Dell is finally taking OLED monitors beyond gaming — for only $800

By Luke Larsen Published January 6, 2025

Ahead of CES 2025, Dell has announced a new OLED monitor, the Dell Plus 32 4K QD-OLED. The company has been on the forefront of OLED monitors with Alienware gaming monitors, but it hasn’t moved that technology into the consumer or creator space yet. In fact, almost no one has.

The Dell Plus 32 OLED aims to change all that, bringing a beautiful, high-end OLED that isn’t made solely for PC gaming. I got to see it myself at a press event where Dell unveiled its grand rebranding initiative, hence the “Plus” in the name.

In reality, the Dell Plus 32 feels like a new entry in Dell’s larger monitor strategy. It features a minimalist new stand and base, as well as a fabric covering over the bottom bezel and speakers. It’s a very welcoming and stylized monitor — one that would look great in a home office or design studio, a step over many of the dry designs that even some of the best monitors use.

But really, it’s all about the OLED. This is Dell’s first time using it outside of Alienware, and there’s a definite need for it. Before this year, outside of repurposing OLED gaming monitors, there were really only a handful of options for legitimate HDR video editing — and both were insanely expensive.

There was Asus’ first-of-its-kind OLED, the ProArt PA32DC, which was priced at $3,499. That monitor had a 31.5-inch display and a 4K resolution, too. There was also the LG UltraFine Display Pro OLED, which was $3,999. But even the mini-LED options out there were outrageously expensive. There was Apple’s mini-LED Pro Display XDR, which infamously retailed for $4,999, of course. But even the mini-LED Lenovo ThinkVision Extreme was $2,499 for the 27-inch version.

The Dell Plus 32 4K QD-OLED breaks the mold with its price of just $800. That’s more or less in line with the current crop of OLED gaming monitors on the market, but in the consumer space, it’s downright shocking. It even has a faster screen than those older OLEDs, bumping it from 60Hz to 120Hz.

Dell isn’t the only company bringing a non-gaming OLED monitor to CES this year, which is a good thing. Samsung has already unveiled its 4K OLED Smart Monitor, using the same QD-OLED panel. But the Dell Plus 32 has a couple of surprises up its sleeve that make it stand out.

First, it has beamforming technology to create virtual surround sound using its pair of built-in 5-watt speakers. Dell set me up in a demo that showcased its ability to make it feel like sound was coming from above or behind me, using AI and positional head-tracking. It’s the same technology used in soundbars like the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro. It worked well in the demos, and it’s definitely in movies and games where the technology excels. It certainly helps position the monitor as more of an entertainment hub. Fortunately, you can always switch over to a more basic stereo setup in Windows for music or for listening with multiple people.

One of the other standout features is the port selection. On the rear, it’s fairly limited, with just HDMI 2.1 and two USB-C ports that support up to 90 watts of power delivery for your laptop. However, the Dell Plus 32 also features a pop-down module with extra USB ports, one of which is a USB-C port that supports 15 watts of power, perfect for charging your phone, for example.

If this goes well, I could see Dell finding ways to incorporate OLED in other monitors as well. Interestingly, the Dell Plus 32 OLED is positioned underneath the UltraSharp brand despite the fact that it uses superior backlighting. In the meantime, though, Dell is continuing to utilize its IPS Black technology with two new UltraSharp monitors, the U3225QE and U2725QE. They’re both 4K 120Hz monitors that use what Dell calls an “enhanced” version of IPS Black, which Dell says is three times the contrast of conventional IPS displays and 47% deeper blacks. It’s definitely not OLED, though, despite the fact that the U3225QE is more expensive at $950.

Dell hasn’t published a full spec sheet about the Dell Plus 32 4K QD-OLED just yet, but we know that it will be available on March 22 worldwide, except in China, where it will land on March 27.