Alienware OPTX AW2210 21.5-Inch Full HD LCD Gaming Monitor

Best known for its high-end (and high-priced) gaming systems, Alienware is looking to enter the monitor market. This desktop display boasts wide color gamut technology, a four-port USB hub, and the ability to display true (1080p) high definition content in its native 16:9 format. It's not the cheapest monitor around, but gamers will love this display's dual HDMI ports and speedy pixel response. Features

A set of five touch-sensitive buttons and a touch-sensitive power switch are positioned along the right-hand bezel. The white backlit power button is illuminated while the monitor is powered up, but the function buttons remain dark until you activate them with a touch of your fingertip. Doing so invokes an on-screen menu with red lettering that identifies each button. While I loved using the touch controls on the Acer H235H, the AW2210's controls were finicky; they were responsive most of the time, but every so often the controls would require several taps or would freeze until the on-screen display (OSD) timed out. Three of the buttons are hot keys for direct access to brightness and contrast settings and can be used to select an input source and to choose a preset mode.

Performance

The AW2210 exhibited excellent color quality and dark grayscale performance on my Blu-ray movie and DisplayMate tests. Dark scenes from the Matrix Reloaded showed the panel's ability to display fine shadow detail and distinguish the darkest grays from black, as did results from DisplayMate's 64-Step Grayscale test. Light grayscale performance was lacking, however; the monitor had trouble displaying the three lightest shades of gray on the 64-Step test. As a result, some highlight details appeared a bit fuzzy on my test photo, but the error didn't affect the monitor's overall color quality.

The wide gamut panel delivered deep, rich colors that remained uniform across the scale and showed no evidence of tinting or oversaturation. It also did a great job on my motion-handling tests while hooked up to a PS3 console via the HDMI port. Action scenes while playing the fast-paced Burnout Paradise street-racing game were fluid and clean with no sign of artifacts, ghosting, or other motion errors.

Design

Designed to complement Alienware's edgy gaming PCs, the AW2210 is housed in a stylish matte black cabinet sporting thin bezels and a beveled, angular design reminiscent of a race car's front end. The famous alien head logo makes an appearance in two places: on the back of the panel's mounting arm and again on the lower front bezel. The TN (twisted nematic, a type of LCD technology) panel has a maximum resolution of 1,920-by-1,080 pixels, a fast 2-millisecond (gray-to-gray) pixel response, and can display 85 percent of the color gamut (standard panels display 72 percent).Whereas many of today's monitors, such as the Editors' Choice HP w2558hc, have a glossy, somewhat reflective screen coating, the AW2210 uses a matte anti-glare finish that does a great job of keeping shine to a minimum. The screen is supported by a Y-shaped base and a mounting arm with tilt, swivel, and height adjustments, providing lots of flexibility to position the panel for optimal and comfortable viewing.

Once inside the OSD you can follow the menu commands to change color properties by selecting Graphics or Video mode. Graphics is the default setting that uses the static contrast ratio of 1,000:1 and includes presets for Standard, Multimedia, Game, Warm, Cool, and Custom color modes. Once you switch into Video mode, the dynamic contrast ratio (80,000:1) kicks in, offering more saturated colors and a slightly different choice of presets, including Movie, Game, Sports, and Nature. Each preset has varying levels of red, green and blue (RGB) exposure and each is supposedly optimized for specific applications, but the Game mode provided the best all-around picture for watching movies and playing 3D games. For all other applications, the Standard setting is your best choice.

At the rear of the cabinet are two HDMI inputs, a DVI input, an upstream USB port, and four downstream USB ports. While it's always nice to have a built-in USB hub, it would be much easier to use if a few of the ports were mounted on the side rather than around back where they are hard to reach. The monitor doesn't have built-in speakers but it does have audio-in and out jacks that can be used as a pass-through for external peripherals, including Alienware's TactX Headset ($74.99 list). The AW2210 is backed by Dell's three-year warranty which covers parts, labor, and backlighting. It also comes with Dell's Advanced Exchange program, which guarantees a replacement unit within one business day.