Alienware 34 QD-OLED gaming monitor ships in early spring for $1,300

Dell’s gaming brand Alienware pulled out all the stops for its CES 2022 slate of announcements, and two of the most notable debut products are landing at lower prices than we expected — not that we’re complaining.

First, we have the x14, the company’s first entry in the booming 14-inch gaming laptop market. When Alienware announced it in January, the starting price was listed at $1,799, but the company has since brought it down to $1,650 (converting to roughly £1,220 and AU$2,310). That configuration includes an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU and 4GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, plus a 144Hz 1080p screen, 16GB LPDDR5 memory and a 512GB SSD. For another $200 ($1,850), there’s a model with an RTX 3060 and 1TB SSD. From there, one with 32GB memory and 2TB SSD will cost you $2,300.

Although the prices aren’t a bargain for their components, they’re not excessive given how inflation and shortages have impacted costs. In these small-and-thin gaming laptops, you’re really paying for all the engineering that goes into the design and cooling. You can order the x14 now.

Next, we have the 34-inch QD-OLED Gaming Monitor (AW3423DW), the first desktop monitor to incorporate hot new display technology. When Alienware announced it with no price or availability attached, I assumed it would come in at more than $1,500, since class-leading HDR competitors based on older technologies — the latest LG Ultragear 34, for example — can run $1,300. So finding out the Alienware 34 will be debuting at that lower price in early April is a pleasant surprise.

Yes, $1,300 is still a lot to spend on a gaming monitor, especially when a ton of good 34-inch models cost less than $700. But unless QD-OLED turns out to be a sad pile of disappointment rather than the high-contrast, big color and broad tonal-range champ I expect, that’s not a bad price tag.