Dell S2721QSA 4K Monitor Review UK 2026

I’ve tested panels with every acronym going – IPS, VA, OLED, the lot. But specifications don’t tell you whether a monitor actually works for your needs. Does this Dell deliver 4K clarity without the usual compromises? That’s what two weeks of testing revealed.

Dell ships this with the usual cable assortment: HDMI and DisplayPort. No USB-C, which is fair enough at this price point. The OSD (on-screen display) uses buttons on the bottom right – not the worst implementation, but I’d prefer a joystick.

IPS remains the sensible choice for office work. You can look at the screen from an angle (which happens more than you’d think when you’re leaning back or showing something to a colleague) without colours shifting to grey. VA panels offer better contrast but suffer from colour shift. TN is cheaper but looks terrible off-axis.

The IPS glow is present – that’s the slight brightening you see in corners when viewing dark content in a dim room. It’s not excessive on my unit, but it’s there. If you work in a normally lit room, you won’t notice it. If you edit photos in the dark, it might bother you.

Response times are typical for a non-gaming IPS panel. You’ll see trailing in fast motion, which is fine for office work but noticeable in FPS games. Combined with 60Hz, this isn’t the monitor for competitive gaming.

Dell claims 4ms response time, but that’s in optimal conditions with specific transitions. In practice, you’re looking at 8-12ms for typical grey-to-grey transitions. That’s not terrible, but it’s not fast either.

The overdrive settings (called “Response Time” in the OSD) offer Normal, Fast, and Extreme. Extreme adds overshoot – that’s when pixels overshoot their target colour and create inverse ghosting. Stick with Normal for general use or Fast if you’re gaming and can tolerate slight overshoot.

Colour accuracy is where this monitor performs well for its price bracket. The sRGB coverage is complete, and Delta E averages around 2.1 out of the box. That’s good enough that most people won’t need to calibrate it.

There’s no sRGB clamp mode, but the panel doesn’t massively overshoot the sRGB gamut anyway. Some reds are slightly oversaturated (typical for IPS panels), but it’s not egregious. For office work and web browsing, it looks natural.

There’s no HDR here, which is honest. Dell didn’t slap on fake HDR400 certification. If you need HDR, you’re looking at the wrong monitor. For SDR content, it’s perfectly fine.

The lack of HDR is actually refreshing (pun intended). Too many monitors in this bracket have HDR400 certification, which is essentially useless – it’s just HDR metadata support without the brightness or contrast to make it worthwhile. Dell skipped the marketing checkbox, which I respect.

I tested this with a mix of games to see how it handles different scenarios. In slower-paced games like Civilization VI or Baldur’s Gate 3, the 4K resolution is brilliant. Text is sharp, and you can see more of the map or battlefield.

Fast-paced games expose the limitations. Playing Counter-Strike at 60Hz feels like moving through treacle if you’re used to 144Hz or higher. The response time adds motion blur that’s noticeable when tracking targets. FreeSync helps eliminate tearing, but it can’t fix the fundamental refresh rate limitation.

For console gaming, it works with PS5 and Xbox Series X, but you’re limited to 4K60 via HDMI 2.0. That’s fine for most console games, which target 60fps anyway. But you’re missing out on 120Hz support for games that offer it.

Build quality is solid though. The panel housing feels sturdy (plastic, but good plastic), and there’s no flex or creaking. The stand base is wide enough to be stable. Cable management is basic – a clip on the stand to route cables.

The lack of USB-C is a shame for laptop users, but understandable at this price. No USB hub either, so you can’t use the monitor as a connection point for peripherals. The audio jack is useful if you want to connect headphones or speakers directly to the monitor.

The BenQ GW2785TC costs slightly more but adds USB-C with 65W power delivery, which is brilliant for laptop users. However, you’re dropping to 1080p resolution. If you primarily use a laptop and want one-cable connectivity, the BenQ makes sense. If you want 4K, the Dell is sharper.

The LG 27UP550 is the closer competitor – same 4K resolution, similar price, but it adds HDR10 support. The HDR implementation is basic (HDR400 equivalent without certification), so it’s not a huge advantage. The LG has better ergonomics with height adjustment, which matters more than mediocre HDR.

Value depends entirely on your priorities. If you want 4K resolution for text clarity and don’t care about gaming, this represents solid value in the mid-range bracket. You’re getting a reliable panel with good colour accuracy and Dell’s typical build quality.

If gaming matters, you’d be better served by a 1440p 144Hz monitor in the same price range. The resolution drop is noticeable, but the gaming experience is dramatically better. For office work though, 4K at 27 inches is the sweet spot – big enough to see the detail, dense enough that scaling isn’t necessary.

The main competition comes from 1440p gaming monitors at similar prices. If you game more than you work, get one of those instead. But if text clarity and colour accuracy matter more than refresh rates, the Dell S2721QSA delivers.