Alienware - 38 Curved Gaming Monitor - AW3821DW

I had a LCD Alienware 4k 38". I decided to go down to 2k with the LG 39 OLED and I love it. I will mever go back down the size of a monitot noe, the nrxt shpuld be 45" which I believr is the sweet spot for my gaming. Ngl you are gonna like itz and text is easily readable

I know this is ultrawide masterrace, but for the price of that Dell or LG, you could easily buy 2 x 32" 4K monitors. One OLED geared towards gaming and one IPS towards productivity. You'd get more real estate and it would cost less. Just depends on whether you think this is a compromise or not. I have a 38" UW (AW38dw) and also use 2 x 32" 4K. There are pluses and minuses to each. I only bring this option up because the LG is definitely better than the Dell at gaming, but is insanely expensive and the 800R curve isn't great.

Honestly, going back and forth from 4K on my Dell U32 32" Ultrasharp to 3840 x1600 on my 38" Alienware can be quite the difference, particularly in text clarity. When I only had the Alienware and it was an appropriate distance away, it wasn't noticeable, but as soon as I got the 32" Ultrasharp to play with, the text immediately appears more soothing to the eyes and going in the other direction is fairly jarring. Of course the 144Hz refresh rate of the Alienware makes the experience much smoother. And I absolutely notice the difference in brightness/nits during the day - the Alienware is much brighter. In short, if it were 4K, I think it'd be the perfect monitor and that's sort of what you get with the U4025, with the added benefit of the dock. I would choose brightness, refresh, and customer service of the Dell over the LG any day of the week. Particularly with regards to the latter, Dell has an outstanding premium panel exchange warranty whereas customer service with LG seems to be rather suboptimal. Only thing I'd caution is considering whether a curved screen will be appropriate for your CAD work case. From time to time, I do notice when working in Excel or other docs on my Alienware that the lines I'm drawing or looking at aren't 'straight' and it can be ever so slightly annoying. It's actually why I decided to experiment with the 32" Ultrasharp. Your eyes eventually adjust and trick your brain into thinking that the curved line you see on the Ultrawide is indeed straight(ish), and then when you look at a flat screen, the flat screen will look convex. I would imagine that this would be far more annoying in CAD visuals, but I don't spend a ton of time on graphics so not sure. If the cost of the Dell is tough to swallow, you could always consider getting 2x32" 4K displays. Could be cheaper with even more real estate and same vertical resolution. Just don't forget to factor in the theoretical cost of the dock in the comparison. Good standalone Thunderbolt docks aren't cheap.

I had one, I returned it, I disliked the FOV (distortion on the edges), and the head moving. Got a AW3821DW, happy !

I have a similar use case as you, and I love my Alienware AW3821DW. It truly is a great balance. It's a bit old at this point, but I would highly recommend you to consider the 38" -40" range with 21: 9 aspect ratio. It offers great real estate for work while not being absurly huge.

45” really feels like the sweet spot. The 57” Samsung is too wide but the 38” Alienware feels too short.

My 2c since the comment below I replied to was deleted. I’ve tried the 49 inch and 57 inch. Currently using this 5k2k because there was a great price on the Lenovo Canadian site lower than the advertised msrp. This is sad, but I received it in July, and have hardly gamed on it at all because work and life has been so busy. For work it’s been a fantastic solution and I haven’t missed 2 screens at all because I have a fancy zones layout that is effectively 3 full sized windows or combinations of smaller windows - since the monitor is so huge, you can have smaller, usable zones. The resolution on the 57 inch ruined the 49 for me for gaming. I bought my first 1440p monitor in 2011/2012 (whenever gsync came out). It was great for the time. But the detail and clarity in 4k or 4k ultrawide is something else, assuming you have the hardware to drive it. For work, I’ve loved the retina displays on MacBook pros forever. 4k screens provide a similar experience in text clarity. After you move from 1440p to 4k, it’s so hard to go back. Better for one to not experiment so as to not know what they’re missing. One of my fav ultrawides was the old 38 inch Alienware. Based on a 16:10 aspect ratio for equivalent normal monitor vs 16:9. But the colors were so washed out. And then oled became popular. Again, stuff has gotten TOO good. The 49 for me, where I work and game on the same screen, ended up being too “skinny”. In games it felt like you were peeking through blinds rather than being immersed in the world. The subtle curve actually wasn’t enough for a monitor of that width, leading you to turn your head a lot. The 57 was incredible for productivity. But it had smearing on the screen panel and ghosting if I recall right. All I remember is that the pixel density and larger sense of vertical space ruined the 49 for me in terms of size and resolution but then the ghosting triggered my OCD and was totally unacceptable for the price. It made me think how I wanted a 38 inch uw oled panel. The 5k2k is the closest we’ll get for a long time. Moved to 32 4k after that then the 5k2k once available. While work is great, due to the way I like to game and have something on a second screen, no ultrawide will truly replace a dual monitor set up - when I get time I’ll be setting the 4k panel beside the 5k2k since I still have it. The curve, while not being ideal and me preferring it to be less curved, has not been bad and I’d encourage people who have not tried it to experiment and not poo poo it without seeing if they adjust after 2-3 weeks of use.

Exactly what I did too. I had a 32:9, loved it for productivity/work but didnt like it for gaming, too short and had to move my head... plus fiddling with almost every game to make it work (HUD, resolution, black bars, etc.) I sold it and got the AW3821DW and its perfect for my needs.

oh well - still waiting for a worthy replacement for my aw3821dw. I need \~110ppi display, I don't want to use scaling ...

I also wait for an "ideal" display. Currently using AW3821dw with a USB-C to HDMI&Power Delivery hub + USB switch (where this hub and my PC is connected). It's like less than 10s to switch between PC and Laptop this way. I change the source on the monitor and click a button on the USB switch. I prefer real estate and picture quality over KVM. Half baked solution are also fine for me :D

Would be great to upgrade from an AW3821DW. Tried a g9 odyssey and returned it. Sweet spot is definitely 40".

I've heard whispers of a 38-39" 5k2k OLED coming out second half of this year/H1 next year. As a AW3821DW owner who has been disappointed with the black levels since day 1, I'm looking forward to it.