and about 5 inches narrower. It measures about 52 inches broad backward and forward—that’s over 4 toes! It’s the widest monitor that I’ve ever reviewed, because it’s a number of tenths of an inch wider than a 49-inch super-ultrawide just like the Philips Evnia 8000 or Dell Ultrasharp U4924DW.

In fact, meaning you’ll want a big house to comfortably place the show. My desk has room at over 6-feet broad, however it’s not that deep at 26 inches, so I usually felt I used to be too near the monitor. You’ll in all probability desire a desk with 30 inches of depth or extra. The Ultrasharp 52 can also be a lot heavier than standard. The panel alone weighs 28.5 kilos and the entire weight with stand connected is over 40 kilos. By comparability, my 48-inch LG B4 tv weighs lower than 25 kilos. None of it is a draw back, actually, however it’s one thing you must know before you purchase.

Regardless of its measurement and ultrawide side ratio, the Ultrasharp 52 sticks to a delicate 4200R curvature. A decrease quantity means a extra dramatic curve, and lots of super-ultrawide screens have a curve of 1800R or 1500R. The Ultrasharp 52 appears flat at a look although the curve is straightforward to note on nearer inspection. Whereas the delicate curve won’t be preferable for gaming, I choose it for productiveness and artistic work. A dramatic curve can barely skew how content material seems on a show.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

A beefy stand retains the Ultrasharp 52’s bulk in test and supplies some ergonomic adjustment for peak, tilt, and swivel, in addition to a pair levels of slant (that means the show can rotate a pair levels in every course). The quantity of ergonomic adjustment is lower than regular for a monitor at this worth level, although that’s a consequence of the show’s measurement and side ratio. Rotating right into a portrait orientation could be comical. Even swivel is restrained to simply 40 levels total, because the show is so broad that it’s prone to begin knocking issues off your desk whenever you transfer it.

Due to its measurement, the Ultrasharp 52 has not solely a 100x100mm VESA mount but additionally a 200x100mm and 200x200mm mount choice, which is extraordinarily uncommon for a pc monitor. You possibly can even order the Ultrasharp 52 with no stand if you wish to go straight for a heavy-duty monitor arm or a wall-mount, however this may solely save $100.

Construct high quality is excellent. Massive ultrawide screens can typically really feel a bit flimsy, however the Ultrasharp feels inflexible and hefty. Whereas I nonetheless wouldn’t need to drop it, the plastics didn’t noticeably creak or warp as I dealt with the show—one thing that may occur with screens on this class. That’s good, as a result of the monitor’s excessive MSRP would make construct high quality points troublesome to forgive.

Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor connectivity

The Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor is, nicely, a hub monitor. What does that imply? Put merely, it means it has a boat-load of connectivity. Nevertheless, opposite to what you may suppose, it’s truly not all about Thunderbolt 4.

Nonetheless, let’s discuss Thunderbolt first. The Ultrasharp 52 has a Thunderbolt 4 port with a 40Gbps information fee. This port additionally after all helps DisplayPort, so it may be used as a video enter (and can work with USB-C sources that help DisplayPort). It additionally has as much as 140 watts of Energy Supply, which is sufficient to energy many Home windows laptops and all present MacBook fashions. That makes for straightforward single-cable connections to a laptop computer.

Nevertheless, the true focus is just not on the Thunderbolt enter however, quite, what that Thunderbolt port connects to. That is the place the hub is available in.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The Ultrasharp 52 has a complete of 5 USB-A downstream ports and two USB-C downstream ports. Most of those are on the rear of the show, however two USB-C ports and one USB-A port are in a pop-out module on the decrease bezel. The USB-C ports on the entrance can ship as much as 27 watts of energy, which is useful if you wish to rapidly cost a cellphone or pill. The show can drive as much as 150 watts of energy total.

Along with the Thunderbolt 4, these ports will also be pushed by three USB-C upstream ports on the rear of the show. Which means you may join the monitor’s ports to as much as 4 units. A KVM swap is used to modify between them.

A 2.5Gbps Ethernet port will also be discovered lurking across the rear. That is an uncommon, if not fully distinctive, characteristic for a monitor. The inclusion of an Ethernet port means you may deliver high-speed wired Web connectivity to a laptop computer or different gadget related to the monitor.

