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amazon Dell UltraSharp 49 U4919DW reviews
Samsung released the 49-inch CHG90 ultrawide gaming monitor and follow-up CRG9 in 2019. Monitor manufacturers announced their ultrawide monitors, although a few have yet to hit the market. We got our hands on Dell’s UltraSharp 49 Curved Monitor (U4919DW), went through the steps, and were not disappointed. Overall, this feature-packed 49-inch display is a surprise, and it performs well. Ironically, it’s the top choice not for gamers or video geeks but for productivity workers who need to display multiple windows on the screen simultaneously, side-by-side if you have the space and large desk for this huge display and the budget to pay for it.
This 49er is Ultrawide.
The heart of the U4919DW is a 49-inch (diagonal) ultrawide monitor. The display uses in-plane switching (IPS) technology, known for its color accuracy and wide viewing angles from outside, above, and below.
Including the stand, the monitor weighs 26.3 kg. You’ll need two people to move it into place, depending on the width of the U4919DW (48 inches) as well as its weight.
The monitor is placed on a sturdy stand that takes up a considerable space (25.4 x 35.6 cm). The stand has some handy details, supports 9cm height adjustment and 26-degree tilt adjustment. In addition, it is placed on a circle that can be rotated up to 170 degrees in either direction.
The story of two giants
While they are visually similar and their screens have the same size and aspect ratio, there are important differences between the business U4919DW and another pioneering 49-inch monitor, Samsung. CHG90, built for gaming.
The resolution of the U4919DW is much higher – 5,120 x 1,440 pixels, in contrast to Samsung’s 3,840 x 1,080. That means the U4919DW has a higher pixel density, 106 pixels per inch (PPI), compared to Samsung’s 81ppi. Pixel density that is too low can affect the sharpness of the image. Text and images displayed by the CHG90 aren’t particularly sharp, but the U4919DW handles both well. The 5,120 x 1,440 native resolution is functionally equivalent to two 1440p (2,560 x 1,440) monitors.
The word “curved” appears in the U4919DW’s official name, and the display swoops down gracefully, with a 3800R curvature rating. That means that if you put enough U4919DW monitors side-by-side to form a circle, it will have a 3,800mm or 3.8 meters radius. This amount of curvature is modest compared to the curved screen of the Samsung CHG90, which has a ratio of 1800R, one of the narrowest we have ever seen. Combined with the ultra-wide form of the display, the 1800R delivers an immersive gaming experience.
The gray-to-gray pixel response for the U4919DW in fast mode is 5 milliseconds, and the input lag — measured with the Leo Bodnar Latency Tester — hits an impressively low 9 milliseconds. The screen worked fine when I ran Far Cry 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider from our Windows 10 demo equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition card, with no significant issues.
But while good for casual gaming, the U4919DW’s refresh rate is only 60Hz, and it lacks adaptive sync technology to reduce screen tearing and other artifacts. In contrast, the CHG90’s refresh rate is a blazing fast 144Hz, and the display uses FreeSync 2, the latest version of AMD’s adaptive sync technology. The U4919DW also doesn’t support HDR output, unlike the CHG90.
An abundance of gates and controls
Connectors on the U4919DW include two HDMI 2.0 ports, two USB upstream and five downstream USB ports, one DisplayPort 1.4, and one USB Type-C port. You can use the last one to charge or power devices, while USB-C can also transfer data over the cable.
My laptop is a Dell XPS 13, with a USB Type-C port. Putting my XPS 13 to work while I was testing the U4919DW, I didn’t need to carry its power adapter. I can only connect the laptop via USB-C cable to the monitor, supporting the USB power delivery protocol (USB-PD). In this case, it enables high-speed charging with up to 90 watts of power delivery while receiving data over a single cable.
The U4919DW’s USB Type-C connection also enables another trick: virtual keyboard/video/mouse switching (KVM). You can easily control two different PCs connected to the U4919DW, as long as one is connected to the monitor’s USB-C port. You can allocate part of the screen to the display input of one computer and part to the other (here Dell calls it “picture”) and display both windows on the screen at the same time at the time. It’s a convenient privilege.
The physical controls include six small buttons on the bottom edge of the screen, a little to the right of the center. They’re a far cry from the mini joystick-style menu controllers you’re used to seeing on heavy-duty gaming monitors, but they’re not difficult to learn and operate.
The farthest left button is the on/off button, while the other five let you navigate the screen. From the Preset Mode button settings to the right of the on/off button, you can toggle between modes like Standard, Comfort View, Movie, Game, Color Temperature, and Custom Color.
The next button lets you control brightness and contrast, with sliders for each. The fourth allows you to select the input source (two HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C, or Auto-Select ports). The fifth section provides a menu to access all the settings listed here plus some additional settings, while the last button allows you to cancel a command.
Check color and brightness.
We measured the U4919DW’s brightness, contrast ratio, and color accuracy using a Klein K10-A colorimeter and our SpectraCal CalMAN 5 software. I measured the brightness in Standard mode at 253 nits, well below its rated 350 nit brightness but still a reasonable number for casual business use. I also measured its black levels and calculated a contrast ratio of 1,265:1, better than its 1,000:1 rating.
The above is a color, or chroma accuracy chart generated when testing in standard mode. The area inside the triangle represents all the colors created by mixing the primary colors red, green, and blue. The circles, representing our measurements, are located just outside the triangle and are fairly evenly spaced, showing a slightly expanded color gamut.
There’s nothing like the U4919DW on the market today, but that will change soon. At CES 2019, LG announced a 49-inch monitor with very similar specifications. Samsung will launch upgrade CHG90 to match the resolution of the U4919DW while still retains the curvature for gaming of the CHG90.
Multitasking heaven, at a devilish price
The UltraSharp 49 (U4919DW) curved monitor is sure to please multitaskers. This 49-inch business monitor lets you view multiple windows at once, so you can, for example, view your Slack feed and peruse your email while working on a spreadsheet. The possibilities and combinations are endless. Dell Display Manager software’s Easy Arrange feature allows you to split your screen into up to six windows easily. This IPS panel is bright and displays very good colors, and you have plenty of connectivity options.
One potential deal-breaker is the U4919DW’s hefty price tag. Even with a discount, it was very expensive. You can pick up the Samsung CHG90 and still spend hundreds of dollars less. The trade-off for the savings is the correspondingly lower native resolution and pixel density of that gaming-focused monitor, adversely affecting image quality. True to its UltraSharp moniker, the U4919DW displayed sharper images in our testing than what we saw with the CHG90.
A much cheaper alternative to the Dell UltraSharp is not a large monitor but a dual monitor array. Dell describes the U4919DW as “…equivalent to two 27-inch Dual QHD monitors with no middle bezel….” For example, you can choose two 27-inch QHD monitors from ViewSonic VP2768, which are super-thin, and snap them together for about $720, almost a thousand dollars less. (The VP2768 is a low-cost professional monitor that’s all about color accuracy.) That, or pairing similar 27-inch 1440p panels, might be a better fit if your workspace is tight. Suppose you want two screens rather than one giant screen. But if the idea of a large, wide, business-oriented monitor appeals to you, the U4919DW is a good choice if you can afford it.
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Dell UltraSharp U4919DW 49 inch Dual QHD Curved Monitor – 8ms Response Time, 2X HDMI, 1x DP, 5X USB Downstream, 2X USB Upstream 3.0, 1 x USB Type-C: Buy it now
Dell U4919DW UltraSharp 49-inch LED Backlit Curved Gaming Monitor with IPS, Vesa Compatible, Anti-Glare, Tilt, Swivel (HDMI, USB 3.0, USB-C, DisplayPort): Buy it now