Alienware AW2523HF Review: Blinding Speed and Instant Response

Alienware’s AW2523HF has an FHD/IPS panel with 360 Hz, Adaptive-Sync and HDR.

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Alienware AW2523HF
(Image: © Alienware)

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Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

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Alienware AW2523HF
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

One might have an issue with the AW2523HF’s lower brightness, but few users will see a difference between 460 and 413 nits. If you max the brightness slider, it will give you a searingly bright image. There is plenty of headroom here, and HDR brightness is slightly higher.

The AW2523HF has the lowest black levels of the group and the second-highest contrast ratio at 1,212:1. This is above average for the IPS category, which is a very impressive performance. It adds image depth and dimension that can be seen in a side-by-side comparison. The top three screens will look better than the bottom three.

After Calibration to 200 nits

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Alienware AW2523HF
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

After calibration, the AW2523HF and the AOC increase their advantage over the others keeping by contrast around 1,200:1. It doesn’t get much better than that until you go VA or OLED, and you won’t find 360 Hz linked with either screen type.

The AW2523HF finally wins the ANSI test with 1,154.1:1 intra-image contrast. There is no fault here since you get the speed and some of the best IPS contrast available.

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Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Sleepy_Hollowed
    Wow, this is a great monitor, on my shortlist now, thank you for the review.

    I love that it has no speakers (this is a plus for security AND in case they start buzzing later on due to crappy parts), and while the resolution is even more exotic than the 1920 x 1200, the extra pixels are great for doing work when not gaming.

    Alienware/Dell keep knocking it out of the park in the monitor department it seems.
    Reply
  • patrickisfrench
    the 1920x1440p is a typo. tech specs from dell show standard 1080 HD resolution for this one.
    Reply
  • Sleepy_Hollowed
    patrickisfrench said:
    the 1920x1440p is a typo. tech specs from dell show standard 1080 HD resolution for this one.
    Thank you.
    That's both a plus and minus then, it's better for gaming for sure, not so much for work, but it is what it is.
    Reply
  • escksu
    Wow 360Hz. Thats 2.77ms per frame!!

    IMHO, its a bit overkill for online gaming as even the best internet gaming servers has around 20ms latency. However, it still cool.
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    escksu said:
    Wow 360Hz. Thats 2.77ms per frame!!

    IMHO, its a bit overkill for online gaming as even the best internet gaming servers has around 20ms latency. However, it still cool.
    What formula are you using when calculating that, sir?
    Reply
  • GEO_SD
    I just recently bought this monitor. The alien vision cross hair is a really useful feature imo, it can be configured in the command center. There's only one worth using and it's the crosshair small, it's available in 5 different color variations. Crosshair small is the perfect size, very useful as it uses two colors for the small Crosshair(I use black with white inner crosshair) . There's also a dot you can use but I find it too small. The toggle on and off for it is also super simple, just using a directional input from the joystick. I'll attach a picture soon to reference what I mean about the dot and crosshair small. All the other alien vision settings don't have a practical use. I'll update this comment for a long term use of the monitor.
    Reply