Still fresh faced from its debut in July, the AW3426DW is now available for $749.99 via Amazon. This marks a $50 saving off its launch price, and the first discount from the storefront to hit the gaming monitor since launch.
Alienware AW3426DW
“Dive into ultrawide immersion with the AW3426DW, featuring QD-OLED Penta Tandem technology and RGB stripe subpixels for vibrant, true-to-life colour performance.” – Dell
This QD-OLED monitor features a 34in panel, with a native UWQHD (3440×1440) resolution, offering the same vertical pixel count as a standard QHD (2560×1440) display but with more running on the horizontal. A wider 21:9 aspect ratio makes for a more immersive experience than typical 16:9 offerings, as your eyes soak in the widened expansiveness of games across beautiful vistas or in search of pesky targets that would otherwise be off screen.
Importantly, the AW3426DW features a Penta Tandem QD-OLED panel. This technology not only boosts brightness relative to older models, with enough nits to meet VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, but also fixes the longstanding issue of fringing that have plagued prior displays. An RGB Stripe subpixel layout replaces the earlier triangular structure, ensuring crisp text across game GUIs and all other written content.
In terms of refresh rate, this monitor runs at a speedy 280Hz. While 80Hz shy of commonplace 360Hz offerings from competitors, this reduction in hertz comes with a lower price. Regardless, this still leaves a very pleasing amount of refreshes per second in play, which combined with a 0.03ms response time results in excellent motion clarity without any risk of ghosting or other artefacts.
Content will look sharp and feel smooth on the AW3426DW, but the panel also offers vibrant and accurate colours to boot. Dell lists the monitor’s gamut as covering 99% of DCI-P3, the most important colour space for HDR content, while also boasting factory calibration that sees Delta E sit at less than two. Throw in the inherent per-pixel dimming capabilities of QD-OLED, bringing true blacks and rich contrast, and this screen will be a true feast for the eyes.
Underneath the chassis, you’ll find two HDMI 2.1 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4 input, making it easy to connect your PC and two other devices to the monitor. There’s also a 5Gb USB-A and 5Gb USB-C, with 15W of power delivery, which you can connect to your system via the bundled USB-B upstream cable.
Finally, the AW3426DW’s three-year warranty includes any issues relating to burn-in. The monitor naturally packs protections to mitigate the issue, including a built-in graphite sheet and an AI algorithm that actively safeguards the screen without any user input.
For more display recommendations, check out our best gaming monitor list.
