I came from a dell S2719DGF. Had its own shortcomings obviously as a TN panel. As such lack of 10 bit at 240hz isn't a deal breaker for me on the alienware though it is a shame that cheaper monitors have this. IPS glow didn't bother me either, bias lighting helps with that, but the backlight bleed however is killer for me. I also got headaches when using the alienware, heard some people experience this with Nano IPS due to the way the backlight is designed?
Unfortunately for me I sold my S27 to a friend when my AW2721D arrived so will be using a 1080p 60hz tn for the time being. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. Would love to try out a VA but I've avoided them due to black smearing thus far, the G7 fixes this but that's got its own list of issues. It's a shame the gaming monitor space is one where defects are considered the norm and there has been very little progress in the last 5 years or so.
Thanks for the reply. It's really useful to know what people are comparing things with, since it can be very subjective in terms of what a given person deems to be acceptable.
For example, I've come from a 7 year old 1080p 120Hz TN panel to a Samsung G9. I've deliberated for months between a TV, 48" OLED, VA, IPS, ultrawide, 38" etc. etc. Bear in mind, that I already have an OLED TV and I'm into projectors (and IT in general) so I have a lot of reference points.
For the money, I expect a lot and the screen does deliver that, but everyone wants perfection and that just doesn't exist. The question is accepting if your expectations are realistic, then balancing that against the panel lottery, given that money is a yardstick and the more the spend, the more you expect.
I don't expect perfection, the dilemma to me is more around if a panel is 'normal' or not and whether it has any real life impact outside of specific test cases. I.E., is it a significant upgrade and am I just nitpicking? It's not like a screen becomes worthless overnight, so it's worth considering the benefit from keeping it then upgrading again in the future.