The Dell UltraSharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub monitor is the kind of display I always wished was possible, and now it's in my office

TechRadar Verdict

Dell's UltraSharp 52-inch Thunderbolt Monitor means business. It is unashamedly massive with phenomenal specs, great ports, and even better performance. Yeah, it's expensive, and it knows it, and it's proud of it. However, if you do break down the price per amount of screen real estate that you have, needing only one monitor and not two or three to make up the same amount of screen real estate space, along with the benefit of not needing a docking station, multiple displays set up on your machine, or the bezels in between the monitors. This kind of display is a no-brainer if you really do need 52 inches of power.

Pros

• +Massive, gorgeous screen real estate without any bezels.
• +Works just as well as it looks.
• +Built-in Thunderbolt Dock
• +Great ports.

Cons

• -Requires a massive desk.
• -Very expensive.
• -Will expose any limiting GPUs
• -Heavy.

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Jump To:

• Design
• Design
• In use
• Final verdict

I remember it like it was yesterday. I got an email in my inbox with a link to preview an unreleased Dell display. The very moment that I saw the specs, I thought I was dreaming: 52 inches, 6K display, Thunderbolt dock, fast response time. And, from one of, if not the largest, display makers in the world.

I've said for years now that Dell monitors are a staple in the workspace; however, this is nowhere near the norm or regular in the average workspace. Most people who have seen this monitor on my desk, in the background of photos, or in virtual meetings assume it's a TV mounted on my wall. Some have even thought it's a window, depending on the content I have on it.

That's how good this monitor is.

At its core, it performs just like some of the other incredible monitors that I've tested from BenQ, Dell, LG, and beyond. However, there's one massive caveat. This monitor is absolutely massive. 52 inches sounds large when you read it on paper or see it in photos, but once you experience it in real life and realize that, as a 6-foot-2 individual, I could fit in the box it came in, it makes it all the more real.

The moment you plug in, you feel like you are entering a workspace, not just adding a panel to your machine. There's no need to switch around between what you have open or remember what was on the other screen. There's no need for multiple desktops, or even for your laptop to be open, to get just a little bit more screen real estate.

For me, this is possibly the best business monitor I've ever tested - so long as you have the space (and the need for higher resolutions). There's so much on here that I have had everything open I could possibly need for large research projects, and I have had plenty of space, especially if you have this thing scaled all the way up to 6K resolution. The amount of material you can fit on the screen is absolutely ludicrous.

Dell UltraSharp 52 U5226KW: Unboxing and First Impressions

Keep in mind I also review an insane amount of desks, and I regularly will come home or check my cameras and see massive boxes on my front porch when this monitor got delivered, I saw it while pulling up to my house, and I immediately assumed it was a desk that I was waiting for. In fact, as I write this, I realize that one of my regularly used desks that I'm currently testing is actually smaller than this panel is — madness.

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