Alienware AW3426DW Overview: Gaming Monitors Get Thrown a Curveball

All these coveted OLED screens maintain getting brighter, however—fortunately—that doesn’t imply they’re all getting dearer. Case in level: the Alienware AW3426DW. Ignore the obtuse serial quantity, as a result of Alienware’s 34-inch ultrawide monitor is a wonderful show. It simply is probably not the type of monitor greatest for each type of gamer.

Two years in the past, I sat in entrance of the viral Alienware AW3225QF with an ebbing sense of surprise. In early 2024, QD-OLED shows had been nonetheless novel sufficient that we may bask within the colour depth and distinction and picture there was nowhere left to go. That portent largely proved true. Today’s screens are higher, however any high-end OLED display launched within the final 30 months will really feel on par with all others, as long as they get all of the fundamentals of brightness and construct high quality down pat.

The final main consideration left is worth. Alienware’s AW3426DW begins at $800. For that, you’ll get a plus-sized display with a max refresh charge of screaming-fast 280Hz. But no one ought to contemplate eight massive ones “cheap.” In the world of high-end gaming screens, any display must work to face out. Alienware provides simply sufficient to make this monitor worthy of consideration, regardless of its inherent downsides.

This ultrawide monitor doesn’t naturally assist the 16:9 side ratio utilized by consoles and a heap of PC video games. That means this monitor is probably not your end-all be-all. The AW3426DW’s 3,440 x 1,440 decision marks this monitor as a sub-4K display. I’ve seen Alienware’s flagship AW3926QW first-hand again at Computex 2026. That’s a 5K monitor that may demand some beefy supporting gaming {hardware} for those who hope to run video games at its max 5,120 × 2,160 decision, however—significantly—simply take a look at this beautiful factor. The 34-inch model is the monitor for the remainder of us, or not less than the remainder of us who can afford to drop $800 on a display.

Monitors don’t get any easier

Alienware modified up its design aesthetic for its screens beginning final 12 months. The most up-to-date “AW30” look is centered round deep purple plastic that doesn’t do a lot to assist the display stand out in a darkish room. It’s particularly subdued for those who nonetheless keep in mind the obscene Alienware designs of a long time previous.

Last 12 months’s AW2725Q, a extra simple—and dearer—27-inch 4K QD-OLED gaming monitor, didn’t stand out an excessive amount of, both. The base connects to an ovular stand that just about provides the looks that the monitor is propped up by some unimaginable—dare I say, alien—structure, however in actuality it’s only a low-profile base fabricated from cheap-feeling plastic. It blends into the background. I think about that’s what some players need, simply not me.

While you anticipate an Alienware monitor to be suffused with RGB lights, the AW3426DW is way extra subdued than that. Rather than add any rear-facing glow to explode your partitions with rainbow-puke results, the monitor sports activities a single RGB fixture in a small Alienware brand positioned on the again panel. The remainder of the panel is surrounded with puncture holes for the monitor’s rear warmth exhaust. It’s an environment friendly piece of gaming gear, however it doesn’t do a lot else to promote itself.

The greatest side about this design is simply how simple it’s to place collectively. As quickly as you open the field, you’re greeted with the bottom and monitor arm that screw in collectively. Under that cardboard layer is the display itself. All you must do is slot the stand into the rear panel, hear the press, and voilà, you’re performed. There aren’t any separate screws or Allen keys required. It’s that glorious connection design that offers this monitor an edge over the extra nuts-and-bolts-type shows.

Still, all that skinny plastic makes this monitor appear cheaper than it’s. It’s not a tool you’re compelled to fondle, so it’s simpler to simply accept Alienware’s use of cheaper supplies. The show additionally lacks any speaker or a headphone jack, so this monitor is only a visible feast and nothing extra. I got here off reviewing the Lenovo Legion Pro 27UD-10 with its placing, although subdued, look, and that 27-inch monitor felt extra premium and nonetheless supported a 4K decision for across the identical worth.

Just sufficient bells and whistles

As for ports, Alienware’s 1440p curved display affords simply sufficient bang to your buck—although solely simply. It helps two HDMI ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4. There’s no DisplayPort over USB-C, sadly. The monitor does embody an Ethernet port on the again panel in addition to a USB-A and USB-C slot simply beneath the display. You can use these ports for passthrough charging a controller or one other peripheral.

Up in your desk, the dominating 34-inch measurement has the wingspan to maintain your consideration, whereas the light 1,800R curve doesn’t make you’re feeling claustrophobic, such as you’re surrounded by a display. The monitor has a fair swivel, from -20 levels to twenty levels, so you will get a great take a look at the AW3426DW irrespective of the place you sit at your desk.

It additionally has a large tilt vary from -5 levels as much as 21 levels. Finally, you’ll be able to modify the monitor a full 110mm, or 4.3 inches. It’s not the complete vary of that aforementioned Lenovo Legion Pro, however it’s sufficient for many use instances. It’s much better than the 34-inch flat-panel Asus ROG Swift OLED I reviewed earlier this 12 months. At least Alienware’s monitor takes up much less bodily desk area with no large tripod stand.

