Alienware - AW3418DW 34.14" IPS LED UltraWide HD G-SYNC Monitor - Epic silver

I'm personally convinced that as of early 2018 this is the king of the 34" Ultrawide market. There are some new interesting models to come this year, particularly from Asus, but they are not out as of Feb. 2018 and are likely to be upwards of $2000 when they do arrive, and will sport 200hz refresh rates. Id been toying with the idea of going to the ultrawide format for a couple of months before I pulled the trigger. I went back and forth on whether to go with a 27" standard Gsync monitor for around the ~$700 mark or jump head first into an entirely different pool and go ultrawide, and pay double the cash. The main hesitation for me was always the cost. After letting it rest in my mind for a couple months, I decided I wanted to make the big jump and go all out. Deciding to take the plunge, I then had to decide which brand to go with. I have been a PC enthusiast, Overclocker, and gamer for over 15 years. I'm no stranger to PC hardware and their specs. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time considering each of the options in the 34" Ultrawide Market. The main specs I was looking for was 3440x1440 resolution, As high a refresh rate as possible, and good overall panel quality. The options are a bit slim in the ultrawide 1440p landscape, so I started off looking at perhaps the 2 most popular options: The Asus ROG Swift PG348Q and the Acer predator models, particularly the Z35p. I entered the Alienware here into my options a little later on. Ive never been a fan of alienware computers, so I was kinda lukewarm on them as a brand. However, I entered this decision with no bias, and was determined to buy the best monitor of the options available, irrespective of brand. To make a long story short, in the end, the Alienware was a cut above the Acer and Asus offerings. The Acer Z35P uses a VA panel, while the Asus and Alienware sport LG IP panels. VA panels are a middle ground between TN and IPS panels typically, but an suffer from ghosting issues. In my research I noted several instances of ghosting being a problem on the z35p. It also has a bit of a history with QA (quality assurance) issues. The Asus also had some QA issues the more I dug into it. While all 3 monitors have majority positive reviews everywhere, if you dig deeper, into reddit and other places you can get a better picture of the issues people have, and I saw the same couple of issues come up over and over again with folks to lost the "panel lottery" as it is called. I was not able to find similar types of issues regarding the Alienware, though it is not as popular as the Acer and Asus either, so I kept that in mind. I ruled out the Acer first, and focused in on the Asus and Alienware. In the end though, I could never find any reason to put the asus over the alienware, but found several reasons to put the alienware over the asus. Most importantly is the alienware uses the newer LG LM340UW4 panel, over the Asus's LG LM340UW2 panel. The most important difference between these two panels is the native refresh rate. The panel in the Alienware is a 100hz native refresh rate, that can overclock to 120hz. The Asus's panel is a 60hz native refresh rate that overclocks to 100hz. What it boils down to is that the Alienware is the only 34" 3440 x 1440 ultrawide IPS that sports a 120hz refresh rate. While the Acer also achieved 120hz, it does it on a VA Panel. Ive had the monitor now for about 5 days and have put it through the ringer, testing it and feeling it out. I have been thoroughly impressed. Not a single dead pixel. Light bleed is present in the bottom left and right corner but its very minimal and only visible on a totally black screen. There is a very light shading, almost like a little vignette affect across the top half inch of the screen; it is just barely noticeable. I wonder if they took some measure to try and avoid light bleed. One reviewer on youtube noted this light shading as well. You really do not notice it though unless you really focus on it, and you have a white backdrop. I dont feel it detracts at all from the screens display, which is really gorgeous. Color, clarity, sharpness all look fantastic. Gaming performance is fantastic. I've tested it out in about 8 popular games and it has impressed in every instance. No ghosting, artifacts, or noticable input lag. Its just big, bold, and beautiful. The stand the monitor sits on is largely metal and is incredibly sturdy and well built. The integrated lighting is a great little addition and offers a soft glow of your preferred color to your desk for night time gaming sessions. If you want the lights off they are easily toggled off. The only feature it doesn't have that I do wish it had, is a center crosshair, which would be useful in some games. Also worth noting is that this was the only monitor of the 3 considered which has no built in speakers. This was a complete non issue to me, but worth noting. This one gets a 5/5 from me. It has impressed me all around. Bestbuy also price matched it for me online, which was quick and painless.

