Dell Alienware AW2724DM: Specs, Features, Pros & Cons
Alienware makes two 27-inch QHD gaming monitors with almost the same model number, and they sit on opposite sides of the panel question. The AW2725DM is the OLED. This AW2724DM is the IPS model and the cheaper way into the brand, built around what a good LCD still does well: a bright backlight in a room full of daylight.
What the Alienware badge buys on a panel type that many cheaper brands also sell is mostly practical. There is a sturdier stand that adjusts in every direction and rotates into portrait, a brighter backlight than most IPS panels of this size, and certification from both graphics card makers, so it behaves the same with either brand of card. None of that is exotic, and all of it is the reason to pay a little more for this badge.
The panel is a fast IPS type at QHD, a resolution that suits games and a working day on the same screen. Color coverage is wide enough for photo editing between matches. Connections favor a PC, with two DisplayPort inputs against a single HDMI, and a USB hub sits on the back.
What it gives up is familiar from every IPS monitor. Contrast is ordinary, so blacks turn gray once the lights go off, and the backlight cannot fix that. There are no speakers and no headphone socket, which means audio comes from the PC or from separate speakers.
It fits someone who games at a desk near a window and wants a stand they will never need to replace with an arm. After dark, with the lights off, the OLED sibling one digit away is the Alienware to see.
Category strengths
Where the Dell Alienware AW2724DM beats the median
- Much higher peak brightness ?600 nits vs 400 nits (median)
- Has USB hub ?
Where the Dell Alienware AW2724DM trails the median
- Fewer HDMI ports ?1 vs 2 (median)
- No headphone output ?
How this VS Score was computed
Score 50: each known spec is measured against the median of IPS gaming monitors, 27 to 31 inches (29 products), then weighted; 50 means level with that median. In classes of six or more, a value beyond the class’s 10th–90th percentile range counts as that limit, so one extreme product cannot set the scale. 65% of the scoreable weight could be used; unknown values, features not applicable to this class and proxies (battery capacity where a rated life exists) add or remove nothing.
| Specification | This product | Cohort median | Score weight | Points moved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USB-C | No | 24% of the class have it | 0.5 | −24.0 |
| Peak brightness | 600 | 400 | 0.8 | +20.0 |
| Height adjustment | Yes | 79% of the class have it | 0.4 | +20.0 |
| Swivel | Yes | 64% of the class have it | 0.2 | +10.0 |
| HDMI ports | 1 | 2 | 0.4 | −10.0 |
| Built-in speakers | No | 31% of the class have it | 0.2 | −9.6 |
| Headphone output | No | 86% of the class have it | 0.2 | −9.6 |
| USB hub | Yes | 50% of the class have it | 0.05 | +2.3 |
| Pivot | Yes | 75% of the class have it | 0.02 | +1.0 |
| Screen size | 27 | 27 | 1.2 | +0.0 |
| Resolution | 1440p | 1440p | 1.2 | +0.0 |
| Panel type | IPS | IPS | 0.8 | +0.0 |
| Refresh rate | 180 | 180 | 1.2 | +0.0 |
| Response time | 1 | 1 | 0.8 | +0.0 |
| Contrast ratio | 1,000 | 1,000 | 0.6 | +0.0 |
| DCI-P3 coverage | 95 | 95 | 0.6 | +0.0 |
| Adaptive sync | G-Sync Compatible | G-Sync Compatible | 0.6 | +0.0 |
| DisplayPort inputs | 2 — capped at the class’s upper range (1) | 1 | 0.4 | +0.0 |
Not scored: Color depth (unknown: not scored); HDR (unknown: not scored); Pixel density (unknown: not scored); Local dimming (unknown: not scored); Local dimming zones (unknown: not scored); Variable refresh rate (standard for the class (100% have it)); Motion blur reduction (unknown: not scored); Input lag (unknown: not scored); Tilt (standard for the class (100% have it)); USB-C power delivery (unknown: not scored); KVM switch (unknown: not scored); Webcam (unknown: not scored); Microphone (unknown: not scored); Ethernet (unknown: not scored); Picture-by-picture (unknown: not scored).
Editor’s note
At 600 nits typical, the AW2724DM runs about half again as bright as most IPS panels of its size, and that is the clearest thing it has over the cheaper QHD crowd. Next to a window at midday, the extra light keeps a dark corridor in a shooter readable instead of lost under glare.
The refresh figure comes with a footnote. The 180 Hz on the box is a DisplayPort overclock. Without it, DisplayPort runs at 165 Hz, and HDMI stops at 144 Hz. Current consoles send 120 Hz at most, so the HDMI limit costs a PlayStation nothing and only shows up when a laptop or a second PC takes that input.
Response time is quoted as 1 ms gray-to-gray, and Dell ties it to the most aggressive overdrive setting. Read it as the best case the panel reaches, not the mode you will leave it in.
The case against the OLED sibling is not only the price. An IPS panel has nothing to burn in, so a taskbar, a spreadsheet left open all afternoon or a game HUD held for hours costs nothing, and there are no pixel-refresh cycles to plan around. On a screen that doubles as a work monitor for a full day, I would weigh that as heavily as the money saved.
What you pay over a plainer IPS panel buys the brightness and the Alienware build. If neither would change how you use the screen, the extra money goes on the badge, and a cheaper panel of the same size and resolution will serve you as well.
Specifications
Quality bars show where each figure sits between the lowest and highest of the 29 IPS gaming monitors, 27 to 31 inches this VS Score is measured against.
Picture
Gaming
Ergonomics & design
Connectivity
Features
Sources and verification
Where the specifications come from
- Datasheet or manualdell.com
- Independent testingrtings.com
Verification
- First published
- Specifications last checked
- Sheet completeness
- 27 of 42 specifications verified; the rest show as Unknown and are never estimated or scored
- Page type
- Product specification page — Compiled from the manufacturer’s published specifications and the cited sources; this is not a hands-on test.
- Basis
- Research-based: specifications and editorial text were compiled from the documents listed here and the manufacturer’s published data. We have not tested this unit ourselves; where independent measurements are mentioned they belong to the linked publication.
Monitors with similar specs to the Dell Alienware AW2724DM
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The bottom line
The Dell Alienware AW2724DM earns a VS Score of 50, level with the median of the 29 IPS gaming monitors, 27 to 31 inches it is measured against.
- Who it’s for
- A gamer in a bright room who wants a vivid, well-built QHD screen with a stand that already adjusts properly.
- Who should look elsewhere
- Film watchers in a dark room, where IPS contrast leaves blacks gray, and anyone expecting built-in speakers or a headphone socket.
- The trade-off that matters
- Brightness and build for the money, paid for with the ordinary contrast every IPS panel has.
- The main alternative
- Dell Alienware AW2725DM: Alienware's OLED in the same size class, if dark-room contrast counts for more than brightness.
The VS Score is calculated from the weighted specifications above, each measured against the median of comparable IPS gaming monitors, 27 to 31 inches — a shortlisting guide, not a substitute for your own priorities. See how we score.
