Alienware AW3423DWF Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor – 34-inch Quantum Dot OLED 0.1Ms 165Hz 21:9 Curved Display, 99.3% DCI-P3 Color Gamut, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro – Black

Incredible gaming monitor
Absolutely phenomenal monitor. Coming from an IPS 1440p monitor, it’s a huge step up. The OLED and ultrawide combination is jaw dropping. Everyone that’s seen it is amazed by it. The jump between a regular 1440p and an ultrawide will definitely slightly reduce performance while gaming, but even with a 3060ti I’m managing good frames on almost anything I throw at it. The slight curve really helps immerse you in games too. I had tested a 42” 4K LG OLED TV, but it was just too big, and it really took my PC down to its knees. At its current price of $700, I believe it’s worth every penny. It’s a big graphical upgrade. Games just look so much better with deep shadows and the colors really pop. The one thing I noticed and was aware of before buying is text out of the box looks a little funky. It took a bit of tweaking both within the monitors settings and some 3rd party tools to get it how I liked it. If you were using this primarily as a work/productivity monitor you might be better off without OLED.

Jack of All Trades (AW2725DF)
So I got this monitor as an upgrade from a 1080p 360Hz IPS Alienware, snagging it for $650 on sale. It’s truly a “jack of all trades” that excels in both competitive and casual gaming. You get OLED’s phenomenal image quality with deep blacks and vibrant colors that make games like Red Dead Redemption 2 look great. At the same time, it offers near-instant response times and super-clear motion clarity, which is great for competitive FPS. The 1440p resolution and high refresh rate make spotting enemies easier, and aiming feels natural.With new 480Hz OLED variants hitting the market, you might wonder about the refresh rate. I haven’t tested anything above 360Hz, but I’d imagine there’s a subtle yet tangible difference. However, if you can find this monitor at a good price, the balance of features still makes it a solid pick, especially since newer tech often comes at a premium.The build quality is nice, with some RGB on the back that can be customized (or turned off). While I didn’t use the stand, it appeared to be of decent quality. The monitor itself is sleek and doesn’t scream “gamer,” which I like. It blends well into an office setting, though you can tell it’s a premium product even from a distance. There’s a slight purple-ish tint to the coating, and if there’s light in the background, it doesn’t reflect the best, which can impact image quality and blacks slightly. Be mindful of light sources if you get this monitor. It’s also a bit of a fingerprint magnet, but it comes with a cloth that works well for cleaning. On the plus side, there’s a 3-year burn-in warranty. I can’t speak on Alienware/Dell’s customer service as I haven’t had to deal with them, but the peace of mind is nice.The monitor does have quirks, mostly related to the OLED panel. You’ll need to run a 5-minute pixel refresh every few hours to prevent burn-in. This isn’t particularly invasive but can cause some anxiety during long gaming sessions. Brightness has been perfectly fine for my dim room setup at 95%, but if you play in a brighter room, you might want to reconsider. As someone who was initially worried about brightness, I’ve found it to be fine. The HDR implementation is good, offering both HDR 1000 and HDR “True Black” (400) modes. You can switch between these directly from the OSD, with HDR 1000 working best in darker games and True Black being better for desktop use and brighter titles.There are some minor text clarity issues due to the QD-OLED subpixel layout, though adjusting ClearType and OSD sharpness helps. You can’t use DLDSR/DSR above 240Hz due to DSC requirements, but these are minor inconveniences rather than deal-breakers. For settings, I’d recommend the “Creator” mode preset and enabling 10-bit color. The monitor also includes features like customizable crosshairs and a dark stabilizer. However, the dark stabilizer is less effective on this OLED panel compared to traditional LCDs due to OLED’s true blacks.Overall, if you can catch this monitor at a decent price and don’t mind some OLED-specific quirks, it’s worth the premium for anyone wanting a single monitor that can do it all. You don’t really sacrifice much with this monitor. Just do your research on OLED technology and its characteristics before pulling the trigger. While the improved image quality and color make the quirks worth dealing with, it’s important to know what you’re getting into.

Ive had this for about a month and a half at this point and it’s been superb. I was worried about a few different things going in, the brightness, going down in ppi from 28″ 4k to 34″ UW at 1440p. If it wasn’t UW but had the same height this would be about the size of a 27″ monitor, so I lost just a bit of vertical size moving to this one. Well none of these things turned out to be an issue. What I gained has far outweighed any loss. 4k to 1440p was not nearly as much of a big deal as I was worried about. 1440p is still a very sharp looking picture and actually boosted my fps in games because of less pixels to push each frame (even with the UW format). Brightness, I turn it down because it’s too much when I’m in windows. In gaming it’s perfect. I have a pretty well lit room with a light on the ceiling behind me and a room further behind with the light on there too. I don’t see any glare when I’m using the monitor. Maybe at night if I turn the light off but the other rooms light is on, I can notice that I want that light off as well. But way less of a worry than expected for glare, pretty much a non issue. The size feels huge, so much screen in front of me, I forget I had a slightly taller screen before because this one feels way larger overall. And for watching movies, a lot of them, once black bars are removed, fit 21:9 perfectly, so I’m actually getting a MUCH larger picture than before when watching most movies. Add HDR in there and a slightly downsized 4k (3440 wide instead of 3840) and movies look outstanding on this screen. As for the HDR, being an OLED panel you can expect it to be good and it really is. It’s hard to describe but things just look more real. SDR content will look very flat and washed out once you get used to the HDR on here. Refresh rate at 240hz is obviously incredible but since I like good graphics I’m not necessarily hitting that speed too often. If you’re considering this monitor, I can’t think of a reason to not go for it. It’s everything I hoped for and more.

After 3 months, I was playing a game, and the screen went black. Never came back on. The power light was on, but it was just black, and the menu button did nothing. Went through some steps that failed. Dell wanted videos, invoices, etc. Supplied them 3 days ago and radio silence……. I have 15-year-old screens that still work. This is the worst screen I have ever had, but also the most expensive at nearly £600: appalling screen and appalling customer service. Never buying Dell.Still waiting 2 weeks later for Dell “Get approval” from their product team to send me a new screen………….If only there were a 0-star option.

I’m absolutely astonished by the Alienware AW2725DF. This monitor has a great set of features for the price I bought it for. It has incredible colors out of the box. The viewing angles are excellent, showing consistent colors. Reading text on the screen is great. Some may not like it due to the QD-OLED’s pixel layout, causing text fringing. Most people wont notice it or care, but I’m pointing it out there for people who tend to write or read alot on monitors. The monitor is very stable on its stand. It doesn’t wiggle. Stiff and premium feeling. You can tilt the monitor at a wide range of angles. Has VESA mounting support. It’s less bright than other monitors but it’s still quite high. Supports VRR and G-Sync (non-premium). VRR flickering does occur when frame rates are changing (I’d recommend capping fps at an amount that your system can maintain consistently or turning off VRR). Motion blur is almost unrecognizable if FPS is consistent at the max refresh rate. At lower refresh rates, motion blur is still handled very well despite lacking any Low-Motion blur technology like DyAc or ULMB. Good amount of customizable options in the system menu like adjustable color configurations, customizable crosshairs and hotkeys. 360 Hz, 1.5-2ms input latency, near instant response time just makes this the perfect affordable, yet premium monitor for any use case.