Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsDo not buy this panel. It will drive you insane. Buy the DWF from Alienware instead
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2023
This panel has so many known issues. Just do some googling or a browse through Reddit and you will find them. This panel suffers from a lot of common issues. I guess that is why they are called common issues. Samsung has released one software update since I got it. It does not appear to have fixed any issues on my panel nor anyone else's having this issue on Reddit. Here is a list of what issues this panel has.
- If you have this plugged into an Nvidia card through the display port and the panel naturally enters sleep mode(meaning you just left it to sit for over 5 minutes) It will cause your entire PC to lock up and you will need to force restart via power cycling. For whatever reason, this does not happen over HDMI but there is not a micro HDMI cable in the box. This would not be so bad if HDMI 2.1 to micro HDMI 2.1 cords existed. They do not. I spent two days looking so I would know. All I can find are 1.4 or 2.0 rated cables from sketch Chinese brands. You will just have to find a 2.0 micro HDMI cable and pray you do not get a dud.
- The volume will randomly go up but never down(some go down but never up and others seem to not make up their mind by just picking a random volume level and moving towards that). This is still an issue for those who don't use the speakers as 1. you can not disable them and 2. the volume changing thing still shows up on the left of the screen and it's pretty big so it will cover things up if you need them. Not great during a competitive game. Ask me how I know.
-The screen every 10-30 min will go black for 2-3 seconds then come back. This happens no matter what you are in. Web browsing, gaming, movies. It does not discriminate, it will just blindside you.
-I know windows is wonky with HDR, but this adds way more wonk than windows could even dream of. This will randomly stop showing HDR. The panel says it's showing HDR and windows says it's sending HDR, but the colors will either be way too dim or completely washed out.
So between Bugged HDR, terrible SDR, black screens, and crashing windows, I would avoid this panel as these have been a problem with the monitor since launch. Samsung has had more than a few months to fix these and they have not which leads me to believe that they can not fix them or are unwilling to fix them. I would avoid this panel at all costs as the DW and DWF from Alienware is the same panel with different driver board and is cheaper. On the bright side, when this panel works it looks amazing. Then again, so do all OLEDS.