Alienware monitor guide: best picks, latest news, and reviews

Everything you need to know about Alienware monitors

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Alienware is well known for producing some of the market’s leading gaming monitors. And contrary to popular belief, Alienware monitors are much more reasonably priced than you might think.

Alienware, a subsidiary of Dell, has been producing gaming hardware for years now – offering up premium products that range from gaming desktops, laptops, monitors, and more.

We’ll be focusing on Alienware monitors in this guide, outlining everything you need to know about Alienware and the displays they produce. We’ll be outlining all of our top Alienware monitor picks, alongside the latest news and updates surrounding the Alienware brand. Furthermore, we’ll be discussing all the key talking points when it comes to the best Alienware monitors.

What is Alienware?

Alienware is a computer hardware subsidiary of Dell – an American company that specializes in the production of computer hardware and displays. Alienware was founded back in 1996 by Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila, manufacturing some of the market’s best desktop PCs, laptops, and gaming monitors.

According to sources, the name ‘Alienware’ came about thanks to the founders’ enthusiasm for the hit TV series The X-Files. It also sparked Sci-Fi themed names of product lines such as Hangar 18, Aurora, and Area-51. Furthermore, the latest Alienware ‘Legend’ design language makes clear reference to the Sci-Fi genre.

Alienware Acquisition

Dell had considered buying the Alienware company back in 2002, however, it took an additional 4 years for the purchase to be completed. While a subsidiary, Alienware will maintain control over the design and marketing of its products – benefitting hugely from Dell’s purchasing power, economy, and supply chain.

Alienware monitors

Despite Alienware being better known for its laptops and desktop gaming PCs, it actually offers up a wide selection of gaming monitors as well. With a small number of displays in its arsenal, Alienware seems to focus more heavily on premium specifications, catering more to the enthusiast rather than the everyday user.

That said Alienware designs monitors of all shapes and sizes. Whether you’re looking for a 38″ ultrawide, 25″ 360Hz esports monitor, or a middle-of-the-road gaming display, Alienware will have a panel that suits your exact needs.

AlienwareAW2720HFA 45

Over the years, Alienware hardware has been criticized for the high pricing of its products. However, when you compare the performance, appearance, and build quality of the hardware Alienware produces, it’s easy to see why people still choose them over cheaper alternatives.

Furthermore, Alienware monitors are well renowned for offering industry-leading specifications, build materials, and design features. This is one of the main reasons why Alienware monitors will often be priced more than most. That’s not to say you don’t get good value for money though, with many Alienware monitors featured in our best monitor guides.

List of Alienware monitors

While Alienware doesn’t have a huge library of monitors, they have enough to cater to a large portion of the gaming market.

Below we’ll list all the Alienware monitors available today:

  • Alienware AW2721D
  • Alienware AW3821DW
  • Alienware AW2720HFA
  • Alienware AW3423DW
  • Alienware AW2521HFLA
  • Alienware AW2521HFA
  • Alienware AW2521H

Alienware monitor: core features

You’re probably asking yourself at this stage, what makes Alienware monitors so good? The answer to that question is fairly simple – high-end performance specifications and features.

In this section, we’ll be outlining all the core features that you can expect from Alienware monitors:

Quick refresh rates

Refresh rates are one of the most important factors to consider when purchasing a monitor for gaming. As Alienware cater to the gaming community, it’ll come as no surprise to learn that Alienware monitors feature excellent refresh rates.

Over the year, Alienware monitors have always been at the forefront of industry-leading refresh rates, with the latest AW2521H featuring a 360Hz refresh rate.

Furthermore, Alienware also equips their larger panels with high refresh rates too – making their ultrawide collection some of the best on the market.

Low response times

Response time (the amount of time it takes for a pixel to change from one color to another) is another hugely important factor when purchasing a monitor. A slow response time will lead to annoying screen artifacts such as ghosting, blurring, and perceived blur when viewing fast-moving images.

Monitor Front Response Times

For this reason, it’s great to know that Alienware monitors always feature low response times. Even their ultrawide monitors offer quick response times which allows users to play competitive titles on large displays.

Excellent build quality

While build quality might not be the highest priority on your list, it should definitely factor into your decision-making process. Build quality often refers to the materials used in a monitor’s design and the manufacturing quality a monitor offers. Fortunately, Alienware offers these two features in abundance – utilizing high-end materials in all their panels.