The type of monitor made for PC players

This just isn’t the biggest ultrawide show I’ve sat on my desk lately. Last 12 months, I propped up Samsung’s Odyssey G75F, a 40-inch 4K LCD ultrawide monitor in the identical spot of our workplace. That’s not even the biggest accessible, with screens just like the Odyssey G9 and the monstrous 52-inch LG UltraGear 5K show. With much more display actual property, you may make higher use of options like picture-in-picture mode, the place you’ll be able to have a number of video outputs operating on the monitor at one time.

With a 34-inch show, you don’t have fairly as a lot area to work with. The Alienware ultrawide monitor additionally helps a “PIP” mode with a bevy of choices for how one can place and orient two of the three attainable show inputs to the monitor (both two HDMI or an HDMI plus DisplayPort). Will you utilize this function a lot? Probably not, contemplating that even a nook of a 34-inch display takes up extra display area than you anticipate.

You can go away many of the screens’ different settings alone, although for those who want a pretend crosshair within the middle of your display, you don’t must dig too far to search out it. There’s an extra “Esports” mode that primarily eliminates the ultrawide expertise by inserting the image within the middle of the show. You may very well wish to take note of this setting for those who sport on consoles. While the Xbox Series X and PS5 technically assist the ultrawide 1440p decision of the AW3426DW, it is going to solely seem in a stretched format. Each console can solely output at a 16:9 side ratio with no native 21:9 choice. Remember that Alienware AW3225QF I discussed on the prime of this overview? That monitor is taller and helps the 16:9 side ratio.

Using a console for an ultrawide expertise will essentially make your video games look ugly. The Esports mode fixes this, however it additionally limits the display measurement to a measly 24.5-inch window and units the decision to 1080p (which is how most Esports players want to play). In the tip, this number of ultrawide screens is best used for PC gaming. Still, at its greatest, this monitor is a looker, as long as the sport helps that vast discipline of view.

Just how a lot display tech is on this factor?

You’ve heard the time period “QD-OLED,” however I’ve to imagine a number of of you studying this don’t know what the hell meaning. Essentially, an natural light-emitting diode panel makes use of 1000’s of self-emissive lights able to displaying purple, inexperienced, and blue gentle. Without a backlight, OLED is technically able to near-infinite distinction, as long as it may push the brightness of these lights—therefore these oft-described “inky” blacks. The “QD” within the identify stands for quantum dots, that are one more layer of semiconductor nanocrystals constructed to boost the colours you see on display.

But QD-OLED is so 2024. The new hotness is a slurry of jargon, technobabble, and alphabet-soup acronyms that every one primarily relate to the next brightness spec for OLED. This monitor makes use of “Penta Tandem” expertise, which, in essence, is 5 layers of OLED panels overlaid to supply the next base brightness than what you usually get from this display sort. The monitor sits at about 300 nits of typical brightness. That’s a comparatively low SDR brightness for such an costly show, however on the flip aspect, it may sit at a peak of 1,300 nits in HDR. This monitor is licensed VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500, which primarily means it may hit that 500-nit brightness worth in HDR content material.

But that’s not all. Alienware’s monitor additionally makes use of new RGB Stripe expertise. That means it employs a layer of purple, inexperienced, and blue subpixels organized in a linear strip. All that issues to the tip person is that it eliminates the fuzziness surrounding textual content you’ll generally discover on lower-end OLED screens.

All this combines into what’s merely a really stunning image. The video games I performed on Alienware’s 1440p ultrawide, from main titles like Cyberpunk 2077 to indies like Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, appeared all of the extra crisp and lovely because of the monitor’s glorious distinction.

That touted 280Hz refresh charge just isn’t one thing most players will come anyplace near hitting, not except you sport at a decrease decision and drop graphics settings for the sake of body charges. That being mentioned, the monitor helps all standardized types of variable refresh charge, or VRR. That contains AMD FreeSync, Nvidia G-Sync, and VESA AdaptiveSync. There wasn’t a second within the hours I spent with this monitor that I skilled any points like display tearing.

The monitor has a complete pixel density of about 110 PPI (pixels per inch). That’s about what you’ll be able to anticipate from a 1440p monitor. I wasn’t spending my time pining for the upper pixel density of a 4K show, although the dearth of visible constancy is extra evident in some extra graphically advanced video games. If you’re spending $800 on a monitor, you’ll need the highest quality you’ll be able to probably get. The Alienware is not any slouch, however you’ll find QD-OLED flat-panel screens that price simply as a lot because the AW3426DW.

Ultrawide or bust

Inevitably, utilizing an ultrawide monitor will really feel like a luxurious till it isn’t. There are some video games that declare to assist the three,440 x 1,440 decision, however that’s solely as a result of they crop the picture to a 16:9 side ratio. If I needed to play Persona 3 Reload or Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, I’m primarily taking part in a sport with the edges minimize off, shrinking my 34-inch show to two-thirds of what the display is able to.

That’s the issue with any 21:9 monitor. It simply feels worse for those who spend $800 for the privilege of not utilizing most of your display. But right here’s the factor: When you do get to sit down in entrance of a sport unfold out earlier than you, it may create an intense feeling of pleasure. Most players could also be higher off discovering the same monitor that helps the taller discipline of view. Those who know what they’re getting can bask within the joys of this massive, vibrant show.