£500 for a monitor that can't even show black correctly!

AdladUK · 25 Mar 2019 at 00:15

I purchased an Alienware AW2518H a while back and was pretty happy with it, so I decided to get a 2nd one to match for my new system, however this one seems to be having some serious backlight bleed or IPS glow (not sure which).

Here's the 1st (old) AW2518H with a solid black image: https://i.imgur.com/khdpxKH.jpg

And here's the new one: https://i.imgur.com/q7fVb58.jpg

Crazy huh? Does anyone know a way to fix this? Or will I have to send it back?

This is only visible on solid blacks, all other colors seem to be fine. A solid white screen for example looks perfect.

Also now I've started taking more notice, do you see the glow around the edges, especially at the tops? Why on earth that's considered acceptable on a £500 screen is beyond me.

Starting to think this model/brand might just be trash overall, although reviews across the web seem to think otherwise

Distracted · 25 Mar 2019 at 06:38

You'll need to return it if the bleed is extreme (which to be fair seems to be the case vs your other monitor).
It won't be IPS glow since the screen is not IPS. Buying any pc screen is unfortunately another tech lottery, where you pay to gamble for zero pixel or lighting issues.

AdladUK · 25 Mar 2019 at 11:48

Distracted said:
You'll need to return it if the bleed is extreme (which to be fair seems to be the case vs your other monitor).
It won't be IPS glow since the screen is not IPS. Buying any pc screen is unfortunately another tech lottery, where you pay to gamble for zero pixel or lighting issues.

Thank you for clarification. I guess I'll return it then. I understand what you say about the lottery, but at the same time you'd really think something this extreme wouldn't make it through the testing phase, especially on a high-end product

Webzta · 25 Mar 2019 at 12:15

Hopefully your replacement will be OK.

BlairH · 26 Mar 2019 at 15:07

Honestly, I gave up on using traditional monitors due to the issues you describe; and ended up just buying an OLED TV for my desktop. My desk is very deep, so the size isn't imposing at all; perfect blacks and excellent colour accuracy. 4K at 60hz and 1080p at 120hz is pretty decent.

It's a gaming only machine; so I'm not worried about image retention. On the odd occasion that I want to do office work; or general browsing or whatever, I use my laptop.

Bluntwrapped · 26 Mar 2019 at 17:44

Old CCFL backlit panels still better than LED. No issues with blacks on my old U2410.