Dell UltraSharp 32 4K QD-OLED Monitor U3226Q Review

Design

• Non-descript, black chassis
• Solid stand adjustment
• Oodles of ports

The look of this Dell monitor doesn’t scream, well, anything really. There aren’t any logos or design flourishes to even suggest the manufacturer, let alone how serious this screen is for design work. The closest you’ll get is the magnetic anti-glare hood that comes in the box, which allows this screen to show off those design-first credentials a little more.

The stand features a flat base, so the U3226Q isn’t a hog for desk depth, while it fits together in a convenient, toolless manner in a similar fashion to other screens. The stand snaps into place on the rear of the panel, with the base screwing into the bottom of the stand’s arm. It means you can be up and running with this Dell screen in a matter of minutes.

The stand also has solid adjustment, with good scope for tilt, pivot and height adjustment. It’ll also swing around into portrait orientation if you need it to.

The ports are set into the underside of the U3226Q, making them a little inconvenient to access in some instances, although this screen does well for its connectivity. We’ve got two HDMI 2.1 ports, a DP 1.4, plus a range of USB-C ports.

One of them is a Thunderbolt 4 upstream port that provides display power and up to 140W of power delivery, while the other is a Thunderbolt 4 downstream port with display out. It means you can daisy chain this monitor to another screen with the downstream USB-C, and connect a laptop to the upstream port to get a laptop hooked up to two screens with just two USB-C ports.

There are also two other USB-C ports alongside three USB-A ports that can be accessed via the Thunderbolt 4 upstream port, which essentially allows this monitor to be its own docking station. You’ll also find 2.5-Gig Ethernet here, too, for stable and brisk wired networking.

Of course, the U3226Q can also act as a KVM switch, so you can have a set of peripherals hooked up to it, switch between different connected devices to the one monitor, and use the same inputs across all of them. This is certainly a screen for power users.

Image Quality

• Impeccable image quality
• Deep blacks, as well as good contrast and colours
• SDR brightness is a little low, but in line with rivals

Dell has kitted out the U3226Q with a panel that seems ideal for creative work, packing in a rich and detailed 32-inch 4K QD-OLED 120Hz screen that covers the entire front panel with thin bezels all around. 

The 32-inch screen size provides ample space for on-screen action, while its 4K resolution offers sublime detail, with text crisp and sharp for productivity workloads, thanks to a pixel density of 140ppi, which isn’t bad given the larger screen size. 

The 120Hz refresh rate here is more for aiding general responsiveness than for gaming, although this screen does have Adaptive Sync VRR if you want to try some casual gaming. As an OLED, it should also have instant pixel response times, too.

Being a QD-OLED panel means you’re getting deep, inky blacks and great contrast that has become the hallmark of the type, with my trusty colorimeter measuring respective levels of 0.03 and 6800:1 in SDR mode. The contrast ratio may not be as high as comparable gaming screens, but it’s still enough to give some great dynamic range. Its 6300K white point gives the screen a near-perfect colour temperature.

The monitor ships with HDR enabled, which yields a quoted peak brightness just shy of 600 nits according to the Windows advanced display settings. The U3226Q supports VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500, plus Dolby Vision, HDR and HLG (no HDR10+, though), which makes it ideal for video editors and the like working with HDR-enabled content.

Colour accuracy on this Dell screen is virtually impeccable, too, with 100% sRGB, 99% DCI-P3 and 92% Adobe RGB coverage. This signals just how well-suited this screen is to both generalist productivity workloads and the photo and video editing tasks it is most likely to be used for.

As is traditional with a QD-OLED screen, where this panel falls down is with its peak SDR brightness. My colorimeter measured 280.8 nits, which is in keeping with the 300 nits luminance the U3226Q quotes on its brightness slider in the OSD, although in a smaller window, and with HDR-supported content, it is likely to go a lot higher, not least with its swathes of HDR support.

Software and Features

• Very extensive OSD
• No speakers

The U3226Q has one of the most extensive OSDs I’ve ever seen on a monitor, offering everything from basic brightness, contrast, and input selection to calibration and validation across many menus. 

It’s controlled mostly with the joystick on the bottom of the right side of the screen, plus you get three configurable easy-access menus with touch buttons on the left of the bottom bezel that, by default, control HDR standards, input selection and colour space selection. You can also use Dell’s handy desktop software to control these OSD settings, which may be better if you don’t want to be overwhelmed with the selection on offer here.

It even has a decently accurate built-in colorimeter that pops out from the bottom bezel when you want to calibrate the screen – it takes a few minutes to run, and returns an automatic calibration.

Unlike some of its other screens, Dell has opted to give the U3226Q no speakers, meaning you’ll need to opt for a headset or some separates for desktop audio.

Should you buy it?