Alienware AW2523HF Review: Blinding Speed and Instant Response

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

Reviews
By Christian Eberle
published
Alienware AW2523HF
(Image: © Alienware)

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Now that I’ve reviewed several 360 Hz monitors from all major brands, it is clear that for their intended purpose, performance is very similar. From a video processing perspective, picking one over the others will be hard. They are all free of motion blur, frame tearing or hesitation. Input lag is uniformly low, and they all provide an addictive gaming experience.

If picture quality is the deciding factor, that’s tough, except for one metric, HDR contrast. The Alienware AW2523HF does not have a dimming feature, so it won’t have more contrast in HDR mode. The other 360 Hz displays I’ve tested all increase their dynamic range for HDR games and video. The AW2523HF has roughly the same color volume but a little more contrast than most SDR displays. And it’s quite accurate too. No calibration is needed, but performing one will make a small improvement.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

The consideration then comes down to price. There, the AW2523HF is a standout at $450. The others are $650 and up, except for one - the MSI NXG253R, which does include the Nvidia Latency Analyzer and a nearly 8,000:1 HDR contrast ratio. At this writing, it can be found for around $410. But it and the AW2523HF are the only two 360 Hz screens I could find for a price beginning with the number 4.

Of course, once you’ve tried any 360 Hz monitor, you’ll want it regardless of cost. The genre provides a truly unique gaming experience that can’t be replicated by other means. Yes, you will need a stout PC with a powerful graphics card to drive the fun. But you’ll be rewarded with something that goes way beyond any console. The AW2523HF delivers on that experience.

So, if you’re already a fan of Alienware components, and they are extremely well-engineered and well-made kit; you will definitely want to check out the AW2523HF. It delivers the same next-level gaming as its more expensive competition.

MORE: Best Gaming Monitors

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MORE: How to Choose the Best HDR Monitor

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