Alienware AW3821DW Ultrawide Monitor - Review

Monitor reviews are a rare thing here at Maxi-Geek, not for any specific reason, we just tend to forget about them, but given how important a screen is to any gaming, or PC related experience, when Alienware offered up their AW3821DW for review, we jumped at it. Also known by its more pronounceable name Alienware 38 Curved Gaming Monitor, is this one impressive screen, or like its official name, more complex than it needed to be.

The first thing that you will note with the screen is the sheer size of it, it is a 38inch display, well 37.5 inches, if we want to get accurate, which means it is a staggering 89.5cm wide. That width is also made more complex by the curved nature of the display, so when setting it up, things that I would normally have on the side of my smaller screen, had to be relocated, just to make room for all that extra screen and the curved nature of it. The size is also something that impacts the depth of the screen, not the thickness of the display, that is pretty normal, no it is the massive stand that you get, in order to actually hold it up. The feet on the stand are quite long, so they come out from under the screen, quite a distance, but the main portion is thick and tall, so when it is all combined, it is heavy and large.

The trade-off of course, is that you get an incredible amount of screen and incredible is the best way to describe it, because things look amazing when they make use of it, but beyond that, even if you can’t fill the screen with a single item, you have space to stack things. That sadly can be a curse at times, but more on that later, let’s look at the blessings to it all, the first thing you will likely encounter that uses it right, outside of Windows, are videogames, not all games of course, but a large number of them will. Being able to play a supported game, in an ultra-wide resolution might take a moment or two, to get used to, but once you do, it honestly fades out of the mind and becomes just another aspect of your playing the game, like using a keyboard or controller.

Before we dive deeper into the games though, we do need to talk about the more day to day useability of the screen, because there are a heck of good things about it and a few issues.  One of the more impressive things is that you can fit a lot on the display, so if you're someone that uses multiple applications at once, maybe email and word, you can have them on the one screen. This really isn't an improvement if you're going from two displays to the single ultrawide display, you're still getting the same outcome in the end but you're just having to have one cable from your computer. General use programmes like your web browser, email, office and such are going to be hard to sell based on the fact that if you go full screen with them, they don't generally support ultrawide. Many of the websites that I visited that had images as their backgrounds would often repeat the image multiple times across the display, while the vast majority of the content was aligned to the left, none issue per se but just something to be aware of.

One area that did make everything so much better was in the creation applications and for this I mean Photoshop, Affinity Designer, Premiere Pro and likely many other applications that allow you to create content. The reason why this was impressive is because I was able to fit everything on one screen and while yes, they do support multiple screens, they have not been able to use them effectively. What that meant was that in Premier Pro, I could fit the entire timeline of my video project on the screen, without having to have it squished down to allow for the media viewer as well, plus I was able to have the audio mixing tools visible, alongside the colour correct and my preview window, it was just so simple. Photoshop also worked much the same way, apart from giving me more space to view things as I was working on them, it meant I could have more tools active in their respective windows, while not sacrificing workspace. If you are someone who creates a lot of content in the day to day, be it for work or for personal, this ultrawide monitor will really come in handy.

As I said before, games are a mixed bag on support, but that is nothing new, as games that are made for 4:3, but played back on modern displays, will usually end up with large portions of black on either side of the image and the same happens here. I would have liked to have been able to tell the screen to move things to the side, which can be done when playing in a windowed mode, but even when seeing portions of black to the side, isn’t an issue, the same also happens with most media content. However, whenever I booted into a game that supported ultrawide, it would fill the screen and provide a wonderful experience, my gameplay skills not withstanding of course. Playing a game that supported the ultrawide and then ones that didn’t, I never noticed any issues with things feeling stretched, so if that is a concern, you needn’t worry.

Something that was a concern, was out of the box the screen was very dark, now I don’t know if that was due to someone else messing with the settings prior to Alienware sending it to me, or if it was the default, but it took a bit of messing with the settings on the display itself, in order to get it to reset to a default brightness. Speaking of defaults, the lights that you get as part of the screen are set to the default Alienware blue, but if you install the software, you can opt to change them to other colours or even patterns, which is a nice touch. There are two main lights, the first takes up the spine of the stand, so it will illuminate the wall, or anything else behind it, the second and much smaller light is located underneath the middle of the display and when the brightness is set low, is hard to spot. What it does allow for though is an easy way to pick out where the USB ports are located, should you choose to enable the hub settings, which is something I was very happy having enabled.

Alienware have been making wonderful hardware for a long time now, their recent range of headsets, keyboards and other accessories prove that, but the Alienware AW3821DW is something that is not easily recommendable. While the quality of the screen is not up for debate, it offers a wonderful balance of colours, the size of the display is the issue, which given that is the major selling point, is where you need to stop and think. For anyone who is going to use it for gaming, you will find that in games that support ultrawide, you would get a great gaming experience, for those who are more of the creative type, then the monitor is going to offer you a workspace that allows for you to have access to all the important tools, without compromising your ability to see your work. Does this ultrawide display provide more options that two separate displays, no it does not however, having one single display means you have a more simplified setup. If you have the means and need for a screen this large, this is one to look at, but if you are a fair-weather gamer or just an average PC user, this may not be the screen for you.

The Score

8.0

Review unit provided by Alienware

The Pros

+Incredible screen, from size to quality of the display

+Useability in creative applications is unparalleled

The Cons

-Not really user friendly for programs that don't support ultrawide

-Games and media that are in older aspect rations end up with black bars to the side of the presented visuals