LG 27GR95QE vs Alienware AW3423DW vs AW3423DWF

welcome back to monitors unbox today it's time for a battle of the oleds as I'll be pitting the brand new LG 27 gr95qe up against the Alienware aw3423dw and aw3423 DWF in an in-depth comparison I suspect a lot of PC Gamers after a high-end HDR capable gaming monitor will be tossing up between these three Flagship models so let's dive in and see which one is the best option and how they compare in a range of performance metrics first up the specifications the LG 27 gr95qe is a 27 inch 2560 by 1440 W OLED panel with a maximum refresh rate of 240 hertz Alienware aw3423dw is a 34 inch 3440x1440 Ultra wide qdo LED panel with a Max refresh of 175 Hertz and the aw3423dwf is a slightly cheaper variant of the DW model packing the same qdo lead panel at 165 Hertz typically we're seeing LG's OLED monitor priced at a thousand dollars US the aw3423dw at 1300 and the DWF at 1100 but you can check the latest pricing via the links in the description all are expensive monitors but I think are fairly priced in today's market given their capabilities one of the obvious differences between these products is the display size and format the 27gr 95qe is your regular flat 27 inch 16x9 monitor a size and aspect ratio that's favored by a lot of Gamers while the Alienware monitors are 34 inch curved 21.9 ultrawide monitors offering additional width versus the 27 inch format which can be more immersive for gaming the easiest way to think of the differences here is that the 34 inch ultrawide is the same display height as the 27 inch LG at about 33 centimeters but it offers an additional 21 centimeters of width so it's basically an extension on the 27 inch size format both monitors also feature the same pixel density at approximately 110 PPI so while the ultrawide is technically a higher resolution at 3440x1440 instead of 2560 by 1440 those extra pixels are simply for the additional width both options are 1440p class I don't think there's any right or wrong answer here about which sort of monitor is best from a format perspective I personally do like ultrawide monitors but I know others are not a fan in which case the decision between these two formats is pretty obvious desk size could be one consideration that Alienware monitors take up more space but I don't think buyers should be put off by its curve which makes it slightly easier to see the edges and does increase its emissivity the design of the three monitors does differ but generally you're getting a premium experience and from a star perspective I don't really have a preference here the only two major considerations are that the aw3423dw uses white plastic versus darker shades for the DWF model and 27 gr95qe and that the LG model has a wider range of ergonomic adjustability including a taller maximum height and the ability to use it in a portrait orientation all three monitors have RGB LED lighting on the rear in varying places LG's 27-inch OLED has Superior connectivity it packs DisplayPort 1.4 and 2 HDMI 2.1 ports with 48 gigabits per second of bandwidth meaning that all ports can run the display at its full 1440p 240 hertz the Alienware monitors also use DisplayPort 1.4 but only use HDMI 2.0 instead of 2.1 meaning both are limited to just 100 Hertz over HDMI at their maximum refresh the differences in HDMI also give the LG image for console gaming as it supports HDMI 2.1 features and even the ability to run at 4K 120hz over HDMI with automatic downscaling to 1440p ultrawide's aren't well supported by today's consoles so for anyone that wants to pair their display with an Xbox series X or s or Playstation 5. I definitely get the 27 gr95 QE not just because it has HDMI 2.1 but also because it's a more normal format also important to mention is fan noise all for three monitors use active cooling meaning they have a small fan inside to keep their components nice and cool while the LG model and Alienware DWF are both close to silent and only audible when you put your ear right up to the cooling vents the DW model from Alienware is on the noisy side and has issues such as running the fan even when the display is in its sleep mode I personally find the DW fan annoying but luckily this Behavior wasn't observed with the DWF variant screen coding is a contentious issue with the latest wave of oleds the battle between glossy and matte finishes is heating up again but in regards to the Alienware cutie oleds versus the LG 27 gr95qe my opinion on this one is pretty straightforward in that the LG monitor has the clearly Superior screen coding LG has gone with the matte anti-glare finish while Dell have opted for a glossy anti-reflective coating but in most conditions I think LG's matte finish is more effective this is largely because the glossy coating with the Alienware monitors is poor and completely different to the great glossy Coatings you might see from an LG OLED TV or your smartphone while somewhat effective at reducing mirror-like Reflections the glossy nature of the Alienware means that you still do see defined Reflections at times especially if the room you're using it in is well lit for example I can typically see my own reflection in the Alienware when viewing dark content in a bright room which is not the case with the LG monitor's matte finish which eliminates mirror-like reflections usually the benefit to glossy Coatings is that while you do see defined Reflections diffuse Reflections are eliminated the opposite of a matte coating but with these Alienware displays this isn't the case either the Gotti finish here actually reflects more ambient light than the LG's matte coating under the same lighting conditions in my office which is lit via overhead down lights the Alienware is basically giving you the worst of Both Worlds here defined mirror Reflections and diffuse ambient light Reflections which hurt the Cutie oled's ability to show deep rich blacks in brighter ambient lighting environments if you are using these displays in a brightly lit room