Alienware's quantum dot OLED monitor promises color-accurate gaming

A gaming brand probably isn't your first pick for a (mostly) no-compromise PC monitor, but you might want to reconsider after this. Dell has unveiled what it claims is the world's first quantum dot OLED monitor, the Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED Gaming Di. The ultra-wide panel mates the ultra-high contrast ratio of OLED with the improved brightness, color range and uniformity of a quantum dot pixel layer. In theory, you won't have to compromise on either image quality or gaming performance — you'll get 99.3 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and wide viewing angles, but you'll still have up to a 175Hz refresh rate and an 0.1ms gray-to-gray pixel response time.

The bid for a no-compromise panel extends to the software. A Creator mode makes it easier to tweak gamma settings and even flip between DCI-P3 and sRGB color spaces. While there are only so many creators who'll consider curved displays (the panels can introduce reflections and distortion), this could be helpful if you moonlight as a photo editor.

This isn't quite a dream display. HDR brightness is limited to a modest DisplayHDR 400, and the 3,440 x 1,440 resolution won't thrill anyone used to 4K or beyond. You might still like the abundance of ports (four USB 3.2 Gen 1 downstream ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 upstream, two HDMI 2.0 and one DisplayPort 1.4), and Alienware is promising to fight OLED's burn-in risk with "improved" reliability and a three-year warranty that covers burn-in artifacts.

The 34 QD-OLED reaches North America on March 29th. Dell said it would only share pricing closer to the release date, but it's safe to presume you'll pay a premium. The Alienware team is clearly courting enthusiasts who want do-it-all monitors, and OLED doesn't come cheap at these sizes.

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