My favorite gaming monitor just dropped to its lowest price — here’s why you should buy it
Alienware's 34 QD-OLED completely overhauled my gaming setup, and the monitor is on sale today for its lowest price ever.
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Jacob Roach / Digital TrendsAlienware’s AW3423DWF, otherwise known as the Alienware 34 QD-OLED, is my favorite gaming monitor. It tops the list of the best gaming monitors here at Digital Trends, sure, but it’s also the display I use every day for work, gaming, and everything in between. It’s not an exaggeration to say the Alienware 34 QD-OLED supercharged my gaming setup, and it’s down to its lowest price ever.
You probably know that Amazon’s Prime Day Deals are going on — and if you didn’t, make sure to check out our roundups of the best Prime Day gaming laptop and best Prime Day gaming PC deals — but you won’t find the Alienware monitor on Amazon. Some of the best deals you can find on Prime Day aren’t on Amazon, as other retailers jump on the bandwagon with their own deals.
In this case, the Alienware AW3423DWF is down to $800 directly from Dell. You’ll commonly find it on sale for $1,000, and you’ll spend $1,100 if you buy it without a price reduction. Even at $1,000, the Alienware AW3423DWF is a good value. With its price reduction today, it’s a downright deal. Just a few months ago, the monitor made headlines for dropping down to $1,000. Now, it’s $200 cheaper.
The Alienware 34 AW3423DWF is the gaming monitor I use personally, and after years of reviewing gaming monitors, I like to think I have good taste. But I understand if you’re not sold. This is still an $800 monitor, so let me convince you it’s the one you should buy.
For starters, it’s a QD-OLED display. That brings the perfect black levels and infinite contrast of OLED together with Quantum Dots. Without getting into too much technobabble, that allows this display to have solid brightness and vibrant colors, which is a bit of a struggle for traditional OLED. The result is a display that has some of the best HDR performance you can find in a gaming monitor, even putting displays like the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 to shame.
HDR performance is a big deal for me and the immersive games I like to play, especially with an app like Special K that can inject HDR into games like Starfield, Lies of P, and Elden Ring.
Digital TrendsOn top of showstopping color and HDR, you’re getting a 165Hz refresh rate, which I’ve found is the sweet spot for most gaming displays. This is backed up by AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, so you can use the full refresh rate with Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) active.
There are actually two versions of the Alienware 34 QD-OLED. The one I’m recommending is the cheaper FreeSync version. There’s also a slightly more expensive G-Sync version that isn’t on sale. Regardless, the FreeSync version is better overall. The original model doesn’t support firmware updates, while this version does, so it’s the one to buy.
For image quality and premium gaming, there’s nothing that beats the Alienware 34 QD-OLED. A big reason it’s lived on my desk for more than a year, though, is the 21:9 aspect ratio. This aspect ratio, known as ultrawide, pushes out the sides for more horizontal screen real estate. It’s not only great for gaming, it’s also excellent for productivity.
The ultrawide form factor allows me to pull two windows up side-by-side without them getting too squished. As I’m typing this article, I have one window pulled up where I’m writing and another for research and reference. It solves the multi-monitor problem with a single display, and I couldn’t imagine working any other way.
Although I use it for work, this is definitely a gaming monitor first and foremost. Since it’s an OLED display, the risk of OLED burn-in is present, even if it’s not a problem most people will run into. It’s something you should be aware of, but it shouldn’t turn you away from the monitor if you intend to use it primarily for gaming.
Even with that asterisk, the Alienware AW3423DWF is still the ultimate gaming monitor. I bought one at the full $1,100 price, and I don’t feel like I overspent at all. At this $800 price point, it’s a steal.
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Jacob Roach is a writer covering computing and gaming at Digital Trends. After realizing Crysis wouldn't run on a laptop, he…
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