If you are a gamer and have never used a Ultra-Wide display then sadly you have been missing out on something that incredible. Alienware have added to the mix of choices you can choose from with two new panels.
If there is something I really enjoy about PCgaming it is the technology behind the monitors and how amazing enthusiast level gaming monitors can be. Both of these monitors released by Alienware are no doubt enthusiast level displays due to the fact that their cost is $1499 and $1199, most peoples complete computer rig is around that cost.
Above we have got the Alienwares flagship display, the AW3418DW is an IPS-based panel with a crisp resolution of 3440x1440p at 120Hz (when overclocked).
The second release by Alienware is their AW3418HW which no doubt looks identical to the flagship model but under the hood there is a $300 difference. The AW3418HW has a max resolution of 2560×1080 but has a higher Hz rate at 160Hz (overclocked).
I have extensively used Ultra-Wide displays while benchmarking games live as well as running in-game benchmarks as it was my job. The live experience in something like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or DOOM is incredible, the cinema feel is real when you use it for long enough. The typical gamer has been using the same 16:9 aspect ratio for quite some time now and for me personally I believe 21:9 Ultra-Wide is the future for a immersive gaming experience.
Source: Anandtech
Hello! My name Jak Connor I’m based in Australia and I picked up PCgaming as child when I was around ten years old. I mostly played RTS games back then, putting many hours into Age of Empires 1/2 and Age of Mythology. My love for PC gaming grew and stayed with me as I now have a passion for gaming and the amazing technology jumps developers show us all the time. I pledge that I will be bringing you fine people of DSOgaming the most unique and interesting news I can find!
$1200 for an Ultrawide…..1080p.
LOL
1080’s are in trend again. Get yours now for only $1.199. Don’t be a tool bro, this is a great deal. lol
absolute ripoff
Alienware: 3440:1440 120Hhz 1500$
Acer predator: identical specs 100Hz 1300$
200$ for 20 more hz? that ain’t so fair
would’ve been a nice catch at a 100$ difference
Acer X34 is using old terrible panel with a lot of bleed and glow, this Alienware uses newer, much better one, so difference is not only is refresh rate, basically this Alienware will be usable while Acer is not. Also Acer is not $1300, more like 1000-1100. But all of this still doesn’t change a fact that $1499 is way over the edge for a display without any HDR and true 10bit color, this is not 2015.
well over here i payed about 1300$+VAT
so in my country that alienware is going to be 1700$+VAT
that’s a lot of money just for a monitor
but i’ll go check youtube for comperison sake
edit: nvm it’s not even out yet, so it’s basically pointless to buy one since prices of the predator will just go down
i own a Predator X34 and the bleed and glow is just pure poppycock
sure there is bleed, every IPS has em, but it’s so unnoticeable you literally have to look for them to actually see them
also here’s some advise: the warrenty does not gurantee up to 100FPS
i bought mine open but unused, asked the clerk to test it out and send me pictures
worked smoothly on 100hz
also the DP cable is Short asf, i’ed recommend you get a golden plated one with 1.5M-2M of length
Acer and Asus pricing is horrible in Europe. I remember looking for an ultrawide about 2 years ago, in my country LG $1000 display did cost around 4000 or less, Samsung $1000 display was around the same, and Acer/Asus $1000-1100 displays were like 5500. This was crazy difference, like 3799 vs 5599, just for ~$150 difference in actual pricing in the US.
if you think Europe is bad, try israel
there i managed to find ONE STORE who managed to convince acer they have a market in here, gave them a little front pay
and payed the rest with cash (gave me a neat 10% discount, good store with great prices but horrible locations)
took it home and plugged it, and my dog, it was worth every shekel
as for ASUS, Asus has no price supervision so charlatans import it via sea cargo and charge 8,000+ shekels for it (about 2300$)
also the ASUS PG348Q is matte finish, which blocks sunlight at the cost of clarity which makes color accuracy look like $hit
glad i went with Acer, better price and better quality.
“If you are a gamer and have never used a Ultra-Wide display then sadly you have been missing out on something that incredible.”
Better missing out on 21:9 than missing out money. xP
trust me, he ain’t lying
21:9 is another whole level of immersion if you’re into single player games
@noambenarih:disqus couldn’t agree more my friend, 21:9 is such a gorgeous ratio
That thick, hourglass ratio.
I know he isn’t lying, as it is with most things in gaming, I just think it isn’t wotrh it.
Yeah, but you need to use it as a dedicated gaming monitor, since TV episodes give you massive black bars on the side & even older games only have spotty levels of support >.<
All good, but this 3440×1440 panel will most likely be the same as the one used in LG 34UC88/98 or Dell U3417W, just overclocked, so no HDR and no true 10bit color. Asking $1499 for this in late 2017 is not too serious. This is nothing new, I got my LG 34UC98 in February 2016, and now Alienware has overclocked it, added G-sync and is asking 2x of the price 2 years later? While FALD HDR displays are entering the market? Doesn’t sound like a good deal.
More Hz and g-sync adds a ton of price, and with alienware it’s expected to pay for their design(liked it or not).
Compared to the expensive displays 1. It’s VA, not high Hz IPS 2. It isn’t g-sync 3. 1080p I assume? 4. Small 16:9
ROG also puts more effort to design and different features, Asus is never the cheapest option.
It’s Alienware, you’re basically paying for the brand name at this point.
They’re like the Apple of PC gaming and that doesn’t even make any sense.
i thought the apple of PC was razer..
