Dell Launches 49-inch Dual Quad-HD Ultrawide & USB-C Monitors

In the tech industry, we expect a fast pace. New CPUs, faster graphics, more memory, faster storage, everything is more and faster. However, the humble monitor is often left behind with the advances. While companies try to push higher resolutions and larger panels, fundamentally they have remained the same for a long time.

In the last 5 years, we have seen an explosion in capabilities from monitors. It took about a decade to go from CGA to VGA monitors. It took another decade to switch from 15-inch CRTs to 15-inch LCD displays, and then another decade to bring us to 24-inch 1080p displays being the standard. In the last 5 years, we’ve seen the introduction of 4K capabilities, the ultrawide format, High Dynamic Range, 144Hz refresh, Adaptive Refresh technologies such as FreeSync and G-SYNC, and finally the single cable connection that combine power, data and video into one.

Dell may be better known by most for its computers and workstations, but it offers some of the best monitors on the market, especially with its UltraSharp range, with extended warranties, zero dead-pixel guarantees, and some really nice stands. Hitting markets today is an updated collection of some rather interesting monitors, mostly targeted at professionals rather than gamers, including the use of USB-C across the board, and a really interesting ultrawide offering.

Dell’s UltraSharp U4919DW is a 49-inch, curved, ultrawide monitor that goes beyond the 21:9 aspect ratio we see with current offerings, as it’s a dual QHD, or dual quad monitor (wrap your brain around that one). It has an aspect ratio of 32:9 with a total resolution of 5120×1440, in effect, two 27-inch 1440p displays in one package and no central bezel. Its party trick is the built-in KVM which allows two computers to use the same display at the same time with a single keyboard and mouse, using picture-by-picture, as both PCs will display their own 1440p desktop. If this rather extreme 32:9 is a bit much, there is a more standard ultrawide 21:9 offering too.

The U3219Q is a 32-inch 4K monitor with VESA certified DisplayHDR 400 – meaning HDR with 400 nits of brightness. This isn’t quite up to what we see with TVs which recommend 1000 nits for the full HDR effect, it does at least conform to the 10-bit color standard. This monitor, along with the 49 and 34-inch curved ultrawides, and the 24 and 27-inch standard HD aspect ratio monitors, all come with USB-C support.

USB-C, or USB Type-C if you prefer, is the universal, reversible USB port that’s been slowly taking over mobile phones. More recently, it also found its way onto NVIDIA’s RTX graphics cards in the form of VirtualLink. USB-C by itself is just a port, but with the right assisting standards like VirtualLink, it allows for video display, data, and power delivery to be sent over a single cable.

On these monitors, it ticks all the boxes, as the USB-C port will allow the monitor to power and recharge laptops and other devices connected to it (up to 90 watts), while also providing video display, and additional USB ports for connecting a keyboard and mouse, extra storage over USB 3.1, and reducing wire clutter at the same time. In effect, USB-C turns your monitor into a dock as well, with just a single connector.

The flagship 49-inch dual QHD monster will be released in the next couple of weeks with a rather expected and hefty $1700 price tag. The 32-inch 4K HDR U3219Q is available now for $1100, along with the 34-inch curved U3419W, for $1150. The 27-inch and 24-inch USB-C monitors will go for $650 and $400 respectively – in effect a $50 premium over the non USB-C variants. All but the 49-inch are available as of today.