if there are light sources directly in front of the display or if you can't control room lighting very well with blinds the LG 27gr95qe's coating is significantly Superior and shows deeper blacks less ambient light reflection and no defined Reflections in a dimly lit room with some ambient light or if you can optimize light in the room by putting light sources behind the display or using blinds the two monitors look pretty similar but I'd give the edge to the Alienware as it will have no coding related grain and generally ambient light reflection is minimal or eliminated in these conditions leading to a richer and clearer look versus the matte W Outlet in a dark room like Gaming With the Lights Off There is almost no difference between the two options with a slight advantage to cutie OLED as it will have no coding related grain both the lgw OLED and qdo led panels have issues with text rendering this is because W OLED uses an rwgb subpixel layout with an additional white subpixel to increase brightness while cutie OLED uses triangle RGB neither of these are the standard RGB stripe layout that operating systems like Windows expect so modern subpixel font rendering techniques that are optimized for RGB layouts are incompatible with iwgb and triangular RGB leading to bad results and currently it's not possible to correct for either subpix allowed in software at least in Windows 11. the artifacts from woled's rwgb when viewing text are typically a bit of blurriness and almost shadowing relative to a standard RGB stripe like you might get with an IPS LCD text just lacks the usual crispness I'd expect from a 1440p display of this size the artifacts from QD oled's triangle RGB a pink and green fringing below and above the text which also reduces the apparent Clarity of the display and makes it appear like chroma sub sampling or some other sort of compression technology is being used while neither are very good outcomes based on my experiences with both I prefer the Cutie oleds triangle RGB layout I think the green slash pink fringing issue is less noticeable during everyday usage than the shadowing from rwgb when viewed at the same distance however in general I would not recommend either OLED for desktop productivity usage or for long stints of using desktop apps like web browsers the occasional jump into a web browser between gaming sessions or watching videos is going to be fine but for longer usage in text Heavy apps LCDs are preferable also using desktop apps with static elements for long periods of time runs you into the risk of permanent burn-in with all OLED display types so it's best to avoid this both the Alienware and LG monitors have various burn-in mitigation techniques like screen shifting and pixel refreshing to help combat this but it isn't going to be the perfect solution and it may still happen there have been some claims that cutie OLED is supposed to have greater longevity in regards to burn-in versus W OLED but so far these claims are unproven the biggest consideration around burn-in is more the warranty and guarantees that each company provides and this is where the Alienware monitors have a clear Advantage for both the DW and DWF models Dell offers a three year limited warranty that includes in LG only offers a two-year warranty with no specific mention of burn-in so if burn-in is a concern and you want the peace of mind that a warranty can bring buying an Alienware cutie OLED is the way to go in terms of response time performance there is effectively no difference between W OLED and qdo-led both are extremely fast Technologies and offer the full benefit of OLED many response times in the sub 0.5 millisecond range there are a few small differences between how the two technologies operate in practice the lgw OLED is a little faster tuned but with a small amount more overshoot but for actual gaming the difference is negligible and both are Elite for Speed while response times are the same the main difference between the two monitors for Motion Performance is in refresh rate with oleds and LCDs both sample and hold displays the higher the refresh rate the clearer objects in motion will appear as there's less sample and hold blur this gives a clear advantage to the LG 27gr95qe as it offers a maximum refresh rate of 240 hertz versus 175 Hertz for the Alienware DW and 165 Hertz for the DWF in side-by-side comparisons using the UFO test you can clearly see that the LG model delivers a clear image when all monitors are set to their maximum refresh rate performance is very similar at the same refresh rate so if you're playing a game at say 120 FPS on all monitors you should see the same sort of clarity but the extra refresh rate does give the LG monitor an advantage when you're maxing out the display based on what I've seen I'd say the Alienware cutie oleds are similar to a 240 hertz LCD in motion Clarity while the LG monitor gets very close to a 360hz IPS games that need that extra Clarity should choose the LG as the refresh rate is higher the 27 gr95qe also has an advantage in input lag this is because when you increase the refresh rate the time each frame is shown on screen decreases which also decreases the gap between inputs from your keyboard and mouse and output on the display a 240Hz OLED like this LG has around a one millisecond advantage on the aw3423dwf which doesn't sound like much but along with increased smoothness does make the LG feel more responsive to use the elephant in the room here is the aw3423dw's input lag which is a lot higher than the DWF and LG models for some reason this variance implementation of the g-sync module increases the processing delay to nearly five milliseconds versus 0.3 milliseconds for the other oleds latency sensitive Gamers will probably want to opt for a different product as a result for color performance the QD OLED panel is wider gamut covering 80 of the rec 2020 gamut versus 73 for the 27 gr95qe this gives the Cutie OLED higher coverage of both DCI P3 and Adobe RGB