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© 2025 NZ Herald 6:15am Alienware AW2725D review: OLED gaming greatness at a budget price
At a glanceExpert's Rating
Pros
Compact but functional stand
Excellent SDR color gamut and contrast
Bright in HDR
Great motion clarity with AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync Compatible
Very attractive price
Cons
Design isn’t much to look at
No USB-C input with DisplayPort and Power Delivery
Our Verdict
The Alienware AW2725D is a great OLED monitor with an MSRP of just $550, with SDR and HDR image quality that often rivals more expensive alternatives.
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There’s no denying that a flood of OLED monitors hit the market in 2025, and Dell (which owns Alienware) is among the companies most responsible. It now has a total of five OLED monitors in its catalog of 14 current displays.
The Alienware AW2725D sits at the bottom of the OLED ladder. It’s a 27-inch QD-OLED monitor with 1440p resolution and a maximum refresh rate of 280Hz, and it retails at an MSRP of just $549.99. That makes it an easy choice if you want an OLED gaming monitor at a mid-range price.
Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best gaming monitors for comparison.
Alienware AW2725D specs and features
The Alienware AW2725D’s specifications are entry-level for a modern QD-OLED monitor, though that might surprise you if you don’t keep up with the latest displays. Though entry-level, the AW2725D still provides a respectable QD-OLED panel with 2560×1440 resolution and a speedy 280Hz refresh rate.
Display size: 27-inch 16:9 aspect ratio
Native resolution: 2560×1440
Panel type: OLED
Refresh rate: Up to 280Hz
Adaptive Sync: Yes, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, Nvidia G-Sync Compatible
HDR: Yes, VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black Certified
Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-B 5Gbps upstream, 1x USB-A 5Gbps downstream, 1x USB-C 5Gbps downstream with 15 watts charging
Audio: None
Price: $549.99 MSRP
It also supports Adaptive Sync, with official support for both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync. HDR support, meanwhile, comes with VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black certification.
The price, though, is the real reason to buy the AW2725D. Its retail MSRP of just $549.99 is among the lowest for any QD-OLED monitor. It matches or beats Amazon Prime Day deals on competitors like the Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 and Gigabyte Aorus FO27Q2, which are older QD-OLED monitors with a 240Hz refresh rate.
Alienware AW2725D design
Alienware redesigned its entire monitor lineup for 2025, but not for the better. The retro-futuristic look the brand relied on for the past five years is gone, replaced by a curved, organic design. The plastics used don’t look or feel as premium as before and, strangely, all Alienware monitors come in one color: a dark navy-blue hue.
It’s not all bad news, though. The change in design comes with a new stand that’s more compact than the dramatic wing-like stands that shipped with many older Alienware monitors (and still ship with the Alienware AW3225QF which, despite the name, was released in early 2024). Alienware’s entire 2025 monitor line-up takes up little space on a desktop.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
The stand provides a decent range of ergonomic adjustment, too. It adjusts 40 degrees of swivel, 25 degrees for tilt, and 110mm in height. It can rotate 90 degrees into portrait orientation, too. This is typical for a 27-inch gaming monitor in this price bracket but still appreciated. A 100x100mm VESA mount is available for use with third-party stands, as well.
Alienware AW2725D connectivity
I’ve often raged against gaming monitors that fail to include important ports, like USB-C with DisplayPort and Power Delivery. But this year, Alienware called my bluff. They decided to skip USB-C video input and power across the Alienware range—and dropped their prices.
That means the Alienware AW2725D isn’t a great choice for use with a USB-C laptop or tablet. You’ll have to stick to HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort for video input. The monitor does act as a USB hub with a couple downstream ports (one USB-A and one USB-C), but it only provides one USB-B upstream port. So, you can only connect one device to the monitor’s USB hub at a time.
Whether that works for you depends on your needs. It’s not a problem for most gaming desktops, of course, as USB-C is rarely used for video input. But if you were hoping to connect a thin-and-light laptop that’s easy to power over USB-C, perhaps because you use one alongside your gaming PC, you’ll likely want to look elsewhere.
