High-resolution screens are becoming common on smartphones, tablets, and laptops. But what about desktop displays? There are a handful of desktop monitors with screen resolutions higher than 1920 x 1080 pixels, but they tend to have high price tags that are easily mistaken for their pixel counts.

Dell’s new 28 inch Ultra HD monitor isn’t exactly cheap… but at $699, it’s one of the most affordable 4K monitors announced to date.

Dell 28 inch Ultra HD monitor

The monitor features a 3840 x 2160 pixel display and a stand that lets you twist the screen 90 degrees so you can use it in landscape or portrait mode.

Dell already offers some Ultra HD monitors, including a 32 inch and 28 inch models — but they sell for for $3500 and $1300, respectively.

Update: There’s a reason this model will be priced so much lower. It has a TN display which won’t have the same wide viewing angles as an IPS display. And it has a screen refresh rate of 30Hz at 3840 x 2160 pixel resolutions. If you set the resolution to 1920 x 1080 it will function as a 60Hz screen.

Dell hasn’t revealed exactly why it’s new model will be so much cheaper, but it’s possible that the company will have cut some corners in order to pack that many pixels into a screen that size and still sell it for a relatively low price. Or maybe the prices of high-resolution display panels are falling fast and Dell is just among the first to monopolize on the trend (following in the footsteps of Seiki Digital, which offers affordable 4K televisions).

Dell’s new 28 inch Ultra HD monitor should be available for purchase starting January 23rd, 2014.

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12 replies on “Dell introduces a 28 inch, 4K monitor for $699”

  1. I think the naming conventions have to be more consistent and accurate. Numbers such as 720p and 1080p have referred to the vertical resolution. 4K refers to the horizontal resolution. The 3840 x 2160 should be more properly referred to as 2160p. 4K sounds more like marketing hype/BS, as it’s a bit of a stretch to claim 4000 or 4096 pixels, depending on how you calculate, vs the actual 3840. Add to this the abysmal refresh rate and limitations of the image data transfer protocol.

    Sounds like being back in the olden days of CRTs when the diagonal measurement included the area behind the bezel, and a lawsuit was needed for the manufacturers to tell the truth. Or the current era where flash storage is quoted in raw numbers, with remaining usable space a much smaller and rarely mentioned number.

    I’ll wait until these monitors are ready for prime time.

    1. 4K is actually a pro/cinema standard, which has a resolution of 4096×2160. Unfortunately the term was appropriated by the marketing droids, presumably because they thought 2160p didn’t sound catchy enough, and now we have all the confusion of people referring to 3840 x 2160 as 4K too. Sadly the term seems to have entered wide enough use that there’s not much chance of correcting the misnomer now.

      As for this monitor, I’d initially heard it was going to be an IPS panel, and I’d already put aside the money to buy it on day one. I’m certainly not taking a step back to using a TN panel, even for glorious UHD resolution in a desktop sized monitor. Please, someone hurry up and bring us an IPS panel in this size and resolution!

  2. Something to bear in mind is what resolution your video output/adapter will support. 1920×1200 is the maximum for DVI and HDMI, and 2560×1600 with a DisplayPort.

    1. Actually for this resolution HDMI 1.4 will do 30Hz, dual link DVI will apparently do 33Hz, displayport 1.1 will also do 30Hz or DP 1.2 (2009 standard, so if you have DP you probably have 1.2) should do 60Hz.

        1. That is… Absolutely horrible, I was looking forward to 60Hz UHD (and the connections are up for it which was my point). Apparently there’s only one cheap panel being made and it’s a TN so all the 28″ displays will suffer, though it still has 8 or 10 bit colour if lenovo is using it which won’t be too bad, it should be a quality panel… Might also be a controller limitation as this 30Hz announcement hasn’t been too widespread

  3. Any info on the panel in this screen? I really hope it’s not a TN panel…

  4. Cool beans. Looks like I don’t have to go through the whole use an HDTV as a monitor route when I wanted a 1080p screen.

  5. Not sure I should quibble about the difference between 4K and Ultra HD (3840 x 2160). Either way, if this is a decent monitor (awaiting reviews) that is a fantastic price! I love that it can pivot. I use screens in both orientation.

    1. Aren’t there no single standardized definition of 4K? I hear 4K is an umbrella term for 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 per Sony), Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 per Consumer Electronics Association), DCI 4K (4096 x 2160 per Digital Cinema Initiatives consortium) and a bunch of other ones like 5120 x 2160, 3656 x 2664, 4096 x 3112, etc.

      The only thing that seems somewhat constant is that the horizontal resolution is “close” to 4000.

  6. Wow. I have U2711 that is something like 2560×1440 or whatever. It was about $900 when I bought it several years. One of the nice things about it is that it’s a matte screen. Is this new one glossy?

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