Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Dell 6K U3224KB Monitor

Supacon said:
The matte antiglare coating adds a noticeable texture to uniform areas of the screen, making it less clear compared to the glossy LG UltraFine and Apple Studio displays. I’d much rather have a glossy option to avoid this texture.
Click to expand...

Lava Lamp Freak said:
and the anti-glare coating really started to bother me the more time I spent with it. At first I thought I was going to get used to the AG, but in comparison to the ASD it just looked like a dirty screen and it reduced the sharpness.
Click to expand...

It will be interesting to see what the upcoming Samsung 27" 5K will be like. Samsung claim to have come up with a more advanced antiglare coating ("UL Matte Display Technology"*) which they used on a couple of recent monitors, and I would assume might use on the 5K.

*https://www.samsung.com/uk/monitors/high-resolution/s80pb-27-27-inch-ips-uhd-hdr-ls27b800pxuxxu/

Also, personally I have a matte 24" 4K 185 ppi monitor at work, and a glossy 24" 4K 185 ppi Ultrafine at home. The glossy is definitely sharper for text, but the matte is still very comfortable in moderate lighting. In fact, perhaps it is "softer" on the eyes. One thing to note is that matte monitors actually lose contrast very quickly in bright environments as they have to do more scattering of incoming light. - maybe try repositioning your lights. I always aim to place my desk in the darkest corner of the room, with the user facing towards the window.
 
Indeed, a glossy display is much better if you have control of your lighting and positioning.

Unfortunately they can be too reflective in an office building with glaring lights everywhere or windows behind you. But no coating will help much if you have bright lights behind you, it just diffuses the reflection a bit to make it slightly less noticeable. It also diffuses the light coming out of the screen so it's a trade-off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: foliovision and ascender
Supacon said:
This morning my Mac showed the typical hand-slap you get for unplugging a drive without ejecting it. Concerning. the USB SSD I have plugged into the monitor had apparently disconnected.

Additionally, my USB audio interface wasn't working after a while and I ended up having to unplug it and plug it into another USB port. I tried rebooting the computer and that didn't work, but a different port in the monitor got it going.

Has anyone noticed such apparent reliability issues with the integrated USB hub? This is a major draw of this product so that's a huge knock against it if I can't trust the ports to work reliably!
Click to expand...
Did that happen when the display went to sleep or just in normal use?
 
Supacon said:
Indeed, a glossy display is much better if you have control of your lighting and positioning.

Unfortunately they can be too reflective in an office building with glaring lights everywhere or windows behind you.
Click to expand...

I have yet to see antiglare coating on any non-Apple monitor that's as good as what I've seen on 27" iMacs and MBPs. If glossy displays always had antiglare that good I'd probably always buy glossy, but with desktop monitors glossy tends to equate to "practically a mirror".
 
  • Like
Reactions: foliovision
I think that's for 2 reasons. Firstly the ASD has a fully laminated panel i.e. the glass is directly bonded to the LCD without an air gap. Secondly, I believe Apple paired with Corning to develop a multi-layer anti-reflection coating on the glass surface.

Having said that my LG Ultrafine (shiny plastic sheet in front of LCD with air gap) is perfectly fine in real life. But I don't test it in direct bright lighting.
 
ascender said:
Did that happen when the display went to sleep or just in normal use?
Click to expand...
Hard to say, it was giving me the message when I went to use it this morning. But it has been fine since, sleeping or awake. I noticed that the double-sided tape I used to secure the drive to the monitor came loose so maybe it happened when the cable pulled a bit (it's a very short cable and a very light drive). It kind of rests in that little nook on the back nicely like that so I'm not touching it, haha.

That doesn't explain the USB audio device failing. I used a USB-C adapter to plug it into one of the USB-A ports, so maybe the adapter is dodgy there. I don't want to blame the monitor just yet for this.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ascender
Supacon said:
I used a USB-C adapter to plug it into one of the USB-A ports, so maybe the adapter is dodgy there.
Click to expand...

I think either the monitor and/or macOS may be picky about USB hubs/adapters/etc.

A couple nights ago I tried plugging transferring my KB, mouse, etc from my TB4 dock to the monitor by plugging the old 4-port USB 2.0 hub those were hooked up to into the monitor. While this worked fine with my Intel Mac, my M1 Pro work MBP refused to acknowledge that the hub even existed. I had to remove the hub from the chain and plug the KB, mouse, etc directly into the monitor for the setup to work with both macs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ascender
Well, I got the replacement monitor today. I've set it up and the camera works on this one! But the image is horribly bright, I mean stark white, really bad. This is a magazine I'm holding up. Tried to adjust the settings but it did not help at all. Disappointed.
 

Attachments

  • tempImageSjITbv.png
    tempImageSjITbv.png
    3 MB · Views: 191
  • IMG_6097.jpg
    IMG_6097.jpg
    635 KB · Views: 177
  • Wow
Reactions: ascender
aerobatic11 said:
but the sound quality from the Dell 6k Monitor is, as others have commented, lacking any low end.. so I will now investigate external speaker options.
Click to expand...
Depending what you want/need from them, there's the Audioengine A2+ or those Kanto's. Both really need a sub if you want great sound for music, but are more than good enough if all you need is general use.