meaning it would be superior for productivity work in those color spaces but because I don't really recommend an OLED as a Creator monitor at least not these ones it's not that relevant but as HDR 10 does use a wide color gamut the QD OLED Superior coverage does give it an edge for HDR content consumption what's also important with these wide gamut monitors is we look at factory calibration not just how it ships but also any relevant srgb modes that might be useful for SDR in the default modes none of these displays ship with an srgb clamp for SDI usage so all three will be over saturated to some degree for SDR content while the larger color gamut of the QD oleds means that there's more oversaturation by default they're actually more accurate overall due to other factors the big one being white balance Alienware ships their products with a much closer to correct d65 white Point whereas the LG monitor is well off with more like 8 500k on average this means the LG will look Bluer and colder by default they Alienware models also have better srgb modes all have restrictions to what settings can be changed in the srgb mode but the alienwares in particular the aw3423dwf ship with the most accurate grayscale performance and better results for saturation and color Checker as well this means for regular SDR usage the QD OLED options are better however the LG monitor supports Hardware calibration whereas the Alienware models do not so for those that have access to calibration Hardware like a Colorimeter it will be possible to achieve Superior results on the LG than on the Alienware so that's something to keep in mind just be aware that it requires an expensive tool to produce accurate results which won't be accessible to everyone there is no doubting that cutie OLED has Superior brightness in the SDR mode to W Outlet the aw3423dw and DWF are about 30 percent brighter which makes them somewhat more usable in brighter conditions however neither technology is especially bright relative to an LCD and in good news none of these models have an automatic brightness limiter in their SDR modes so you won't see any weird behavior for desktop apps provided you switch off HDR and windows when outside of videos or games which I would recommend on an OLED so that you avoid abl problems generally I'd say viewing angles are similar between these monitors although the LG being flat does make it easier to view at off angles horizontally uniformity though I found to be better on the QD OLED my 27 gr95qe had a bit of a dirty screen effect when viewing mid to dark Grays which wasn't present on the aw3423dw HDR performance is crucial of course as many buyers will be choosing between these monitors specifically for HDR as both use old redtech they are fundamentally very similar as they both have perpix or local dimming and zero black levels leading to an excellent ability to show bright and dark content on screen at the same time the only thing that will really affect black levels between the models for HDR content are the screen Coatings which I discussed earlier outside of that the Cutie OLED Alienware monitors do have some advantages under most conditions the aw3423dw and DWF are brighter than the LG model this is true for small window sizes such as five and two percent as well as for larger window sizes above 25 the Cutie OLED panel is able to sustain higher brightness as a result across the entire image as well as dial in higher brightness for the finest on-screen elements like lights or Stars however the W OLED panel has a brightness Advantage for mid-range window sizes between 10 and 25 percent whereas cutie OLED drops pretty substantially in between its two percent Window performance and 10 Window performance higher brightness is also generally the case for Cutie OLED in Real World scenes although this can vary in scene 1 we saw 15 higher brightness on the LG model relative to the DW in scene 2 there was a large discrepancy with the DW recording 30 higher brightness but the DWF was nine percent dimmer than the LG which is a result of different HDR calibration that we'll look at shortly for gaming I saw up to a 75 brighter result for the Alienware cutie olives and this was also true for another HDR video scene that I haven't made into a chart yet a fifth real scene result had both oleds producing similar brightness overall based on these results and the window size testing I do believe that Alienware monitors will be better for HDR brightness and show more dazzling highlights when run in their best performing modes it's a different story for HDR accuracy though while the LG model is dimmer it's generally the more accurate product that more closely follows the correct erotf tracking curve for example here we're looking at 10 Window performance in the best modes for each monitor the LG has the best roll-off Behavior whereas the DW is a bit less tight at the top end and the DWF a bit less tight at the bottom end the Alienware cutie olives are also more susceptible to weirdness with erotf tracking for example the DW model using the brighter hdr1000 mode at a 25 APL showed we're tracking results as did the DWF model using its brighter mode basically all of the time meanwhile the LG monitor's default HDR configuration was Rock Solid and even performance at a 25 APL still adhered reasonably well to the correct erotf curve on the other hand the dw2 OLED had the best saturation tracking although the LG isn't too far behind so overall like I said the LG is the more accurate but dimmer HDR monitor in most conditions when we assess all areas to Performance we do see some interesting differences between the LG 27gr95qe and the Alienware aw3423dw and aw3423dwf but before I give my thoughts on which model I think is the best there are some noticeable areas that may immediately decide which model is better for you before before we look at the nitty-gritty for example if you don't like Ultra wides the alienwares are out of the question and the LG model is going to be a