Dell’s UltraSharp 27 Ultra HD 5K Display Makes 4K Cry: Enter The 14.7 Megapixel Display

I somehow missed the announcement of this display last week, and despite me being late, I just have to talk about it. I’ve made it no secret in the past that I haven’t jumped on the 4K bandwagon, because gaming-wise, anyone who wishes to play at that resolution is getting the same aspect ratio as 1080p and 1440p, but dramatically increase their GPU requirements. How does Dell spite those notions? By releasing a 5K display, of course.

Behold, the Dell UltraSharp 27 Ultra HD 5K display, boasting a resolution of 5120×2880, set to launch in Q4 for a measly $2,499 USD.

Given the fact that we’re talking 5K vs. 4K, it’d be understandable if you thought that meant 25% more pixels. That’s not the case, however. Instead, this Dell display has 77% more pixels than standard 4K displays. 4K is 1080×4, whereas this 5K display is 1080×7. It’s almost mind-boggling.

It might be easier to understand if we have an example, so I put one together:

(Click here for a full-sized version.)

1080p seemed scrawny in comparison to 4K, but compared to 5K, it just becomes ridiculous. Maybe not quite as ridiculous as the 25 megapixel resolution we talked about last fall, but it’s significant nonetheless.

As Dell announced this 5K display alongside a number of business-class notebooks, I think it’s safe to say that it’s not targeting the regular consumer – and especially not the gamer. While important specs have not been revealed, such as refresh rate, we do know that color-accuracy is a big feature, and it’ll have built-in 16W Harmon Karden speakers.

So, if you want to make your friends who’ve just adopted 4K weep, prepare to shell out $2,499.