New Alienware Q3 2020

Bromerz · 13 Dec 2020 at 11:29

Looks like I will be requesting a refund for my AW2721D tomorrow. Raised the request for a replacement panel on Thursday 3rd December for a bright pixel and when checking it still shows as awaiting approval and my request for an update has gone unanswered. My refund period ends this Wednesday and I'm not risking being stuck with this.

I also played some cyberpunk on it last night and the backlight bleed in darker scenes was so immersion breaking and hard to ignore. The attached picture was taken with my iPhone 11 and the exposure adjusted to make it as close to what I physically see as possible, monitor brightness is set to 20% and variable backlight disabled. The left side is horrific with a large spot at the top and the bottom left corner is just a bleeding mess.

pp111 · 13 Dec 2020 at 14:43

Bromerz said:
Looks like I will be requesting a refund for my AW2721D tomorrow. Raised the request for a replacement panel on Thursday 3rd December for a bright pixel and when checking it still shows as awaiting approval and my request for an update has gone unanswered. My refund period ends this Wednesday and I'm not risking being stuck with this.

I also played some cyberpunk on it last night and the backlight bleed in darker scenes was so immersion breaking and hard to ignore. The attached picture was taken with my iPhone 11 and the exposure adjusted to make it as close to what I physically see as possible, monitor brightness is set to 20% and variable backlight disabled. The left side is horrific with a large spot at the top and the bottom left corner is just a bleeding mess.

Good plan. If they want to be so slow then it's their loss.

Bromerz · 13 Dec 2020 at 15:03

pp111 said:
Good plan. If they want to be so slow then it's their loss.

I waited a week and asked for a follow up that has been ignored. I'll probably stick with the 27gl83a for now and see what next year brings. Still not sure how I feel about the over saturation of WCG if I'm honest.

Vertigo · 13 Dec 2020 at 15:33

Bromerz said:
Looks like I will be requesting a refund for my AW2721D tomorrow. Raised the request for a replacement panel on Thursday 3rd December for a bright pixel and when checking it still shows as awaiting approval and my request for an update has gone unanswered. My refund period ends this Wednesday and I'm not risking being stuck with this.

Bright pixels are covered by their "Premium Panel Guarantee" for the duration of the warranty anyway.

Bromerz · 13 Dec 2020 at 15:58

Vertigo1 said:
Bright pixels are covered by their "Premium Panel Guarantee" for the duration of the warranty anyway.

I'm aware of that. The issue is I requested the replacement last Thursday and was told a new one would be shipped but on Dell it still shows awaiting approval. The backlight bleed is also bad but when I mentioned that to the rep was told it was normal and 'expected'. My 14 days returns ends Wednesday and I doubt the replacement arrives before then and as such I have no ability to return if the replacement has bad backlight bleed. This monitor is a miss from me. 2 unusable overdrive modes, 10 bit only available up to 144hz, strong backlight bleed and no sRGB clamp. For £700 rrp and G-Sync ultimate I expected better.

Vertigo · 13 Dec 2020 at 17:29

Bromerz said:
I'm aware of that. The issue is I requested the replacement last Thursday and was told a new one would be shipped but on Dell it still shows awaiting approval. The backlight bleed is also bad but when I mentioned that to the rep was told it was normal and 'expected'. My 14 days returns ends Wednesday and I doubt the replacement arrives before then and as such I have no ability to return if the replacement has bad backlight bleed. This monitor is a miss from me. 2 unusable overdrive modes, 10 bit only available up to 144hz, strong backlight bleed and no sRGB clamp. For £700 rrp and G-Sync ultimate I expected better.

Fair enough but I don't think any IPS panel can manage 10bit at higher rates than 144Hz yet, or maybe ever. From your requirements would a VA panel perhaps suit better?

Bromerz · 13 Dec 2020 at 17:35

Vertigo1 said:
Fair enough but I don't think any IPS panel can manage 10bit at higher rates than 144Hz yet, or maybe ever. From your requirements would a VA panel perhaps suit better?

