Review on Alienware Curved NVIDIA Edgelight Monitor 34", 3440X1440P, 120Hz, Ultra Wide, Anti Glare, ‎AW3420DW, IPS, LED by Danial Campbell

I switched to this monitor from an old TN 144hz ROG Swift 1440p monitor. Like others, I was concerned about the frequency drop from 144Hz to 120Hz as I'm very sensitive to such small things, but I didn't find that to be a problem. Can't say much, but the difference is negligible, especially when compared to 60Hz vs 120Hz. Here are some quick positives: 1. The color is fantastic. Apparently coming from a TN panel, this is the first thing that caught my eye. I make a lot of photo collages for painting and this monitor is as accurate as I could ask for. 2. 120Hz is perfect for this monitor. Most new games don't run anywhere near 120Hz, even with a 2080ti (notably Metro Exodus with RTX), but when you get to that nice, sweet native refresh rate (Doom Eternal), it's mind-blowing.3. Ultrawide makes immersive gaming even more immersive. I gave up playing Metro Exodus for a year until I was able to upgrade my rig and play on this monitor with RTX enabled. I'm glad I did as the experience is nothing like a typical 16:9 aspect ratio. When the screen extends a little deeper into your peripheral, game worlds feel more compelling. From a practical standpoint, having more screen real estate in shooters, especially games like Battlefield 1 or Doom Eternal, is so beneficial that it might seem like an unfair advantage. So, in summary, the ultra-wide benefits of narrative-driven, addictive games as much as fast-paced, edgy shooters. No complaints.4. Gsync is 100% worth the premium. I know people are divided on this, and it seems like more and more non-hardware monitors are becoming gsync compatible (don't know how that works). Right now I just don't need screen tearing with no input lag, and that has made many games easier to play, especially ones that are locked at 60fps at the engine level. 5. I'm a design enthusiast, and if you're bothered by the brighter back of the monitor, I haven't seen one since I installed my desk. The monitor controls are pretty intuitive, but I still prefer the small buttons on the ROG Swift joystick. Bad monitor control is normal for some reason, so I can't blame Alienware for that.6. When delivered, the standard settings were almost perfect. I didn't have to adjust too much to get the brightness/contrast/color I wanted.7. When you work on your computer, e.g. B. video editing, photo editing, etc., extra screen real estate is a game changer. Price. I managed to get mine for about $950 earlier this year. In my opinion, that's really a fantastic price for the feature set. The only downsides I can really think of might not be a problem for you. The monitor naturally takes up a lot of space, so make sure you have a desk where it can work comfortably. Less depth than width. Most newer games are easy to play in ultrawide and have built-in support in the game menu, but MANY older games need tweaking. It's not as big a deal as you think online as most of the games I've played have a workaround that isn't difficult to enable, but I've found a few games that aren't compatible, period. Prey, the 2006 version, isn't playable in ultrawide unless you can handle a heavily stretched image. It's one of my absolute favorite games, so it's disappointing. The point is, if you hate fiddling with configuration settings to get a game running, this monitor can be annoying. However, if you're a PC gamer, this shouldn't be new to you. In general, I have no real complaints about the monitor. 3440 x 1440 is perfect, 120Hz is great (144Hz would be better but what will you do), colors are vibrant and accurate, setup is easy and your gaming and work experience will be better with this monitor. Just make sure you have a fairly powerful GPU if you want to run new games at the highest settings.