Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2017
Update 8/9/2018***Star Deduction.
I am dropping a star because the monitor failed inside of 2 years - about 1 year and 8 months to be exact. It would power on, but the HDMI link or backlight flaked and it would no longer produce an image - no matter what I tried. Very disappointing. After speaking with Dell, I am actually ordering another one but this time with a 2 year warranty. Probably a stupid decision as perhaps these units have bad controllers / backlights / other issues but also a testament to how much I've liked the display overall. I took the thing apart to inspect it but all the parts were pretty dust-free and new looking. I couldn't see anything burnt out on the power or HDMI board. I could see that the panel in my unit was a Samsung.
Update 3/2/2017***Changed Custom Settings Read Below
Pros:
*Very gentle curve not distracting
*Excellent color and viewing angles (not IPS good, but still excellent)
*TV-like black levels and contrast for movies and games (VA Panels superior in this respect)
*Thin Bezels / attractive overall look
*Solid feeling build with a good stand
*2 HDMI inputs
*Comes with HDMI cord
*Anti-Glare semi-glossy screen works great and NOT grainy
*1080P very optimum resolution for gaming right now, even at 27 inches
*Reading mode
Cons:
*No height-adjustment
*Built-in speakers just so-so
*Somewhat tricky to setup (calibration info not found, needed to experiment on my own)
This Dell monitor was the answer to my prayers. Its getting harder to find a 27 inch screen with 1080p resolution, as the industry moves to 1440p and beyond. But since I use my computer for gaming, reading, and movie watching, I really wanted to stay with 1080p for the time being. In the next few years when technology catches up, I'll switch to probably 4K and seek a 27-32 inch size as they become more mainstream.
I think it says something that I traded up from a Dell S2415H IPS monitor and am overall happier with this one. The 24 inch dell had a glossy screen that was like a mirror. Also, it was a bit too bright - no matter what I did, particularly at night, the "IPS glow" was distracting and took away from movie watching. Despite its excellent built-in speakers and beautiful image quality, it just wasn't quite optimal for my uses. I found myself using reading mode all day long and feeling "fatigued" anyway. I would HIGHLY recommended that screen since its awesome, but for my room, I just wanted something a) bigger b) non-reflective and c) VA-panel, NOT IPS.
Why VA? Primarily for the 2000:1 to 5000:1 contrast ratios that promise superior black-levels. I don't need perfect viewing angles or superior color since my work doesn't require it. I don't need retina-burning maximum brightness, lately I am finding it much more useful to have a better minimum brightness! Seriously - a lot of monitors seem way to bright for the rooms they go into. Maybe in an office environment you need 250/cd but in my room I seem just fine with a max around 120/cd. So I sold the S2415H and took a chance on this one, after realizing that Dell's displays usually look better to my eyes, and my only other realistic option was a Samsung. In-store, the Samsung didn't really impress me. The SE2716H, on the other hand, once hooked up, has only gotten better as I've gotten more used to it. I did struggle at first, thinking something was off with the color / gamma levels. But after some fiddling and a re-boot, things were looking much better.
There is minimal info about this model out there, so I will report some details. The various settings look the following, to my eyes. Standard (greenish), Multimedia (Reddish/warm but nicer overall with a good balance), Movie (bluish, dynamic contrast super bright noticeable, annoying), Game (Reddish, dynamic contrast annoying), Paper (yellowish, less bright), Warm (reddish), Cool (bluish). Custom is my present Mode. I do R 96, G 94, and B 98. Contrast is 75, brightness ranges from 0 to about 30. It looks to my eyes most like Multimedia mode, but seems well balanced to my eyes (white seems white and black seems black), and I can stare at it all day without feeling super fatigued. I otherwise would probably use Multimedia mode or Paper mode in my day to day stuff. I also went into NVidia settings and made sure it was set to RGB "full" not "limited" mode. I now leave gamma alone at 1 (0.85-0.95 'darkens' the image and produces more punch if you want it), and reset saturation to 50% (54% was 'crushing' colors on some test patterns I noticed, and wasn't worth it). I am not going for the perfect gamma / DeltaE settings people, but I am trying to get something somewhat more accurate from this display. I'd guess that these settings are closer to being "accurate". Keep in mind that "accurate" these days (2.2. gamma, 6500k color temp, 100% sRGB space with DeltaE less than 1) might not be subjectively pleasing to your eyes 2) might not be obtainable. So, if you are happy with the stock image settings (not Standard, but Multimedia in this case, as with my previous Dell), I suggest you avoid getting obsessed with "calibration" like me.
The anti-glare screen is nice, it blocks MOST reflections or at least minimizes them on all but the worst days. It is not grainy. In daylight it works well and later in the day I see no reflections, just like I hoped. Reading in "custom mode" has been great, and the brightness range is a tad better than the old Dell (a more minimal "minimum"). Gaming and Movies are now awesome, with less distracting IPS glow and minimal backlight "bleed". The black bars in movies now actually look black, and shadow detail is much improved. The overall image seems very even from corner to corner, and I have notice no real shifting unless I TRY to view from an off-angle, particularly vertical angles. The overall image quality seems best at a slight distance, I would note. The curve might be somewhat gimmiky/uneeded, but it didn't detract from 6-foot viewing for a movie, nor is it distracting in practice, so I'm cool with that.
Its a shame there aren't more VA panels out there like this one - and that IPS is getting all the attention these days. These panels are fantastic all-rounders if you can handle the minimal color-shifting from slightly less than 180 degree viewing angles, and slightly less accurate colors. I can only imagine how awesome it will be as "quantum dot" and OLED type panels start trickling into monitors like these.
But this one while you still can at around $250, its a great deal and I don't think you will regret it!