I'm not going to pretend to be an AV expert. I'm far from it. This is my first ultrawide monitor and it's a drastic upgrade from my previous ASUS VG278HV. I can only comment on the basics. Here are the preconditions necessary for you to be able to fully enjoy this monitor (for gaming): * You're a gamer primarily. This is NOT the monitor for viewing content, especially with multiple users. Viewing angle is narrow and ultra-wides themselves are designed to fully immerse one guy or gal in games. The backlight bleed & glare are less obvious and impactful when you are gaming close to the monitor. Your eyes may suffer for it; if you are concerned invest in computer glasses (for the average distance from eyes to a monitor screen) and/or glasses that block high-intensity blue light. * You have a high-end graphics card, preferably Pascal. 980 should be OK. You need to be able to drive this monitor at desired (ultra-wide) resolutions while not sacrificing settings in games too much, otherwise you will have bought the monitor only to display crap. Do your research! While HDMI input is supported, for all practical purposes DisplayPort is a necessity to fully utilize the monitor's capabilities. I have an RTX 2070 which is sufficient. * You're not playing games in a bright room or during the day. The glare is hardly noticeable in a low-lit environment or at night. When subject to bright light it's hard to see stuff, especially in shooters that have huge zones and/or camouflage. * You are interested in playing newer titles that explicitly support ultra-wide resolutions, such as Destiny 2 and Battlefield V. There are many but take note that ultra-wide gaming is still quite niche; not every recent game fully supports it in the sense that they will both run well and have crisp interfaces. Don't be thinking Baldur's Gate or Diablo 2 will be supreme on this monitor. Legacy games are more unpredictable on ultra-wide resolutions. * You edge on the side of enjoying first-person shooters (or FPS RPGs) more than real-time strategy and isometric RPGs. While strategy games are awesome on an ultra-wide, the titles that will knock your socks off and take full advantage of this hardware's support for both GSYNC and decently high refresh rates are first-person shooters. You might be overbuying if you have zero interest in first-person shooters or any game that provides competitive benefits from GSYNC and/or a high refresh-rate. Furthermore, if you're just looking to play super competitively in games like Overwatch, Counter-Strike and CoD you may be better off aiming for something smaller and 144HZ capable. I've given Total War: Warhammer 2 a try and while the battles are incredible on an ultra-wide, the campaign map looks somewhat funky. Assess what your needs are with respect to your favorite games and future purchases beforehand so you are not confused or disappointed. * You have a decently sized desk. This monitor is constructed to be sturdy at the expense of space. Somewhere between 10-14 inches of clearance are needed. Yes, this could easily take up over one third of a normal-sized desk. If you meet those preconditions, this monitor is a beast. The build quality is superb and the display is crisp. The colors out of the box are OK, but can quickly be fixed with calibration. The presets are much better than the default scheme. The monitor is huge; only actually experiencing a 34 inch ultra-wide will allow you to appreciate the hardware and technological advancement that has occurred in displays. I've been frequenting Battlefield V and it is absolutely surreal with this monitor. You will need to give your mind time to acclimate to the awesomeness of ultrawide resolutions. You do pay a premium for GSYNC (the so-called intellectual property tax from Nvidia) but if you have the right setup it is amazing technology. You can always default it to off for games that do not run well with it. If you can find this monitor on sale you are basically not paying the IP tax. I've found GSYNC to be pretty awesome at totally eliminating tear and maintaining a stable framerate, but your mileage will vary (especially since every single driver release seems to affect GSYNC either positively or negatively across various games). Nvidia is quickly becoming known for having unreliable driver releases. Keep in mind that there have been multiple revisions of this monitor that (as far as we can tell) have improved reliability and quality. Rev 5 from September '18 is the most recent. Just know that owning this monitor is a commitment. Keep and store the box and packaging so if you have an issue an RMA is easier and cheaper. I have the box in-tact and Alienware is known for pretty good support. Overall, I don't know what else I can ask for here. My expectations were greatly exceeded. Just make sure ultra-wide + 100 to 120hz + 4ms response suits your needs before investing in this setup. I'm not a super competitive gamer so I don't have those particular needs. In terms of being awestruck at recent games, this monitor delivers.

