Alienware AW2721D 27" Gaming Monitor Review
We're boot things off today with our first monitor review of 2022, we're taking a look at the Alienware AW2721D, a hot item at the moment. This is the commencement monitor we're reviewing using our updated examination methodology for 2022. If you lot missed all that detail, it's well worth a watch.
The Alienware AW2721D is a new high-finish 27-inch 1440p monitor, giving usa our first await at the combination of a 240Hz refresh rate and IPS engineering at this resolution. Alienware are touting "true 1ms GTG response time" – we'll come across about that – but we do know the monitor uses a latest-generation LG IPS panel so we're expecting functioning that'south similar to other LG IPS products.
Another of import point on the spec sail is G-Sync Ultimate support, although it'south the new watered downward Thou-Sync Ultimate, not the high standard the program once allowable.
G-Sync Ultimate used to be for the best HDR displays on the market, but that's not the example in 2022, as the AW2721D has somehow qualified despite having just DisplayHDR 600 certification and only edge-lit local dimming. It is HDR uniform and features 98% DCI-P3 coverage, so we'll see how information technology performs a bit later.
With its 1440p 240Hz capabilities, this new Alienware brandish is competing directly with the Samsung Odyssey G7, some other 1440p 240Hz display we've looked at with a curved VA panel instead. The AW2721D offers something a fleck dissimilar, and it'south also more expensive, currently $825 when bought directly from Dell or Amazon. The good news though, is it is really available, which we can't say about every new flake of hardware we exam these days.
The AW2721D is a large monitor for something that simply has a 27-inch console, and I'm not talking well-nigh bezels but the overall monitor body. The stand up is beefy and information technology attaches to a rather thick display housing; the whole thing is much heavier than I expected, although this allows information technology to be very sturdy.
And while the majority of the outer materials are plastic, I think information technology looks quite premium with its mixture of black and white soft finishes. I'm not a fan of the large 27 printed onto the rear only outside of that information technology's a pretty clean trunk with some nice curves.
RGB lighting is constitute here, integrated into a calorie-free bar on the back of the stand as well as the archetype alien head logo. This isn't a huge selling signal for me, merely it is something that other people find useful. Tucked neatly backside the magnetic port cover are a DisplayPort and two HDMI ports, plus some USB ports. You'll need to use DisplayPort to access the maximum 240Hz refresh charge per unit, as HDMI is limited to just 144Hz at this resolution, and this display does non support HDMI two.1.
Alienware are offering the full complement of adjustability, including height, tilt, swivel and pin capabilities, then you lot could operate this monitor in a portrait orientation if you lot wanted to. The level of height adjustment is besides generous and I recall information technology'due south helped by having such a huge stand assembly – even though the stand up legs don't take up a ton of desk space.
The on screen display is controllable through a directional toggle placed backside the monitor'south bottom correct corner, where you'll discover a minor set of features. The color controls are a petty lacking, however for gamers yous do get refresh rate and timer options, though no cheat crosshairs. At that place's also no backlight strobing available, as the LG IPS panel has a slow cherry phosphor, which interferes with strobing as we've seen previously.
Alienware merely offers 3 response fourth dimension settings, nevertheless the monitor uses a native Grand-Sync module, so variable overdrive is a characteristic and thus we shouldn't take to modify settings very often. So permit'due south run across how it performs...
Display Functioning
At 240Hz using the lowest overdrive fashion, Fast, it'due south clear that overdrive is indeed enabled. The reason I make this rather obvious indicate is that equally Fast is the "everyman" way, yous actually tin can't disable overdrive on this brandish entirely. I'm not sure how many people really would want to practise that, but as you can see there is some overshoot nowadays on the lowest style, and without a lower setting this is the to the lowest degree amount of overshoot you'll see.
Is this level of overshoot problematic? Not at all. The majority of transitions are non affected by whatsoever sort of noticeable overshoot, and instead we are left with a four.47ms gray to grey average response time, which is excellent. Using our newer test methodology which is gamma corrected and measures more than of the response time curve, nosotros do spot some slower transitions, particularly fall times that accept a longer trail. However based on the displays I've tested so far, this is somewhat common for IPS panels and this is far from the worst example.
