The Dell U3415 continues to be one of my favorite ultrawide picks for productivity purposes.
Nice IPS display, Great industrial design, and a solid Dell warranty.
But it is a little old now and was refreshed last year with the newer U3417.
But what’s changed?
And is it worth paying the small premium for the newer one over the older one if you’re
buying one today?
Hi I’m David and here are the main differences between the U3415 and U3417 Dell ultrawide
monitors Quickly looking at both of these monitors
from a spec point of view they both have the size sized panel, resolution, refresh rate,
panel technology, and quoted color space and contrast.
It’s not until you start looking at the physical differences do you start to notice
the changes.
The biggest difference is the curve between the two monitor.
Going from a 3800R to a steeper 1900R curve.
While I’ll admit that over time the steeper curve has grown on me and I prefer it slightly
more overall for gaming, media consumption and even day to day use.
You stop noticing it after a while and switching back to a less steep curve isn’t very dramatic.
The stand on both the monitor are really well built and are just cosmetically different,
both tilt, pivot and are height adjustable.
But I do find the newer U3417 mount just a tad higher overall.
But they both also support VESA mounting so that’s always an option if you need more
adjustability on positioning the display The bezels and hidden borders along all sides
of the display are thinner on the newer model which does give it a sleeker look over all,
and I noticed that the internal lcd panel is slightly more flush with the front of the
screen reducing this halo shadow effect that covers the pixels on the edge of the screen
but difference is still pretty minor.
They’ve gone with physical button for the on screen menu for the newer version that
I definitely prefer over the touch buttons.
And they’ve moved some of the USB connections from the back of the monitor to the side of
the monitor, which is much more accessible on the newer version.
And it still retains the built in KVM switch ability which comes in handy if you’re using
the monitor on multiple systems.
The Power Supply continues to be built into the display which makes for much easier cable
management The built in speakers on the newer U3417 sound
better overall with more mids and bass but still isn’t a replacement for a good
pair of dedicated speakers.
And overall, build quality continues to be really solid on both the older and newer version
with no complaints either way.
Next let’s look at the new panel used on the U3417.
With both displays running pretty similar spec’d panels, my overall experience between
the two displays hasn’t really changed going from one to the other.
Text looks nice on both displays, colors are vivid and well represented across the spectrum,
and while I noticed when I factory reset both displays, my older U3415 has a slightly warmer
color temperature to the cooler temperature on the U3417.
There are enough settings in the menu to adjust to whatever your color liking and you should
really get a hardware calibrator if you’re really that picky about color accuracy.
Displaying shadows and blacks are never really a strong point on these IPS panels.
Both of these displays exhibit some light bleeding on the corners and have that IPS
glow.
I find the IPS glow to be just slightly worse on the newer U3417.
But the light bleed and IPS glow on both units can affect the experience at night, watching
movies or playing games, but for the day to day I don’t ever really notice it.
And while these aren’t the best monitors in the market if gaming is your main priority.
Input lag seems to be about a frame slower on the newer version when testing them in
duplicate mode.
And motion blur is handled differently on the displays.
With the older U3415 displaying a typical ghost trail as objects move across the screen,
where the newer u3417 seems to implement a more aggressive LCD overdrive that reduces
ghosting but can also create these inverse ghost effect.
Also I found both the displays will start skipping frames if I overclock the refresh
rate, so you’re pretty much stuck at a max 60Hz with both these displays.
Overall the differences from the older Dell U3415 to the U3417 are pretty minor.
While for some people the extra curve, the thinner bezels design, and the more accessible
usb ports is worth the update.
I think for most people the older U3415 is the better pick, having all the same key features
and great design but can often be found for much cheaper.
Which is why it continues to be my favorite ultrawide monitor for productivity purposes.
But hope you guys enjoyed this one.
You know what to do.
And I’ll see you in the next video.