Final 12 months, producers launched loads of new 27-inch OLED gaming monitors. Choices just like the Asus ROG Strix OLED XG27AQDMG, the MSI MPG 271QRX QD-OLED, and the Alienware AW2725DF 360Hz QD-OLED had been a few of 2024’s standouts, they usually all have one factor in widespread aside from their display screen dimension: a QHD (2,560-by-1,440-pixel) decision. With that in thoughts, the primary OLED gaming monitor we have examined for 2025 ups the decision ante. It is the Alienware AW2725Q ($899), a 27-inch 4K monitor with a QD-OLED display screen, providing the very best pixel density on an OLED monitor of this dimension. It is a wonderful panel, however whereas the improved decision and better density would possibly win over players who have not but switched to OLED, the modifications aren’t grand sufficient to warrant a near-$1,000 improve for many who have. In addition to, regardless of the decrease decision, the Editors’ Alternative-award-winning AW2725DF presents the next refresh fee and a decrease asking worth, a trade-off that we predict most players shall be proud of.
The AW2725Q is the primary gaming monitor to flaunt Alienware’s new design language, which features a rounded-off sq. base (versus the diamond-shaped stand of the earlier 27-incher), improved cable administration, and a brand new coloration scheme (Interstellar Indigo) that provides it a bluish-purple glow. It weighs in at 14.9 kilos with the stand and measures 20.3 by 24 by 2.8 inches (HWD) with the stand arm absolutely prolonged.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
The stand-design change is a shock to me, as I’ve discovered that sq. stands could be limiting for some hard-core {and professional} players who use the angular stands of screens just like the Alienware 500Hz Gaming Monitor (AW2524HF) to anchor their keyboards. Maybe this variation dovetails with the drop in refresh fee. Whereas the AW2725DF has a 360Hz refresh fee, the AW2725Q tops out at 240Hz. In fact, 240Hz is to not be scoffed at, particularly given this can be a 4K panel, however the very highest refresh charges have a tendency to draw severe players, so they won’t have an interest on this monitor to start with.
The stand apart, this monitor has ample tilt, peak, and swivel changes on the prepared. Turning the monitor round, you’ll spot the brand new AW30 “glyph” iconography, celebrating Alienware’s thirtieth anniversary. (Technically, it is a little bit early; Alienware was based in 1996, making the corporate 28 years outdated.) Curiously, the glyph doesn’t shine with AlienFX lighting—solely the Alienware brand does.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Options and Connectivity: A Dense-Dotted OLED
On the rear of the AW2725Q, you’ll discover two HDMI 2.1 ports (one among which helps eArc for sound), a DisplayPort, a USB Kind-B upstream connector, two USB Kind-A ports, and a safety lock slot. Away from the port hub, tucked below the sting of the display screen itself, you’ll discover one other USB-A port and a USB-C port that helps energy supply of as much as 15 watts. This mannequin lacks built-in audio system and does not supply a headphone jack.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Turning to the show itself, we discover a attractive expanse of OLED that has a graphite-film heatsink inside its panel layers to assist dissipate warmth and stop burn-in. Alienware additionally injects the monitor with some AI performance. (Cue the groans.) Whereas some AI chatbots pry on your personal data and vacuum up copyrighted materials, the AI implementation right here is pretty innocuous. Alienware claims an enhanced AI algorithm regulates {the electrical} present on a per-pixel foundation to take care of picture uniformity and prolong show well being over time.
AI has discovered its approach into screens earlier than. The Samsung Odyssey OLED G8, for one, used Samsung’s NQ8 AI Gen3 processor to upscale streamed motion pictures and video games to near-4K decision, and each the MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED and the MSI MPG 271QRX QD-OLED supplied an AI Imaginative and prescient mode that mechanically adjusted general brightness and colours to the content material on the display screen.
Alienware claims that the AW2725Q presents the very best pixel density on a QD-OLED monitor of this dimension. At 166 pixels per inch (ppi), it is increased than the 111ppi of the AW2725DF and the 140ppi of the AW3225QF. (Larger pixel density tends to contribute to higher picture high quality, all different elements being equal.)
It’s straightforward to assume that the bump from 2K decision to 4K is the place Alienware discovered the additional pixels, however the firm credit an ultra-precise QD-OLED printing course of that employs quantum dot “ink” sprayed by means of micro nozzles in micrometer sizes. However does that increased density come throughout in precise day-to-day use? The reality is that whereas the picture high quality is gorgeous, you’d be hard-pressed to note the distinction with out a side-by-side comparability with a lower-density monitor, and even then, it’s arduous to inform. It is best appreciated if you happen to’re coming from a 27-inch OLED just like the Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 OLED, which presents a decrease decision and a decrease pixel density. In the event you’ve already been utilizing a 4K OLED monitor (like I’ve), the variations shall be significantly arduous to note.
Testing the Alienware AW2725Q: Close to-Flawless Colour
We examined the AW2725Q’s coloration gamut, brightness, and coloration accuracy utilizing Calman monitor calibration software program, a Murideo Six-G sign generator, and a Klein Okay-10A colorimeter. We additionally ran the monitor by means of a gauntlet of video games to measure enter lag and choose its real-world efficiency.