On the other hand, this choice seems to help Alienware reach an extremely competitive price. The AW2725D’s $549.99 MSRP is in league with older QD-OLED monitors with 1440p resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate.
Alienware AW2725D menus and features
The Alienware AW2725D is also light on features. It has a joystick hidden under the center of the lower bezel that provides quick access to the monitor’s menu system. Alternatively, owners can use Alienware’s Command Center software to tweak monitor settings within Windows.
However, there’s not a lot to change. The monitor doesn’t have color temperature modes that target specific values. It does provide gamma adjustment, but only in a couple specific modes, such as Creator. The most significant color adjustments are limited to Custom Color mode. Limitations like this are common for gaming monitors. Still, content creators who know what they want may find the monitor a hassle to tune and calibrate.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
It does provide a few gaming features. You’ll find common features like an on-screen crosshair and timer, as well as a dark stabilizer that can elevate the brightness of dark scenes (to make foes easier to see). It also has Alienvision, which further tweaks the image to improve contrast and clarity at the expense of image quality.
The AW2725D doesn’t include speakers. Though a small disappointment, it’s to be expected given the price. Most gaming monitors don’t include speakers. Monitors that have good built-in audio, like the LG Ultragear 32GS95UE-B, are much more expensive.
Alienware AW2725D SDR image quality
The Alienware AW2725D is less expensive than most OLED monitors but has a Samsung QD-OLED panel that’s at least as good as the 27-inch 1440p panels that were in most flagship OLED gaming monitors sold a year or two ago. As a result, the monitor’s SDR image quality doesn’t at all reflect its inexpensive price.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
The AW2725D starts off with a win in brightness. It achieved a maximum sustained SDR brightness of 272 nits which, as the graph shows, is among the highest figures recorded from recent OLED monitors.
Brightness can still be an issue in bright rooms. While 272 nits is a lot for an OLED monitor in SDR, it can look dim when forced to compete with sunlit windows. The AW2725D also has a highly reflective display coat that amps up reflections.
Still, if you want to go OLED and SDR brightness is a concern, the AW2725D is better than most.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
There’s not much to say about contrast, though only because it’s precisely as excellent as expected. OLED monitors achieve an effectively infinite contrast ratio thanks to their ability to reach a minimum luminance of zero nits. That’s why OLED monitors look richer, deeper, and more immersive than LCD monitors with an LED backlight.
Once again, price works in the AW2725D’s favor. All OLED monitors are effectively identical in this respect. Spending twice as much on a high-end competitor won’t net you any improvement in contrast.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
Samsung’s QD-OLED panels are among the most color-rich in the industry, and the AW2725D is no exception. It delivers a color gamut that spans 100 percent of sRGB, 98 percent of DCI-P3, and 95 percent of AdobeRGB. As the graph shows, this is top-notch performance for an OLED, and it’s close to record performance overall. The only monitors I’ve tested that have a wider gamut are rare QD-IPS displays with Mini-LED backlights, like the Xiaomi G Pro 27i.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
I wasn’t completely shocked by the AW2725D’s outstanding color accuracy, as recent Alienware OLED monitors have proved uniformly excellent in this test. Still, it’s remarkable to see a $550 OLED monitor deliver color accuracy with an average error below one, and to see it beat more expensive competitors. This level of color accuracy means color errors are generally unnoticeable. It’s not perfect, but the flaws come from other aspects of the display’s image quality, not color accuracy.
One of those flaws is color temperature. The AW2725D reached a default color temperature of 6200K, which is a bit off the target of 6500K and indicates a warmer image than the target. I don’t mind it, but you’ll need to adjust it to achieve a more neutral look. Also, as mentioned, the AW2725D lacks precise color temperature adjustment options, so adjusting the color temperature is a bit difficult. Gamma, on the other hand, was spot-on the target gamma value of 2.2.