The manufacturing process is also sublime for Alienware monitors, increasing the overall premium feel of these great displays.

User-friendly OSD

Alienware monitors always come equipped with user-friendly on-screen displays that feature an array of decent features. Alienware also utilizes the joystick approach to allow users to easily navigate through the various menus with ease.

Alienware monitors also include a number of game-tailored features that allow users to adjust the visual qualities of the panel. Whether that’s refresh rate overclocks, response time tweaks, or game-tailor color profiles, Alienware monitors offer it all.

High-end aesthetic design

Alienware’s Sci-Fi aesthetic design is a crowd-pleaser in today’s market. The latest Alienware ‘Legend’ design language certainly leans into the Area 51 genre, featuring a similar font for the letters on the rear of the panel. The brand also likes to utilize subtle RGB that actually creates some ambiance when used close to a wall.

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Overall, Alienware monitors look superb. Granted, they have a unique styling – but that uniqueness is what sets them apart.

Alienware monitors WePC reviewed

For anyone looking to find the best Alienware monitors available today, we’ve taken the liberty of writing a comprehensive guide on this very topic.

We’ve also been lucky enough to review plenty of Alienware monitors down the years, with some of our standout performers below:

Ultrawide Alienware monitor

DELL Alienware AW3821DW Review

Alienware AW3821DW

Refresh Rate
144Hz (DisplayPort) Or 85Hz (HDMI)
Response time
1ms (GTG)
Screen size
37.52″
Resolution
3840 x 1600
Panel type
Nano IPS

The best ultrawide gaming monitor from Alienware has to be the hugely impressive AW3821DW – a high-performance 37.5″ 2K 144Hz gaming monitor.

The AW3821DW features excellent build quality thanks to the high-end manufacturing process Alienware use in all their panels. Performance is excellent with core specifications including Nano IPS panel technology, a 1ms GTG response time, 144Hz refresh rate, and a 2K screen.

360Hz Alienware monitor

AW2521H

Alienware AW2521H

Refresh Rate
360Hz
Response time
1ms
Screen size
24.5″
Resolution
1920 x 1080

For those looking to take their esports gaming to the next level, the AW2521H is easily the brand’s best esports gaming monitor. It features a 360Hz refresh rate that is in line with industry-leading standards. The AW2521H also features a 1ms GTG response time, all tied up in a well-balanced 24.5″ 1080p screen.

Alienware AW2521H review

240Hz Alienware monitor

Dell alienware aw2721D.jpg

Alienware AW2721D Gaming Monitor

Refresh Rate
240Hz (DisplayPort) Or 144Hz (HDMI)
Response time
1ms (GTG)
Screen size
27″
Resolution
2560 x 1440

The AW2721D is a great choice for the all-round gamer. It delivers excellent performance in a number of different gaming genres thanks to a careful combination of quick response and stunning visual fidelity.

Users can expect a 240Hz refresh rate (144Hz via HDMI), 1ms GTG response time, and 1440p screen resolution – giving you great image quality alongside excellent response.

Review Alienware monitors

Whether it’s a best-of guide or a single product review, we ensure every Alienware monitor we recommend has been through a strict testing process. This ensures that we can present you with the best products the market has to offer and gives our readers confidence that they can trust any Alienware monitor we do recommend as having been through the same impartial review process.

As part of the monitor review process, we like to test each display for color accuracy, responsiveness, panel uniformity, build quality, and overall gaming performance. We use a number of specifically designed tools to capture the data for each monitor, ensuring only the highest levels of accuracy are recorded during testing. This process allows us to hand-select the best gaming monitors from both a performance and value standpoint, whilst also enabling us to compare the latest models with last season’s best sellers.

Click here if you want to see our in-depth explanation of how we test each and every monitor.

Alienware monitor FAQs

Monitor & PC Product Specialist AT WEPC

Charlie Noon

For as long as he can remember, Charlie has always been interested in computers and gaming. It all started with the Sega Mega Drive and then evolved into PC gaming in his early teens. CS 1.6 was his first go at competitive gaming which soon evolved into CS:Source and now CS:GO - a game that he still plays (almost exclusively) today. Throughout that period he has also been a keen PC builder and enthusiast - dedicating a large portion of his time to the craft. My current rig is an ASUS 5700XT with AMD's Ryzen 3600X.

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