Alienware AW2723DF monitor – Specs, Pros / Cons: Can Handle Anything

A mix between crazy speed and high pixel count, the Alienware AW2723DF offers a very fast display, albeit not the fastest that we’ve seen while offering a high resolution that fits the 27-inch frame pretty darn well. To get into more detail, this monitor brings a QHD IPS panel, and a 240Hz refresh rate that you can overclock to 280Hz (this has its risks like overheating and extra stress on the electrical components inside, so try it first and see how everything works).

It has the classic 1ms response time, as well as support for both AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-Sync, which is super nice to have as not all games support either of these. This way, you get VRR technology in pretty much every title you play, ensuring the best experience possible.

It’s also very, very bright, at 600 nits. In real use, it won’t be exactly 600, thanks to the panel lottery (every panel is unique, even if they share the same specs and model number, they can have different brightness or contrast peaks). However, enough about the panel itself, the monitor has other great characteristics like the wide port selection and clever design (you’ll see what we’re talking about a bit later).

You can check the current price of the Alienware AW2723DF here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Contents


Specs sheet, Drivers, Design, Connectivity

Screen size27 inch (68.58 cm)
Refresh rate240Hz (280Hz overclockable)
Response time1ms
Panel typeIPS
Backlight typeLED
Screen finishMatte
Resolution2560 x 1440 (QHD)
Technologies
  • Contrast ratio: 1000:1 (Static/Dynamic)
  • Brightness: 600 cd/m²
  • Viewing angles: H/V° 178/178
  • VESA mount: 100 x 100 mm
  • Tilt: -5 to 21°
  • Pivot: -90 to 90°
  • Swivel: -20 to 20°
  • Height Adjustment: 0 – 110 mm
  • Measurements (with stand): 607 x 268 x 406 mm
  • Power consumption (Max): 105W
  • Power consumption (Idle): 22.1W
  • Power consumption (Stand-by): 0.40W
I/O
  • 2x HDMI 2.0
  • 1x DisplayPort 1.4
  • 1x USB Type-B 3.2 Gen. 1 Upstream
  • 4x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen. 1 Downstream
  • 1x Audio jack
  • 1x Line-out port for speakers

What’s in the box? Assembly

OSD menu

Drivers and Software

Dell offers a lot of downloads, including the Alienware command center, which is an overall Alienware app for controlling the clock speeds of your PC, checking temps, and overall monitoring. There’s also a firmware update, the driver itself, and the Dell Display Manager, which gives you separate monitor control that’s just like the OSD menu, but you can use a mouse and keyboard. All of these can be downloaded from the monitor’s Support Page.

Design and Connectivity

The design of the Alienware AW2723DF uses classic White and Black, as well as some highlighted RGB accents (you can customize the color through the OSD menu) for the Alien head logo and the 27 on the back, which signifies the size of the monitor. The stand that it comes with is really good, offering adjustment in 4 ways: Tilt, Pivot, Swivel, and Height. It’s also wide and robust, so you know it’s able to hold the monitor steadily, even with the added weight of your headphones. “What headphones?” – we hear you say! Well, you see the little plastic piece that sticks out of the left side? It’s a headphone holder that extends from the interior of the monitor, offering you a neat place to store your headset.

The I/O has a lot of ports, including two HDMI 2.0 ports, a single DisplayPort 1.4, four USB Type-A 3.0 Downstream ports, one USB Type-B 3.0 Upstream port to connect the rest to your PC, one headphone jack, and a line-out audio jack for speakers.


Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

The Alienware AW2723DF brings a 27-inch Quad HD screen (2560 x 1440), which calculates to a pixel density of 108.79 PPI, a pitch of 0.2335 x 0.2335 mm, and a Retina distance of 31.60 inches or 80.26 cm. From this distance, the human eye can’t distinguish individual pixels.

The correlated color temperature on a white screen after a Factory Reset in sRGB mode is 7410 K (Luminance 150 cd/m2 at 20% Brightness). The average gamma value is 2.18.

Color coverage

Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.

Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of Alienware AW2723DF can show:

Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content

Alienware AW2723DF: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 100% of the sRGB color gamut and 92% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

 

(Fig.1) Alienware AW2723DF covers 100% of the Web colors (sRGB) 

This means that if the Alienware AW2723DF tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.

Color accuracy

Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the one you’ll see on the Alienware AW2723DF. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.

For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.

Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of the Alienware AW2723DF, the Average color accuracy was 4.6 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowered to 1.9 dE (Fig. 3). The profile provides a 2.4X Increase in accuracy, making the monitor suitable for any Creator work.

(Fig. 2) Alienware AW2723DF in its factory condition
(Fig. 3) Alienware AW2723DF with our display profiles

Comparison in the sRGB color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).

Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile

Gaming and Movies

We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the Alienware AW2723DF.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Here’s how to prepare thе monitor for our profiles:

1. Open the OSD menu (On-Screen Display)
2. Reset Settings: Go to Menu ➡️ Others ➡️ Factory Reset, and click ‘Yes’.
3. Brightness: Navigate to Brightness/Contrast ➡️ Brightness and set it to 75% for optimal viewing.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Verdict

The Alienware AW2723DF doesn’t skip a beat in being a great monitor for both gaming and content creation. It’s designed really well, from the solid construction, adjustable stand, and headset hanger. The screen comes with impressive specs for a Creator, including 100% sRGB and 92% DCI-P3 coverage.

With our Web Design and Office Work profile, you get a 240% INCREASE in color accuracy, as the original dE value that we use to measure accuracy drops from 4.6 to 1.9. Add to that the detailed resolution, and you can use the monitor to create, edit, and design pretty much anything.

The Gaming and Movies profile takes the amazing gaming specs of the monitor and adds its own touch. The 240Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and plenty of VRR support (the monitor offers both FreeSync Premium Pro as well as NVIDIA G-Sync Support) can only get you so far if you can’t see the enemy hiding in a dark corner.

This is where the profile comes into play, stabilizing dark colors in a way that you can actually see the details in dark scenes and environments, be it in games or when just watching videos and movies.

The last of our profiles, the Health Guard keeps Blue Light and PWM (Flickering) to a minimum, as both can be tiring and damaging to your eyes in the long run.

Overall, the Alienware AW2723DF is a great gaming monitor that can do a lot more than gaming, It’s also got a great price, but for that, you’re getting superb specs so any game looks and feels good.

You can check the current price of the Alienware AW2723DF: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Pros

  • Well-thought-out design (great stand + headset hanger)
  • Wide port selection
  • Amazing specs for gaming (240Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, FreeSync Premium Pro, G-Sync)
  • 100% sRGB and 92% DCI-P3 coverage
  • 2.4X increase in color accuracy (dE 4.6 => dE 1.9)
  • Detailed panel with high-resolution


Cons

  • It’s expensive

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments