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The era of gaming OLED monitors may finally be here. Alienware introduces the 175Hz widescreen model with the new QD-OLED technology, but most importantly: perhaps for the first time, it doesn’t cost crazy money.
Last month, the first televisions with probably the best QD-OLED display technology to combine quantum dots and the benefits of OLED panels were announced at CES 2022. But the same technology immediately comes to game monitors. And beware: although you would expect the game OLED to be a very expensive thing, this monitor will not cost anything extreme. Added to that, this could be the most interesting game monitor of recent years.
Alienware has introduced a QD-LED monitor with a labeled technology Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor (model code AW3423DW), which hides a 34-inch curved panel with a significant curvature (radius 1.8 meters) and a resolution of 3440 × 1440 pixels. As befits a game monitor, it has a high refresh rate of 175 Hz as well as adaptive refresh. This is the G-Sync Ultimate type, which is a weakness because it will only work with Nvidia GeForce graphics cards. This is via DisplayPort, the monitor also has two HDMI 2.0 inputs, for example for consoles, where it can handle a maximum of 100 Hz and probably without adaptive refresh.
What does the QD-LED panel offer? For gaming, its biggest specialty will be the extremely fast response, when there should be a very minimal response when changing the image, or artifacts, which in turn are a ubiquitous problem with the LCD. In the specifications, Alienware states a response time of only 0.1 ms.
However, high image quality will also be associated with this. OLEDs are really black, while LCDs will always have “black” pixels backlit because of how the LCD works, so they will glow gray. OLED therefore has incomparably better contrast than LCD. This may theoretically be almost infinite (depending on how it would be measured), but Dell states a static ratio of one million to one.
In addition to the standard OLED panel, the technology has quantum dot material applied, which brings very good image quality. The color gamut expands to 99.3 percent of the DCI-P3 color space and 149% of the standard sRGB color space. Therefore, this monitor should work very well for playing in HDR. Quantum dots allow organic LED pixels to shine brighter than they would be if conventional color filters were used. The maximum peak brightness is therefore up to 1000 cd / m2, but this will probably not be sustainable over the entire area or for a longer period of time.
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Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor (AW3423DW) Zdroj: TFT Central/Alienware
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The typical maximum brightness is lower, only 250 cd / m2. But that’s enough for DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification. (Note: due to that high contrast, an OLED screen does not need as high a brightness for a high-quality HDR as an LCD, so this certification provides much better quality than a standard DisplayHDR 400 for LCD monitors that do not even have an HDR.)
The monitor will have the usual properties of more expensive gaming LCDs, such as a stand with height adjustment, but also VESA mounting options, a four-port USB 3.2 hub and AlienFX lighting. There will also be game modes (cursor, increase brightness in dark parts of the image). If you’re terrified of possible OLED technology issues, especially “burn-in”, then Dell / Alienware thinks of you: the monitor has a three-year warranty that applies to the burned image.
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Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor (AW3423DW) Zdroj: TFT Central/Alienware
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The price is less than 35 thousand
And as already mentioned – even though this is the first introduction of new technology and OLED monitors have always been rather expensive, the price of this monitor does not stand out much. Alienware set it at $ 1,299. With us, the tax would be CZK 34,300 (€ 1,400 in Slovakia). Sales should start on March 29 in the US, but for us in Europe a little later, April 5 / April.
Of course, this is nothing popular. Fast (165-175Hz) LCD monitors with this diagonal and resolution can be a third if you need a VA panel without HDR support. But more expensive gaming LCDs with these parameters and HDR (such as ASUS ROG Strix XG349C) cost almost the same as this OLED monitor. For more dusty players who want to try OLED, Alienware 34 AW3423DW could be a very interesting option. There aren’t many others, and not cheaper at all.
Galerie: Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor
Resources: Tom’s Hardware, TFT Central
Alienware’s first game monitor with QD-OLED technology is surprisingly inexpensive. A player hit?
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