If it supported DSC it would but I think this is a limitation of the GSync module. The LG 27GN950 can support 4k 165hz 10bit over DP 1.4. I imagine when LG release their monitor based on the panel in the AW2721D it will support it at the expense of a native GSync module.

I really did consider a VA but the only one with decent black smearing levels is the G7 and that curve is just way too much along with the VRR flickering or micro stutter trade offs. A flat G7 without the VRR issues would probably be top of my list but alas it doesn't exist.

HellBoundGlory · 13 Dec 2020 at 17:50

Bromerz said:
Looks like I will be requesting a refund for my AW2721D tomorrow. Raised the request for a replacement panel on Thursday 3rd December for a bright pixel and when checking it still shows as awaiting approval and my request for an update has gone unanswered. My refund period ends this Wednesday and I'm not risking being stuck with this.

I also played some cyberpunk on it last night and the backlight bleed in darker scenes was so immersion breaking and hard to ignore. The attached picture was taken with my iPhone 11 and the exposure adjusted to make it as close to what I physically see as possible, monitor brightness is set to 20% and variable backlight disabled. The left side is horrific with a large spot at the top and the bottom left corner is just a bleeding mess.

This was the same as my panel. I have found the communication from Dell to be horrendous. When I bought this monitor I signed up to receive extra notifications, you can do this from 'your orders' page. I didn't receive any notifications at all. I wouldn't have known it had even shipped had I not logged on to their site. When it was passed on to DPD for delivery I never received any communication from them either. Zero communication from point of purchase to it arriving at my door.

chaparral · 13 Dec 2020 at 19:32

Bromerz said:
I also played some cyberpunk on it last night and the backlight bleed in darker scenes was so immersion breaking and hard to ignore. The attached picture was taken with my iPhone 11 and the exposure adjusted to make it as close to what I physically see as possible, monitor brightness is set to 20% and variable backlight disabled. The left side is horrific with a large spot at the top and the bottom left corner is just a bleeding mess.

I wouldn't test it with that game as the dark scenes even look pretty bad on my VA Fald monitor and i also seen multi OLED users complaining about how bad the dark parts look.
Looks like the black level is raised from being a dark black and kind of looks like a hazy dark green

Bromerz · 13 Dec 2020 at 19:50

chaparral said:
I wouldn't test it with that game as the dark scenes even look pretty bad on my VA Fald monitor and i also seen multi OLED users complaining about how bad the dark parts look.
Looks like the black level is raised from being a dark black and kind of looks like a hazy dark green

The issues raised isn't the colours or colour banding etc but the backlight bleed visible. Back light bleed doesn't discriminate becuase a scenes black levels aren't low enough. In fact a hazy green should actually hide the yellowish tint of backlight bleed slightly given how green is a secondary colour combining yellow and blue.

Infiniteey · 13 Dec 2020 at 20:29

Vertigo1 said:
Fair enough but I don't think any IPS panel can manage 10bit at higher rates than 144Hz yet, or maybe ever. From your requirements would a VA panel perhaps suit better?

I've been able to set 10 bit at 200hz with mine. Losing 40Hz is a good compromise, since you can't tell the difference between 240Hz and 200Hz anyway.

chaparral · 13 Dec 2020 at 21:45

Bromerz said:
The issues raised isn't the colours or colour banding etc but the backlight bleed visible. Back light bleed doesn't discriminate becuase a scenes black levels aren't low enough. In fact a hazy green should actually hide the yellowish tint of backlight bleed slightly given how green is a secondary colour combining yellow and blue.

Am not sure what it is then as like i said even my VA monitor looks like it has bleed around the edges in this game that doesn't show in other games and shows no bleed at all on a full black screen

Bromerz · 13 Dec 2020 at 21:48

chaparral said:
Am not sure what it is then as like i said even my VA monitor looks like it has bleed around the edges in this game that doesn't show in other games and shows no bleed at all on a full black screen

It's backlight bleed. It's there even on pure black screens like back light bleed tests and in other games. I don't like using all back screens though as who stares at a black screen? So I decided to take a photo whilst actually in game to show how much bleed my panel has and how distracting it is.

