Alienware AW2725Q QD-OLED Assessment: Fairly Image, however Dear

The corporate’s new monitor takes a web page from final yr’s ultra-expensive, curved AW3225QF (a brand new model of that monitor, the AW3425DWM, with the identical purple aesthetic Alienware dubbed AW30). With its 32-inch curved show, that monitor was already a fine-looking, stable desktop piece providing 4K at 240Hz refresh charges. The brand new, 27-inch, sq. AW2725Q is a extra easy providing that’s not any much less expensive at $900. That’s cheaper than final yr’s $1,200 32-inch curved show, however when spending near $1,000 on a monitor, you need every thing you may get from a show, proper?

Alienware first announced this monitor throughout CES 2025, simply as many other display makers introduced their 4K, 240Hz units. The most recent Alienware monitor makes a case for itself by providing deep, deep colour with the assistance of QD-OLED at its measurement. It sits at 166 PPI or pixels per inch. The dimensions of the show often impacts pixel density. As an illustration, a telephone will often sit at between 500 to 600 PPI on an OLED show. Nonetheless, that’s quite dense for OLED. Alienware claims the PPI comes from a exact QD-OLED printing methodology throughout manufacturing, however all I can say is that the readability on the display is very nice. It’s particularly nice for these video games awash in distinction with fairly, brilliant colours like Avowed or Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

Alienware’s AW2725Q Is a Very good Although Someway Refined Display Expertise

For these not within the know, QD-OLED is a type of display that runs parallel to the QD-mini LED, AKA QLED. It takes a typical OLED panel however provides a layer of small semiconductor nano-crystals, the titular “quantum dots,” enhancing the colour of the OLED’s self-emitting show layer. If OLED already presents high quality black ranges, distinction, and colour density, the QD expertise is meant to make it look even higher.

As typical amongst show aficionados, few can agree whether or not the QD side of QD-OLED does something typical OLEDs don’t already present, particularly on a smaller display measurement than a bigger tv. All I can say is that the colours on Alienware’s 27-inch monitor are continuously gorgeous. Even when not within the recreation, I might discover myself looking at my PC’s default desktop wallpaper, distracted by the deep sundown hues radiating from the show.

The monitor helps Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync, plus it has the .03 ms gray-to-gray response time typical of OLED. It’s a licensed DisplayHDR True Black 400 for vivid display content material. What’s extra, the show can be surprisingly glare-resistant. Shining my telephone’s flashlight instantly on the display doesn’t scale back the visible high quality a lot. I additionally skilled minimal reflections from the show. Though that is the kind of monitor you’ll all the time sit instantly in entrance of, it has vast viewing angles, the place the colour doesn’t diminish even sitting 70 levels away from the display.

The show’s acknowledged brightness is 250 nits at SDR. That’s not nice, particularly contemplating your worth for this monitor. It goes as much as 1000 nits with HDR, however that comes with issues. Attempting to mitigate brightness with the Dolby Imaginative and prescient on PC dramatically adjustments the distinction of no matter I used to be taking part in and washing these lovely colours out. We seen it with the AW3225QF, which additionally appears to be the case right here. You possibly can change these settings by means of the OSD (on-screen show) menu or Alienware Command Heart Software program.

OLED burn-in is all the time one thing to think about for any show of this sort. It’s particularly essential for those who’re dropping $900 on a monitor you have to be hoping to make use of for years down the road. Alienware claims it’s solved any fast points with an “AI algorithm” that regulates electrical present per pixel in order that no portion of the display suffers greater than one other. After all, that’s not one thing we will confirm on our personal. As an alternative, Dell does supply a free panel substitute beneath guarantee.

Alienware’s 27-inch QD-OLED Feels Premium, Although $900 Is a Laborious Tablet to Swallow

The AW2725Q has two HDMI 2.1 ports (one with eARC), a single DisplayPort 2.1, three USB-A, and a single USB-C for passthrough energy as much as 15 W. Which may show useful if you wish to make charging your mouse or telephone a little bit extra handy. It’s all commonplace for displays of this measurement, even with the glowing Alienware brand on the again. The stand is the standard you count on from the Alienware model, even when it’s principally plastic on high of a metallic body. It might tilt from -5 to +20 levels and swivel from -20 to +20. The stand solely raises and lowers 4 inches, which you want for many desktop setups.

This sort of monitor is made to pair with a similarly-expensive desktop PC. I’ve been utilizing the AW2725Q for my most up-to-date GPU evaluations. A 240Hz show might assist exhibit your video games at their prime when paired with body era capabilities of the most recent AMD Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT GPUs. Nonetheless, if we’re being trustworthy, the excessive refresh charge is a boon to the fortunate individuals who handle to get their fingers on the most recent high-end Nvidia RTX 50-series. 4-times multi-frame gen permits you to play some video games at over 150 FPS. For the $2,000 Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, that graphics card can put out properly over 200 FPS with 4x body gen in a recreation like Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing turned on. And sure, it appears wonderful on the AW2725Q.

Will you truly be capable of inform the distinction between a recreation operating at 140 FPS versus 240 FPS? Most likely not. Body Gen is just actually helpful for individuals who play single-player video games. Multi-frame gen’s affect on latency is sufficient that any particular person trying to compete in multiplayer would have it turned off anyway. Professional gamer tournaments usually depend on 240Hz displays. Something greater than that’s overkill. It simply implies that solely these spending an excessive amount of on their desktop setup will expertise their video games on the absolute peak of what’s at the moment obtainable.

So, for anyone else, the worth continues to be exhausting to swallow. Alienware additionally has a $550 27-inch QD-OLED that maxes out at 1440p decision. If you happen to goal for 1440p gaming along with your new graphics card, that’s an choice. If you happen to’re not dropping $2,000 on a graphics card, it’s exhausting to justify spending as a lot as your GPU on a monitor. Nonetheless, for those who desperately want a brand new monitor to pair along with your GPU, Alienware’s newest will make your content material sing.