good substitute if you hate matte screen Coatings then the Alienware model's glossy finish May tempt you across if you require a high level of brightness then the Cutie oleds will deliver the highest brightness for SGI and HDR usage but if you hate fan noise then the aw3423dw specifically will be a turn off the LG is also the only model with HDMI 2.1 and 4K downscaling support So console Gamers could easily dismiss the Alienware models from contention for those that are on the fence though here's where the main strengths and weaknesses lie the LG 27 gr95qe is a normal screen format and a typical monitor size so it's best suited to traditional desk setups or those that don't have a ton of space but still want to enjoy OLED it has the superior screen coating for most people especially those who want to use the monitor in moderate to Bright environments it has a higher maximum refresh rate leading to better motion Clarity and lower input latency when the refresh rate is maxed out making it better for competitive multiplayer gaming and giving it similar motion Clarity to a 360hz IPS LCD it supports Hardware calibration if you want to properly fine-tune performance without relying on software profiles and it's the more accurate monitor from the factory for HDR performance specifically erotf tracking LG includes proper HDMI 2.1 support making it the better product for console Gamers it's also the cheaper monitor at a thousand dollars us though it's still not especially cheap however this LG variant is dimmer than a cutie OLED monitors for Str and most HDR usage sometimes substantially LG is tuning from the factory is less accurate for SDI usage and the white balance is quite significantly off by default the subpixel layout is inferior leading to worse text Clarity when viewed from the same distance as QD OLED I experience some dirty screen effect that wasn't present on alienwares LG also offers the worst warranty for burn-in only covering buyers for two years and not specifically mentioning burning which isn't great for an expensive product the Alienware aw3423dw is the more immersive monitor due to its Ultra wide aspect ratio its glossy coating is optimized for use in Darker environments where you won't see as much matte grain or diffuse Reflections its cutie OLED panel has the better subpixel layout which leads to better texture rendering though neither OLED is well suited to desktop use as there are burning concerns the DW is also typically the brighter monitor for both SDR and especially HDR use and comes better calibrated from the factory for SDR with a more accurate white point and better srgb mode Alienware offers a much better warranty that lasts for three years and specifically mentions burn-in giving buyers more peace of mind surrounding that concern however the DW model has a few specific issues such as fan noise high input lag and a lack of upgradable firmware it's the most expensive of the three options 30 more pricey than the LG it lacks some features like HDMI 2.1 and Hardware calibration plus it has some jankiness when it comes to HDR accuracy the biggest weakness relative to the LG is probably its refresh rate which is lower and leads to worse motion Clarity though both are still impressively clear relative to most LCDs the Alienware aw3423dwf is basically the same as the DW model except some of the weaknesses such as fan noise and input lag are eliminated Dell has also reduced the price by 200 making it cheaper than the DW and just 10 more than the LG offering however this comes at the cost of a slightly lower refresh rate and worse HDR accuracy while I believe Dell are working on a software update to fix the dwf's HDR performance it hasn't been released yet on the balance of everything I personally would choose one of the Cutie OLED ultrawide monitors over the LG 27 gr95qe I think the higher Peak brightness of the DW and DWF is a really key selling point and I appreciate the panel's superior text rendering and better uniformity I'm also an ultra wide fan and I do appreciate the extra immersiveness but that wasn't a significant factor in choosing it over the LG more of a factor for me was alienware's Superior warranty which I think is crucial for a monitor that does have a risk of burning two years on the LG side is too short for premium product but it's a pretty close battle overall and I still see plenty of reasons to buy the LG model especially if you do a lot of Competitive Gaming and want to leverage the higher refresh rate I also far prefer the LG's coding and really wish it were available for the qdoed monitors but ultimately these two factors aren't enough to sway me across to the LG when the Alienware monitors do feature Superior HDR Hardware which is really the reason why I would be buying an OLED anyway that's it for this look at the Alienware models and the LG models in a head-to-head battle if you do appreciate this sort of side-by-side comparison videos where we really dial in on two or three monitors and take a look at their strengths and weaknesses of them then please do give the video a like and let us know in the comments below because I do feel in especially in this sort of situation that buyers genuinely will be trying to toss up between these two products so I figured I'd just give my two cents on which of them is the better option on top of this we have links in the description below to check current pricing for all these monitors and down there you'll find links to our patreon and floor plan account so if you do want to support the channel directly help us buy some of these monitors we did buy the Alienware aw3423 DW for this video so we do always appreciate people that support our testing and you'll get some cool bonuses there like access to our Discord community and our upcoming monthly live stream so yeah thanks for watching this one hope you enjoy subscribe to more into this unbox and I'll catch you in the next one [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: Monitors Unboxed

