Dell's New Video Conferencing Monitors Have A Dedicated Microsoft Teams Button
Dell on Tuesday unveiled a bunch of new displays, including what it claims are the world's first video conferencing monitors certified for Microsoft Teams. It is an interesting pitch, and sign of the times—more people than ever these days are working remotely, a result of COVID-19. And even if recent vaccines eradicate the threat in the coming months, it is feasible that telecommuting will remain immensely popular.
That presents an opportunity for PC hardware makers to design and build products that are suited for this new reality we find ourselves in for the foreseeable future. And Dell has done just that with its new and appropriately branded Video Conferencing Monitor line, which currently consists of three display size options.
They include the 24-inch Dell 24 Video Conferencing Monitor (C2422HE), 27-inch Dell Video Conferencing Monitor (C2722DE), and the 34-inch Dell 34 Curved Video Conferencing Monitor (C3422WE), the latter of which is the only curved display of the bunch.
So, what makes these monitors more suited for video conferencing than other displays on the market?
One of the reasons why is the inclusion of a Microsoft Teams button. People working from home or engaged in remote learning can instantly join a Microsoft Teams meeting with the press of a button, which sits next to other media controls underneath the display. When in a meeting, an LED light above the button illuminates.
All three monitors are also equipped with a pop-up 5-megapixel IR camera, dual 5W integrated speakers, and a noise cancelling microphone.
"You will have a more secured and convenient login experience using facial recognition sign-in with Windows Hello and hands-free commands with Microsoft Cortana. These video
conferencing monitors also come with ComfortView Plus, our built in low blue light solution that
reduces blue light emissions while delivering excellent color accuracy," Dell says.
Dell has not revealed the full specifications for each model, but in terms of resolution, the 24-inch model is a Full HD display, the 27-inch is a QHD display, and the 34-inch curved model is a WQHD monitor.
Look for the Video Conferencing Monitor lineup to be available on February 16, 2021, priced at $519.99 for the 24-inch model, $719.99 for the 27-inch model, and $1,149.99 for the 34-inch model.
Dell UltraSharp 40 Curved
One other monitor that caught our eye is the new UltraSharp 40 Curved. This is a big and wide display with a curved (2500R) IPS panel , though not quite as massive as the spattering of 49-inch models that are on the market. According to Dell, this is the "world's first 40-inch curved WUHD 5K2K monitor." That translates to a 5120x2160 resolution and a pixel density of 140 PPI.
It offers 35 percent more on-screen real estate than a 32-inch monitor with a 4K resolution. It's not really built for gaming, and instead is another display aimed at productivity workloads. To that end, sports Thunderbolt 3 and RJ45 ports. Also built in are MAC Address pass-through, PXE Boot, and Wake-on LAN.
This is not an exceptionally bright display at 300 nits, though according to Dell, it does offer 100 percent coverage of the sRGB color space, and 98 percent of the DCI-P3 color space.
The UltraSharp 40 will be available on January 28, 2021 for $2,099.99.
