Earlier this month, I reviewed the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM, a 32-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor that combines 4K resolution with a 240Hz refresh rate, impressive HDR, and less pixels than a typical OLED panel Cons – Despite the hefty price tag of £1,350. I noticed that while the Asus monitor is a technical masterpiece and the best gaming monitor I’ve ever tested, it’s not necessarily the best value 32-inch QD-OLED. To that end, UK buyers should look to the subject of this review: Dell’s £940 Alienware AW3225QF, which uses the exact same QD-OLED panel and so should offer nearly the same performance – and is £410 cheaper.
Despite the huge price difference, the Alienware is far from a compromised budget alternative – it packs many of the same features as the Asus model, and even adds Dolby Vision support and a curved form factor that suits its broad proportions.
In this AW3225QF review, I’ll cover how this monitor compares to the more expensive Asus model, what Dolby Vision support means as a value-added feature, and whether the curved screen adds or detracts from the experience – and sums up the 32-inch QD-OLED The panel’s features for gaming, video, and work, as we already covered it in detail in our Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM review two weeks ago.
Unlike many other display types, OLED panels can be bent – so when produced by Samsung Display, suppliers such as Dell, Asus and MSI have the freedom to choose from flat, curved or even flexible configurations (such as the 45-inch Corsair Xeneon Flex). Unlike MSI and Asus, Dell has opted for a curved design, so that’s the first point of difference you’re likely to notice and care about when considering these designs.
I’ve used quite a few curved monitors in the past, but I generally prefer flat monitors because I do a fair amount of work in text editors, spreadsheets, and other productivity applications where straight lines look very straight. The good news is that the Alienware’s 1800R curvature is actually quite mild for a monitor of this size, with each corner probably just a few centimeters further forward than a fully flat monitor. This makes the AW3225QF an easy-to-use monitor that makes gaming more immersive without making your spreadsheets look noticeably weird. It feels like the right move for Dell, which differentiates itself well from its competitors without undermining those who prefer flat screens.
In addition to the curve, the AW3225QF follows the same design principles as Dell’s other new QD-OLED (1440p 360Hz AW2725DF, review coming soon). The slightly thicker bottom bezel has the white Alienware wordmark subtly printed on it, with a four-digit logo below it. Toward the joystick, there is a power button with an LED indicator on the right side of the monitor. (Having used a lot of monitors with a central power button, I admit I had a few minutes of panic when pressing the joystick didn’t turn it on and I hadn’t discovered a separate power button.)
The back of the monitor is made of Alienware white plastic, and by default has a cyan-backlit alien head on one side and cyan-backlit “32” text on the other – just in case you forget which monitor size you selected. The stand is elegant and functional, with height, tilt, and swivel adjustments and a more spacey white/black plastic finish, but unless you really want to match a white PC build, I recommend clearing up some much-needed space on your desk with the 100×100 VESA Monitor Stand mouse space. Thankfully, the monitor, which weighs six kilograms, isn’t difficult to install.
Underneath, you get a DisplayPort 1.4 port (4K 240Hz for DSC) and two HDMI 2.1 ports (4K 240Hz, but limited to 4K 120Hz on PS5/Series X). Interestingly, the first HDMI port supports eARC, sending high-resolution multi-channel audio to a sound system, this is one of the few monitors I’ve seen that includes this feature, and is one of the few monitors that supports Dolby Vision. Clever inclusion. However, it doesn’t have a 3.5mm headphone jack or built-in speakers, both of which would be fine for console use.
While the MSI and Asus 32-inch QD-OLED include USB-C video and data ports with up to 90W USB PD and KVM switching, the Dell only includes a simple USB-B downstream port for connecting to a four-port USB hub ( 1 USB-C, 3 USB-A, all 5Gbps). This means you can’t connect a modern laptop to audio, video, data and power with a single cable, which is a bit of a shame, but it’s perhaps the first real evidence of Alienware’s cost savings compared to its rivals.
The OSD here is also a little less feature-rich than the Asus and MSI menus, with just two anti-burn controls – Prompt Pixel Refresh or Full Panel Refresh – as well as toggles or adjustments for features like the taskbar and logo detection. To be clear, these features still appear to be enabled, but users have no control over them, which seems a bit of a shame. Like other models using this 32-inch QD-OLED panel, the AW3225QF comes with a three-year warranty that covers screen burn-in.
