Dell P P1917S 19" Black

The Dell P1917S is a 19-inch 5:4 IPS monitor built for office work, not entertainment. Its standout feature is the fully adjustable stand with height, tilt, swivel, and pivot, plus a USB hub. At $110 USD it's cheap, but the 1280 x 1024 resolution and 60Hz panel rank near the bottom of our performance and color charts. Buy it for legacy software, tight desks, or document-heavy work. Skip it for gaming, video, or anything color-sensitive.

Let's be honest about the numbers. A 60Hz refresh rate and an 8ms response time put this monitor in the bottom tier of our performance database, around the 6th percentile. If you're gaming, this is not the panel for you. Ghosting will be visible in fast motion, and the 60Hz ceiling means no high-refresh smoothness. But for static content, spreadsheets, email, and document work, none of that matters. The IPS panel gives you consistent colors from wide angles, which is more useful in an office than a fast TN panel would be.

The 250-nit brightness is adequate for indoor office lighting but will struggle near bright windows. The 1,000:1 static contrast ratio is standard for IPS and fine for text. Color coverage is listed as 16.7 million colors, which is 8-bit without any wide-gamut claims. That puts it near the bottom of our color rankings, around the 16th percentile. If you're editing photos or doing color-critical work, look elsewhere. For reading black text on a white background, it's perfectly serviceable.

The competitors in our database are all gaming or high-refresh monitors, which tells you how different this product is. The ASUS TUF Gaming VG34VQL1B is a 34-inch ultrawide with a 165Hz refresh rate. The Acer Nitro XV272U and HP OMEN 27qs are 27-inch 1440p panels built for speed. The Gigabyte M27UP and MSI MAG 321CUPDF are 4K or large-format displays. None of them compete with the P1917S on price, size, or purpose.

But that comparison is useful. It shows what you give up by going with a 19-inch 5:4 monitor. You lose resolution, refresh rate, color performance, and screen real estate. What you gain is a compact footprint, a fully adjustable stand, and a price tag that's a fraction of those gaming monitors. If you're building a home office on a budget and don't need widescreen, the P1917S is a reasonable choice. If you want to watch movies, play games, or do any kind of visual work, every one of those competitors is a better fit.

At $110 USD from the one listing we track, the P1917S is cheap. But cheap doesn't always mean good value. For that money you're getting a solid ergonomic stand, an IPS panel, and a USB hub, which is a decent bundle. The catch is that $110 also buys you a used 24-inch 1080p monitor with better resolution and a more modern aspect ratio if you're willing to shop around.

Where the P1917S earns its keep is in specific use cases. If you need 5:4 for legacy software, or you want a compact second monitor that pivots to portrait mode for reading long documents, this is one of the few new options left. The ergonomics and build quality are better than most budget monitors, and Dell's reliability track record counts for something in an office environment. But as a general-purpose display, the low resolution and dated aspect ratio make it a tough sell against even modest widescreen alternatives.

The Dell P1917S is a 19-inch IPS monitor with a 5:4 aspect ratio and a 1280 x 1024 resolution. That's a throwback form factor, and it's not an accident. This is a monitor built for offices, point-of-sale terminals, and anyone who needs a second screen for reading documents, spreadsheets, or legacy software that still assumes a squarish display. It's not trying to be a gaming monitor or a home theater centerpiece, and that's fine.

What makes it interesting is the ergonomic package. You get height adjustment, tilt, swivel, and pivot, which is rare at this size and price. The stand alone makes it feel more premium than the specs suggest. And the connectivity is surprisingly generous for a 19-inch panel: HDMI, DisplayPort, D-Sub, and a USB hub with four downstream ports. That's more I/O than some 27-inch monitors we've tested.

Who is this for? Office workers who stare at text all day and want a flicker-free, blue-light-reducing screen that won't take over their desk. IT departments that need a reliable fleet monitor. And anyone with a specific need for 5:4, whether that's legacy industrial software, a compact multi-monitor setup, or just a preference for vertical space over horizontal sprawl.

Skip this monitor if you do any kind of visual work. The color performance ranks in the bottom fifth of our database, so photo editing, video work, and design are out. The 250-nit brightness also makes it a poor choice for bright rooms or near windows. If you need color accuracy, look at an IPS panel with wide-gamut coverage and at least 300 nits.

Gamers should also look elsewhere. The 60Hz refresh rate and 8ms response time are dealbreakers for anything faster than solitaire. And if you watch a lot of video, the 5:4 aspect ratio means letterboxing on nearly everything. For general home use, a 24-inch 1080p monitor with a 16:9 panel will serve you better for about the same money.

For office work, document review, and legacy applications, the P1917S is a solid, dependable choice. The ergonomic stand is genuinely good, the IPS panel is easy on the eyes, and the USB hub is a nice bonus. If you're outfitting a cubicle or a point-of-sale station, this monitor will do the job quietly and reliably for years.

For everyone else, it's a pass. The 1280 x 1024 resolution feels cramped by modern standards, the 5:4 aspect ratio is awkward for video and web browsing, and the color and performance numbers are near the bottom of our charts. Unless you specifically need the square form factor or the compact size, you can get a more versatile monitor for similar money.