Dell Alienware AW2720HF Monitor Review

The Dell Alienware AW2720HF has a gamer-oriented design that's identical to the Alienware AW3420DW, but in a smaller 16:9 form factor. The stand supports the monitor well and there's RGB lighting on the back and the stand.

The stand is made of plastic and supports the monitor well. There's very little wobble when nudged.

Ergonomics are great. It allows for all manner of adjustments and the monitor can rotate to portrait mode in both directions.

The back of the monitor is plastic and the Alienware logo at the top right corner lights up. There's a small cutout in the stand that serves as cable management, and the stand has a quick release feature if you want to VESA-mount it.

The bezels are thin, which is great for multi-monitor setups.

The monitor has an average thickness, though the stand takes up considerably more space.

The build quality is excellent and it's identical to the Alienware AW3420DW. It feels sturdy even though it's all plastic, and the stand supports the monitor well, with very little wobble.

The Alienware AW2720HF has a sub-par contrast ratio, though this is typical of IPS panels. This makes blacks look more like gray when viewed in the dark. If you want a VA panel monitor with a much better contrast ratio, check out the Samsung Odyssey G7.

The Alienware AW2720HF doesn't have a local dimming feature; the video above is provided for reference only.

SDR peak brightness is good. There's virtually no variation in brightness when displaying different content and it should be bright enough for most well-lit rooms. If you prefer something that gets brighter, look into the Dell Alienware AW2521H.

This monitor doesn't support HDR. For a monitor that supports HDR, check out the ViewSonic Elite XG270.

The Alienware AW2720HF has great horizontal viewing angles. Images should remain accurate even when viewed from the side, which is good for sharing content or co-op gaming.

Vertical viewing angles aren't bad. There's some black level rise and color shifting at moderate viewing angles, but it shouldn't be an issue unless you sit very close to the monitor.

The Alienware AW2720HF has excellent gray uniformity. The sides are slightly darker, but there's almost no dirty screen effect and uniformity is nearly perfect in dark scenes.

Black uniformity is terrible. There's clouding throughout the screen and flashlighting in the top left portion of the screen.

Before calibration, the Alienware AW2720HF has decent color accuracy. There are inaccuracies with most colors and shades of gray. The color temperature is warmer than our 6500k target and the gamma doesn't follow the curve at all, causing most scenes to appear darker than intended.

After calibration, color accuracy is outstanding. Any remaining inaccuracies shouldn't be noticeable.

You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and should not be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model due to manufacturing tolerances.

The Alienware AW2720HF has an excellent SDR color gamut. It has almost full coverage of the sRGB color space used in most content, and good coverage of the Adobe RGB color space, which is used by professional photo editors.

Color volume is excellent, but it can't display dark colors well due to the monitor's mediocre contrast ratio.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

There are no signs of image retention on the Alienware AW2720HF.

Gradient performance is great, though there's some fine banding in almost all colors.

There's no visible color bleed on this monitor.

The Alienware AW2720HF has impressive reflection handling. It has a matte coating that diffuses light well, making it suitable for bright rooms.

Update 03/26/2020: Upon further comparisons, we found that the text clarity was more in line with other 1080p monitors of the same size. The scoring has been changed accordingly.

Decent text clarity. With ClearType enabled (top photo), diagonal lines look thicker and more fleshed out, such as on the R and N.

The Alienware AW2720HF has an exceptional response time when playing at maximum refresh rate. The overdrive level can be adjusted on most monitors and we recommend the 'Fast' setting, which gives you the best performance. The 'Super Fast' and 'Extreme' settings caused a significant amount of overshoot, leading to the appearance of artifacts.

Response time at 60Hz is good. It's slower than at maximum refresh rate, but it isn't noticeable. For the best performance with the least amount of overshoot, we recommend the 'Fast' overdrive setting.

The monitor's backlight is flicker-free, which can help reduce eye strain.

This monitor doesn't have a black frame insertion feature.

Update 03/23/2020: Our review initially stated that this monitor wasn't G-SYNC Compatible. It is in fact officially certified as G-SYNC Compatible.

The Alienware AW2720HF has an outstanding refresh rate and unlike the Alienware AW3420DW, this is a monitor with native FreeSync support. It works over HDMI as well as DisplayPort, and it has a wide VRR range.

Input lag is exceptional. Although it's slightly higher when playing at 60Hz and when FreeSync is enabled, most people won't notice it.