Have been searching for a ultra wide curved gaming monitor for a long time. This monitor has a good 4ms GTG response time,100hz fast refresh rate which can be overclocked to 120hz, bright 300 cd/m2, 99% true color reproduction IPS panel, and the tightest pixel pitch at 0.223mm x 0.223. The 3 year mfg warranty is an added plus as are the included cables for DP, USB, and Mini. Easy setup. The color correction to 93, 93, 100 on RGB is recommended. It was on sale at Best Buy for $999 after New Years, now sold out. Do not confuse the 3440 x 1440 DW with the lower priced 2560 x 1060 HW. The HW also has lower pixel pitch at 0.31 x 0.31 making optical characters less clear. The monitor stand is silky smooth and sturdy (heavy) and easily swivels, or tilts, or adjusts height as needed. If you don't like the weight of don't have the desk space for the stand you can switch to a Vesa compatible mount at your additional expense. Future faster monitors are being talked about but not yet available. Frankly, this is the only monitor so far in this category that can do it all. Also for AMD card owners, this monitor will work with R9 390 cards and up, though YMMV depending on your game and its settings. I ran games without needing G-sync nor noticed tearing or stuttering in my games. For the purest, no dead pixels, and some fluctuation on white balance on the top of the screen, and right to left comparison. Not enough of a problem for me to deduct the 5th star. Honestly the screen is so big it is hard to compare both sides at the same time. This is better than the Acer Predator X34 for my money, and I spent a few days comparing each review. Minor ghosting is still likely at the highest game settings though of high pixel pushing games, though much better than the budget ultra wide monitors like the LG brand and even narrowly better than the Acer Predator. BLB is as expected for IPS panel and not noticeable in normal use. There is also a DARK DEFINITION setting to bring out detail in darker games. The panel settings are easy to use brightness and contrast comes from the factory at 75 settings. I changed the contrast to 37 for my viewing needs. Also, the anti-glare coating on the display panel works well, though be careful not to get your finger print or oil on it. If you are looking for the best ultra wide monitor that has bright true color reproduction, fast speeds, can be used as a daily monitor, the Alienware 3418DW is the best choice as of Jan 2018, and at $999, almost affordable.

I received my panel today and concur with reviewer "MITCH" observations, however, I will rate it at 4 stars... for now. 1) Left portion of screen is cooler than right. My panel starts to get a slightly warmer color temp around the "RE" in the ALIENWARE logo. I got some time to return so I investigate my options. I'll see if it's common and consider keeping or RMA/return for replacement. I used eizo-test to do a quick check of all my panels out-of-box. Quick and easy tool. Need to see if this slight gradient temp change will start to irritate me. I used a reference white background or browser with BB website with two windows side-by-side. Straight on viewing, you'll see a gradient change. When I move my viewing angle toward the right offset, it starts to balance out. Some quirks in this curved panel. It may not bother many people, but if you are picky, you'll need to try it out or pass on it. 2) Some corner BLB on lower left and right using default. I had bad BLB/dead-lit pixels and had to return (4) PG270Q from A******n. QC on those were bad. I used tftcentral's X-rite calibration of 37 brightness, 73 contrast and their RGB settings and the BLB is minimal and tolerable on the Dell AW3418DW. 3) Yes, there is "ghosting" on anything above normal response at 120Hz OC, but this has been mentioned and tftcentral cited this in their review, too. Did some speed runs of Doom levels using G-Sync 120Hz normal response at 3440x1440p and got solid 113fps with max-ultra settings. Will try battlefield, CoD, and Wolfenstein later. I have playable framerates using 1080ti SLI using surrround triple 1440 displays, but the Dell AW3418DW has solid framerates at max-settings. It's a compromise since I hate TN and VA panels. Triple 1440p is hard at max settings. This monitor has good framerates at the max settings and the effects are nice for a wide screen. WARNING: You'll need a very good Intel/Ryzen CPU and high-end video card to drive this display at max settings. This is an all-around good UW for general purpose and good for gaming, but may not be right for serious graphics and video user. At the current price, it's a little high. At <$1000, it'll be one of the top UW gaming monitors for a the next quarter or so. At $1299, it's a little pricey.

