Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF review

Our Verdict

The Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF works fine for total Hard disk drive games, but the colors and interface leave a lot to exist desired.

For

• Reasonable price
• Decent frame charge per unit
• Small contour

Confronting

• Inaccurate colors
• Irksome interface
• Unhelpful presets

Tom'south Guide Verdict

The Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF works fine for full Hard disk drive games, but the colors and interface get out a lot to be desired.

Pros

• +

  Reasonable cost

• +

  Decent frame charge per unit

• +

  Small contour

Cons

• -

  Inaccurate colors

• -

  Tedious interface

• -

  Unhelpful presets

Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF: Specs

Screen Size: 24 inches
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Refresh Charge per unit: 144 Hz
Inputs: DisplayPort, HDMI
Dimensions: 20.eight x 12.one x 23.8 inches

From superlative to bottom, the Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF is the very definition of a "good enough" peripheral. This 24-inch gaming monitor displays pretty decent 1080p images for both gaming and productivity, although its color balance is off, and its interface isn't nearly as helpful as it could be. It has a 144 Hz refresh rate, and AMD Free Sync compatibility, to set up it apart from similarly priced productivity models. At $250, it's neither cheap nor expensive.

If anything, information technology's actually refreshing just how straightforward the S2421HGF feels. It's here to run games at full HD resolutions and not clean out your banking concern business relationship. While the S2421HGF isn't one of the best gaming monitors you can buy, it's good enough for simple setups, if only just. Read our full Dell Gaming Monitor 24 S2421HGF review to find out why.

Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF: Price and availability

The Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF costs $250, although information technology's oft discounted to $200, or less. The easiest way to get is from the Dell website, although B&H also has it in stock at the time of writing.

Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF: Blueprint

The Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF is about as unproblematic as gaming monitors come. The screen measures 20.8 x 12.1 inches, with a 24-inch diagonal. There'southward near no bezel to speak of, except on the bottom, where you'll find a silver "Dell" logo in the centre.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The tiny power button on the underside is tough to find; there's besides a control nub and 3 additional buttons on the back-right of the monitor. These control the interface, but for the moment, all y'all need to know near them is that they're pretty inconvenient, especially if yous sit far away from your screen.

(Image credit: Tom'south Guide)

The hexagonal monitor stand is easy to put together, and doesn't take upwards much space on a desk-bound. (You lot'll demand a flathead screwdriver, but I imagine everyone has one of those languishing in a junk drawer somewhere.) The screen is pretty rigid once you lot get it set up, though. You can tilt it back and forth slightly, but you lot can't rotate it, and then don't bother trying to use the S2421HGF every bit a vertical 2nd screen. Furthermore, the ports are extremely hard to reach, even with the screen tilted.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Speaking of ports, you lot get two HDMI ports and one DisplayPort, which should adjust most consoles and gaming PCs. The S2421HGF also has a pair of congenital-in speakers, although like a lot of monitor speakers, they're quiet and metallic, and non worth using unless you lot accept no other option.

Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF: Screen

Every bit discussed higher up, the Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF has a 24-inch 1080p screen. In terms of benchmarks, the monitor looks pretty skilful, with 283 nits of average brightness and a colour accurateness of 0.23 Delta-Eastward (lower numbers are meliorate). Nevertheless, it can display but 106.3% of the sRGB color spectrum, which is unimpressive, as gaming monitors go. The very like Dell 24 S2417DG, for example, can brandish 122.viii% — although that monitor can cost $400 or more than, to be off-white.

(Epitome credit: Tom'due south Guide)

Nonetheless, in practise, the monitor doesn't handle colors well at all. The standard preset is tedious, making blacks look gray and colors look done-out. You lot tin can tinker with effulgence, contrast, hue and saturation options manually, but in my experience, this simply made the picture look either supersaturated or unnatural. Some of the presets piece of work improve than others (the MOBA/RTS setting is surprisingly proficient for most applications), just even by total Hard disk drive monitor standards, the S2421HGF's screen doesn't look swell.

Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF: Gaming performance

With 1080p resolution and a 144 Hz refresh rate, the Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF can help older and less-powerful machines run games at a steady clip. As the owner of an older, less-powerful machine, I tested the S2421HGF with Doom Eternal, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales. To brand things interesting, I also used the recommended preset for each genre, every bit the S2421HGF has built-in options for FPS, MOBA/RTS and RPGs. (I went with "Standard" for Tomb Raider.)

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

First off, the FPS mode is simply bottomless. There'south no nicer discussion for information technology. The S2421HGF cranked the brightness and sharpness up so high that Doom Eternal had no sense of atmosphere, losing the dark, grim visuals that characterize the game. Standard isn't much better; there was little contrast between the night and bright patches in Lara's forgotten tomb, making areas difficult to navigate and cutscenes unpleasant to lookout.

The monitor handled RTS and RPG visuals better, though. Those presets plough the brightness down quite a fleck, and don't oversaturate the colors and then much. Age of Empires 2 ran at a steady 60 frames per 2nd, while Thronebreaker hovered around the low 100s. Both had clear, distinct visuals, although the color never looked quite right for either championship.

Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF: Interface

The Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF is pretty hard to navigate, in spite of having 4 different buttons to assistance out.

(Epitome credit: Tom'due south Guide)

Pressing the control nub opens a carte that lets y'all select presets, adjust brightness, command book and tinker with other settings. The problem is that the nub is extremely sensitive, and it's very easy to click the wrong thing by accident, or to exit the carte du jour entirely. There are also a lot of menus-within-menus, especially if you want to plan your own presets. Every bit such, navigating the interface can exist a precarious, disruptive feel.

To be off-white, the interface does give you a lot of options, from tinkering with colors to controlling the speaker volume. And if yous manage to program a preset you like, yous won't have to bother with the menus as well often. Between the awkward button placement, the tedious menus and the imprecise control nub, it'due south something yous'll want to avert.

Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF: Verdict

At $250 (or less; this peripheral goes on sale regularly), the Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF is pretty much what y'all'd expect for the cost. If you need a reliable, elementary monitor for a 1080p gaming PC — or for some electric current-gen consoles — this i is fine. I'd argue that even at 24 inches, you'd be better off with a quad HD monitor similar the Dell 24 S2417DG, but that also ways you'll have to pay more than coin.

In our Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF review, we covered the monitor's decent performance and minor footprint, every bit well equally its washed-out colors and clunky interface. As for whether the good outweighs the bad, or vice versa, consider whether you lot demand a monitor to really elevate your games — or whether you just need to see what's going on.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site'due south coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of scientific discipline and technology. Later hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on archetype sci-fi.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/dell-24-gaming-monitor-s2421hgf

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