Dell S2421HGF Review

The Dell S2421HGF is a reasonably priced monitor that has a number of gamer friendly credentials on its side.  With full HD resolution and a 24″ screen size, you can definitely get more if you are willing to extend your budget.  But if you’re looking for a lower cost upgrade to give you better game performance then this Dell could be the monitor you are looking for.

The S2421HGF is aimed at gamers who prefer performance over all, the 144hz refresh rate and 1ms response time are going to give you the low latency experience professional gamers crave at an affordable price.  Coupled with slim bezels and adjustable stand, this is a budget option worth adding to your short list.

Build Quality

The S2421HGF comes with a fairly basic stand, but I like how it looks and it doesn’t take up too much space.  You are limited to height adjustment only, which is more than some budget monitors provide!  If that’s not enough adjustability for your needs, it does come with a 100 x 100 VESA attachment for connecting a monitor arm (something I use on my own Dell monitor!).

You can hook the monitor up to your PC or games console with the provided HDMI 1.4 ports or DisplayPort 1.2 ports. And should you need it, there is also a headphones jack.

Performance

Dell make some of the best screens in the market so you can have confidence in their ability produce top quality images.  However, do bear in mind that this is one of their entry level monitors and is aimed at providing a positive gaming experience.  This isn’t going to be your first choice if you are a creative professional looking for a monitor to match.

Based on TN technology, you get 170° horizontal viewing angles.  Viewed outside of this range and you will observe a drop off in colour accuracy and contrast.  However, this shouldn’t put off gamers who are likely to be sat directly in front of their screen.  A peak brightness of 350 nits is plenty bright enough for a home office or living room.

Gaming performance is right up there, as you’d hope for a monitor aimed squarly at the gaming market.  With a 1ms gtg response time you won’t be hampered by any annoying ghosting affects.  Thanks to the response time overdrive settings you have a range of options to play around with should you wish to optimise further.

AMD FreeSync will provide a tear free gaming experience assuming you have a compatible video card to power it.  The FreeSync range is 48-144Hz, and below that, Low Framerate Compensation will kick in to keep things smooth.