Any new ultra-wides on the horizon?

ChrisD. · 21 Oct 2021 at 09:28

My Acer X34P is exhibiting some weirdness. Either the brightness or colour temperate changes on its own accord. This happens when connected to my gaming PC or either of my Macs using DP or HDMI. I've also factory reset it to no avail.

Since it's quite a few years old I'm looking for a replacement. Ideally looking for 140 hz as a minimum and I guess if HDR is available that would be a bonus.

Ideally I'd like USB-C with PD as well as HDMI and DP. I'd also like it to work above 50 hz with my Mac.

I get decent discount with Dell so if it's Alienware then I guess that's the bonus. I see the AW3821DW but I was curious if anything else is on the horizon?

Sean473 · 21 Oct 2021 at 23:13

In the 38" space, the Alienware and LG ones are the only real options... Personally, I have had an AW3821DW and it's honestly been awesome! I'll be keeping it for many many years!

ChrisD. · 22 Oct 2021 at 11:17

Sean473 said:
In the 38" space, the Alienware and LG ones are the only real options... Personally, I have had an AW3821DW and it's honestly been awesome! I'll be keeping it for many many years!

Cheers. It does look lovely and a little bit bigger than my X34. The only thing is the lack of (or what I can tell) true HDR and USB-C.

Born_2_Kill_83 · 22 Oct 2021 at 11:25

I went for the LG 38GL, awesome display, same peak brightness as the Alienware but you can't call that HDR imo, none the less excellent.

ChrisD. · 22 Oct 2021 at 11:29

I just struggle to part with £1k or whatever without HDR or USB-C support.

JediFragger · 22 Oct 2021 at 11:32

The 38's are the only reason upgrade path from a decent 34 tbh, I have the Alienware atm and it's excellent :cool:

Sean473 · 22 Oct 2021 at 23:36

JediFragger said:
The 38's are the only reason upgrade path from a decent 34 tbh, I have the Alienware atm and it's excellent

None of the 38" Ultrawides will have true HDR - True HDR panels are bloody expensive and north of £3-5k...

JediFragger · 23 Oct 2021 at 00:22

Sean473 said:
None of the 38" Ultrawides will have true HDR - True HDR panels are bloody expensive and north of £3-5k...

He didn't stipulate good HDR as an absolute, just a bonus.

ChrisD. · 25 Oct 2021 at 13:03

For those with the AW3821DW, how easy is it to switch inputs from sleep mode? It's a bit of with my X34P.

FoxEye · 26 Oct 2021 at 04:27

ChrisD. said:
I just struggle to part with £1k or whatever without HDR or USB-C support.

USB-C with decent Power Delivery (65-90W) tends only to be a feature of business-class monitors, and they are all 60Hz.

The (few) gaming monitors with USB-C have very little power output, if any - max 5 to 15W or so depending on model.

Also £1k doesn't buy you a lot these days; the replacements for last year's £1k models are now £300 more expensive... with the likes of LG, Asus, etc, now wanting £1.5k for a PC monitor using ancient LCD tech, and mostly they don't even have HDMI 2.1 yet (still).

You typically also won't get good HDR as even at £1.5k you mostly still have to put up with very few dimming zones, edge-lit rather than full-array. Best really to forget HDR because it's mostly a marketing gimmick on monitors.

The PC monitor space is a bad joke, really.

chaparral · 26 Oct 2021 at 11:32

Am still Loving my PG35VQ and am really pleased that i bought it even with it very high price

~bones~ · 27 Oct 2021 at 11:27

ChrisD. said:
For those with the AW3821DW, how easy is it to switch inputs from sleep mode? It's a bit of with my X34P.

I've just got the AW3821DW and switching inputs is just one click of the joystick behind the screen, flick to the input you want and click again. I actually prefer it to the auto-dect input, they can cause issues when you want to switch inputs but leave them both inputs running.

Scottland · 28 Oct 2021 at 11:52

ChrisD. said:
I just struggle to part with £1k or whatever without HDR or USB-C support.

There is a version of the LG with USB C, but it's 1200.

ChrisD. · 29 Oct 2021 at 12:25

My X34 P is a pain, it takes ages to get to the menu to switch inputs if it's coming out of sleep.

I have the AW3821DW in my basket and with discount I can get it for £1,039.94 direct from Dell.

Haggisman · 29 Oct 2021 at 12:40

ChrisD. said:
My X34 P is a pain, it takes ages to get to the menu to switch inputs if it's coming out of sleep.

I have the AW3821DW in my basket and with discount I can get it for £1,039.94 direct from Dell.

The AW3821DW is really nice, I got mine a week ago and it's such an improvement over my old BENQ ex3501r. In terms of size, it doesn't actually look that much bigger, but the increase in resolution is really nice. Also don't forget to go through Quidco/TopCashback for another ~£45 cashback

ChrisD. · 29 Oct 2021 at 14:42

I've managed to convince myself so I've ordered the monitor. Should be here by Tuesday, I'm looking forward to testing it out.

silvagti · 1 Nov 2021 at 15:44

ChrisD. said:
I've managed to convince myself so I've ordered the monitor. Should be here by Tuesday, I'm looking forward to testing it out.

Keen to hear your thoughts when it arrives!

Haggisman · 1 Nov 2021 at 15:50

The Aw3821dw is really nice, couple of minor (and well known) issues I have with it:

No display stream compression, so you have to choose between 144hz or 10 bit colour
The global dimming can be a bit distracting in some usage and can't be turned off with HDR enabled
The RGB lighting is on the stand rather than the monitor, so you lose it if you have a monitor arm

Nothing major however and IMO it's well worth putting up with those flaws for the rest of the good bits

Edit: didn't actually mention any of the good bits
...

Colours are amazing, my son has my old screen on the desk next to mine, and the new one is so vibrant and crisp in comparison.
It's ridiculously smooth - coming from a VA panel, I can see why people prefer IPS, I didn't really notice the black smearing before, but I sure as hell notice the lack of it now!
The HDR is actually pretty good (despite the weakness in local dimming). It's only HDR600, and I'm sure it doesn't come close to a true HDR panel like an OLED, but playing through Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition atm and it's truly stunning in some places.
As @ChrisD. has also mentioned, the extra screen real estate is really nice for productivity, it's essentially like having 2x 1920x1080 screens side by side, but with 50% extra height. While not a huge increase over the 3440x1440 I had before, it definitely does make a difference.

ChrisD. · 1 Nov 2021 at 16:33

silvagti said:
Keen to hear your thoughts when it arrives!

So far so good. But it’s only been a few hours. The extra real estate is really handy for work and the panel is great.

ChrisD. · 2 Nov 2021 at 10:14

Unfortunately it has a bit of backlight bleed bottom middle, I've contacted Dell Support to see what they say. I'd rather not simply return it to order another so I'll see what they say.

https://imgur.com/a/NoE0hhl