Alienware - AW3418DW

I'm in a somewhat similar boat - I have an AW3418DW that I am loathe to give up if it's going to make the 8 or 9 hours of office work I do each day worse for the 2-3 hours of gaming I do a week. I don't really have a budget though and wouldn't mind moving to a 38" or so but haven't found the right monitor yet to pair with my 3080. Good luck in your search!

Never heard about that issue. But i never looked into the cons of these monitors, lol. But monitors pricing has gone down so much lol. I still have aw3418dw, that was like almost $2000 canadian. My aw3821dw was over $2000. Crazy. Also i dont buy asus stuff. Ive heard bad stuff about the canadian asus boss.

I'm in the same boat as you, I also use ultrawide for development. I returned the LG 45 5k2k due to pixel fringing. Could not get used to it even after about 1 month of daily use, made me feel like I needed glasses. Could immediately see it at 125 PPI, suspect it would still bother me at 140 PPI ( I sat much further away from the monitor mimicking a 39", could still see it ). For now, I switched back to my AW3418DW IPS, razor sharp text in comparison. So, I decided I will skip the LG39GX950B, until they release an OLED that size with RGB stripe, which I assume will take another 2-3 years. I'm personally going to get a V-Stripe 3440x1440 QD-OLED, likely from Alienware once they release them. Also, I think 3440x1440 360hz 34" will be more enjoyable for you than 2560x1080 330hz stretched over a 39" for competitive games. I tried the dual-mode on the LG 45 5k2k, the image quality was horrendous, since they're not doing integer scaling.

I have the Alienware aw3418dw ips ultrawide. I bought it for $150 on FB marketplace. I also recently bought the Alienware AW3425DWM Va Panel ultrawide for $350 with tax on Amazon. For work and general daytime browsing, the ips is better. For videos and gaming, the VA wins. The VA panel can be a little distracting for work since it's got the typical gamma shift and black level raise issues. However there is absolutely zero black smearing on my panel so text scrolling is smooth. I also briefly owned the AOC CU34G2XP VA monitor and that panel was atrocious.

I have this, and while it's a VA panel, it's BARELY a VA panel. Really great implementation of the technology.

i’m upgrading from an aw3418dw. And literally just bought 2 hours ago the Dell u4025 I used to have a 3090 gaming pc. but that’s been sold as life changed and a ps5 downstairs to my oled 120hz tv is fine as i now only casually game. and my esports days are behind me. So my main needs are 90% work as a 4 day from home hybrid data scientist. 10% Content consumption watching from bed. The main deciding factors for me were £1200 dell vs £1700 LG. £1200 is still a lot of money. and an extra £500 for not playing any games on it, was hard. Almost considered it in case i came back to the PCMR, to future proof. The nail in the coffin, was the curve. Since i watch a lot of TV from bed (desk is opposite my bed). having a flatter display seemed more optimal. i’ll probably upgrade again in a few years, depending on how my use case changes, but that’s the thing: Everyone’s needs are different and depends how much you’re willing to spend for what you need.

Alienware, whatever uw model they have Alienware aw3418 been used for 7 years very heavily during the pandemic Still works without any issues Trying to find an excuse to replace it with oled but the damn thing wont die In alienware i trust, as far as monitors

AW3418DW is great at that price. The truth is that 34" IPS never actually got all that much better than that. The 34GP83A-B also seems good but I don't have experience with it. I've used some 34" VAs recently and quite honestly I was unimpressed. Viewing angles are a bit problematic and the smearing is distracting, especially for productivity (any time you're scrolling light-colored text on a dark background it's obvious). The main thing they have going for them is higher refresh rates, but I felt like the higher refresh rate motion on a VA didn't actually provide a clarity benefit I could perceive over 120 Hz on the AW3418DW. And contrast ratio, I guess, but I don't use my monitor in a dark room so I can barely notice the improvement to be honest.

if you want something cheaper but still solid, older alienware 34" 144hz ultrawides (like aw3418dw used/refurb) can be worth it if priced well. still immersive and responsive, just not as fast or smooth as newer high refresh models. fwiw, redditrecs shows these older alienware ultrawides are usually recommended only when discounted heavily, otherwise people suggest going newer.

upgraded from the AW3418DW. mind was freaking blown.

I'm currently using an AW3418DW, which is a 34 inch ultrawide from 2017, been using this screen for about 8 years now. It's not quite big enough, and I'm interested in trying out larger displays. I think the sweet spot would be a 39/40 inch 5k2k with an 1800R curve, for both work and immersive gaming. I would love to try the 45 inch screen, as my desk is large enough to accommodate. It's probably super immersive for gaming, but I'm curious how it does for productivity tasks, given the more aggressive curve.