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While Dell has churned out quality PC monitors for a number of years, its gamer-centric subsidiary Alienware only just entered the display market this year with two monitors of its own. I recently reviewed the AW2518H, a 1080p eSports model with an insane 240Hz refresh rate and a hefty price tag. This time I'm taking a look at the 34-inch AW3418DW (See it on Dell.com), a curved ultra-wide monitor with a 3440 x 1440 resolution, Nvidia G-Sync variable refresh rate technology, and a refresh rate you can overclock to 120 Hz.
And while you're still going to pay through the nose for an ultra-wide monitor of this size and specs, the AW3418DW is well worth the cash for those looking for an immersive, fluid PC gaming experience.
The AW3418DW matches the futuristic, spaceship design found on most of Alienware's hardware, especially when viewed from the back. The metallic silver finish is trisected by two thin LED light strips, matching up perfectly with Alienware's Area-51 desktops. The light strips are fully customizable via the AlienFX software and give off a pleasing ambient glow when the monitor is set close to a wall.
The back panel is made of quality plastic, but as you might imagine the massive stand holding up this 34-inch panel is a sturdy metal beast. The stand also includes an opening to route various cables, and while I usually use a clip to keep things tidy, the opening sits low on the base and works really well.
The legs on the stand are big, but they actually don't protrude too far from the front of the screen, which is handy if you don't have a large desk. Overall, the AW3418DW has great proportions in terms of how much desk real estate it consumes despite its large stature.
The front of the monitor is more understated than the back, and beyond the huge panel size and small light bar under the bottom edge, steers away from obnoxious “gamer monitor” territory. The 1900R curvature is subtle and the monitor's super thin bezels are unobtrusive. There's no denying the 34-inch panel is a monster-sized display, but it actually looks great when set into a desk corner. On the back, you'll also find a VESA-compatible mount, so it's also possible to mount the screen to a wall or armature.
While the AW3418DW does share a number of features with the curved, 21:9 Acer Z35P, they differ in panel technology. While the Z35P uses a Vertical Alignment (VA) panel, Alienware has loaded an LG In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel into the AW3418DW. I'll discuss this further in my testing below, but the results are fairly significant as the Alienware monitor produced a superior image.
Granted, the AW3418DW and its IPS panel's 1000:1 contrast ratio may not produce the deeper black tones of a VA panel, but in nearly every other aspect—particularly in regards to motion blurriness or ghosting—the AW3418DW is staggeringly beautiful. The 300 nit brightness, accurate sRGB color range, up to 120 Hz refresh rate, and 4ms response time all combine to deliver an excellent image quality.
The I/O ports on the AW3418DW are mercifully easy to access thanks to a removable back panel. You'll find one DisplayPort 1.2 connection in addition to one HDMI 1.4 hookup; but you'll need to use DisplayPort to have access to both G-Sync and the overclocked 120Hz refresh rate. Most modern PC monitors include more connections than what's on offer here, but honestly, I can't imagine a scenario where I would need more, especially since you need to use DisplayPort for PC gaming, and the HDMI connector lets you hook up a console. There's also a 3.5mm headphone port, a USB upstream port, and four USB 3.0 ports—two of which are conveniently located in the center of the monitor's lower edge.
On the lower right edge of the AW3418DW are six buttons for controlling the on-screen display. Using the buttons to navigate the menus is fairly straightforward if a little aggravating in the same way as virtually all monitor menus. Thankfully, the monitor does include a handy personalization option to set shortcut keys to quickly access the settings you use most often.
Changing the AlienFX lighting is simple, including just switching on a “spectrum” setting that rotates through all the available colors (my personal favorite). Alienware has also included a number of gaming presets for picture settings, including FPS, RTS, RPG, a few generic “Game” settings, and a ComfortView setting for blocking blue light. Personally, I found the plain old Standard settings to work perfectly fine, but each setting does offer customization of RGB tones, contrast, and brightness. Overall, the AW3418DW makes it easy to set your picture the way you prefer, and it looks great doing so.
