.Meetings suck. To some, they’ve become even more unbearable and complicated as the world forcibly shifted to a work from home setup due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In an effort to make these video call meetings a little more bearable, Dell came out with the Dell Video Conferencing Monitor — C2422HE. 

What are you in for? 

The Dell Video Conferencing Monitor – C2422HE is exactly what it sounds like — a monitor with features specifically built for better handling of video call meetings. Perhaps the clearest indicator of such are these buttons on the lower left side of the monitor.

The monitor can be used to connect directly to Microsoft Teams. So, if that’s the video conferencing app you used the most, then you’ll get so much out of this monitor.

However, even if that’s not the case, the volume and mute controls you see here also work with other video conferencing apps. Most of the video calls I participated in while I had the monitor were on Zoom and Google Meet but I could still use the buttons. It was a level of convenience that, while I could do without, was still pretty nice to have.

Underneath the buttons you’ll see various connection ports.

Here you can connect a headset as well as a USB mic. Specifically, the ports are: Super speed USB 5Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen1), Headphone jack, and USB-C downstream port. These add another layer to increasing the overall audio quality of your video calling experience.

While we’re on the topic of ports, let’s check out the ones in the back of the monitor.

The ports are as follows: Security lock slot, Power connector, HDMI port, DisplayPort in , USB-C upstream/DisplayPort, DP port (out), USB-B upstream port, Super speed USB 5Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen1), Super speed USB 5Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen1), RJ45 connector.

That’s a variety of connections to give you options on what you can connect to the monitor. However, you’ll have to have your own HDMI cable if that’s your preferred way to connect. The only cables included here are: Power cable, DisplayPort cable (DisplayPort to DisplayPort), USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A to Type-B upstream cable, and USB-C cable (C to C).

The power button and navigation nub sits on the right side of the monitor and they’re fairly easy to reach.

The camera

But of course, the star here is the integrated pop-up camera. Yes, pop-up. You can tuck it inside the monitor when not in use ensuring privacy and taking away fears of it capturing video without your knowledge.

The lens isn’t the only thing in that pop-up camera though. Flanking it are two mics and two IR LEDs. This means you can use it comfortably without any peripherals if you don’t have any on hand.

While I did hold most of the video calls wearing a headset on, I did try them using only the monitor. I still came off relatively clear according to the people on the other end of the call.

Meanwhile, you’ll have no trouble hearing them because of the front-firing speakers. They’re placed in the middle of the lower panel where you’ll find the volume and mute buttons.

Sitting in the middle is the camera lens. Dell’s official specs says it’s FHD 30fps with a 178°  wide viewing angle. Based on my usage, I’d say it’s a 720p cam and it’s most certainly a wide angle one.

That’s great for when you want to showcase your background, but not so much if it’s messy and you prefer it not be seen.

Here’s a preview of what it looks like. 

It captures A LOT compared to the usual webcams that pretty much only gets your face. I wasn’t even sitting too far away when I took this photo. I live in a pretty cramped and messy space so I couldn’t really show-off the wide angle camera as much. But it’s great and works really well especially if you want to fit more than one person in the shot.

But how does it fare as a monitor?

Here are the numbers on paper: 1920 x 1080 at 60Hz, 250 cd/m2 (typical) brightness, 1000: 1 (Typical) contrast ratio, 5 ms (Fast) – (gray to gray), 8 ms (normal) response time, 16.78 million color support, Anti-Glare with Hard- Coating 3H.

Pretty standard stuff. It’s fine for most office work and maybe some light photo editing, but this wouldn’t be fun at all for gaming. Even for standard media consumption, the monitor left me wanting.

It could be my eyes being used to 4K panels, but the monitor just didn’t do it for me visually when I tried it for watching K-Pop videos and Netflix. The image quality didn’t get to a sharpness level that my eyes have been spoiled with on my other devices.

But for other use-cases, it’s pretty useful. Other than typical office work, it might actually be useful as a secondary monitor too especially with its ability to swivel.

You can use it vertically to monitor social media or whatever you may have a use for vertical screens for. Personally, this wasn’t a use-case I found to be pertinent to my line of work but I can see it being helpful for others.

Is the Dell Video Conferencing Monitor – C2422HE your GadgetMatch?

The Dell Video Conferencing Monitor – C2422HE is pretty unique with the way it’s built for video calling. But it will set you back for US$ 470 or around PhP 29,000. Personally, I think that’s a big ask for the task that its set of features are gunning for.

(Editor’s Note: The official price in the Philippines is PhP 29,500 and it’s available in all Dell Partner stores).

Softening the blow of this conclusion with a faux TWICE video conference call

Sure, it makes video conferencing a tad bit more convenient, but I argue you can get to a similar level of quality by purchasing different sets of devices (monitor, webcam, mic) that amount to around the same price.

It’s by no means a terrible monitor, and the features are quite unique. However, if I’m able to replicate the experience with a different set of devices, then the only thing you’re buying this for is convenience. You’ll have to be a pretty lazy shopper (no judgment here, cause I’m pretty lazy myself) with deep pockets to want this over buying separate devices for a similar, if not better experience post-purchase.