I'm personally convinced that as of early 2018 this is the king of the 34" Ultrawide market. There are some new interesting models to come this year, particularly from Asus, but they are not out as of Feb. 2018 and are likely to be upwards of $2000 when they do arrive, and will sport 200hz refresh rates. Id been toying with the idea of going to the ultrawide format for a couple of months before I pulled the trigger. I went back and forth on whether to go with a 27" standard Gsync monitor for around the ~$700 mark or jump head first into an entirely different pool and go ultrawide, and pay double the cash. The main hesitation for me was always the cost. After letting it rest in my mind for a couple months, I decided I wanted to make the big jump and go all out. Deciding to take the plunge, I then had to decide which brand to go with. I have been a PC enthusiast, Overclocker, and gamer for over 15 years. I'm no stranger to PC hardware and their specs. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time considering each of the options in the 34" Ultrawide Market. The main specs I was looking for was 3440x1440 resolution, As high a refresh rate as possible, and good overall panel quality. The options are a bit slim in the ultrawide 1440p landscape, so I started off looking at perhaps the 2 most popular options: The Asus ROG Swift PG348Q and the Acer predator models, particularly the Z35p. I entered the Alienware here into my options a little later on. Ive never been a fan of alienware computers, so I was kinda lukewarm on them as a brand. However, I entered this decision with no bias, and was determined to buy the best monitor of the options available, irrespective of brand. To make a long story short, in the end, the Alienware was a cut above the Acer and Asus offerings. The Acer Z35P uses a VA panel, while the Asus and Alienware sport LG IP panels. VA panels are a middle ground between TN and IPS panels typically, but an suffer from ghosting issues. In my research I noted several instances of ghosting being a problem on the z35p. It also has a bit of a history with QA (quality assurance) issues. The Asus also had some QA issues the more I dug into it. While all 3 monitors have majority positive reviews everywhere, if you dig deeper, into reddit and other places you can get a better picture of the issues people have, and I saw the same couple of issues come up over and over again with folks to lost the "panel lottery" as it is called. I was not able to find similar types of issues regarding the Alienware, though it is not as popular as the Acer and Asus either, so I kept that in mind. I ruled out the Acer first, and focused in on the Asus and Alienware. In the end though, I could never find any reason to put the asus over the alienware, but found several reasons to put the alienware over the asus. Most importantly is the alienware uses the newer LG LM340UW4 panel, over the Asus's LG LM340UW2 panel. The most important difference between these two panels is the native refresh rate. The panel in the Alienware is a 100hz native refresh rate, that can overclock to 120hz. The Asus's panel is a 60hz native refresh rate that overclocks to 100hz. What it boils down to is that the Alienware is the only 34" 3440 x 1440 ultrawide IPS that sports a 120hz refresh rate. While the Acer also achieved 120hz, it does it on a VA Panel. Ive had the monitor now for about 5 days and have put it through the ringer, testing it and feeling it out. I have been thoroughly impressed. Not a single dead pixel. Light bleed is present in the bottom left and right corner but its very minimal and only visible on a totally black screen. There is a very light shading, almost like a little vignette affect across the top half inch of the screen; it is just barely noticeable. I wonder if they took some measure to try and avoid light bleed. One reviewer on youtube noted this light shading as well. You really do not notice it though unless you really focus on it, and you have a white backdrop. I dont feel it detracts at all from the screens display, which is really gorgeous. Color, clarity, sharpness all look fantastic. Gaming performance is fantastic. I've tested it out in about 8 popular games and it has impressed in every instance. No ghosting, artifacts, or noticable input lag. Its just big, bold, and beautiful. The stand the monitor sits on is largely metal and is incredibly sturdy and well built. The integrated lighting is a great little addition and offers a soft glow of your preferred color to your desk for night time gaming sessions. If you want the lights off they are easily toggled off. The only feature it doesn't have that I do wish it had, is a center crosshair, which would be useful in some games. Also worth noting is that this was the only monitor of the 3 considered which has no built in speakers. This was a complete non issue to me, but worth noting. This one gets a 5/5 from me. It has impressed me all around. Bestbuy also price matched it for me online, which was quick and painless.

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