Price wars are common throughout all facets of business, 5K monitors included. The price wars for this market have started, surprisingly, before a single stand-alone display technology has even shipped. Dell, which recently announced but not shipped its UltraSharp 5K monitor, has already said that it will cut prices of the device in the wake of Apple's latest 27" iMac jumping into the market. Dell's UltraSharp was announced back in September and will be priced under $2,000 from December, the same month it is set to ship.
When originally announced, this monitor was priced at $2,499.99. Even though Dell did not immediately provide reasons for the price drop, founder and President of Touch Display Research Jennifer Colegrove stated that Apple's 27" iMac, which sports a 5K display, may have been a catalyst. Apple is throwing in an entire computer with its 27" iMac with 5K Retina display for the same $2,499.99 price as the UltraSharp.
Apple was first to make 5K displays available when it began shipping the iMac earlier this month. 5K monitors display images at a 5120 x 2880 resolution, which is nearly 60% more pixels than 4K displays, which have resolutions of 3840 x 2160. Dell is still taking orders for the 5K monitor at $2,499.99 on its website, but stated the price drop would occur in December. At $2,000, Dell's 5K monitor may be worth it for people who want to upgrade from conventional 1080p moniotrs, according to Colegrove.
Dell's UltraSharp has two 16-watt integrated Harman Kardon speakers, six USB ports and one media card reader. In addition to that, it also has one mini-DisplayPort and two DisplayPort interfaces. The monitor is also capable of working with any PC a user chooses, meaning it could be attractive to graphic designers, movie makers and others who find high-resolution images valuable. Moreover, the UltraSharp is also likely to be the only stand-alone 5K monitor available when it ships, whereas Apple's iMac is an all-in-one.
If you have already taken the plunge into 4K then there is little incentive for you to jump ship into 5K. 4K monitors are available for as little as $700 and there is content being produced for 4K, which is already being considered the next industry standard. Content made for 4K will look no better on 5K devices, unless it is upscaled through special software.
Vendors, on the other hand, are gradually moving to 5K and higher, all the way up to 8K resolutions. The first 8K TVs are said to be coming out next year and monitors based on that technology are likely to appear in 2017, according to Colegrove.
