Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsDell S3221QS : Nice, but NOT a replacement for a old-school, 10 yr old Dell 30" QHD UltraSharp !
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2022
Bought this as a upgrade for my existing Dell U3014 (QHD) UltraSharp Monitor from 2014, as I will be editing 4K videos vs HD ones shortly, and after reading many reviews, pulled the trigger, not wanting to spend $1300 for a replacement monitor, as I did with the existing U3014.
TL;DR : If you are buying this just to surf the web and watch videos, stop here and buy it. For its price, its a bargain. But if you are doing video or picture editing, office work (especially in a dark environment), or really CARE about video quality, I would definitely think twice before buying... (Not going to do a full review here, as many have, and except for the picture quality, the positive ones are mostly correct)
The only real issues I have with the S3221QS in a professional environment are :
1) Monitor Brightness : This unit has just a paltry 300 nits of brightness, well below most monitors, and even when connected via DP at 4K / 4:4:4 / 10 Bit / Maximum Brightness + Contrast, it still looks way dim, as compared to my existing Dell (see pictures above, the SQ3221QS is on the right side, and the U3014 is on the left). And using the S3221QS's HDR Settings did absolutely nothing to change this... I did not attempt to see if playing games or watching videos would change anything, however, and even though I am pretty good at calibrating monitors, and played with various adjustments for over one hour, no joy.
2) Video Clarity / Video Accuracy : One cannot expect a $450 monitor to compare with a $1200 monitor, but given my Dell U3014 is over 10 years old, and has a lower resolution (2560x1600) and lower bit depth (8bit vs 10bit), one might hope as much. Not ! As you can see in the photos above, comparing the side by side pictures, the clouds on the S3221QS (on right) are yellowish, the blue sky is oversaturated, and most importantly, the image resolution on the far right "mountain" is dull, unfocused, and lacking in detail and color, as compared to the U3014 image on the left.. And no amount of playing with gamma, colors, contrast or brightness changed any of this. I even brought down the S3221QS resolution to 2560x1440 to make a additional comparison, and zero change.
Long story short, if you have a highly-rated older Dell UltraSharp, and expecting a cheaper or modern 4K VA panel to match or exceed it in overall image quality, it is just not going happen, however much you want it to... Boxing this unit up now and returning to Amazon, and looking at the Dell U3223QE to replace it, which has a IPS panel and 400nits brightness, but costs around $900 direct from Dell, or around $700 if you buy it on sites like eBay.. (Amazon is asking $1000 + at this time). And you don't mind the slightly larger bezels and lower QHD resolution on the U3014, they can be picked up in excellent used condition for under $300..
Hope this review was helpful to you !