First, we examined the brightness with the monitor’s default image mode over an SDR sign. Beneath these circumstances, it noticed a mean brightness of simply 275 nits (candelas per sq. meter), although that is brighter than what we recorded on final 12 months’s OLED Alienware screens. Switching over to HDR, we measured 445 nits of brightness whereas utilizing the Commonplace preset profile with the HDR Peak 1000 setting. That is barely above the monitor’s VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification.
OLED screens don’t need to get very vibrant as a result of they’ll keep distinction at decrease brightness ranges, so the image will all the time look vibrant in low-light settings like gaming dens, even when the measured brightness appears low. Compared, IPS panels can typically attain 500 nits or extra. Nonetheless, their distinction ratios are far decrease, and a decrease distinction ratio on a monitor can have an effect on the perceived brightness by making blacks look washed out.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Like earlier Alienware OLEDs, the AW2725Q touts a rated 1,000 nits of peak brightness in HDR. We measured a peak brightness of 1,064 nits at a 2% pattern dimension. (We measure sustained HDR brightness at a ten% window dimension, however to measure peak brightness, we drop the take a look at dimension all the way down to 2%. Why? As a result of OLED shows develop into brighter because the take a look at patch dimension will get smaller.) Nonetheless, few scenes in video video games and films have highlights reaching this peak measurement.
Transferring from brightness to paint gamut efficiency, we see the OLED panel proceed to shine. It spanned 100% of the sRGB coloration gamut, 94% of Adobe RGB, and 98% of DCI-P3 in our assessments. These are glorious numbers, although barely under these we recorded from the AW3225QF and the Samsung Odyssey OLED G9.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Colour accuracy was a knockout, because the monitor recorded a wonderful Delta E measurement of 0.7. The upper the Delta E, the extra the colours are likely to stray from their supposed hue. A worth below 1 is right, although only a few gaming screens attain it, particularly out of the field.
The AW2725DF is rated for a peak distinction ratio of 1,500,000:1. (Distinction ratio signifies the distinction in luminance between the brightest white and the darkest black {that a} monitor can produce.) It makes a distinction in image high quality, particularly throughout darkish scenes in video games. A ratio this wildly excessive is par for the course for OLED panels, nevertheless it’s not terribly significant as a comparability; it is simply inflated by the best way OLEDs produce black tones. What’s vital to notice about sky-high distinction ratios like these is that they signify a show’s capability to provide completely deep blacks alongside vibrant whites, leading to improved picture high quality in each gentle and darkish scenes. In distinction, IPS panels sometimes function distinction ratios of 1,000:1 to three,000:1, in order you possibly can think about, they don’t actually supply the identical quantity of vary. (However you additionally should not anticipate a 500x-to-1,500x enchancment in visible distinction, because the numbers counsel, both.)
Sport and Media Efficiency
We’ve discovered glorious coloration vary packed away within the AW2725Q, however as a gaming monitor firstly, crucial metric for some customers would be the enter lag. To measure the monitor’s enter lag, we use an HDFury Diva HDMI matrix; we additionally play a handful of video games from our library to verify for any noticeable blemishes, like display screen tearing. Utilizing the HDFury, we recorded lower than 1 millisecond (ms) of enter lag for the AW2725DF at default settings.
The AW2725Q does cap the refresh fee to 240Hz, down from the 360Hz supplied by the AW2725DF, however that does not take a lot away from the monitor’s general efficiency. A lightning-fast response time and a 240Hz refresh fee ought to remove any potential ghosting. On the similar time, Nvidia G-Sync Appropriate, AMD FreeSync Premium Professional, and VESA AdaptiveSync certifications ship tear- and stutter-free movement with any of at this time’s graphics playing cards.
We spent a while operating Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Far Cry 6, Cyberpunk 2077, Name of Responsibility: Black Ops 6, and Returnal on the monitor to see if there have been any important blemishes we may spot. All in all, the video games regarded implausible, although we couldn’t assist however want the monitor had been a little bit brighter in sure scenes.
Verdict: Otherworldly Pixel Density, Stratospheric Value
The AW2725Q manages to slip in below $1,000. Whereas nonetheless costly in a macro sense for a 27-inch panel, it’s akin to many 4K OLED screens. Nonetheless, you’ll find cheaper options. Although not an OLED, the Alienware 27-Inch 4K Dual-Resolution Gaming Monitor (AW2725QF), a 4K/180Hz monitor with a 1080p/360Hz mode, is $499, whereas the bigger Alienware AW3225QF 4K QD-OLED has been discounted to as little as $899.
Whereas we’re impressed with what the AW2725Q supplies, it’s arduous to advocate it as an improve if you have already got a fairly modern gaming monitor. In the event you already use a 32-inch 4K OLED for gaming, you will discover the leap in pixel density much less spectacular and doubtless not well worth the step down in dimension. So the Editors’ Alternative-winning AW2725DF 360Hz QD-OLED, which presents the next refresh fee and is steadily discounted to as little as $699, stays our high decide on this class. You even have loads of options if you happen to search a barely bigger monitor, just like the AW3225QF or the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM.
We advocate the AW2725Q if you happen to’ve but to improve to an OLED gaming monitor, or if you happen to worth visible constancy foremost and do not wish to sacrifice an excessive amount of desk house. Beneath these circumstances, if you happen to’ve obtained the money and also you’re out there for the most recent and biggest 27-inch monitor, the pixel-dense AW2725Q is a troublesome gaming show to beat.
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About Zackery Cuevas
Analyst, {Hardware}