Prior to purchasing this monitor I was using two 27 inch 1080p monitors. They were decent monitors but ate up a lot of desk real estate. As I was having a new computer built for me I decided it was time for an update. I'm very pleased with the purchase. I've had zero issues thus far. Zero dead pixels. Hopeful that will continue to be the case. I will discuss the features that were important to me: 1. Resolution: The dot resolution of the screen is definitely a step up from what I had. 3440x1440 looks much sharper and cleaner. 2. Brightness: Better than my old screens and definitely bright enough for a normally lit office or bedroom. 3. Color accuracy: I do a lot of work with photoshop in the photography field so color accuracy is important to me however at this point I am still in the process of moving stuff from my old computer to the new one (where this monitor is used) and have not yet done a monitor calibration so I can not yet speak to the color accuracy but based on images I looked at from my photo library it looks pretty good straight out the box. 4. Refresh rate: I have it running at 120Hz and it's doing fine. I see no flashing or other anomalous behavior. 5. I've played a few games with this monitor and it is a real joy to have some sense of peripheral vision. The screen is large enough to give a sense of it. 6. Large screen space with no dividing line down the middle: The overall screen space is not a much as my 2-27 inch monitors but I really don't need that much horizontal space. It's nice to look at large pictures and games with 34 inches of screen and not see a big blob of nothing down the middle. 7. The lighting on the back and bottom of the monitor is scarcely noticeable in normal room lighting. In a dark room you can kind of see it but again not a major feature. I would say if you're looking for this to be a main feature you will be disappointed. Overall, I'm very pleased with the monitor and I do recommend it to others.

Oh man where to start. This monitor is great in so many ways. Coming from a Asus VG248QE which is a 1080p TN monitor @144hz refresh rate with no g-sync, while that monitor was amazing this Alienware AW3418DW took gaming monitor to the next level. The pros: This is simple. IPS display, ultra wide, curved, 120hz overclocked refresh rate, G-sync, 21:9, and 34" @1440p. The cons: Price since this monitor came out in August it's going to be very rare that this will go under $1,000. Since it is an IPS panel it does have "IPS glow" only noticeable on a black screen or when my computer is off but the monitor is still on. Another can be "blacklight bleed" which has plagued the Asus ROG swift. As I don't have it with my mine both these are possible with other orders. I would suggest contacting Dell NOT best buy if this were to happen since they will just geek squad it out and it will cost you way more money then just getting an RMA from Dell and just paying for a box. People will tell you that you shouldn't get a ultra wide or a 21:9 monitor since "no games support it" as in there will be black box's on the sides of the screen forcing you into 1080p or giving you a weird scaling issue. This couldn't be less true though. Playerunknown battle grounds, World of Warcraft, Battlefront, Battlefield, Call of duty, ARK, and Path of Exiles all support 21:9 and there are a ton more honestly the only game I know that doesn't work on it is overwatch and blizzard won't fix it since they think of it as having an unfair advantage. All and all this monitor is an amazing upgrade and dell has amazing quality control. I'm running a GTX 970 on this for now and it runs fine g-sync keeps the frames smooth if it ever dips below 60 fps which has only happened on battlegrounds. I would recommend this fully if you can deal with the black bars on YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, ect.

