Raible Designs

Dell UltraSharp U3818DW 38" Curved Monitor Review

A little over a month ago, I purchased a Dell UltraSharp U3818DW 38" curved monitor. Previously, I had two 27" monitors ‐ an Apple Thunderbolt Display and an Asus 4K. I wanted to return to a single monitor and asked Twitter for advice.

Based on recommendations I received, I purchased a Dell UltraSharp U3818DW 38" from B&H on Sunday, March 29. It arrived two days later.

I made a video of the unboxing.

In this video, I said plugging into my Henge Dock didn't work. However, I was plugging into my tethered Stone. Plugging the monitor directly into my Henge Dock with USB-C worked, and I haven't tried another configuration since.

My first impression of the monitor was, "Wow, this is awesome!" The curvedness did take me a few days to get used to, but now I barely notice it. Before I bought the monitor, I used Hammerspoon and hotkeys to snap windows to the right or left based on key combinations. Having something like this is essential when you have an ultrawide, IMO.

I did experience a few issues:

• A 2-minute sleep-wake cycle at night
• Squishing the screen to 1920 x 1080 for screencasts
• Controlling the volume from the keyboard

Fix the Sleep-Wake Cycle on a Dell UltraSharp U3818DW

Pratik Patel warned me about a ~2 minute cycle of sleep-wake that he experienced with his. I didn't believe him at first, and then it happened to me late one night. I fixed this by checking Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off in Energy Saver settings.

Record 16:9 Screencasts on a Dell UltraSharp U3818DW

I had a presentation I wanted to pre-record with my new monitor, so I asked if it was possible to record a 16:9 screencast on an ultrawide monitor. Ryan Boyd came to the rescue and recommended SwitchResX. I paid $16 USD for a license and haven't looked at any other options since.

I've only recorded one screencast so far, and I don't see any differences compared to previous ones.

Control the Volume on a Dell UltraSharp U3818DW with Your Mac Keyboard

I don't have nice speakers for my computer because headphones seem to work better if I really want to crank it up. For the last several weeks, when I set the output to the monitor and wanted to control the volume, I just used the volume buttons on the bottom of the monitor. This is kind of a pain because I'm used to controlling the volume with my keyboard controls. This was a nice feature of my Apple display that just worked.

I googled for a solution and found a thread on StackExchange. I installed the recommend MonitorControl and now I can control the contrast, brightness, and volume from my keyboard.

I'm super happy with this monitor and have no regrets. I paid for this out of my own pocket, but recently got reimbursed from my kick-ass employer, Okta. At first, they said I couldn't, but then changed their work-from-home policy to state you can expense "whatever it takes to make you more productive."

Here's a picture of my monitor and desk.

The lights above my monitor are Key Light Air LEDs from Elgato. They're nice for screencasting and live broadcasts. I can adjust their settings from my laptop or my phone.

With the top-side looking so good, I recently cleaned up the cables so it looks good underneath too.