ALIENWARE 34 CURVED QD-OLED GAMING MONITOR - AW3423DW - £879.19 @ Dell

Right - have managed tospend a fair amount of time with the unit yesterday evening so here are mythoughts. Context is me coming from an LG GL27850B:

BUILD - My unit was a July 2022 and with the 102firmware. Box was in good condition and looked factory new. No scratches orprints on the screen, no dead OLEDs. Good start.

SETUP - Used DP for my PC and had a look throughthe OSD. There’s an annoyingly large OSD prompt whenever a resolution is changedor HDR is flipped on or off – that I would love to get rid of but can’t see away. The standard mode seemed ok but put the HDR mode to 1000 and tweaked thebrightness a bit. Not many options to play with an doesn’t seem to be a properframe/Hz counter that’s dynamic when wanting to check if Gsync is workingproperly. Have moved to Creator > DCIP3 > 2.2 Gamma. In windows I set theHDR slider to be about 60. I left display at 8 bit colour at 175hz

PC GAMING - Have testedwith a range of games (Destiny 2, Fortnite, Elden Ring, Horizon Zero Dawn,Cyberpunk, Forza 5, Gears 5. Looks great in UW, with performance still good(Using 3080 10GB). Eventually figured out you have to put windows (Im using 10)into HDR mode first before starting a game (Win Alt B for the shortcut) andtweaked HDR setting in game – not sure on a lot of them, as the language is abit obtuse but really vivid and for my first HDR experience found it amazing.Gears 5 was a real highlight but all had noticeable more POP.

GSync worked fine – I hadthe indicator showing all the time which was good. Smooth as expected over arange of framerates. Motion was fantastic. My LG was also really good and thisseemed no worse so that’s good. Upgrades to CPU/GPU will make this even more enjoyablein the future.

Switching back to SDRdeffo seemed odd, but for games that didn’t support HDR seemed to look as Iwould expect. Was relieved as I had heard some grumbles online about the low brightnessin SDR.

PS5 GAMING – Connected usingHDMI and ran the 1440p test. It passed and showed that 1440p 60hz/120Hz SDR/HDRwas possible. Ran through some Demon Souls, Spiderman MM and it seemed to haveoptions showing for VRR in Spiderman MM. Unfortunately no dynamic Hz counter toverify but Demon Souls esp looked very good with the mix of dark and light. TheOLED pure black made the pillarboxing a non-issue. Doesn’t accept a 4k signaland downsample im HW but I think that might still happen internally on the PS5if I select a quality mode. This is the only thing that I think I might be missingthat the upcoming DWF would have.

FAN NOISE – With all theabove testing, I did not once hear it over the fans of my PC, and seeing asthey are supposed to run for 7 minutes after shutdown, it really was inaudible aftereverything was off. I had to get up and put my ear next to the side and middlevents to hear anything active, and even then there was no variability in tone.

YOUTUBE – Used thefollowing links to show HDR and oof this was a nice way to tune/test the screenand especially the blacks on some of them






OVERALL – Pretty happywith the hardware and the quality. OLED is amazing. HDR is a difference that I didn’tthink I needed. Needs tweaking but I’ll get there. Will I keep it. Im trying tothink of a reason why I would want the DWF or other similar ones coming along.Maybe the 4k downsampling mode, maybe the ability to update, maybe HDMI 2.1 butI’ll be honest I think that its done an amazing job so far. Still in my “Have Imade a mistake” phase of a large purchase, which I go through before reallyenjoying it and nothing has stood out as a red flag so far.

Just seen this earlier. I’ve been on the fence on this. This monitor is for gaming and movies only according to rtings, for productivity the issues arise with burn-in. Although there’s a dozen great reviews, the very few that have been negative revolves around burn-in, RMA being a nightmare, replacements that are also defective/used/damaged, the list is endless.

I’m looking to purchase it tomorrow if stocks last and I work from home. So will update here if I manage to get in and review the product myself.

For those interested in the Samsung G8 OLED, it's available for pre-order at Samsung.

A reddit poster who has one, confirmed it comes with a screen protector film. A simple thing like that would have prevented the scratches on the screen - Dell needs to wise up and address it.

The reddit poster also said that the Samsung has the exact same screen coating as the Dell, is fanless, and the hdmi 2.1 port supports 175Hz@10 bit colour.

still cheaper with generic code "DELLWTAWMON20" £879.19
Don't know if you could use both dicount at the same time

Just for info this has appeared in my TopCashback page with £1065.49 as the purchase price and £67.12 as the pending amount. Not sure is that matches anyone else. At least something looks to have gone through I guess

Just got mine today. Dead pixel on it so it's going back. Ordered another one in the meantime hope I get better luck on that one, but I doubt it.

I went through 4 LG 34GN850's before this monitor and ended up settling with a bright stuck red pixel.

I think I'll give up if this 2nd Dell comes with a dead or bright pixel.

The coating of the panel had a few marks on it, didn't bother trying to wipe them away after seeing the dead pixel. It was a July 2022 Firmware 102.

mine has went from 2nd to 9th delivery but now got an update says 3rd, UPS, so check tracking maybe we might get them sooner than the 9th

Just got mine (10:55am). lets see what it’s like…

Samsung have the 34" Odyssey OLED G85SB available for pre-order at £1299! Why would you get this over the Dell?

Love mine (edited)

For anyone still keeping tabs on this thread, my replacement monitor arrived today. It's brand new as Dell promised and came factory sealed. The build date is October 2022, Rev A06, and the firmware version is M0B103.

So what's the noticeable differences? The joystick has changed. It now feels easier to use, and less likely to snap off with constant use. They've also packed in a cleaning cloth as well. In terms of settings, can't see any change in those, but haven't had a chance to look or test further.