On the correct you'll see our new cumulative deviation results, which measure how close the response behaviour gets to the ideal "instant" response. Given many of you won't have seen this metric before, I'll provide some context, in that scoring 414 points here is first-class and indicates a fast panel. An average result is around 600. We also get 70% refresh compliance, which using our new methodology is sufficient to call this a true 240Hz display, which is a great sign from an IPS console.
The overdrive settings above Fast are not worth using. Super Fast does decrease response times to 3.57ms on average, but this comes with a significant increment to overshoot. As a effect, our cumulative difference numbers increase, suggesting we are farther from an ideal response than in the previous way. The Extreme style is even worse, and to me this looks like a setting included purely to market the monitor equally being "1ms" – you can see the best transitions are in the 1ms range. I'd have much rather Alienware include a fashion below "Fast" with less overshoot, than bother with this "Extreme" style that looks a lot worse.
In terms of operation across the refresh range, buyers of the AW2721D should stick with using the Fast style, which provides a single overdrive mode experience, exactly what I'd await from a premium display.
At times, overshoot tin can be a little higher than I'd similar, in particular at 200Hz, but for the most part the level of overshoot is manageable and not that noticeable in practice. You tin can come across variable overdrive at play hither, especially below 100Hz, where the monitor appears to switch to a slower manner to go along overshoot in check. This is fine for lower refresh rate gaming and I'm glad it's implemented this way to prevent users from having to modify overdrive settings depending on the refresh rate they are gaming at.
Comparing the AW2721D to other gaming monitors, the response time numbers are more often than not very solid when looking at meridian performance recorded at the display's maximum refresh charge per unit.
An boilerplate result below 5ms is elite, putting this display amidst the fastest I've tested. The overshoot numbers are not amazing compared to the Omen X 27 for instance, however performance is a step above 144 and 165Hz displays of the by, like the LG 27GL850.
Average functioning across the refresh range is also very solid, and interestingly functioning is very similar between the AW2721D and Dell S2721DGF, both of which use LG IPS panels. Previous Nano IPS panels already had the response times to handle a 240Hz refresh charge per unit, they just needed that sort of refresh rate to be unlocked, and it seems like that's basically what nosotros are getting here.
When viewing cumulative deviation, showing how close the monitor gets to the platonic response, the AW2721D sits among a huge glut of mod IPS monitors that all deliver a similar experience, in that 500 to 600 point range when measured beyond their refresh range.
This Alienware monitor does benefit from an increased refresh range, and does then without negatively affecting its overall performance. All the same fundamentally this new 1440p 240Hz IPS panel from LG does not button IPS ahead in terms of response behavior compared to what was already on the market. That's not a bad thing at all, merely those wanting an AW2721D specifically for meliorate performance even at lower refreshes like 144Hz aren't really getting that. Again the main benefit is simply a higher refresh rate overall.
And y'all'll encounter what I'k talking about when we await at response times recorded at 120Hz. The AW2721D does deliver great functioning in that 5ms range, merely it's not fundamentally dissimilar to other offerings, so buyers of this display should be primarily interested in gaming above 165Hz either at present or in the time to come.
Meanwhile, due the way variable overdrive operates on this monitor, the AW2721D is only a mid-range performer at 60Hz. You're actually better off with an LG 27GL850 for gaming in that lower refresh range, although if you lot wanted faster response times and were okay with much higher overshoot so you could increment the overdrive mode 1 notch.
Input latency is excellent at 240Hz, with practically no processing delay on the monitor'due south side, leaving the only remaining latency due to refresh lag and response lag. Anything below 5ms is excellent and delivers a highly responsive experience.
In terms of the best performance at 240Hz, the AW2721D isn't quite as adept as the Odyssey, mostly due to college overshoot at a similar response fourth dimension average. But these displays do merchandise blows and the Alienware monitor isn't that far behind.
On average across the refresh range, the G7 does have a clearer border, ending upward with less overshoot and too a 10 per centum faster response on boilerplate. Samsung'due south latest VA engineering with no nighttime level smearing is extremely impressive, and holds upward a bit meliorate for these premium high refresh rate displays than IPS.
Nothing unusual from the ability consumption side of things, the AW2721D is slightly more efficient than the HP Omen X 27's TN display, even factoring in RGB lighting.
Color Performance
Colour Infinite: Alienware AW2721D - D65-P3
Moving into colour operation and the AW2721D is a broad gamut display, featuring 96% coverage of the P3 color space, and then that's nifty for creators that want to leverage this display for their broad gamut work.
