The verdict is in — there has never been a better time to buy a new PC monitor. Display quality and technology is better than ever, with numerous manufacturers pumping out more and more excellent options.
We highlighted some of the best displays announced at CES, and things haven’t slowed down much since. The gaming market is also being well served with a host of new monitors being announced and the latest is Acer’s XR382CQK.
The Acer XR382CQK is a 37.5-inch QHD (3,840 x 1,600) resolution monitor in the typical 16:9 ultrawide format. It’s also curved, at 2300R, and sports a ZeroFrame design that minimizes bezels to keep gamers immersed in the action. The IPS panel supports 172-degree horizontal and 178-degree vertical viewing angles, and a 100 percent sRGB color gamut.
Where Acer’s newest display is optimized for gaming is in its refresh rate and response times, which come in at 75Hz and 5ms. AMD Free Sync technology is on hand to provide smooth, stutter- and tear-free gaming when mated with AMD Radeon GPUs.
In addition, Acer’s GameView technology allows gamers to quickly switch between customized display profiles to enable in-game tweaks and black levels can be adjusted to ensure that threats can be quickly visualized in the darkest scenes. Finally, ambient lighting effects can be customized to provide pulsing, flashing, and rippling effects.
In terms of design, the XR382CQK enables ergonomic adjustments including the ability to tilt from minus-5 degrees to 35 degrees, swivel plus or minus 30 degrees, and adjust the height by up to 5.11 inches. Two integrated 7-watt speakers utilize DTS sound technology for enhanced gaming audio, and the displays offer blue light filtering, ComfyView, and low-dimming technologies to help avoid eye strain.
Connectivity is provided by HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 2.1, and USB Type-C (Gen1) with up to 5Gbps data transfer, while a USB 3.0 hub with four ports provides for additional connectivity options. A cable management system keeps everything clean and organized.
The Acer XR382CQK is available at $1,300. Acer provides a three-year parts and labor warranty, with an online community available for engaging other Acer customers.
This story was originally published in February 2017. Updated on 02-06-2016 by Mark Coppock: Corrected resolution specifications to 3,800 x 1,600.
