The Dell Alienware AW2521H is an excellent gaming monitor. It's one of the first few monitors released with an extremely high 360Hz refresh rate, which helps deliver an incredible response time with silky smooth motion. It also has an exceptionally low input lag and native G-SYNC variable refresh rate (VRR) support, but it doesn't support FreeSync. It's really well-built and offers great ergonomics, so you shouldn't have any difficulty placing it in an ideal viewing position. It has an IPS panel with wide viewing angles, but that comes at the cost of a low contrast ratio, so blacks appear closer to gray when viewed in the dark. The smaller screen and 1080p resolution may be too limiting for office use, but the lower resolution isn't too taxing on your graphics card when gaming.
Our Verdict
The Dell Alienware AW2521H is great overall. It's excellent for gaming thanks to its extremely high 360Hz refresh rate, G-SYNC support, exceptionally low input lag, and incredible response time. It's good for office use because it has great ergonomics and wide viewing angles, but the 1080p resolution may be too limiting for some. It has a decent HDR peak brightness, but it doesn't display a wide color gamut and has a low contrast ratio, so blacks appear gray.
- Wide viewing angles.
- 360Hz refresh rate.
- Exceptionally low input lag.
- Incredible response time.
- Limiting resolution and size.
- Low contrast ratio.
The Dell Alienware AW2521H is good for office use. It has great ergonomics and wide viewing angles, making it easy to share your screen with others around you. It gets bright enough to combat glare in well-lit rooms, and it has good reflection handling. However, the 25 inch screen and 1080p resolution may be too limiting for multitasking.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Great ergonomics.
- Performs well in bright environments.
- Limiting resolution and size.
- Text can appear a bit blurry.
The Dell Alienware AW2521H is excellent for gaming. It has an extremely high 360Hz refresh rate with an incredible response time, resulting in smooth motion. Input lag is exceptionally low and it has native G-SYNC support. Its IPS panel has a low contrast ratio, so it's not ideal for dark-room gaming, but it has wide viewing angles if you want to share your screen with someone else.
- 360Hz refresh rate.
- Exceptionally low input lag.
- Incredible response time.
- Native G-SYNC support.
- Low contrast ratio.
The Dell Alienware AW2521H is good for consuming media. It has wide viewing angles, so you can easily watch your favorite videos with a few friends. However, the 1080p resolution may be too low for some people. Also, it has a low contrast ratio, so blacks appear closer to gray when viewed in the dark.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Performs well in bright environments.
- Exceptionally low input lag.
- Limiting resolution and size.
- Low contrast ratio.
The Dell Alienware AW2521H is very good for content creators. It has great ergonomics and wide viewing angles, making it easy to share your screen with a coworker or client. It performs well in bright rooms thanks to its impressive peak brightness and good reflection handling. However, the 1080p resolution and 25 inch screen isn't ideal if you work with multiple windows opened side-by-side.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Great ergonomics.
- Exceptional gradient handling.
- Limiting resolution and size.
- Low contrast ratio.
- Exceptional gradient handling.
- Decent HDR peak brightness.
- Low contrast ratio.
- Can't display wide color gamut.
- No local dimming.
Changelog
- Updated Apr 18, 2023: Added that the new Dell Alienware AW2524H is another G-SYNC monitor with an even higher 500Hz Refresh Rate.
- Updated Nov 02, 2022: We reviewed the Dell Alienware AW2523HF, which is a similar monitor, and added a note in the Variable Refresh Rate section that the AW2523HF supports FreeSync natively.
- Updated Jul 06, 2022: Updated to Test Bench 1.2, resulting in changes to the results and scores with the Response Time and Input Lag. Added tests for Console Compatibility and macOS compatibility and made minor changes to other tests, which you can see in our Changelog.
- Updated Jan 12, 2022: Remeasured the SDR color gamut and volume at a 60Hz refresh rate.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Dell Alienware AW2521H, and there are no other variants. However, there are many monitors in the Dell Alienware lineup with various configurations, some of which you can see in the table below.
| Model | Size | Panel | Resolution | Max Refresh Rate | VRR | HDR | Body Color |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AW2518HF | 25" | TN | 1080p | 240Hz | FreeSync | No | Silver |
| AW2521H | 24.5" | IPS | 1080p | 360Hz | G-SYNC | Yes | Black |
| AW2521HF | 25" | IPS | 1080p | 240Hz | FreeSync and G-SYNC | No | Black |
| AW2521HFL | 25" | IPS | 1080p | 240Hz | FreeSync and G-SYNC | No | White |
| AW2720HF | 27" | IPS | 1080p | 240Hz | FreeSync and G-SYNC | No | White |
| AW2721D | 27" | IPS | 1440p | 240Hz | G-SYNC | Yes | White |
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Dell Alienware AW2521H doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we'll update the review. Note that some tests, such as the gray uniformity, may vary between individual units.
Our unit of the AW2521H was manufactured in October 2020 and you can see the label here.
Popular Monitor Comparisons
The Dell Alienware AW2521H is a great 360Hz monitor and very similar to the ASUS ROG Swift 360Hz PG259QN and the MSI Oculux NXG253R. It has an incredible response time and exceptionally low input lag. However, most gamers won't notice the difference between 360Hz and 240Hz panels, which you can get for less, such as the Dell Alienware AW2521HF, or the 280Hz ASUS TUF Gaming VG259QM. Also see our recommendations for the best gaming monitors, the best monitors for PS5/PS5 Pro, and the best monitors for Xbox Series X.
The Dell Alienware AW2521H and the Dell Alienware AW2524H are similar gaming monitors with native G-SYNC support. The main difference is that the AW2524H has a higher 500Hz refresh rate than the 360Hz on the AW2521H, and it's also compatible with FreeSync VRR, but their gaming performance is similar otherwise. Other than that, the AW2524H displays a wider range of colors in HDR and has a local dimming feature, which the AW2521H doesn't have, but it performs terribly.
The Dell Alienware AW2521H is better than the Dell Alienware AW2521HF. The AW2521H has a 360Hz refresh rate, supports HDR, has significantly better gradient handling, and has a lower input lag. However, the AW2521HF has much better reflection handling and a wider horizontal viewing angle.
The Dell Alienware AW2521H is better than the Dell Alienware AW2720HF. The AW2521H has a much higher 360Hz refresh rate, it gets brighter, supports HDR, has a quicker response time at 60Hz, and has slightly lower input lag. However, the AW2720HF has better ergonomics and better reflection handling.
The Dell Alienware AW2523HF and the Dell Alienware AW2521H are both great 360Hz gaming monitors with a few differences. The AW2521H has native G-SYNC support, while the AW2523HF has native FreeSync support. It gives you a few extra features if you have an NVIDIA graphics card, like NVIDIA's Reflex Latency Analyzer to measure the latency of your entire setup, and the FreeSync support on the AW2523HF is beneficial if you have an AMD graphics card. On the other hand, the AW2523HF is better for console gaming because it has a Console Mode that downscales 4k images, which the AW2521H doesn't have.
We buy and test more than 30 monitors each year, all of which we purchase ourselves, without cherry-picked units or samples. We put a lot into each unbiased, straight-to-the-point review, and there's a whole process from purchasing to publishing, involving multiple teams and people. We do more than just use the monitor for a week; we use specialized, custom tools to measure various aspects and deliver objective, data-driven results. We also consider multiple factors before making any recommendations, including the monitor's cost, its performance compared to the competition, and whether it's easy to find.
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