From top to bottom, the Dell SE2422HX is the novel definition of a “good enough” peripheral. This 24-inch monitor can be used for casual gaming as well, and it displays pretty decent 1080p images for both gaming and productivity, although its color balance can’t match high-end monitors like the Alienware AW3420DW, but its interface is nearly as helpful as it could be.
It has a 75Hz refresh rate, and AMD Free Sync compatibility to set it apart from similarly priced productivity models. And for the asking price, it’s cheap for an office-use monitor, but we’ve seen better alternatives at this price range as well.
If anything, I just like how straightforward the Dell SE2422HX feels. It’s here to display content and run games at full HD resolutions and not clean your bank account. While the SE2422HX isn’t one of the best office monitors you can buy, it’s good enough for simple setups, if only. Read our full Dell SE2422HX review to find out why.
Design & Features
The Dell SE2422HX is about as simple as productivity monitors come. The screen measures 7 x 21.8 x 16.5 inches, with a 23.8-inch diagonal. There’s some little bezel around the screen, but the bottom bezel is slightly thick, where you’ll find a silver “Dell” logo in the center.
The tiny power button on the underside is tough to find; there are also four other buttons in the same spot for adjusting various functions. These control the interface, but for the moment, all you need to know about them is that they’re pretty inconvenient, especially if you sit away from your screen.
The monitor stand is easy to put together and doesn’t take up much space on a desk. The screen is pretty sturdy once you get to set it up, though. You can tilt it back and forth slightly, but you can’t rotate it, so don’t even imagine using the Dell SE2422HX as a vertical second screen. Furthermore, the ports are extremely hard to reach, even with the screen tilted.
Speaking of ports, you get a single HDMI port and one VGA port, which should suit most consoles and PCs, but at least a DisplayPort would’ve been better. It lacks built-in speakers, but is VESA compliant should you need to hook it on a stand.
Performance
As mentioned above, the Dell 24 monitor has a 24-inch 1080p VA panel with a 16:9 aspect ratio, 3000:1 contrast ratio, 250cd/m2 peak brightness, 75Hz refresh rate, and 5ms response time (gray-to-gray). This is quite impressive for a productivity monitor at this price range, as the VA panel delivers even better contrast than most IPS panels that often max out at 1000:1.
However, in practice, the monitor doesn’t handle colors well at all. The standard preset is a little dull, making blacks look gray and colors look washed out. You can tinker with brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation options manually, but from my experience, this will simply make the picture look either supersaturated on unnatural. Some of the presets work fine than others, but even by full HD monitor standards, the Dell SE2422HX’s screen doesn’t look out of the ordinary.
The Dell SE2422HX has a specified pixel response time speed of 5ms (GtG), and it also gets three response time overdrive modes: Normal (12ms), Fast (8ms), and Extreme (5ms). We recommend sticking with the Normal mode since the Extreme mode will likely result in some pixel overshoot.
With the Dell SE2422HX’s maximum refresh rate of 75Hz, most pixel transitions will make it in time within the refresh rate window (13.33ms), so you won’t experience any significant trailing for fast-paced objects. The higher refresh rate also offers a subtle but noticeable boost in motion clarity when compared with 60Hz in games, but you’re only getting a maximum of 75 FPS (Frames Per Second).
Additionally, the Dell SE2422HX supports AMD FreeSync which lets you synchronize its refresh rate with the GPU’s frame rate for tear-free gaming within the supported variable refresh rate range of 48-75Hz. However, since the monitor only arrives with HDMI and VGA inputs, you will not be able to use FreeSync with Nvidia graphics cards. Finally, input lag is excellent at ~10ms of delay, which is impressive for a monitor at this price range.
Should you buy the Dell SE2422HX?
At under $200, the Dell SE2422HX monitor is pretty much what you’d expect for the price. If you need a reliable, simple monitor for productivity tasks at 1080p – or some casual gaming – this one is fine. Still, I feel that at this price you can get something better, and if you can entertain the idea of a 27-inch monitor, there are great alternatives out there.
The 27-inch Sceptre E275B-FPT165 is one such great alternative that I can recommend. This sub-$200 monitor not only sports a premium bezel-less design, but it also matches a solid feature set including a 165Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, FreeSync support, built-in speakers, and excellent connectivity including a DisplayPort and covers 99% of sRGB color gamut. It remains our Editors’ Choice for budget monitors.
That said, in our Dell SE2422HX review, we’ve covered the monitor’s decent performance and small footprint, as well as its washed-out colors and underwhelming connectivity options. As for whether the good outweighs the bad, or vice versa, consider whether you need a monitor to really elevate your productivity tasks – or whether you just need to see what’s going on.
Recommended Configuration
Dell 24 inch Monitor FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 Ratio with Comfortview (TUV-Certified), 75Hz Refresh Rate, 16.7 Million Colors, Anti-Glare Screen with 3H Hardness, Black - SE2422HX
$89.99 in stock
12 used from $56.81
The Review
Dell SE2422HX
The Dell SE2422HX is an affordable 24-inch VA monitor that works fine for office productivity tasks, is affordable and sports an appealing design; we only wish its colors and interface were better.
PROS
- Functional design and stand
- Solid overall image quality
- Excellent black level for a VA panel
CONS
- Middling brightness
Review Breakdown
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ARS SCORE
