Alienware Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor 38 Inch, 144Hz Refresh Rate, 3840 x 1600 WQHD , IPS, NVIDIA G-SYNC Ultimate, 1ms Response Time, 2300R Curvature, VESA Display HDR 600, AW3821DW - White

Used to be a 2- borderline 3-monitor person at my business work station. Now, this monitor handles the whole load. Beautiful screen, plenty of real estate to work with. It’s tasked to 2 computers at the moment so the easy switching between inputs is convenient. Only downside is, it ain’t cheap.

I needed a new monitor to replace my primary monitor in a dual monitor setup, a failing seven year old 27" gsync IPS display. I knew I wanted a larger display, so I dived into researching what is available in 2023. I looked into 34" widescreens - I wanted more vertical space. 49" widescreens - basically two 27" monitors in one. That's great, but I still wanted to use a 27" monitor on the side, so that ends up being the equivalent of three monitors which is giving up too much desk space. 32" is ok, but I'd want 4k, and that is alot of pixels to drive.So I stumble across 38" 3840x1600 monitors. Larger and higher resolution than the 27" I'm replacing, but not so large that continuing to use my other 27" alongside it would erase too much desk space. Fewer pixels to drive than a 4k monitor. Similar PPI to my existing 1440p monitors.I know some will say that the panel being IPS and not OLED is a downer, maybe a deal breaker. For me, that is a positive. I know OLED is beautiful and vibrant. I know that there are lots of mitigations built in to those monitors to help prevent burn in. However, I have had cell phones that suffered burn-in despite my best efforts, and it really bothered me. I don't want to worry about my computer monitor possibly having the same fate. Sometimes I walk away from my PC monitor because some emergency comes up, it usually turns to standby itself after a few minutes, but sometimes I have come back to Windows still awake with whatever I was doing still on the screen an hour or more later. I know I should get in the habit of turning off the screen myself, but I'm lazy and hard to train. Yes, I know most (all?) OLED monitors have burn in covered by warranty, but I just don't want that hassle. For all these reasons, an OLED is just not right for me.So among the limited 38" options, I chose this AW3821DW, mostly on price, 3 year warranty, and easy availability from Amazon. The monitor arrived very well packed and protected in it's box, which is very well designed. I am very pleased to have zero dead pixels, yay!For an IPS screen, I think it's beautiful. I'm very, very happy with my purchase and hope it lasts a long time. Maybe when it fails another technology like mini-led or something else (something not susceptible to burn in, preferably) will be common. For now, this monitor is just right for me.

The OG productivity and gaming monitor, that has gsync ultimate

The Alienware Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor delivers an incredible gaming experience — vibrant colors, sharp details, and buttery-smooth gameplay. The build quality is excellent, and it really adds a premium feel to my setup. Games and movies look fantastic on the big ultrawide screen.The only reasons I’m giving it four stars are that I wish the HDR performance was a bit stronger, and I would have preferred a higher curvature for a more immersive feel. Still, it’s an outstanding monitor overall and a great choice for anyone looking to upgrade their gaming or work space!

Since there are completely different models mixed in with these reviews, I'll just clarify that this is for the 38" AW3821DW.You might have noticed a price increase (no more discount) around late Jan 2024? Dell stopped selling this around Jan 17th/18th so get it while you can if you're looking at it, because Dell isn't carrying them for sale anymore. I called them shortly after the product vanished from their site to ask if a newer model was replacing it but no news, and so far nothing near the 38" range.I bought this display to replace my older 34" AW3418DW... crazy right? Not really, as it's a jump from 1440p WQHD to 1600p WQHD, 8bpc@100hz to 10bpc@120hz color, newer G-SYNC, twice as many USB ports, 4ms to 1ms response, 34" to 38", an active warranty, and a much improved stand. I'm absolutely blown away by this monitor compared to my old one.Some things to consider:-Make sure you can push the added resolution of 1600p in WQHD format, something like a 30-series has no issues with this.-Run the display at 120hz, not 144hz, so you can enable 10bpc color depth, and enable Full dynamic range. These options appear in your GPU control panel, likely under the resolution settings.-Enabling HDR is up to you, I've read mixed reviews about it, something to do with the edge-lit local dimming being not great.-These are my personal Brightness/Contrast and RGB settings right now after reading through a few posts: Bri-36%, Con-75% || R-87%, G-87%, B-95%My gripes? Very few, I get some light bleed on the bottom corners, but it's not really noticeable unless I start viewing it at weird angles in a dark room. I honestly also wish the screen were a little larger because at 1600p you could get away with a solid 40" screen. It would definitely make it more of a jump from the 34" models for anyone looking to upgrade.Also of note, the monitor will install its control panel app once connected. I found this really shady as a power-user, but understandable if any non-technical person were installing the display. It's mostly used to control the RGB on the display, however that can all be manually controlled via the monitor's menu just fine. The software can be removed and it won't install again on its own from what I've seen.