Gaming monitors can inspire something of a fierce debate here at PC Gamer, but if there’s one thing we can all agree on it’s this: The Alienware 34 AW3423DWF is a truly glorious slab of gaming display, and now it’s back at under $850 it’s the perfect time to grab one if you couldn’t quite commit over the previous sales.
Yep, when it comes to the best gaming monitors we currently recommend, this big beautiful display comes out top overall, and looking at the specs alone it’s really not difficult to see why. It’s got a superb 34-inch ultrawide QD-OLED panel with a gentle yet encompassing 1800R curve, a 165Hz refresh rate and a 3,440 by 1,440 native resolution, which all sounds just lovely. However, it’s that glossy coating that really makes the difference.
As a result of that well-judged shiny surface, colors just pop on this display, especially given the 1,000 nits peak brightness and VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification, meaning that this panel is capable of inky deep blacks and vividly bright tones all at once.
That makes your games, or indeed just about anything you watch on this display look fantastic, and our resident monitor expert Jeremy came away so impressed in his review that he bestowed upon it a rating of 95 out of 100, and believe me, that doesn’t happen often.
There’s always a spot of ink on every clean page, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that the pixel density is fairly mediocre, which means for productivity tasks there are better options out there. That being said, it’ll still work fine for day-to-day office usage, and when the gaming looks this good I doubt you’ll really give too much of a care.
And if OLED burn-in is your concern, you can rest easy knowing that you get an included three-year warranty with burn-in cover, so you can get on with the business of simply enjoying your new display.
At just under $850, this monitor might still not be what you’d call cheap, but it’s still a hefty discount on a piece of hardware that makes all other monitors around it look nervous.
However, if that price tag is just a little bit much for you, we’ve also spotted this LG 27-inch Ultragear OLED with a 240Hz refresh rate for under $750. It might be smaller and not as bright, but it’s still a fantastic display, and it gets you into high-end OLED goodness for $100 less than the Alienware above.
It’s still a big chunk of cash, we know, but monitors should be treated as an investment as they’re likely to last you through several upgrades at least.
If you’re in the market for a new display that walks the walk, either of these great OLEDs would do you proud.