I just wish Apple would make Airplay more reliable - get rid of the lag and you could use a set of HomePod Minis or the big ones for everything.
 
ascender said:
Depending what you want/need from them, there's the Audioengine A2+ or those Kanto's. Both really need a sub if you want great sound for music, but are more than good enough if all you need is general use.

I just wish Apple would make Airplay more reliable - get rid of the lag and you could use a set of HomePod Minis or the big ones for everything.
Click to expand...
I agree - need the sub. I added it shortly after getting the Kantos and love the set-up. But yeah, it's not "cheap". But neither is the Dell monitor or a couple of ASDs!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ascender
Wanted to say thanks to the folks who provided detailed write-ups on the Dell. I was seriously considering it to replace one of my ASDs. I have no need for it but I thought I wanted it. Seeing the candid assessments has put a freeze on that. For me to want to spend north of $3K it would need to be a slam dunk proposition. Again - thanks all. You helped me avoid a likely letdown.
 
  • Like
Reactions: uller6, T'hain Esh Kelch, poorcody and 3 others
TechnoGeek666 said:
Well, I got the replacement monitor today. I've set it up and the camera works on this one! But the image is horribly bright, I mean stark white, really bad. This is a magazine I'm holding up. Tried to adjust the settings but it did not help at all. Disappointed.
Click to expand...
This is also what I experienced with the camera. It was always overexposed and unusable.
 
tstafford said:
For me to want to spend north of $3K it would need to be a slam dunk proposition.
Click to expand...
I feel the same way. After using it for a couple of days, I have decided to return it.
If this were $1000, I’d probably be able to tolerate its deficiencies. But for what it costs, even on sale, it needs to blow my mind. I just don’t enjoy looking at it that much and the webcam is often sad. My boss thought I had a bad sunburn because it made my skin look super red. And that’s when I’m not completely white, as when my room is dark.

I could just stick a better webcam on the monitor but it’s awkward because of how the built-in one sticks out so much.

Here’s hoping Apple eventually releases a successor to the Pro Display XDR at a lower price but I’m not holding my breath.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hoobury, DrunkenHercles, JaredJenkinsDesign and 1 other person
Also for anyone who thinks I’m exaggerating, here’s a photo showing how overexposed this monitor’s camera gets. It can slightly improve with some adjustments but it’s very particular about having a certain amount of lighting.
 

Attachments

  • Photo%20on%202023-05-31%20at%206.39%20PM.jpeg
    Photo%20on%202023-05-31%20at%206.39%20PM.jpeg
    166.7 KB · Views: 96
For those wondering about the microphone quality, I compared the U3224KB, Studio Display, and my RE20 dynamic microphone.

The Dell sounds a bit tinny and less clear than the ASD's mic, but acceptable and intelligible. The RE20 sounds the best, obviously. I'd say that the built-in mic on the U3224KB is good enough to use for meetings, but I wouldn't make a YouTube video with it.

Samples of each:
U3224KB
Apple Studio Display
EV RE20
 
  • Like
Reactions: foliovision, DrunkenHercles and ascender
I don't think I'm going to be returning mine, but I do feel some of the frustrations mentioned.

The annoying thing is that even if Apple releases something like a Studio Display Pro or "prosumer" variant of the XDR, it's almost certainly going to be single-input. That really sucks because it reduces the number of ways the monitor could potentially be used, which in turn can shorten its useful lifespan. Thanks to TB4/USB4 being popular standards the situation is at least better than it was with the Thunderbolt Display, but it'd be so much better if Apple just included DisplayPort and HDMI inputs in addition to TB4.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ascender, Basic75, HappyIntro and 2 others
ascender said:
Depending what you want/need from them, there's the Audioengine A2+ or those Kanto's. Both really need a sub if you want great sound for music, but are more than good enough if all you need is general use.

I just wish Apple would make Airplay more reliable - get rid of the lag and you could use a set of HomePod Minis or the big ones for everything.
Click to expand...
I have the Vanatoo Transparent Zero speakers for my desk (hooked up through USB to use the on-board DAQ) and I find them to be some of the best desktop speakers I've ever listened to. I imagine the Ones must be pretty amazing too, but I was looking for the smallest desktop footprint and the Zeros really fit the bill. Be sure to pair them with a decent sub if you enjoy music.

These are one of the few sets of speakers where I can actually hear the different in fidelity between lossless and 256kbps AAC.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ascender
kitsunesoba said:
I don't think I'm going to be returning mine, but I do feel some of the frustrations mentioned.

The annoying thing is that even if Apple releases something like a Studio Display Pro or "prosumer" variant of the XDR, it's almost certainly going to be single-input. That really sucks because it reduces the number of ways the monitor could potentially be used, which in turn can shorten its useful lifespan. Thanks to TB4/USB4 being popular standards the situation is at least better than it was with the Thunderbolt Display, but it'd be so much better if Apple just included DisplayPort and HDMI inputs in addition to TB4.
Click to expand...

Is there such a thing as a Thunderbolt KVM switch? i.e. plug two devices in on 1 side and the monitor on the other.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back