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My comment from last time this was posted.
The most commonly cited monitor in recent years for this is “AW3423DWF”… Which is AlienWare 34" from 2023, DisplayPort, WQHD, Freesync.
Point is, people see a lot of characters and complain when in reality it is exactly what you are referring to. The name is an encoded version of its capabilities. Its just that the encoding isn’t always clear because if every company used the same encoding they would have the same name. and if there are 2 similar monitors you would need to have every feature in the name to differentiate them, so the shorthand encoding becomes necessary. (Eg, AW3423DW and AW3423DWF only really differ on freesync vs gsync, thus the F at the end)
Just give it a cool name like Deathstalker and put that information on the box.
The company itself, retailers, and business customers all need to be able to distinguish between different SKUs which vary in minor ways. Also I'm sure that a much higher percentage of monitors are sold to businesses than to consumers.
This guy gets it
Then release Deathstalker Pro, Deathstalker Max and Deathstalker Ultra so that it's easier for the users to know the difference
And of course it's updated with new versions a few times every year or so. So the Deathstalker Pro from the end of 2024 is actually better in many respects than the Deathstalker Ultra from 2022, but you'll have to check the fine print on the box to make sure you're getting the updated QD-OLED version, and not the older AMOLED version. If it has 220 Hz rather than 240 Hz it should be the newer model. Unless you live in South America, in which case they all use WOLED displays, though the specifications are the same so you have no way of knowing without opening it.
🤨🤨 What is WOLED
White OLED, every pixel uses a white OLED "backlight" to make the light and RGBW color filters to make the colors. It's one solution to some of shortcomings of earlier OLED technology like color degradation.
Why does it need a "name" at all.
I just say "I have the Alienware ultrawide OLED" and if anyone cares, the exact model number gives information and is very distinct and googleable.
You can google for "AW3423DWF" very easily and know youve found the right monitor for reviews etc.
Googling for "Macbook Pro" reviews, for example... a pain in the ass.
i think bundling these features together in a brand name and incrementing it with version number would be more helpful.
having the "alienware porkchop 23" would allow people to become familiar with the branding and understand the featureset that this model comes with.
dwf does not mean anything to most.
That only works if you assume that there is something consistent to version. Some years it's a 34" ultra wide, some years it's a 32" 4k. Will there ever be another 34" ultra wide from alienware? Who knows! Not every monitor gets a revision. and if you have random names for 100 different monitors every year, that doesn't really help make sense of things either.
Alienware Monitor 7.... Well they release 100 different models a year, and every year thats going to increment, and consumers often conflate "bigger number better" so you better make sure you get the numbering right.
And "Porkchop" means absolutely nothing to anyone. DWF at least means something to some people. Going from 0% usefulness to even 10% usefulness is a good move.
Do monitors keep a stable amount of features from one generation to the next? I mean the only real reason to upgrade a monitor is for new features, not because it has incrementally improved on the features it already offered, or size maybe. What would be the basis for calling something a "porkchop" vs a "lizard milkshake"
I guess you could have like 3 tiers of features, going from Cheapest to most Expensive (i.e, lower end is 60hz, higher end 120+hz) and then each generation you know which monitor is "better"
Yeah it's probably more like the monitors keep the same target demographic (business vs gamers) and major features (27" ips vs 32" OLED) but basically every other spec changes whenever new incrementally better panels come out. The TV industry tends to deal with this by tacking a year on the SKU. But they also have fewer SKUs generally.
This is exactly what the companies try to do. For example ASUS has (in order of increasing fancyness) TUF, ROG Strix and ROG Swift. While MSI has G, MAG, MPG and MEG.
For each step up you can assume that it will be more cutting edge, have more extras and a higher price. But why would you care? You want to know if the image is good, if it has the features you want and what it costs. You likely don't care what price segment it was originally intended for.
As time goes by, what was once expensive premium features become mainstay. So an older top-of-the-line display might be similar in price and performance to a new budget display. Which is better? Well you'll have to read some reviews and ideally look at it to figure that out. And then you need to know the exact model number of the ones you are comparing. Good thing theres a compact alphanumeric string that uniquely identifies each model ;)
I get the logic here but I just don’t think most people think like this. Products are called the “Honda Accord” and the “Apple iPhone” and the “Cordless handheld vacuum” for a reason.
