The Dell Alienware AW2721D is an impressive 1440p gaming monitor. It has a 240Hz maximum refresh rate, an exceptional response time that results in minimal motion blur, and an incredibly low input lag that makes gaming feel responsive. It also has native G-SYNC support and is compatible with FreeSync to reduce screen tearing. It uses an IPS panel with wide viewing angles, but that comes at the expense of a lower contrast ratio, so blacks look more like gray when viewed in the dark. There's a local dimming feature to improve black levels, but it's not very effective. While it supports HDR and gets fairly bright for HDR content, its low contrast ratio means that the HDR experience is only decent. On the plus side, it gets bright enough to use in well-lit rooms, although it has mediocre reflection handling, so you may have issues with glare if you place it in front of bright lights.
The Dell AW2721D is a great monitor for mixed usage. Gamers should be pleased with its exceptional response time, incredibly low input lag, and VRR support. It also has a high resolution and wide viewing angles that are great for productivity. Its wide color gamut and high peak brightness make images look crisp and clear, which is great for viewing and creating media. It supports HDR, although the HDR experience is only decent, and its low contrast ratio and bad black uniformity make it less suited to dark rooms.
The Dell AW2721D is great for office use. Its high 1440p resolution and large size are well-suited to multitasking, with enough space to open multiple windows side-by-side. It also has wide viewing angles, which makes it easier to share content with a co-worker. Despite getting quite bright, its reflection handling is mediocre, so direct light can be distracting. That said, it has great ergonomics, allowing for many adjustments to suit your ideal viewing position.
The Dell AW2721D is an impressive gaming monitor. It has a 240Hz refresh rate and an exceptional response time, resulting in clear motion. It also has an incredibly low input lag, so gaming feels responsive. It supports G-SYNC and is FreeSync compatible. Unfortunately, its IPS panel has a mediocre contrast ratio, so blacks look more like gray in the dark.
The Dell AW2721D is a great monitor for multimedia. Its high 1440p resolution makes images look crisp, and it's a good size for watching movies and TV on your own. Its wide viewing angles are good for watching with a friend. It performs well in bright rooms thanks to its high peak brightness, but it has mediocre reflection handling, so direct light sources might be distracting. On top of that, it has a mediocre contrast ratio, so it's not the best option if you prefer to watch in the dark.
The Dell AW2721D is a great monitor for media creation. Its large screen size provides plenty of space, and its 1440p resolution makes images look crisp and clear. It has wide viewing angles, making it easy to share content with another person, and great ergonomics, allowing you to adjust it to your ideal viewing position. It also has an outstanding color gamut, including great coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used by professional content creators.
The Dell AW2721D monitor is decent for HDR gaming. It has good brightness in HDR, but it has a mediocre contrast ratio and bad black uniformity, so it's not well-suited to dark room viewing. It has a local dimming feature, but it's not that effective. That said, it has an outstanding response time, so motion looks clear, and a low input lag that makes gaming feel responsive. Finally, it supports G-SYNC and is FreeSync compatible.
The Dell AW2721D has a sleek, gamer-oriented design, similar to previous Alienware monitors. It's mostly white with black accents and has thin borders. It also has four RGB lighting zones, including the downlight beneath the panel, the power button, the Alienware logo on the back, and the stand. It's heftier than similar-looking models like the Dell Alienware AW2720HF due to the more premium materials used in the stand.
The Dell AW2721D has great ergonomics. The swivel range is a bit limited, but it allows for a lot of height and tilt adjustments. It can also rotate into portrait mode in both directions.
The back of the monitor is made of plastic with an Alienware logo in the top right corner that lights up. There's a cutout in the stand for cable management.
The Dell AW2721D includes an edge-lit local dimming feature, but it's not especially effective. There are quite a few dimming zones, so there's not as much blooming as other edge-lit monitors, but there's still blooming along the whole height of the screen, and transitions between zones are fairly noticeable. There are also noticeable differences in uniformity when the vertical zones are lit up. That said, these issues are less noticeable with real content.
