The Alienware AW3420DW looks fantastic, and there's no way around that. Alienware is owned by Dell, and if it can virtually eliminate bezels on its premium laptops, why do its premium gaming monitors have such thick bezels? Alienware has gone through great lengths to up its design game over the last few years, we just wish it would narrow down the bezels here. They're not so thick that it's a problem, and Alienware has definitely done some great work to make them less noticeable, but they're definitely there. We would have loved to see a second DisplayPort at the very least, and maybe even a USB-C connection.įinally, there are the bezels. However, with a monitor in this price range, being limited to two display inputs is kind of a red flag. We love the fact that there are so many USB ports here, there can never be enough as far as we're concerned. This little area is illuminated, too, which makes it super easy to plug something in, even in a dark room.
On the bottom of the monitor, you'll find some quick-access USB-A ports and a headphone jack. You'll find power, HDMI and DisplayPort on the right-hand side of the stand, and on the opposite end two USB-A ports, along with a special USB port to connect the monitor to your PC for lighting control – it also enables the rest of the USB ports on the monitor. Ports are protected by a little shield that's easy enough to slide in and out of place. Luckily, you can also control this lighting through the Alienware Control Center software, provided you connect the monitor to your PC via USB.
Through this menu you can control the RGB lighting around back, but it's not super intuitive.
There's a little stick that'll let you open the full settings menu, along with three other buttons around the back that will either open up some quick settings or let you interact with the main menu.
On the right-hand side of the monitor, you'll find all the buttons.