REVIEW: Dell UltraSharp 40” 5K Monitor is a powerhouse you’d love to own – techAU

For the past few weeks, my desk has featured the Dell UltraSharp 40” 5K Thunderbolt Hub Monitor. The premium monitor from Dell is designed to cater to professionals and enthusiasts who demand the best in terms of display quality and connectivity.

What this monitor offers is pretty much everything I want from a monitor, it’s a single widescreen, curved around you, packed with pixels and ports. The design is clean and modern and the experience of living with it is fantastic.

I do have a diversity of applications for monitors, perhaps more than most, and can confidently say it performed exceptionally well regardless of the mission.

When it comes to productivity, the monitor comes to the party for multi-tasking. Windows 11 offers a range of snap zones, but I highly recommend leveraging Fancy Zones from the PowerToys suite of Windows utilities, for ultimate control over window locations. When you have this much surface area to play with, you can arrange many windows or of course, fullscreen when it makes sense.

When the work was done, it’s time for play and positioned at the top of my racing sim, the monitor works incredibly well, enveloping a large part of your field of view, helping to trick your brain into thinking you’re actually driving a rally car along the side of a mountain. Before using this monitor, my daily was a 49″ ultrawide and while that is great, it does lack the vertical height to achieve this same result.

Design

The Dell U4025QW comes with a sleek, modern design and the 40-inch screen features a 2500R curvature, offering an immersive viewing experience that reduces eye strain during long sessions.

For those without a good sense of curvature figures, the higher the number, the less of a curve. This means the 2500R of this monitor is one of the more subtle curves available. If you’re wondering if curves matter at all, I can tell you they absolutely do. Any monitors past around 27″ in side, starts to look strange with a flat profile, once they’re wider than your shoulders, they really should curve to feel natural as you glance across it.

Compared to previous Dell UltraSharp models, this iteration improves port accessibility and adds a retractable USB hub on the front—a thoughtful touch for quick connections. I found this so useful, I wish it was available in every monitor, it’s just so much easier than fishing blinding behind the monitor.

While a couple of USB ports on a monitor is standard, this one offers no less than 10 USB ports and many of them the modern USB-C type. If you need to charge a phone, drone, watch, headphones, GoPro or headphones, this is so convenient and easy, the experience feels like the engineers understood the needs of their customers perfectly.

With a VESA mount (100mm x100mm), you could roll your own monitor mount, but those using the included stand will be happy it features height adjustability, tilt, and swivel options, making it versatile for various desk setups.

In the back, you’ll find a long list of ports. Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, HDMI, and DisplayPort options, surpassing many rivals in connectivity.

Performance

When using the U4025QW, it really shines when it comes to performance. With its 5K resolution (5120 x 2160) and 120Hz refresh rate, powered by an IPS Black panel that delivers deeper blacks and a 2000:1 contrast ratio, your software never looked so good.

For use as a monitor on my racing sim, the refresh rate was incredibly smooth and the wide field of view creates an incredibly immersive experience. When you’re racing, having accurate colours for vehicles you’ve seen in real life, confirms the accuracy of the monitor. Technically the colour accuracy is 99% DCI-P3 and 100% of sRGB standard, making it a dream for photo and video editing applications as well.

If you’re investing in a monitor of this price tag, chances are, you’re connecting it to a performance-focused PC. To best take advantage of that speed, the expansive screen real estate is a game-changer.

If you’ve taken a look at other similar models, take another look as the higher resolution and refresh rate here elevate the experience, making it ideal for professionals and gamers alike who want a single-monitor solution that doesn’t compromise.

Features

The U4025QW is loaded with features that help make it one of the best monitors I’ve ever used.

Thunderbolt Hub: Provides high-speed data transfer, video output, and up to 140W power delivery, perfect for charging laptops or daisy-chaining another monitor.

KVM Switch: Lets you control multiple PCs with one keyboard and mouse, streamlining workflows for multi-device users—like switching between a work laptop and gaming rig.

Multi-Stream Transport (MST): Allows internal screen splitting into virtual displays, great for organizing complex tasks without extra software.

Screen partitions: This allows you to configure far more than simple Picture-in-picture options commonly found in monitors. This allows you to take 2 inputs and split the screen by different percentages to suit your needs. These include 50/50%, 80/20%, 20/80%, 75/25% or 25/7%.

HDR Support: Certified for DisplayHDR 600, it offers richer visuals for media and creative work, though not as bright as some OLED competitors.

Built-in Speakers: Dual 9W speakers provide decent sound for casual use, saving desk space for those who don’t need external audio setups.

While these speakers lack any serious bass, they are a great option if you’re in need of audio output and haven’t yet invested in additional speakers or headphones.

Issues and Opportunities

Despite its strengths, the U4025QW isn’t flawless. The price tag is obviously higher than you’d like, but given the premium features it’s not a complete surprise, the price will make it out of reach for casual users.

The size and weight (over 12kg with stand) also demand a spacious desk, which could be a hurdle for compact setups.

Auto-brightness is a great feature, although perhaps there needs to be more work done on the algorithm as I often found the monitor was brighter than I liked in a dark environment.

For those professional gamers, 120Hz is likely not going to meet their demanding refresh requirements (often looking for 240Hz), however they often need to settle for 1440p resolutions.

Future versions could trim the bezels further or boost HDR brightness to compete with premium OLEDs, but these are minor gripes in an otherwise stellar package.

Price and Availability

The Dell UltraSharp 40” 5K Thunderbolt Hub Monitor (U4025QW) is available now from Dell’s website. It is likely not a surprise that a large monitor packed with this many features. The question for many buyers will be around the size of an investment like this.

The size of a monitor comes both in the form of the height and width, but also in terms of aspect ratio. A 40″ monitor at 21:9 is a seriously impressive, an large display to be at arms-length from you.

You may find monitors of similar dimensions for less cost, but considering all the features, performance of this monitor, the price tag is understandable and those that can afford it will be rewarded with a great experience.

Overall

The Dell UltraSharp 40” 5K Thunderbolt Hub Monitor (U4025QW) is a phenomenal choice for those who can justify its cost. It’s a dream for racing sim enthusiasts like me, with its immersive curve and smooth 120Hz performance, and a productivity beast for professionals needing vast screen space and top-tier color accuracy.

It most appeals to creative pros—think photographers, videographers, and editors—and tech-savvy users who want a do-it-all monitor.

While it’s certainly not cheap, the value proposition here is evident, with its premium build, extensive features, and versatility.

If you’re in the market for a high-end, single-monitor solution that excels across gaming and work, this is absolutely worth buying and easily one my most favourite monitors I’ve had on my desk.