Dell Alienware AW3418DW and that G-SYNC life

Jrasero · March 5, 2019

Sold my Pixio PX347c Prime a 34" 3440x1440 100Hz VA Free Sync monitor and was able to snag a great deal and get a Dell Alienware AW3418DW for $625 from some guy on Craigslist who bought one from Dell in November but never opened. As soon as I met the guy he seemed a bit nervous and asked me to see the money right away and said that he never sold anything before. Anyway, he helped me load the box into my car and it was absolutely massive and weighed a ton. Compared to my Pixio box it was over twice the size.

I will say the monitor was very well packed and if the monitor came broken someone would had to thrown it down a flight of stairs. So right away going to an IPS display I noticed the colors were vastly better than the Pixio VA panel and I kind of understood why people paid $1500 when this first came out. Even though both monitors are 3440x1440 the Alienware looks crazy sharp and made my Pixio look grainy. Also the Alienware is much brighter at only 70-75% brightness compared to the Pixio with 100% brightness. I guess the biggest reason for the cost of this monitor and the big selling point is G-SYNC and the 120Hz refresh rate. I have this hooked up to an EVGA RTX 2080 Ti and any imperfections I used to get especially in a game like PUBG are gone and game play is butter. I like the stand and the range of motion but it requires a big desk since it is very deep.

So Dell has this for $1100 and change but 12% off, Microcenter for $850, and Newegg through Ebay had this at $750 the other day. I can say this monitor is 100% not worth $1000+ and $850 at Microcenter is really pushing it since really that's $925 with NY tax. The EBAY Newegg deal would have been $816 shipped including tax and I was very tempted to buy it at this price. In 2019 if you can get this monitor for $850 or less shipped with taxes I'd say I would pick this over competing $500-$700 Free Sync ultrawides. In the end I was able to upgrade to this monitor for $175 after I sold my Pixio w/ an Amazon stand. IMO not a game changing experience like the transition to ultrawide in general, but enough to make the 40 minute trip to Brooklyn to pick it up and the hassle of selling my old Pixio worthwhile. My big advice if you are picking this up make sure you have a wagon/suv or some kind of transportation that can fit this massive box and probably bring a friend since it weighs a ton. I am a little torn on whether or not to get a swing arm stand since I like the included stand since it has RGB, is ultra sturdy, and cable manages well, but it also takes a lot of room