The screen is flawless, not a single mark or scratch on it. There was an additional protective layer between the bubble wrap and screen, that could be the reason. Just finished running a pixel test and thankfully there are no stuck or dead pixels.

I'm super happy now and can finally enjoy this great monitor.

Still think LG oled TV better deal.

So gave the monitor a good testing yesterday, and I think the AG/Glossy coating on the screen is causing the blacks to be lighter than what they should be. I thought my expectations were set too high but that's not the case.

In a room with what I'd consider normal lighting conditions (single source of light), the blacks just aren't OLED 'inky' black. Any light that reflects onto the screen makes blacks look dark grayish or IPS like. Only when the lights are off, or very dimmed, does it look like an OLED screen. But I can't use the monitor in very low light conditions, and never have used any monitor this way.

I think I'm going to return it and see what else comes up. Apparently the coating on Samsungs qd-oled monitor is very glossy without any AR properties. This should make the blacks look like the oled tvs.

So... Received mine and very happy with it. I don't have time to play much those days but watching 4K movies on it is amazing!

I got lucky, screen is impeccable.

I used original deal so bought it initially at £943 but to summarise the other discounts I got:
- Topcashback didn't track but I just lodged a claim and might get back c. £70
- My Amex business card had 10% on Dell so it's another -£94
- I called Dell today to claim the 30-day price guarantee and they agreed to refund me 10%, i.e. another -94£

So got it in the end for potentially £685 only, -38% vs RPP, not bad.

I also bought it under my limited company but I'll spare you the details on the final (real) price after claiming back the VAT / impact of reduced Corporate Tax and Tax on Dividends haha

Thanks OP that was a great deal!

Decent price, but a newer, cheaper model will be coming out soon.

OLED is the future for monitors ... the market seems to have become stagnated ... hopefully as costs come down OLED for mainstream would be nice .. 34 inch is a good size

I don't know if my wallet wants this.... I low key do however :/

Either I wait for black Friday and/or wait for the aw3423dwf to release

Or alternatively I stop spending money (edited)

It live now and selling fast!

Adding a code takes off the black friday sale deal for me. (edited)

I have been thinking about this monitor for ages now as the image quality for gaming is meant to be stellar along with the HDR implementation. Coupled with the fact that PS5 recently added 1440p support (i know not ultrawide but at least its native image so no scaling) and this deal is so enticing.

Only thing thats bugging me is the reports of the fan noise from the gsync ultimate module. Some say they don't hear it, some say the fan curve is really varied and noticeable, which of course puts a bit of doubt there. Havent found anything about a firmware update that fixes it.

aw3423dwf is up for preorder in Amazon UK a few days ago for £879 but I cant see it now. What to doooooooo

Hold the line lads, more and cheaper coming! This is first generation tech, if you can wait say 6 - 18 months there will be a much richer selection of OLED monitors.

Thanks for sharing. Just ordered last night.. Quidco cashback worked also at £47.95

You can use PayPal to split into 3 interest free payments. Also ordered the 5800x3d to make sure my GPU flexes it's muscles for this higher res. (edited)

came today at 9:20 awesome service

latest 102 firmware. mega screen tbh

So unboxed mine and its an unwieldy beast. Make sure to plug in all the cables first otherwise you'll have a tough time getting round the back of the monitor. So I've noticed some scratches on the glossy panel, but they're only visible when the monitor is off, and if I go looking for them. It's possible they might buff out but I don't have a soft cloth to try with.

First impressions are that it's super impressive. The build quality is immense. The blacks aren't quite as inky black as I was expecting, but that might be due to the lighting in my room. It's by far the best pc monitor I've ever used.

Ok, so I've initiated a support request to get a replacement monitor. Dell have offered me a discount for the hassle, and I'll take that.

You have to take lots of pictures to get a replacement; they want to see the front and back of the monitor, the box from all sides, and of course the damage. The scratches don't show up in the pictures very well, so they'll have to take my word for it.

The qd-oled ultrawides from Samsung, MSI, and Philips, won't be anywhere near this price, so I think it's worth giving Dell another shot.

Having done quite a bit of research on this monitor in the last few days, it's apparent that almost every monitor has marks on the top of the screen from the bubble wrap protector, and if you're unlucky, light straight line scratches down the middle.

I moved my monitor to face the window, and I can't see the marks anymore (they're only visible when the display is off anyway). But depending on where your monitor is placed, chances are that you have these marks, but can't see them.

I'm therefore unconvinced that I'll get a perfect panel without any marks on the screen. It seems to be a packaging issue, and the fact that the screen coating is very delicate. You could literally scratch it by wiping it with a micro fibre cloth.

I've taken Dell's partial refund offer for the fine scratches on the screen, and I can still return it for the full refund if I want. I can't see them when the monitor is on, so it's not a massive issue. Many people are receiving monitors with these scratches so it's a just common problem. I could order another one, but I'll probably end up with one that's got a stuck pixel.

Showing as £846 for me with an EPP code. Got the Samsung qd-oled 55 for £100 more, think that a better deal for me.

Mines still being shipped on the 3rd November apparently...

May be worth putting in the title it's only for Dell employees?

Well I just had mine delivered today, it came to a total of 731 in the end after all discounts! I’m sure this one will be better once Amex uses use the 100 off 750 + Quidco etc

I’m not sure if I should cry or get dell to offer me a refund. I also used the 20% employee discount so maybe the offer won’t work with that

Just checked other codes doesn’t stack with this offer, I checked with my dell one and it went down a further 5% and cancelled the 15% one from this offer. Just a reminder use Amex £100 off £750 spend if you have American Express & use Quidco for a further 4%.