Fr0dders · 14 Dec 2020 at 07:15

At the end of the day there's no point getting upset - just because some people say they don't like the monitor and cite problems they've had with theirs doesn't mean others who do like theirs need to leap to it's defense - it's not personal. Just because they don't like it, doesn't mean those people are telling you that you're wrong for liking it.

For me at least, I can see the backlight bleed if i put it on a black screen, in dark room with no other light source. However I got my 38" as soon as it was released and have never noticed the backlight bleed in day to day usage in general windows usage or in games so i'm personally happy. The others that aren't - I hope you find something that you are happy with.

colincarter · 14 Dec 2020 at 07:51

Infiniteey said:
I've been able to set 10 bit at 200hz with mine. Losing 40Hz is a good compromise, since you can't tell the difference between 240Hz and 200Hz anyway.

are you sure the colour is still at 10bit at 200hz, can you show a screenshot?

Bromerz · 14 Dec 2020 at 08:41

Fr0dders said:
At the end of the day there's no point getting upset - just because some people say they don't like the monitor and cite problems they've had with theirs doesn't mean others who do like theirs need to leap to it's defense - it's not personal. Just because they don't like it, doesn't mean those people are telling you that you're wrong for liking it.

This 100%. I really wanted to like this one. The white fits my setup real nice and 240hz 1440p takes it a step above 144hz. I have minimal ips glow too. Unfortunately the bright pixel was a shame and the delay in a replacement has allowed me time with the monitor and I just can't get over that backlight bleed. Mine may be an extreme in that area but I'm not willing to (and don't think I should have to) play the panel lottery with a £700 display. Back to waiting I go and hope 2021 brings something that fits my needs.

colincarter said:
are you sure the colour is still at 10bit at 200hz, can you show a screenshot?

For what it's worth mine doesn't allow this. You can set 144hz 10bit and change to 200hz but it then reverts to 8 bit.

Loosecannon · 14 Dec 2020 at 09:30

I quite like my AW3821DW, only 2 things annoy me...

Switching inputs doesn’t seem to be as easy as it could be.
The fact Dell don’t sell a monitor arm compatible with it! That is just ridiculous and annoying! (And claim it isn’t compatible with any monitor stand/arm!)

Keeping the brightness at 25... anything higher burns out my eyes!

LOAM · 14 Dec 2020 at 11:15

The required 32KG capacity wall mount is also silly considring the panel weighs less than 8kg. I've used the same wall mount as I used for the Dell 3008 which weighs about twice as much.

Fr0dders · 14 Dec 2020 at 11:19

Loosecannon said:
I quite like my AW3821DW, only 2 things annoy me...

Switching inputs doesn’t seem to be as easy as it could be.

The fact Dell don’t sell a monitor arm compatible with it! That is just ridiculous and annoying! (And claim it isn’t compatible with any monitor stand/arm!)

Keeping the brightness at 25... anything higher burns out my eyes!

Do you know the 38" has customisable shortcut buttons on the back ? I have one set to Displayport 1 and the other set to HDMI 1. Dead easy to switch between the two now.

colincarter · 14 Dec 2020 at 12:06

Bromerz said:
This 100%. I really wanted to like this one. The white fits my setup real nice and 240hz 1440p takes it a step above 144hz. I have minimal ips glow too. Unfortunately the bright pixel was a shame and the delay in a replacement has allowed me time with the monitor and I just can't get over that backlight bleed. Mine may be an extreme in that area but I'm not willing to (and don't think I should have to) play the panel lottery with a £700 display. Back to waiting I go and hope 2021 brings something that fits my needs.

For what it's worth mine doesn't allow this. You can set 144hz 10bit and change to 200hz but it then reverts to 8 bit.

same here, there is supposed to be a firmware update to allow full 240hz at 10bit