However, a big negative is the AW2721D does not have an sRGB style, and then in that location is no style to emulate or clamp this gamut down to sRGB for viewing regular content. This volition leave viewers with an oversaturated feel in many instances, specially when (for example) watching YouTube videos, something that does not play nicely with ICC profiles. This is a huge oversight for a premium monitor.
On the positive side, the AW2721D does characteristic excellent manufactory greyscale calibration. My unit of measurement had near perfect adherence to the sRGB gamma bend, and a negligible deviation from the accurate CCT bend.
This led to low deltaEs from the mill, and virtually no appreciable tint to the monitor. I thing that G-Sync Ultimate monitors tend to succeed at is manufacturing plant greyscale calibration and that's no exception with this display.
Unfortunately when viewing sRGB content there is going to be some level of oversaturation. All things considered this isn't the worst result I've seen from a wide gamut display, and some people really like this expect, only it could be ameliorate.
Similar results in ColorChecker, the positive beingness that skin tones aren't affected significantly and then it'south unlikely yous'll meet a "sunburned" look, however oversaturation is yet present.
Calibrated Color Performance
As grayscale performance is great from the factory and there's no sRGB mode, in that location is little that can exist done in the OSD to improve performance, aside from a few minor tweaks if things are slightly off.
The next step is a full calibration and as expected I achieved fantabulous results. A greyscale deltaE ITP below 2.0, and strong operation in other colour metrics when measuring confronting sRGB; no surprise as there is 100% coverage of this color infinite.
For P3 work we see generally strong results, although as coverage is simply 96% instead of 100%, you lot will lose a small corporeality of accuracy at the top end of the saturation range. But this isn't significant plenty to affect overall performance and I'd say that with calibration the AW2721D is a great monitor for P3.
When comparing factory greyscale calibration to other monitors I've tested, the Alienware AW2721D is one of the best, topping the charts as I similar to run across from premium displays. ColorChecker mill calibration is besides not the worst, although sRGB only monitors like the BenQ EX2510 do deliver a noticeably amend feel.
Maximum brightness is outstanding in the SDR mode, pushing 532 nits which is more than than sufficient for indoor usage in pretty much all environments. Despite such high peak effulgence, the AW2721D also delivers great minimum brightness at a touch below l nits, so at that place is a large range of values to tweak brightness to your liking.
With LG IPS panels there is e'er some discussion on contrast ratio, especially since the early days of monitors like the 27GL850. Nevertheless since that initial release of Nano IPS displays, LG has been able to improve the contrast ratio with newer panels.
While the AW2721D doesn't have a fantastic contrast ratio, easily beaten by VA panels, I recorded roughly a 1000:1 result which is on par for a modernistic IPS monitor.
Viewing angles are outstanding, and LG panels remain some of the best on the market in this area. There's very little color shift when viewing at off angles which gives you the flexibility to view this display in unlike means.
I was as well generally pleased with uniformity, although in that location was some fall off forth the outer edges. The central zone was neat only my unit of measurement did exhibit some IPS glow in the lesser correct corners, although your mileage may vary and I suspect this volition amend on my sample over time.
Wrapping up our performance testing is a look at HDR. The AW2721D, despite being G-Sync Ultimate, is only a semi-HDR panel. Of the three pillars of HDR, what this monitor lacks is proper local dimming; we're getting only 32 border lit zones, which is insufficient for producing bright highlights and deep blacks on screen at the aforementioned time, a cornerstone of an HDR presentation. In exercise there is pregnant haloing, extending from the edges of the monitor to whatever bright objects, and this tin be distracting and worse than no local dimming at all depending on the content.
What the AW2721D gets correct is brightness. Sustained brightness of around 520 nits with a full white window is decent, and that increases to 750 nits for bright flashes, enough to dazzle in indoor conditions. The display tin can besides sustain over 700 nits for lower window sizes, calculation to a decent but not nautical chart topping collection of effulgence numbers.
In a best case scenario, the AW2721D can change from nighttime to bright in split frames to good effect, delivering a dynamic dissimilarity ratio equally high as 63,000:1. However when measuring within a single frame, the AW2721D in even the best case scenario fails to achieve a baseline target contrast ratio of 50,000:i for an okay HDR experience. This is with a bright and dark object far abroad on the screen.