Whereas the Thunderbolt 4 is de facto the star of the present by way of video connectivity, because it additionally supplies connections to the monitor’s many USB ports, you’ve a whole lot of different choices. The monitor has two HDMI 2.1 ports and two DisplayPort 1.4 ports.

Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor menus and options

Though it’s meant for work, the Ultrasharp 52 is designed extra for day merchants than digital artists. Nonetheless, it does have a good vary of picture high quality changes together with gamma, shade temperature, and shade saturation calibration. Although it lacks a built-in or included colorimeter, the vary of picture high quality adjustment out there right here will likely be sufficient to fulfill creatives who work with purchasers that don’t demand exacting shade accuracy and tight conformance to specific shade requirements.

The Ultrasharp 52 is suitable with Dell’s Show and Peripheral Supervisor software program, which makes it potential to vary monitor settings via a desktop software program interface on Home windows 11 and MacOS machines. The monitor can also be suitable with distant administration software program that permits IT departments to remotely handle choices throughout a fleet of shows.

As talked about, a KVM swap is included. That’s by no means uncommon for a contemporary monitor, however the Ultrasharp 52 additionally has an Ethernet Swap Mode, which can be utilized to modify the Ethernet port’s connectivity together with the remainder of the monitor’s connectivity.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The monitor additionally helps automated brightness and shade temperature adjustment. Nevertheless, I discovered that these options didn’t work nicely. The pace of adjustment between completely different ranges of brightness, or completely different shade temperature modes, was speedy and distracting. I additionally discovered the auto-brightness mode was usually too vivid, and whereas there’s an auto-brightness vary setting that appears supposed to supply some adjustment, I used to be by no means proud of how auto-brightness labored and finally turned it off.

Given its many options, you may have to learn the Ultrasharp 52’s handbook. Happily, Dell supplies higher documentation than most firms. This consists of not solely the person handbook but additionally a service handbook and teardown doc with in depth element, together with pictures, that reveals find out how to tear down and restore the show.

Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor audio

The Dell Ultrasharp 52 has two 9-watt audio system. They supply nice quantity and a strong sound with good readability at most quantity ranges, although distortion can develop into a problem on the highest volumes. Audiophiles will certainly nonetheless need to use exterior audio system or headphones, however much less discerning listeners are prone to be glad by the built-in audio system. That offers the Ultrasharp 52 an edge, as many screens designed for productiveness or enterprise have weak audio system.

Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor SDR picture high quality

Like many latest Dell Ultrasharp screens, the Ultrasharp 52 has an IPS Black show. The sort of show panel, which is comparatively new, boosts distinction when in comparison with different IPS panel varieties and retains the expertise’s strengths in shade efficiency and brightness. That is largely excellent news for the Ultrasharp 52, although distinction stays a priority.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The Ultrasharp 52 achieved a most sustained SDR brightness of 336 nits. Because the graph reveals, this isn’t all that vivid for a show on this class, although it’s not dim both.

Even so, 336 nits is greater than sufficient for many conditions. It can solely appear dim should you’re in a room that lacks gentle management and has sunlit home windows or a whole lot of synthetic gentle.

As well as, the Ultrasharp 52 has an efficient anti-glare coat and matte end. It doesn’t readily present reflections, that are subtle throughout the show floor. Additionally, the show’s delicate curve doesn’t endure the light-focusing impact that may enhance glare on extra dramatically curved shows. All in all, it seems vivid and readable in most conditions.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Distinction is the place the Ultrasharp 52 falls brief despite the IPS Black panel’s improved distinction efficiency. A measured distinction ratio of 1960:1 is strong for an IPS monitor, and it seems immersive in brighter rooms.

Nevertheless, utilizing the monitor in a darkish room will nonetheless reveal the “IPS glow” which is attributable to the monitor backlight. The impact is apparent and never uniform throughout the show, so it may be distracting. To be truthful, the Ultrasharp 52’s total uniformity is healthier than many ultrawide LCD screens, however I nonetheless observed a really slight enhance in brightness within the decrease proper aspect of the show as in comparison with the left. My colorimeter confirmed this with a most brightness variance of 18.2 %.

