Dell Quietly Slashes Price of the 4K 120Hz OLED Alienware 55 Monitor by $1000

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OLED gets cheaper?

(Image credit: Dell)

Dell was the first company to unveil a large-format gaming display — the Alienware 55 — based on an OLED panel back at CES 2019. It just so happens that Dell appears to be the first maker to slash pricing of such a product, too. 

The Alienware 55 uses a 55-inch OLED panel featuring a 4K resolution, 400 nits peak brightness, a 130,000:1 contrast ratio, a 0.5 ms gray-to-gray response time, as well as a 120 Hz maximum refresh rate. This high refresh rate along with support for VESA’s Adaptive-Sync technology in its AMD FreeSync Premium as well as Nvidia G-Sync-compatible implementation makes the monitor a particularly good fit for dynamic PC gaming. 

After we did our Alienware AW5520QF OLED review, we just had to put it on our Best 4K Gaming Monitors list.

Originally, the monitor’s MSRP was $3,999 when it was launched last year. But since then Dell has quietly slashed pricing of the device to $3,039.

(Image credit: Dell)

The Alienware 55 monitor can display 98.5% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is nearly as accurate as performance of professional IPS LCD displays. For gamers, it means more vivid colors, which, when combined with OLED’s deep blacks, gives more realism, and therefore immersion. Meanwhile, the display also features an anti-reflective coating with 2H hardness for extra clarity when used in bright environments.  

While the OLED technology promises a lot, the Alienware 55 monitor is not without caveats.  The display does not support HDR transport, a technology that is used by a number of games today. Furthermore, both HDR10 and Dolby Vision are used by countless 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray as well as Netflix movies. 

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Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • InvalidError
    From ludicrously expensive to still pretty expensive. Such a long way away from the cheap-as-chips large-format inkjet-printable displays that were anticipated back when OLED was in its infancy some 20ish years ago.
    Reply
  • hotaru.hino
    I'm looking at my LG C9 and going "how is the TV market still doing better than the computer monitor market?"
    Reply
  • Darkmatterx
    Wow it's even a true 10bit panel, but the 400 peak brightness with no HDR makes the price (even now) a bit of a turnoff. Especially in a "COVID economy."

    Also, the problem of burn-in with computer use is still a problem. Whether we're talking about desktop icons, the taskbar (both admittedly workable with liberal screensaver usage) or a game interface that you spend alot of time playing, (which a screensaver won't save you from) it's still a problem. :(

    Doesn't matter. I need a new computer long before I need a $3000 USD monitor. :/
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    hotaru.hino said:
    I'm looking at my LG C9 and going "how is the TV market still doing better than the computer monitor market?"
    If by better you primarily mean cheaper for something comparable, I believe the simple answer is volume: many more people are going to buy a 55" TV than computer monitor. Same reason I ended up buying a 4k 50" TV for $700 instead of $1000+ for a 32" monitor.
    Reply
  • mdd1963
    I see a nice 86" 4K TV at the Base Exchange for but $1699....! (Unbelievable!)
    Reply
  • tummybunny
    This doesn't have HDMI 2.1 so it's a very bad choice for gamers.
    Reply
  • nofanneeded
    Tomshardware , why are you hiding information from customers ?

    This same panel (from LG) is being sold for $1500 and BETTER specs LG branded.

    https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1555063-REG/lg_oled55bxpua_bxpua_55_class_hdr.html
    1ms / 120 hz native ! / HDR10 / Dolby Vision/ HDMI 2.2 / 40W speakers /20 W woofer/wifi6/Alexa/smart remote/ etc
    and guess what?

    OFFICILA GSYNC ENABLED from Nvidia !
    Read the specs here

    https://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-oled55bxpua-oled-4k-tv
    Alien ware is asking Double the price ($3000) just for the ugly Alien Logo on it while using the same Panel from LG while LG TV has BETTER SPECS for $1500
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    tummybunny said:
    This doesn't have HDMI 2.1 so it's a very bad choice for gamers.
    It has a display port and gsync support. It's perfectly fine for gamers. The major no-no is it's a (now) $3000 OLED display with no HDR.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    spongiemaster said:
    It has a display port and gsync support. It's perfectly fine for gamers. The major no-no is it's a (now) $3000 OLED display with no HDR.
    This in my opinion is the dumbest decision that Dell made, to exclude HDR support. I suspect most people who wants an OLED display would want the HDR feature more than anything. If it is just fast refresh rate, you don't need an OLED screen. The price just don't justify the specs. One is better off just getting an OLED TV instead, which I suspect is cheaper.
    Reply
  • hannibal
    watzupken said:
    This in my opinion is the dumbest decision that Dell made, to exclude HDR support. I suspect most people who wants an OLED display would want the HDR feature more than anything. If it is just fast refresh rate, you don't need an OLED screen. The price just don't justify the specs. One is better off just getting an OLED TV instead, which I suspect is cheaper.

    those Hdr models just cost $10000+ for Gaming monitors... this is cheap compared to them... and yeah mot worth it in anyway.
    Reply