DELL 4K IPS Monitor S2721QS is now under $200

A decent 4K IPS monitor cost over $1000 a few years ago but is now available for under $200. The monitor we are talking about is the Dell S2721QS, launched at the beginning of the 4K era with a hefty price tag but now becoming one of the best-selling 4K monitors due to its unbeatable price. Of course, this monitor doesn’t have OLED-type features or a high refresh rate for competitive gaming, but if you don’t care too much about FPS gaming or true HDR performance, this 27-inch monitor is a great choice without destroying your wallet. 

Design: The Dell S2721QS has excellent build quality, looks clean and simple on the desk, and provides all types of adjustability features including tilt, height, swivel, and pivot. In addition, it supports 100x100mm VESA mounting to hook with an external monitor arm. The S2721QS doesn’t glow RGB lighting on the back, and no unnecessary components are included in the monitor that could increase the overall unit cost. This is a nice approach to keep the price competitive and we appreciate it. 

Speaking of the I/O ports, just a pair of HDMI 2.0 ports with a DP 1.2 port are display connectivity options. The regular HDMI 2.0 and DP1.2 are old connection types these days but deliver the necessary bandwidth to drive the 4K resolution due to the lower 60Hz refresh rate. There is no USB hub or modern USB-C ports as expected from a budget 4K monitor. 

It includes a pair of 3W speakers for emergencies if you don’t have headphones or speakers but the sound quality is poor, similar to other integrated monitor speakers. The remaining I/O port is a 3.5mm audio port. Thanks to Dell for embedding the power circuit inside the monitor, we don’t have to bother with additional power bricks. The monitor is energy efficient and consumes only 30-40W when the display is ON and 0.3W in standby mode. The OSD interface is simple and controlled by the button sets located at the bottom. The S2721QS is entirely built of high-quality plastics, though the stand has few metal touches. 

Image Quality: The Dell S2721QS uses an IPS panel to deliver excellent 4K (3840 x 2160) picture quality. It has a high pixel (163 PPI) density and produces crystal-clear image quality. This is an 8bit+FRC panel that technically delivers 1.07B color, so gradients are smooth as expected from any 10-bit monitor. Moreover, the S2721QS also supports HDR though HDR on a 350-nit monitor is meaningless, and only provides a bit of boosted colors while watching YouTube videos. 

Dell claims to have 99% sRGB coverage, but dedicated sRGB mode isn’t available on this monitor. The absence of the sRGB mode produces slightly saturated pictures with the default color profile. However, the monitor can deliver excellent color accuracy after proper calibration. The contrast ratio is the weakest point for any IPS monitor and Dell  S2721QS is no exception. It produces a bit greyish black instead of pure black which is only available on OLED monitors. However, the monitor exceeds its official 1000:1 contrast ratio by scoring around 1200:1 on the contrast ratio test. 

Gaming Performance: This monitor isn’t a great choice for competitive gamers as the refresh rate is limited to 60hz. Dell also didn’t advertise this monitor as a gaming monitor, but it performs well in gaming as input lag is only 8.7ms on average being an IPS panel. Response time is also decent, with a 4ms response timing in extreme overdrive mode and 8ms grey-to-grey in normal overdrive mode. However, extreme overdrive mode does introduce some inverse ghosting thus we recommend the normal mode which is a bit slow, but reduces inverse ghosting by a significant margin. 

The Dell S2721QS does support AMD Freesync to eliminate ghosting and tearing but it’s only available on DP port. Dell provides a standard HDMI cable with this monitor, sadly no DP cable is included in the package. You have to buy a separate DP cable to activate FreeSync.  

You don’t need more than a 60Hz monitor if you love playing story-based AAA titles unless you have a powerful graphics card. Recent AAA titles Black Myth: Wukong, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle strike hard with sky-high hardware requirements. Even the most powerful RTX 4090 struggles to maintain 60FPS in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle without DLSS frame generation.