You’ll have to ask your self how you propose to make use of the monitor. If you wish to use it for workplace and enterprise productiveness, and even for much less color-critical artistic work, the distinction provided right here is okay. However if you wish to recreation, or watch motion pictures, you must contemplate a 45-inch OLED ultrawide just like the LG Ultragear 45GX950A-B.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Whereas the Ultrasharp 52’s distinction is simply okay, it does higher in shade gamut. I discovered the monitor can show 98 % of the DCI-P3 and 90 % of the AdobeRGB shade gamut. These figures are barely behind QD-OLED screens, which have a tendency to realize comparable ends in DCI-P3 and 93 to 95 % in AdobeRGB. Nevertheless, the Ultrasharp 52’s shade gamut remains to be extraordinarily broad and supplies a vivid, saturated picture.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The Ultrasharp 52’s shade accuracy outcomes are extra middle-of-the-road. This degree of shade error is not at all an issue, however because the graph reveals, it’s not on the high of the category.

I observed that a considerable amount of the monitor’s common shade error got here from the grayscale outcomes, so I used to be not too shocked to seek out the monitor produced a gamma curve of two.1, which is barely off the goal gamma 2.2. This means that the picture appears a bit brighter and extra luminescent than it ought to. It’s powerful to note although, so this isn’t a present stopper. The colour temperature was additionally only a tad astray with a measured default shade temperature of 6700K, off the goal of 6500K. Nevertheless, the monitor does have settings for each shade temperature and gamma, so it’s potential to come back nearer to those targets—or whichever setting you favor.

Sharpness is an attention-grabbing dialog. The Ultrasharp 52 has a local decision of 6144×2560. That’s greater than 15 million pixels total and nearly twice as many pixels as a 4K show and ends in a pixel density of 129 pixels per inch. Whereas it’s positively not as sharp as a 27-inch 4K show, the Ultrasharp 52’s pixel density beats the LG 45GX950A-B (123 ppi) and much exceeds most 49-inch super-ultrawide screens (which usually pack in 109 ppi).

Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor HDR picture high quality

You is perhaps shocked to listen to that the Dell Ultrasharp 52 doesn’t help HDR. Most screens on this worth vary do, after all, so the dearth of HDR is a mark in opposition to the monitor.

However, I respect that Dell didn’t attempt to stuff HDR into the monitor by ramping up the backlight and calling it a day—a tactic that’s widespread amongst IPS screens that declare HDR help.

Nonetheless, if you’d like HDR, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor movement efficiency

Whereas the Dell Ultrasharp 52 lacks HDR, it does handle to supply a refresh fee of 120Hz. That’s a bit shocking given the monitor’s measurement and excessive decision and it’s actually excellent news for movement readability and fluidity in video games.

Nonetheless, you shouldn’t get too excited. Whereas it will probably deal with a refresh fee of 120Hz, the monitor quotes gray-to-gray response occasions no decrease than 5 milliseconds. By comparability, the quickest IPS gaming screens have response occasions under one millisecond and OLED screens have response occasions as little as 0.03 milliseconds. In follow, meaning the Ultrasharp 52 will present extra movement blur than a show with a decrease pixel response time.

The monitor additionally doesn’t have official help for VESA Adaptive Sync, AMD FreeSync, or G-Sync, although my AMD video card did detect it as an AMD FreeSync show.

Do you have to purchase the Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor?

The Dell Ultrasharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor has a selected viewers in thoughts. It’s focused at individuals who need to substitute a number of smaller screens with a single show or need to broaden their total show actual property. That performance is mixed with a number of connectivity, which is useful if you wish to work throughout a number of units or want to attach a whole lot of peripherals.

Those that desire a monitor for leisure will discover the Ultrasharp 52 much less interesting. It’s not unhealthy on this function, because it not less than supplies a 120Hz refresh fee and a pointy, color-rich picture. Nevertheless, the monitor’s restricted distinction and lack of HDR help are notable downsides. The monitor can also be costlier than OLED ultrawides which, although smaller, have even higher picture high quality.

It’s positively not for everybody, however should you’re searching for a big show with well-rounded efficiency and top-tier connectivity, the Ultrasharp 52 is massive and in cost.