And in our worst case single frame dissimilarity test, which measures a bright and dark object next, the AW2721D does non deliver an HDR experience. This is considering edge lit local dimming can not sufficiently dim the screen for HDR content, so within each cavalcade zone you fall back to the display's native contrast ratio. If a panel cannot improve upon its SDR numbers in this test, it'due south not delivering a true HDR experience.
In terms of HDR accuracy, the display is likewise a mixed bag. This monitor doesn't handle effulgence roll off well, so elements that should be bright are not as bright equally they should be. For some reason, RGB balance also gets a lot colder at higher effulgence levels, while information technology's decent and quite authentic at lower brightness levels.
However in the HDR mode, the AW2721D doesn't do the worst job of keeping to proper saturation performance inside the limits of what the display can do. Particularly when viewing P3 and Rec.709 sweeps inside BT.2020, the results were ameliorate than I expected, so saturation tends to exist quite well held in this way and this should deliver a good colour experience.
Who Is It For?
The Alienware AW2721D is a great high-end gaming monitor and one that shows the promise of IPS technology for 1440p 240Hz applications. Thanks to advancements made in the last few years, IPS is definitely fast enough for these sorts of refresh rates, and while this particular monitor doesn't set whatever new performance records, it was consistently well-nigh the acme of our response time charts which is what buyers forking out over $800 on a new monitor will be later on.
I was quite impressed with this brandish'south versatility. With features like 96% P3 coverage, excellent factory greyscale calibration, and a nice flat panel with splendid viewing angles, the AW2721D is suitable for creative and general office work, too.
If you want a single monitor in your setup to tackle both loftier-end gaming and productivity, then something like the AW2721D is going to set up yous up perfectly now and for many years into the future. After all, hitting 1440p at 240 FPS in today's games is quite a challenge.
There are several other piddling bonuses sprinkled in here as well. Variable overdrive keeps performance solid beyond the refresh range, leading to a coveted single overdrive mode experience. Input lag is about zero, and the build quality was impressive and conforming of its cost tag.
While on the whole this is a great brandish and I'm very positive most the results, in that location are some oversights. Not having an sRGB emulation mode in such a high-end product is a noteworthy omission. The use of an LG IPS panel prevents the states from getting backlight strobing for added move clarity. And despite being a G-Sync Ultimate brandish, the HDR performance on offering is poor due every bit we're only getting border lit local dimming.
You can encounter how it stacks upwards here in our performance summary nautical chart, new for this review and something nosotros might use going forward. A couple of weaknesses shown in cherry but on the whole, a lot of green results indicating this monitor performs above average compared to all the other displays we've tested so far.
Alienware AW2721D Operation Summary
Equally for whether you should purchase the AW2721D, I'1000 sure a lot of people are wondering whether to get this, or get for something like the Samsung Odyssey G7, so here'due south my uncomplicated breakdown as I've tested both.
If you lot're subsequently but a pure gaming monitor, the Odyssey G7 is probably going to be the better option. It's cheaper, especially at 27", and features ameliorate response time results. It also has the benefit of twice the contrast ratio, and includes backlight strobing which is a feature that many people desire for its motion clarity benefits.
Nevertheless the Odyssey G7 is only a gaming display. The AW2721D with its IPS panel is much more versatile and I'd recommend information technology for those that also want to use their monitor for other things.
The Alienware's flat panel is also much ameliorate at this size, plus you're getting better viewing angles, improve uniformity, a wider colour gamut and better factory scale. All of these elements combined with response time numbers that aren't too far off the Odyssey, means it'due south a great balance of features.
At this price, there are a couple of other options, like going 4K 144Hz with a monitor like the LG 27GN950. But for today's gaming, I'd swing more towards the AW2721D especially as the 27GN950 lacks HDMI two.ane. High-stop ultrawides may also come into consideration although at that point we're basically talking nigh a dissimilar monitor category.
Shopping Shortcuts:
- Alienware AW2721D on Amazon, Dell.com
- Samsung Odyssey G7 32" on Amazon
- Samsung Odyssey G9 49" Super-Ultrawide on Amazon
- HP Omen X 27 on HP Shop
- LG 27GL850 on Amazon
- GeForce RTX 3080 on Amazon
Source: https://www.techspot.com/review/2205-alienware-aw2721d/
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