Dell U3224KB 6K - The journey

[Tekguru]

Tested out what the monitor would look like in VR on the table in the cottage. It looks rather huge.
Very likely we’ll be ordering on Friday for delivery Monday. I’ll be out visiting my Sister so Aly will have to take delivery.
Rather excited. Many years I’ve wanted a worthy successor to the 34” UW looks like this will be it.
 

[Tekguru]

And ordered it should be here tomorrow

Leaving the holiday cottage tonight to ensure we’re in for the delivery.

[fowljr]

Yeah but when you think the monitor I have now was £1600 (IIRC) 8-9 years ago... And the Apple Studio Display with adjustable stand is £2k.

Yeah, Eek & Double Eek!!

[fowljr]

Nice one mate. I will be honest, I would not spend 2.5k on a monitor, but then, I will spend money on phones, so there you go!

I look forward to your thoughts on it.

[Tekguru]

Yep it is scary expensive (paid for 5 years cover on it too), but if it all works (it should) then it will have to last a lot of years. Plus loads of ports on it so it'll work with a Mac, iPad, PC, etc. So pretty future proofed. Includes a KVM system and acts as a USB hub (up to 140W power).

It was the last part of my 60th birthday reserve, so yeah budgeted for. Ideally I would have wanted an Apple Display, but I just could not cope with a 27" display after using the 34" UW. This way the 32" 'TV ratio' will hopefully compensate for that:

IMG_1839.jpeg (86.3 KiB) Viewed 3135 times

As you can see on the virtual view it's a big beastie, much taller than the UW and nearly as wide.
 

[Tekguru]

And we're here! This is a hell of a monitor, 18Kg delivered, which meant a flipping heavy box! It took about 10 minutes to assemble and lift on to the desk, moving the old Samsung monitor back towards the rear of the desk to accomomdate it. The large desk comes in handy at times!

 

 
Dell Drivers and Management software all loaded on the Mac and I'm connected via Thunderbolt 4. Initial thoughts:

• The range of resolutions available:

At the moment I'm working in 3360 x 1890, not that much different I guess to the 34" UW which was 3340 x 1440, but a lot taller.

• Speakers - the speakers are way better than those in the Samsung, although not quite as good as my 20 year old Creative desk speakers, not not far off. I'll see how it goes and may well manage with those built into the monitor as it'll mean a much tidier desk.
• Flat screen - after using a curved screen for 8+ years it seems strange to be using a screen that 'curves away' at the edges. I am rapidly adjusting
• Crispness - The 6K screen does make a heck of a difference with display quality, text and images are so much crisper and easier to read.
• Wake up - The old Samsung monitor had to be connected to HDMI and took around 8-10 seconds to come to life, the U3224KB wakes in 1-2 seconds. 
• OSD - The On Screen Display and UI for configuring the monitor are sweet and fast to use
• Head & Shoulders - I have to agree with a lot of other folks, the speakers in the top of the monitor do make the shoulders' look pretty large, but it only took maybe half an hour to get used to them. Web Cam - yep it does make for a large 'head' on the shoulders, but it's no larger than my old Logitech camera and much better quality.

 

 

 

So far I'm loving it!
 

[Tekguru]

Playtime today:

• Disconnected the RJ45 network cable from the Mac Mini M2 Pro and plugged it into the monitor
• Disconnected the 2 x USB-A to lightning cables that go to the Magic Keyboard & Glidepad from my USB3 hub and plugged them into the monitor
• Disconnected my old USBC 3 hub as it's no longer needed. This means both USB3 drives can connect directly to the Mac Mini.
• Ran a USB-C cable from the old Mac Mini to the monitor

After that was done I loaded the Dell Mac software on both Macs and ran through the KVM wizard. This means when I hit a keyboard shortcut I can switch displays, keyboard, glidepad between Macs - nigh on instantly. This means a reduction in cabling and the retirement of the old keyboard / glidepad from the old Mini

• Programmed the monitor to switch into 'Movie Mode' when I use any of my media playback apps.
• Adjusted the monitor so it sits lower and tilts back slightly, good ergonomic practices, LOL
• Fine tuned the webcam so that it can do all the auto-adjustment needed for when using video.

So all I've got to do now is fine tune the cable management once I've bought cables of a size that fits better than the ones in place now. Then I can sit back and enjoy!

Oh and if I was using a Windows PC I'd have the Windows Hello login working via the webcam too, alas not supported on Macs.....

A fun satisfying day.....
 
 
 
 

[firstbuddha]

Looks a beaut

[Tekguru]

It is, really enjoying using it. It shows up how the old Samsung 34" UW had aged.

[Tekguru]

Finally, in place with all cables tidied away etc....