Is Razer still in business?
as long as dumb kids and edgy teens still buy their LED plastered products they are.
it’s because a lot of shills from youtube are associated with them
so they promote their trash there
I don’t even know what Razer sells. Mouses, I think?
mouses,keyboards even LED based mouse pads (i’m dead serious, they sell L-E-D mousepads)
they’re quite popular in israel because a lot of cheapa$$ jews buy their products directly from Aliexpress (suprisingly it’s the same $hitty quality as you get in retail stores)
Listen to that NPR story about Branding, it’s interesting how humans associate brands.
I would never listen to NPR, but I know what you mean.
Ok… so miss out on listening to apple products get ripped on public radio… you better just unvote my comment
Yeah but it feels more classy when they do it.
One very important difference is warranty and custom support quality. Those products are under Next Business Day warranty, so if something is wrong with the display, I don’t know, G-sync flickers for example, you call them, within few days they send you replacement, you have two displays now so you are not left without a display even for a minute. You check if new display is ok, if it is then you send old one back next day (they handle all shipping costs and everything) and if not then you send it back and get another one. After few tries they give you money back. With other brands, well, goodbye to the display for a month or so and good luck with getting something good for exchange, not to mention refund. Prices Dell asks for those Alienware things are really high and not necessarily justified, but it is not like there is no difference from others.
lol
1500…. ouch
Meh..
This is THE monitor..
Acer Predator X35 HDR G-SYNC 200HZ
I am pretty sure when you will see $2500-3000 price, all VA issues in desktop display environment and all typical issues for a low quality manufacturer that Acer is, you will be meh…ing even more than with this one 😉
-not IPS
nah i’m good with the 34X
Acer Predator X35 isn’t IPS….
It has VA which is better, lol.
Well i have 40 inch tv for 8 years now im looking to replace it with pc monitor but all the good discount are for freesync not a single discount for gsync
Playing fps games on 40 inch tv is pain in the as¥
Oh wow, much release very wow.
How to have infinite problems with getting games to run in one easy step.
I think the alienware branding is practically a synonym for my first pc.
1200 to 1500, boy, they better be great and last a long time for that price.
Drop $499.99 price and I will buy ASAP!
>complex over time
Sorry but I do not think going outside of the game and reading a wiki is story telling.
I watched the Sombra trailer and the only thing I took away from that was that we could have got a team based game where we fight giant Russian robots… but we got TF2.
Tell me where IN THE GAME the complex world building is. The most complex world building I found after 90 hours is the side comments the characters make, but that’s instantly unimmersive after some Winston spams “Did somebody say Peanut Butter?”
Unless this is complex to you?
>game doesn’t explain anything
>only time you get story and robots is for a timed event
>still gets defended
Imagine if Undertale or any game with a story did this?
You only get parts of the story for a select week and it’s only for one time and to get anyother parts you have to watch all our YouTube promotional ads. Plus you have to read all the Wikis because exposition is so much easier then actually making you play a story.
Thanks for highlighting all the flaws for me. :p
You are the one who brought up complex worldbuilding and story, not me. So comparing the two basically punches a hole through your entire “complex world/story” argument.
Let’s both agree Overwatch and Undertale suck at any story and world-building.
I think we broke some internet code by agreeing with something lol
>IPS is not a good type of panel
Compared to TN it’s ridiculously much better looking. The input lag is fine nowadays, who uses v-sync anyway(especially with variable refreshrate) and the backlight bleed isn’t nearly as bad with better IPS’s. VA is okay.
>The panel type doesn’t have anything to do with refresh rate
There is a reason why TN panels had been 120-144Hz for years and years before any IPS panel?
>Secondly, it’s freesync. Because G-sync is overpriced trash.
Well yes and no, freesync was never as good and did work at a smaller fps window. G-sync is better but overpriced though.
>hardly anyone can get 144hz on 1440p monitors and above
Depends on the game, for the ones that greatly benefit from 144Hz they will run at that.
>Going from 1080p to 1440p was not worth
For me it was, it’s not 2007. Really expensive though, I get it.
>My monitor is 22″, that’s hardly small.
Well it kinda is. 24” seems small when you are used to 27” and that seems pretty normal compared to the 4K ones or ultrawides.
>So what if it doesn’t have ultrawide? A f’ ton of games don’t even support it. It’s like the SLI of Display Resolutions.
True… that’s why I’m not getting one + I have a second monitor already.
>ROG are actually…
I’d like to see statistics about that, don’t really know.
VA is good, I have to admit that. But VA panels are somewhat rare, most people go for cheap TN high Hz panels, 60Hz IPS, or really expensive high Hz IPS.
By ”It’s VA, not High HZ IPS” I meant that your panel is cheaper because high Hz IPS panels cost more. At least I assume so as they weren’t available previously and the current models cost a lot. Which is better wasn’t the point there.
”But with Monitors, it’s a wasteland. Non-proportionate and unfair to the consumer.” Well you have to remember that 1080p panels have been in production for so long and manufacturers produce more of them that the effect of economics of scale come into play. Also, every new tech is always more expensive and people will pay for the best. 1440p panels are half the price as they were a couple of years ago.
Prices are high but people still pay for them, and thus there is no reason for the manufacturers to lower the prices. Except competition but I’d say brand loyalty etc plays a big part, and the segregation by freesync/g-sync. But there aren’t that many specific models to choose from, for one whole year the only 1440p 144Hz G-sync panel was the ROG one, then came the same thing with IPS from Acer(which I have) and it took 6 months for it to have one single competitor and it was from Asus, and for 100e more. The Acer was ridiculously expensive but it was cutting edge tech and the only of it’s type, and I don’t regret buying it.
”Every single time I see an ROG monitor the reviews are filled with people who have gotten the worst off the manufacturing line.”
This could be a real problem, but I’d still be skeptical. People that have nothing wrong about the product will be happy and don’t really care to leave a review. People who get a bad product will be angry and more likely to write an review. But I guess this applies to every product…
Do they have G-Sync?