Note: While we've received reports that some people experience better local dimming on Mode 0, we chose to test local dimming using Mode 1 because it was the brightest and offered the best compromise between increased contrast and transition visibility. That said, we don't expect using a different local dimming mode to significantly affect the score.
The Dell Alienware AW2721D has excellent SDR peak brightness, higher than the advertised 450 cd/m2, so you shouldn't have issues using the monitor in well-lit rooms. With local dimming disabled, the brightness is more consistent, and it gets up to 575 cd/m2 in the sustained 100% window, which is significantly brighter than what you get with local dimming enabled.
We measured the SDR brightness after calibration in the 'Custom' Picture Mode, with Brightness set to max, and local dimming (Variable Backlight) set to 'Mode 1'.
The HDR peak brightness is good. Small highlights are significantly brighter than in SDR, reaching well above the advertised 600 cd/m2.
We measured HDR brightness in the 'Gamer 1' Picture Mode with Smart HDR enabled, Brightness set to max, and local dimming (Variable Backlight) set to 'Mode 1'.
The Dell AW2721D has good horizontal viewing angles. The image remains mostly accurate when viewed from the sides, so it should be fine for sharing content or co-op gaming.
The Dell AW2721D has impressive vertical viewing angles, which is great if you're sitting up close or have the monitor raised. There's some slight color washout at extreme angles, but for the most part, colors and black levels remain accurate.
The Dell AW2721D has great out-of-the-box color accuracy. There are slight inaccuracies in most colors and shades of gray, but they're hard to notice. For the most part, gamma doesn't follow the curve, so most scenes appear brighter than they should. The color temperature is a bit cooler than our 6500k target, giving the image a blue-ish tint. Note that accuracy may vary between units.
After calibration, accuracy is incredible. Any remaining accuracies shouldn't be noticeable without the help of a colorimeter. Gamma follows the curve closely for the most part, and the color temperature is much closer to the target.
You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and shouldn't be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model due to manufacturing tolerances.
The Dell AW2721D has a remarkable SDR color gamut. It has nearly perfect coverage of the commonly used sRGB color space and great coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used by professional content creators.
SDR color volume is exceptional. Thanks to its remarkable color gamut and high peak brightness, it displays colors in a wide range of luminance levels. Unfortunately, its mediocre contrast ratio means it struggles to display dark, saturated colors.
The Dell AW2721D has a great HDR color gamut. It has amazing coverage of the more common DCI P3 color space, but its coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 is only decent.
Note that the DCI P3 coverage is lower than the advertised 98%. This is normal and is due to the way we measure DCI P3. We measure DCI P3 by sending a Rec. 2020 signal, but unlike most reviewers, we limit the colors to the DCI P3 primaries. This results in a lower, but arguably more accurate measurement.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Super Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Extreme | Chart | Table | Photo |
The Dell Alienware AW2721D has an exceptional response time at its max refresh rate of 240Hz. The recommended overdrive setting is 'Fast' because it gives you the best performance, with minimal overshoot.
We also tested the response time with G-SYNC enabled and the results were virtually identical. You can see those results below.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables |
G-SYNC Fast | Chart | Table |
G-SYNC Super Fast | Chart | Table |
G-SYNC Extreme | Chart | Table |
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Super Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Extreme | Chart | Table | Photo |
The response time at 60Hz is excellent, although not as fast as at the max refresh rate. The best overdrive setting with the least amount of overshoot is the 'Fast' setting.
We also tested the response time with G-SYNC enabled and the results were nearly identical. You can see those results below.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables |
G-SYNC Fast | Chart | Table |
G-SYNC Super Fast | Chart | Table |
G-SYNC Extreme | Chart | Table |
This monitor doesn't have a Black Frame Insertion feature.
The Dell AW2721D has an exceptional 240Hz refresh rate with a wide VRR range. It has native G-SYNC support and is FreeSync compatible, but FreeSync only works over a DisplayPort connection. Unfortunately, you can only get up to 144Hz with 10-bit color at native resolution. You can get higher frame rates in 10-bit if you lower your resolution or by going down to chroma 4:2:2.