Pros: Very smooth performance even at 100Hz, crisp colors (nicer than the 4yr old 4k monitor it replaced), the RGB accents are a nice touch and are subtle but awesome Solid quality, stand quality, overall quality, etc. - No stand wobble Lots of customization capabilities/profiles 3-year warranty from Dell (that's fantastic!) Gsync --- Amazing smoothness that I've never experienced before! DisplayPort cable included (which it should be included for the price, lol) In most games, 3440x1440 is just as nice as 4k. I feel that in most games with 21:9 3440x1440 is the "sweet spot". Nice viewing angles all around, and you have a lot of adjustment to get the perfect angle, whether up/down or left/right. Cons: Price The bezel around the screen is easy to smudge with fingerprints I wish it was able to have 144hz, though 100/120 is really nice for most games. It does take some getting used to, coming from a non 21:9/curved display, some people have said they've gotten motion sick Color profile out of the box can use some tweaking (though when adjusted, it's really nice. There are videos on youtube that show how to make the colors really nice!) My thoughts: Excellent monitor for the price, though I wish it wasn't so expensive (though it is to be expected with Dell's "Alienware" line). The colors are fantastic and much better than the 4k monitor it replaced. Mine didn't have any IPS bleed or dead pixels. In another video I saw, it had some color issues up top when web surfing though mine doesn't have the same issue. The warranty that comes with it is fantastic. 3 years when other manufacturers are 1-2 max. I did opt for the extra warranty on it for the price I paid so that I can get the most out of my money if there is an issue (which I don't anticipate but it's better to be prepared). The quality of the monitor is top-notch and so is the stand, it's very solid with no monitor/stand wobble. The RGB accents are a nice touch and are not over-bearing which some monitors can be. I wish for the price that it was 144hz, though for most games 100-120 is more than enough and depending on the card you run (1080ti) in my case a lot of the games may not max out at 120fps on ultra even with my i9-9900k. Worth the money (especially if you can find it on sale for $799 or thereabouts as I did.)

Hands down the best IPS 3k ultrawide gsync gaming monitor out there right now. Been through quite a few to find the right one. Went thtough 1080, 4k, 2k, finally hit the sweet spot with this for best overall everything really. The Asus pg348q and the Acer x34p are nice but they suffer from horrible issues, mainly severe IPS glow/BLB. This bad boy, Dell's Alienware AW3418DW has far better QC(Quality Control) than the rest of it's competition, not to mention probably the best warranty around. Dell has supremely stepped up there game with their hardware. I can't even begin to tell you the headaches I went through with panels after I decided to get higher refresh rates with max settings to go a different resolution after I jumped the gun from 1080p to 4k. Don't get me wrong, 4k@60fps is nice but you can't really achieve stable 60fps at max settings with a lot of titles unless you dumped realistically somewhere $1200-$2000 on a GPU(s) alone since launch of last model GPUs to new ones that just came out. Now I have a EVGA GTX 1080 FTW. Bought it when it was inexpensive/great price. Even came with a 850w 80+ Gold Modular PSU for $500 a while back. I'm getting stable 100fps on max settings on all games I play. It is so gorgeous, I cannot play without G-Sync and high frame rates anymore. You can OC this display to 120hz if you'd like. I would say the only Negative thing is the price. The standard MRSP/Retail price is higher than it's competition but it's better quality. I would definitely recommend this display, but if possible, get it on sale because it's expensive. I bought it when it was on sale for $799. Feel free to do the research, which I encourage. I'm sure you will end with the same result as I did. GLHF