Maybe these code names make sense for the actual engineers working on them. But only the nerdiest of the nerdiest of nerdy consumers will remember a couple of these names. In my line of work I’ve spent a couple decades with a ton of regular folks, non-techy people. You might be surprised how many of them can barely remember what number of iPhone they’re on, and don’t even think about asking them which version of iOS is installed.
TBC: This is not a knock against people who aren’t neck-deep in every industry of every product they own. I couldn’t tell you which engine is in my Hyundai Tuscon or which generation of motor is in my cordless vacuum.
I just think these names are gibberish, probably greenlit by people who don’t think about this stuff. But they aren’t effective names for regular consumers.
As an IT person who has to tell a non it purchasing department what to buy, no. The code names are specific things that return the exact thing you want when searched on stuff like CDW and B&H, and having to explain exact drive space, memory, ecc vs non ecc would be torture. A simple code they can just copy and paste and get exactly what you want is far more efficient.
Totally get that, makes a lot of sense. Although my original point wasn’t about professionals in technical or business settings, I was talking about regular folks. These are consumer products but they’re commonly referred to with technical/engineering names. I think it feels clunky and makes it tough for regular folks to talk about these.
When people tell their friends they got a new iPhone, they don’t say “awe check it out I got the new MYWD3LL/A.” They just say “I got the iPhone 16 Pro Max.” Simple language. There’s gotta be a middle ground here for regular folks.
I can get that, but personally I haven't had much issue myself. I have 2 Samsung 34" ultrawide screens, and their model is LC33G55TWWN. I just tell people what I said before, 34" Samsung Ultrawides. They do have an easier name: Samsung 34” Odyssey G5 Ultrawides. Many others can be as ambiguous as your iPhone example, which also will have multiple actual model numbers, like A3084, A3295, A3296, A3297. Some are for specific regions, while one is global. You don't need to share that with others, but can be important in technical situations.
Most computer hardware I deal with have both friendly names and technical model numbers, like almost everything, from car parts, engine models, to washer and dryer parts. I had to use model numbers to find the right replacement lint filter on my dryer, instead of guessing on Amazon.
I suppose I don't understand the complaint, as friendly names definitely exist, while model numbers are extremely useful.
You actually gave a good example for why these brand names are useless.
How many doors does a Honda Accord have? What type of engine does it have?
It's impossible to answer even these very basic questions, because there are so many different Honda Accords that the name could refer to almost anything. It could be a station wagon with a diesel engine, a four-door hybrid sedan, a hatchback, a SUV etc.
In fact monitors do usually have fancy brand names like Predator, ROG Swift or UltraGear that function exactly like the Accord name, giving you some hint as to where the manufacturer think it belongs in their product stack. They just aren't useful for identifying a specific model, and since there are so many different models, you need the alphabet soup to make sure we are talking about the same thing.
I was trying to keep my examples simple for the point but cars usually have sub-brand designations that answer some or most of your questions. Like “LE” or “XR” and such. But people don’t walk around telling each other they drive a “Honda 8CVXY64LLM123GRV,” because most people don’t remember code names like that. They just say “yeah I drive an Accord, it has features x y and z that I really like.”
People don't walk around telling each other they use an "ASUS ROG Strix OLED XG27ACDNG" either. They'll say they have a "27 inch OLED", or possibly a "27 inch 1440p OLED from Asus".
You could use the sub-brand and say you had an "Asus ROG Strix" if you wanted, but all that might tell someone is that it's from Asus' midrange gaming segment.
The unique id is simply handy to keep the many models apart. Asus has 217 displays listed on their (US) store. They have 14 different 27" 1440p displays under the ROG Strix brand alone, three of which are OLEDs and you better not get them confused because they use different OLED technology.
Would it be better if they had more diverse product names instead? I'm not so sure. With so many models you'd probably end up with something like the "ASUS ROG Strix Centurion Speed² Ultra+ Black", and I don't think that's any easier than "XG27ACDNG", which at least is short.
But the model number isn't really the "name" either. That would be "Alienware 34-inch Monitor", from that year, etc. That they don't call that their "Mars" line of monitors is maybe a marketing issue, but the thing people want to know first/most about a tv/monitor is how big it is.