Now let’s look at another unique feature of Alienware: Dolby Vision. This is a bit disappointing in Windows 11, because while Windows recognizes that the display supports Dolby Vision, I couldn’t actually play any native Dolby Vision video files, and could only play a handful of Dolby Vision-enabled games. At least, streaming Dolby Vision movies on Netflix does work. The list of officially supported games only includes some older Frostbite engine games like Need for Speed Heat and Mass Effect: Andromeda, and they don’t quite work as expected, with Andromeda requiring 4K 60Hz output to normal work. Thankfully, a firmware update at least allows disabling Dolby Vision mode in the monitor’s OSD, so you don’t have to deal with using Dolby Vision when HDR is enabled – the result is too bright.
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On Xbox, it’s not much better in terms of mainstream game support, but it at least includes games like Borderlands 3, Forza Horizon 5, and Metro Exodus, and every one I tried The games all run perfectly without any trouble. Of course, you can also stream Dolby Vision video on the Xbox, as well as other HDMI devices like the Nvidia Shield, so Dolby Vision support is still a very useful addition in that regard.
Thankfully, regular HDR content still looks great on PC and other platforms, so while the Alienware isn’t making any meaningful progress over the competition in terms of PC usage, watching HDR movies and playing HDR games Still significantly better than the vast majority of LCD-based alternatives on the market – period.
Now for more objective testing, the AW3225QF hits the same highs as the Asus PG32UCDM, with full sRGB coverage, 99% DCI P3 coverage, and 97% Adobe RGB coverage in Creator mode. Color accuracy in sRGB is incredible, with an average Delta-E score of 1.0, which indicates errors invisible to the naked eye, and HDR highlights are also very bright at up to 1,000 nits. Finally, the pixel response time is very fast at around 0.3 milliseconds, but there’s no black frame insertion feature like we’ve seen on Asus models. I’m leaning toward disabling the mode anyway, but it would be nice to have it as an option.
As with other QD-OLED displays we’ve tested, bright environments can cause black pixels to look slightly purplish or gray, but in dark or moderate lighting conditions they look as black as you’d expect. – So W-OLED or LCD – if you are forced to use the display in fairly harsh lighting conditions, a display based display might be a better choice. The glossy screen coating here is also effective at handling reflections.
I didn’t experience any SDR brightness issues, and 250 nits was more than enough for my usage scenarios, even with mostly white content like maximized web pages on the screen. This 32-inch 4K monitor defaults to 150% scaling in Windows, but if you have good eyesight and want more screen real estate, 125% or even 100% scaling is a good option.
As you’d expect from the specs presented here, performance is excellent across a variety of PC games. You can enjoy the crisp details and brilliant color reproduction of a 4K OLED screen, along with an eSports-grade 240Hz refresh rate and near-instant pixel response time, so a variety of game types look their best. As I mentioned with the Asus monitor, the larger physical size works surprisingly well in competitive shooters like Counter-Strike 2 and Call of Duty Warzone, where larger pixels make distant objects more visible. Enemies are easier to spot.
It’s unlikely you’ll even be able to hit 4K 120Hz in many games on an Xbox Series Who knows, maybe you’re ready for PlayStation 6 or Xbox Series XXX!
Gaming aside, the third-generation Samsung Display QD-OLED panel used here features an improved sub-pixel arrangement that produces clearer text without the color fringing evident in older QD-OLED displays, making it Become a better choice for web browsing, programming, content creation, and more. As always, OLED isn’t ideal for these use cases, as they’re more likely to cause screen burn than gaming or video content, but with a three-year warranty and countermeasures, I don’t have any particular recommendations for using this monitor for work if the need arises. Troubled. If I notice any burn-in during long term testing I will report it.
All things considered, the Dell Alienware AW3225QF is an easy recommendation for UK buyers, and its price is significantly lower than competing 32-inch QD-OLED models from Asus and MSI, making it the obvious choice. Elsewhere in the world, the Dell remains a unique proposition worth considering – especially if you want to play Dolby Vision content through an Xbox or other HDMI media player, or specifically prefer a curved screen to a flat one. However, the disappointing Dolby Vision processing in Windows 11, the lack of some OSD options, the lack of BFI, and the lack of a USB-C input are all minor blemishes on this otherwise excellent monitor.