Dell Ultrasharp U3223QE

Is this the sharpest tool in the box?

- JEREMY LAIRD

MAYBE WE NEED to get out more, but there was genuine excitement when the new Dell Ultrasharp U3223QE, a sober-suited 32-inch monitor designed primarily for productivity, landed at Maximum PC. The U3223QE has limited HDR support, no local dimming, runs at a mere 60Hz and doesn't have quantum dots or lots of tiny LED backlights. It isn't even curved.

So what's the big deal? Dell claims it is the first use of 'IPS Black' technology from LG, the first company to mass-produce IPS panels. IPS Black improves the contrast performance of IPS panels to fully 2,000:1. That's a big boost over the best existing IPS screens, which are good for 1,300:1 and have been stuck at that level for nearly a decade. Many current IPS screens only manage 1,000:1.