Cars and Phones have product numbers that break down the same way but like you say the general public doesn't refer to them that way. Like the Samsung Galaxy S24 instead of "SM-S928U", which is the North American (T-Mobile?) specific model.
Youre right. "Cordless handheld vacuum" is a descriptor and not "the name of a product".
In fact, on the Alienware website, the product is called 'Alienware 34" Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor - AW3423DWF'
Alienware 34" curved QD-OLED gaming monitor sounds a LOT like exactly what you described. And then the SKU is tacked on to the end because they sell multiple various models of of 34" curved QD-OLED gaming monitors, and people are going to want to get the right one, so they make it prominent.
Sure but the thing with TVs is a manufacturer will over 15 different SKUs of "a TV" that are all pretty different. Plus, a lot of the times (especially for TVs) they will still have a "normal" name.
Like Alienware sells a few different "Alienware 27 Gaming" monitors. But they only sell on "AW2725DM"
Can you decipher this one for me please?
34GP63A-B
Only the 34 makes sense.
Sure: that's a SKU and not the product name.
From LG's own website:
The name of the product is:
34" Curved UltraGear™ QHD HDR 10 160Hz Monitor with Tilt/Height Adjustable Stand
But since 34" curved monitors are a dime a dozen and the full name listing all the specs is a freaking mouthful, it winds up being referred to it by the SKU to help differentiate it.
The 34WP60C-B is apparently the same monitor, but without speakers and a different stand.
This isn't Apple where there is only 1 macbook pro each year and you can differentiate with a "M4" or "2024" on it. every year, LG releases 100 different monitors, some of which have VERY similar specs. If they gave them all names, the names would be meaningless except for to differentiate the models. "LG UltraGear Megashark" offers no details, and only serves to make it memorable and google-able.
34GP63A-B isn't memorable, but it is google-able to an even better degree (because theres no chance of getting a Terraria Megashark SEO landmine, I hate products that have names like "Cursor", because how the hell am I going to google that).
34 is size, G is "gaming", no idea on P63A, and -B indicates that this is the second revision (there is also a 34GP63A without the -B).
So this is a LG Ultragear 34" monitor.
So you have
- 34 = the diagonal size, which is 34" in this case.
- G = the line of monitors, so G for Ultragear
- P = the year the monitor was made, which is 2021 in this case
- 63 = the placement in the line, bigger number is better
- A = This I can't actually find. I think it's a feature set or possibly where you bought the monitor from. But it's probably just an internal code LG uses.
- B = The color. So yours is black.
G = the line of monitors, so G for Ultragear
P = the year the monitor was made, which is 2021 in this case
Ah yes, those make sense
I can answer this one for you. That number is not actually the name of the product, but the vendor code or manufacturer SKU.
I've had some experience in how these SKUs come to be for large brands. In a lot of cases the people developing the new models have like a whole list of monitors they could create. Out of these a selection is made for which they will create, which capabilities are good etc. This is done per region and even if the capabilities are exactly the same, it will get a different SKU for the different region. This is important because the labeling could be different, often different plugs and manuals are included. Sometimes different paperwork needs to be filed, so it's important the SKU matches the region. From this list of product SKUs the manufacturer can create for a region local distributors choose which ones they think are good for their market. This can often be hard and different distributors can choose different SKUs (depending on the manufacturer). Out of this list of available SKUs in the channel the shops can select which ones they want to carry. Some shops just carry them all (especially when dropshipping), other shops carefully select which ones they like.
This leads the shops to have seemingly random SKUs and nonsense numbers. But that's because those SKUs were figured out all the way back in step one. Those lists can be huge and all the numbers need to be unique. Normally there is some sort of internal structure used to generate the SKUs. But the end result is just a confusing mess of numbers.
When looking at for example distributor level at what they carry or what is offered, the numbers make a little more sense.
So it isn't ideal, but there is reason to the madness.
Just use the same common encoding and postfix it with the brand name (or prefix, depends on what you like to sort)
The official product page is an actual monitor name, and postfixed with the encoding to help differentiate similar models. So you're right, but also, "AW3423DWF is a terrible name" is wrong, because AW3423DWF isn't the product name, it's just how people identify it, because there are so many similar monitors out there.