If you’re tight on space in your office or home, then don’t feel that you have to clear your desk to squeeze in a 27in or 32in monitor. Smaller models such as the Dell Pro 24 Plus P2425DE offer a compact and perfectly usable middle ground.
Take a good quality 24in IPS panel, sharp QHD resolution, a generous amount of connectivity, and 90W of USB-C power delivery, and you have the makings of a great business monitor with a dainty footprint. As long as you don’t mind a slightly smaller portion size, you genuinely can have your cake and eat it.
Dell P2425DE monitor: Design & Features
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If you’ve seen any of Dell’s recent Pro series of monitors, then you know what to expect. Matte silver plastics contrast against understated charcoal grey, and the design is smart without being showy. If you have an open plan arrangement, the P2425DE looks good from any angle.
The P2425DE’s smaller 24in panel means that it has a smaller footprint than its larger stablemates – and that works in its favour. It doesn’t take up much room at all on a desk. You still get a fully adjustable stand with 150mm of height adjustment, plenty of tilt and swivel, and a smooth feeling 90 degrees of pivot in either direction. In our opinion, the P2425DE makes more sense in a portrait orientation than larger-panelled monitors – it’s a brilliant size for a smaller secondary monitor dedicated to document editing.
If there’s a complaint to be made here, it’s that the monitor is a bit prone to wobbling. There’s a bit too much flex in the head of the stand, so overenthusiastic keyboard bashing elicits a subtle wobble, which you may or may not find mildly annoying.
The rear panel feels more plasticky and hollow than I’d like, too, but that is nitpicking. Unless – like me – you’re going to spend time tapping or grappling with your monitor, you’ll be unlikely to care.
Indeed, you’re far more likely to be pleased about the connectivity on offer. You do lose the KVM switch functionality from Dell’s larger, pricier models, but you get full-sized HDMI and DisplayPort inputs, and a USB-C input which supports DisplayPort Alt and provides 90 watts of power delivery.
You also get a GbE Ethernet port, which supplies the USB-connected device with networking, which is handy for slimline laptops, and the USB hub gives you access to a pair of 5Gbps USB-A ports at the rear and a further USB-A port and USB-C port, which pop out from underneath the monitor’s bottom left bezel.
It’s good to find a bit of basic, elegant cable management, too – a small cutout in the stand guides the cables neatly down and behind the desk.
The on-screen display is similar to most of the recent Dell models, which is no bad thing. It’s a sensible layout, and there’s plenty of useful adjustability. The clickable four-way joystick at the rear is easy to get to grips with, too.
The issues with the OSD are twofold. The text in the menus is quite small and blocky, which makes it a little hard to read. It’s a shame you can’t increase the text size. One other issue is that the controls do feel a tad laggy, and this means you may have to prod the joystick a couple of times to get the desired response. It’s not something we’ve noticed on other recent Dell models, so it is possibly just our specific review unit, but it’s worth mentioning all the same.
Dell P2425DE monitor: Display quality
(Image credit: Future)
Despite the P2425DE’s relatively dainty 23.8in panel, it packs in a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. This makes for a relatively high pixel density of 123ppi. That’s markedly higher than the 109ppi of a 27in QHD display and not far off the 138ppi of a 32in 4K display. This means that images and text look almost as crisp and sharp as a far pricier 4K panel – if you demand crisp text and image clarity but haven’t got room for a larger monitor, it’s a great combination.
The specifications are promising, too. The IPS panel offers a quoted 1500:1 contrast ratio, a maximum brightness of 350cd/m2, and 99% sRGB coverage. There’s no HDR mode, nor any support for FreeSync or similar, but that’s no loss for a monitor with its sights set on productivity.
In our tests, the P2425DE more than lived up to its claims. The Standard picture mode served up a maximum brightness of 365cd/m2, a contrast ratio of 1,509:1, and an sRGB coverage of 98%.
Image quality and color accuracy are good, too. The average Delta E of 1.78 isn’t class-leading, but it’s good enough to ensure that most colors look faithful to the sRGB standard. The panel doesn’t quite cover the most saturated blues and cyans, hence the slight inaccuracy in blue tones, but you’re unlikely to notice this just by looking. The overall image is bright, natural-looking, and there’s enough contrast to give a nice punchy look.
Motion clarity is really quite good. The 100Hz refresh rate helps keep moving objects looking sharp, and with the panel’s response time dialled up to Fast, everything looks pleasingly crisp and fluid. If you do intend to play the occasional game, the 100Hz refresh rate and decent response time combine to provide a big, noticeable boost over and above a standard 60Hz panel.
Even the backlighting – a common weak point for some panels – is acceptable for the money. The brightness drops by around 10% in the corners, and you can see that it’s noticeably dimmer around the periphery of the screen if you’re looking out for it, but it’s not going to ruin your enjoyment. Or lack of, depending on what you’re using the P2425DE for.
(Image credit: Future)
Dell P2425DE monitor: Is it worth it?
The Pro 24 Plus is a really good option for smaller desks. For £260, you get a compact 23.8in monitor that provides crisp, bright, and reasonably color-accurate images, and the ample connectivity seals the deal. If you’re looking for a perfect partner to a port-starved ultraportable, and you either don’t have the room, budget, or desire for a larger panel, it’s a dependable and capable option.
Dell P2425DE monitor specifications
|
Display |
23.8 in IPS panel |
Row 0 – Cell 2 |
|
Panel resolution |
2560 × 1440 (QHD) |
Row 1 – Cell 2 |
|
Refresh rate |
100 Hz |
Row 2 – Cell 2 |
|
Panel response time |
5ms (Fast mode) |
Row 3 – Cell 2 |
|
Adaptive Sync Support |
No |
Row 4 – Cell 2 |
|
HDR Support |
No |
Row 5 – Cell 2 |
|
Ports |
HDMI 2.1 × 1, DisplayPort 1.4 (In) × 1, DisplayPort 1.4 (Out) × 1, USB-C (DisplayPort 1.4 Alt Mode, Data, 90W Power Delivery) × 1, RJ45 (Ethernet) × 1, USB 3.2 Gen 1 downstream × 4 |
Row 6 – Cell 2 |
|
Other features |
ComfortView Plus (TÜV 4-star), Flicker-free, Dell Display Manager, Daisy Chaining support, Security lock slot, KVM support (via USB-C) |
Row 7 – Cell 2 |
|
Stand |
Ergonomics: Height (150 mm), Tilt -–5° to +21°, Swivel –45° to +45°, Pivot –90° to +90° |
Row 8 – Cell 2 |
|
Dimensions (with stand)(WDH) |
538.7 × 181.5 × 496.6 mm |
Row 9 – Cell 2 |
|
Weight (with stand) |
5.25 kg |
Row 10 – Cell 2 |