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As usual, I used the Lagom LCD testing pages to put the Alienware AW3418DW through its paces. These tests allow me to get specifics on the monitor's gamma settings, contrast, response time, viewing angles, and color gradients. The AW3418DW showed impressive black levels and contrast for an IPS panel, with only the darkest tone on the scale blending into the black background somewhat. Contrast between color scales was excellent, with every shade clearly identifiable on the scale. As expected, this also translated to accurate gamma output as the AW34128DW gave a reading that rested right at the Windows-standard 2.2 range.
There was no discernible color banding or flickering on the AW3418DW, as gradient tones transitioned smoothly across the greyscale. Alienware claims the monitor has a max viewing angle of 178 degrees, and from my testing this certainly holds true. I noticed no changes in color even when looking at the AW3418DW from an extreme side angle—exactly what one expects from a quality IPS panel. Granted, this is a large curved panel, so there's not much point in viewing the screen from such an angle, but it works all the same.
While image quality and color accuracy held up from any angle, there was a small but noticeable amount of backlight bleed from the corners of the screen. This is a fairly common symptom of LCD monitors and IPS panels in particular. The good news is I only noticed the light leak while looking at a pure black screen. At no point while gaming was the glow distracting or even noticeable, and moreover, backlight bleed can vary drastically from unit to unit. Still, it's an aberration worth noting even if it didn't affect overall experience.
The Lagom pages test response times using a series of pixels, flashing quickly back and forth between light and dark across the greyscale. The more flashing relative to the transition from light to dark, and vice versa, the longer the response time. Manufacturers tend to use the easier grey-to-grey transitions to note response times on their monitors, and in this case, Alienware has marked the AW3418DW with an impressive 4ms response. The great news is this is wholly accurate, and in fact, this monitor has fairly excellent response times even in the harder black-to-grey transitions. For a huge IPS panel, the AW3418DW is very fast.
I also used Blur Busters TestUFO motion test to not any possible issues with ghosting. As mentioned previously, the similarly priced and feature-rich Acer Z35P uses a VA panel, and as is generally the case with those panels, there was some slight ghosting. In the case of AOC's Agon AG322QCX, another large curved VA panel, the ghosting was considerable. But in the case of the Alienware AW3418DW and its IPS panel, there was no discernible ghosting. There is an overdrive setting where response time can be bumped up on this monitor, but in my testing this actually degraded the image quality and introduced artifacts. Regardless, it's excellent on its normal setting.
When ultra-wide gaming works, it works so well you'll never want to go back to boring old 16:9 displays. There's a certain level of immersion that's really unique to large 21:9 screens as sweeping environments fill your peripheral vision and draw you into the action. I thoroughly enjoyed running around in Star Wars Battlefront II, spotting enemies off amongst the trees and feeling the scale of the map. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is, quite simply, a better experience on the AW3418DW than a traditional 16:9 monitor. And while it's probably psychological to some extent, it honestly feels like you have an advantage over your opponents sneaking through the brush with their limited field of view.
On the other hand, 21:9 isn't exactly—pardon the pun—widespread at the moment. Battlefront II might support a 3440 x 1440 resolution, but all the cutscenes are in 16:9 and there's black bars on the sides on the screen; and that's a best case scenario. Some games don't support the aspect ratio at all and you'll either have to deal with screen-stretching or allot some time fiddling with a game's config file to get things looking halfway decent. But as ultra-wide monitors become more commonplace—and hopefully, more affordable—the list of compatible games keeps growing. There's even a Steam group you can check out that's specifically geared toward 21:9 gaming.
Regardless, the Alienware AW3418DW offers an awesome gaming experience with a crisp image quality, and with Nvidia's G-Sync it runs smoothly without any screen tearing. I reviewed this monitor using a rig loaded with a GTX 1080 and was extremely impressed by how every game I threw at the AW3418DW looked. Overclocking a monitor's refresh rate can sometimes have mixed results, but I had zero issues running Overwatch at or near 120fps on High/Ultra settings.
The Alienware AW3418DW has a very steep list price of $1,500. But like a lot of high-end Dell/Alienware hardware, it's often available on Dell.com for a healthy discount. A final price tag of $1100 or so isn't uncommon:
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