Views: 108,265

Keywords:

Id: Db4y5DAkyTA

Length: 24min 8sec (1448 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 17 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/truffleshuffle4life]

still waiting on both the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM and the MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED to drop. Interested to see if either come with burn in warranty like Dell offers but not holding my breath on that.

[u/SoftlyCourteous66]

Got the AW3423DW on sale last week. Not disappointed one bit.

[u/DarthV506]

With codes/sales/rakuten, the DWF can go under $1000CAD (750US), so that's a pretty large difference between that and the LG.

[u/Fortunate_Soul]

I was researching this topic for myself yesterday, so this video is very timely for me. I was leaning toward the AW but a lot of games I play don't support ultrawide format. I don't particularly care about competitive multiplayer games either, so the 240 Hz of the LG is lost on me somewhat (also my 3070 can't push those frames except in Halo MCC lol) but it's nice to have something to grow into with future GPU upgrades I guess. Ideally I'd like a 165-180 Hz version of the 27GR95QE for cheaper, but I doubt that's coming any time soon.

[u/squirrelyz]

I have the GR95QE and love it! I’m a sweaty overwatch comp player and it honestly has increased my game. It’s soooo fluid and with the very high contrast ratio, I feel like my eyes have an easier job distinguishing objects in the worlds much more quickly, like everything is very well defined. The monitor however could be 5-10% brighter and I’d be even happier. That being said, after a few days of usage, I’m pretty used to it now, and I honestly think the monitor looks better after a break in period.

Also I haven’t noticed any issues when viewing websites in SDR? Idk, maybe I’m less sensitive to text fringing that others.

I also spent $150 on the Best Buy warranty that explicitly covers burn in, so I’m not worried about it.

[u/JasonJtran]

If LG doesn't cover burn in. Would buying coverage at like bestbuy include that?

[u/Ordinary_Sand6045]

lg c2 better

[u/NewspaperLucky8169]

He forgets to mention that the alienware models both cannot run 10 bit color at max refresh rate where the LG accepts a 12 bit signal at 240hz but I believe it is native 10 bit. Also another thing the Alienware does is that the pixel/screen cleaning pops up after 4 hours. The LG ONLY starts the process after you turn the monitor off which is nice. I am not sure if it randomly pops up after a certain amount of time, but from my experience I have not seen it.

[u/DoggyStyle3000]

Did he really say so much about permanent burn-in? I bet people here on reddit can say it is not that scary at all.