Sharpness is mediocre, at least by the standards of 2025. The AW2725D’s 27-inch (technically, 26.7-inch) 1440p panel squeezes in about 110 pixels per inch. By comparison, a 4K QD-OLED monitor like the Alienware AW2725Q or Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM can deliver around 166 pixels per inch.
That’s a big gap, and it’s made more noticeable by the irregular sub-pixel layout of QD-OLED displays, which makes them look coarser than the specifications suggest. I find it hard to notice on a 4K QD-OLED, because it’s so sharp to begin with. With a 1440p display, though, QD-OLED does look a bit less sharp than a 27-inch 1440p monitor with an IPS-LCD panel.
Still, I have no issue with the AW2725D’s overall image quality. This monitor delivers performance that was flagship-caliber in early 2024, and it remains top-notch today. The monitor’s image quality is ideal for gaming, as the anti-aliasing techniques available in modern games can make up for some of the sharpness gap between a 1440p and 4K monitor. Factor in the AW2725D’s great SDR brightness, contrast, and color performance, and you’ve got a winner for all sorts of entertainment.
It’s remarkable to see a $550 OLED monitor deliver color accuracy that beats more expensive competitors.
Alienware AW2725D HDR image quality
The Alienware AW2725D doesn’t give up much in SDR image quality to achieve its low price. But what about SDR? After all, monitor makers often boast of their unique heatsinks and cooling solutions that boost maximum HDR brightness. Surely the budget-oriented AW2725 is worse. Right? …Right?
Matthew Smith / Foundry
Wrong. As the graph shows, the Alienware AW2725D ranks among the strongest HDR gaming monitors that PCWorld has ever tested.
To be clear, the margin between it and the alternatives is often slim. I don’t think most people will notice the difference between a peak HDR brightness of 834 nits and a peak of 938 nits (I certainly can’t).
Still, the results made it clear that the less expensive AW2725D performs just as well as more expensive QD-OLED and LG WOLED panels, and it’s a great choice for HDR games.
Alienware AW2725D motion performance
The Alienware AW2725D’s refresh rate is arguably among its less attractive features and a key reason for its low price, but given that it still provides a refresh rate of 280Hz, that feels a bit absurd.
It’s slower than more expensive 1440p QD-OLED monitors, which typically hit at least 360Hz. But 280Hz is still more than many people will need. Remember: You only receive the full benefit of an enhanced refresh rate if the game you’re playing can achieve that frame rate, or higher. Otherwise, the display will refresh at a lower rate to match the frame rate of the game (when Adaptive Sync is turned on).
The AW2725D delivers buttery-smooth gameplay with great motion clarity. Fast-moving objects are easy to see and scrolling text is generally readable, though low-contrast examples can still be hard to make out. Don’t get me wrong: the benefit of a higher refresh rate is noticeable. But 280Hz still looks great.
The AW2725D supports Adaptive Sync with official compatibility with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Nvidia G-Sync Compatible. Most monitors that list compatibility with any of these standards will work with all three, but it’s still preferable to see official support. It’s welcome added assurance that Adaptive Sync should work with your video card, and that you can complain to Alienware if it doesn’t.
Should you buy the Alienware AW2725D?
The Alienware AW2725D reiterates a point that I made earlier this year: Tt doesn’t really matter what OLED you buy. All QD-OLED panels are sourced from Samsung, and while there’re minor differences in refresh rates and HDR brightness, they’re broadly much more similar than they are different.
That’s good news for the AW2725D. Priced at just $549.99, it provides most of the benefits of more expensive QD-OLED monitors at an alluring price. The monitor’s only serious downside is its lack of USB-C and somewhat limited image quality adjustment options, which make the AW2725D less appealing if you want a gaming monitor that can also serve as a productivity display. The AW2725D’s price helps to excuse that, though, which makes it an easy monitor to recommend.
© 2025 PC World 10:45pm  
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