On Tuesday, Acer revealed a huge lineup of new products just days ahead of the CES 2017 convention in Las Vegas. Part of the company’s device flood are three desktop monitors targeting gamers, one of which Acer deems as the world’s first curved monitor to include eye-tracking technology. The other two are flat and don’t support eye-tracking, but are packed with high refresh rates and support for Nvidia’s G-Sync technology.
As the specs show on the following pages, the curved monitor is based on Vertical Alignment technology. This tech offers wide viewing angles and great color reproduction, but not as well as the more popular In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel technology. Meanwhile, the two new flat displays in Acer’s linup relies on Twisted Nematic (TN) technology, which is rather old but offers fast response times and a very high brightness. That said, TN panels are ideal for gaming whereas VA and IPS are best suited for graphic design.
Additionally, all three monitors support Nvidia’s G-Sync technology. This essentially synchronizes the refresh rate of the monitor with the video output of a Nvidia graphics card. This synchronization eliminates screen tearing, input lag, and stuttering caused when the number of frames generated by the graphics card each second doesn’t match the rate the monitor is rendering those frames each second.
Finally, gamers will see rather high refresh rates with all three monitors. Again, this indicates how many times the display can render fremes each second, so the higher the number, the more fluid the visuals become. The curved monitor has a blazing refresh rate of 200Hz while the two flat monitors run at a faster 240Hz. That’s overkill to be honest, but at least gamers will know that it’s not the monitor bottlenecking the visuals on-screen.
Acer Predator Z301CT
This is the only display of the trio offering Tobii eye-tracking technology. While this is an awesome feature to have, not every PC game supports it. The most recent titles include Watch Dogs 2, Steep, Tom Clancy’s The Division, and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. There are around 45 supported games in all including Dying Light: The Following that’s listed as “coming soon.”
Other notable features outside the Tobii eye tracking and curved form factor include support for Nvidia’s G-Sync, a maximum resolution of 2,560 x 1,080, a 200Hz refresh rate, and a four-port USB 3.0 hub. The panel has a four-millisecond response time, 178-degree viewing angles, two three-watt speakers, and a decent brightness of 300 nits.
| Model: | Predator Z301CT |
| Screen size: | 30 inches |
| Panel type: | VA |
| Resolution: | 2,560 x 1.080 @ 200Hz |
| Aspect ratio: | 21:9 |
| Brightness: | 300 nits |
| Contrast ratio: | 3,000:1 native |
| Supported colors: | 16.7 million |
| Supported color space: | 100 percent sRGB |
| Maximum refresh rate: | 200Hz |
| Curvature: | 1,800R |
| Response time: | 4 milliseconds |
| Audio: | 2x three-watt speakers (DTS Sound) |
| ErgoStand Title: | -5 to 25 degrees |
| ErgoStand Swivel: | -25 to 25 degrees |
| ErgoStand Height: | Up to 4.7 inches |
| Key features: | Tobii Eye Tracking Nvidia G-Sync Acer DarkBoost Acer BlueLightShield Acer Flicker-less GameView OSD Navigation Key Cable Management |
| Ports: | 1x DisplayPort 1.2a 1x HDMI 1.4 4x USB 3.0 (1x up, 4x down) 1x audio output |
| Price: | Starting at $900 |
| Availability: | February |
Acer Predator XB272 / XB252Q
Outside their obvious screen size differences, these two panels are exactly the same offering identical resolutions, refresh rates, brightness levels, and so on. Both are based on TN panel technology that’s ideal for gaming due to its fast response times and high brightness. These panels aren’t lacking in that department, with a super-high brightness of 400 nits, and a super-quick response time of one millisecond.
Like their curved cousin, both panels support Nvidia’s G-Sync technology. They also include a component provided by Nvidia called Ultra Low Motion Blur, though it cannot be enabled when G-Sync is active. This tech minimizes ghosting and decreases motion blur when the monitor is set at 85Hz, 100Hz, and 120Hz refresh rates. Other notable features provided by these two monitors include a four-port USB 3.0 hub and support for 1.67 million colors.
| XB272 | XB252Q | |
| Screen size: | 27 inches | 24.5 inch |
| Panel type: | TN | TN |
| Resolution: | 1,920 1,080 @ 240Hz | 1,920 x 1,080 @ 240Hz |
| Aspect ratio: | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Brightness: | 400 nits | 400 nits |
| Contrast ratio: | 1,000:1 | 1,000:1 |
| Supported colors: | 1.67 million | 1.67 million |
| Supported color space: | 100 percent sRGB | 100 percent sRGB |
| Color gamut: | 72 percent NTSC | 72 percent NTSC |
| Maximum refresh rate: | 240Hz | 240Hz |
| Response time: | 1 millisecond | 1 millisecond |
| Audio: | 2x two-watt speakers | 2x two-watt speakers |
| ErgoStand Tilt: | -5 to 20 degrees | -5 to 20 degrees |
| ErgoStand Swivel: | -45 to 45 degrees | -45 to 45 degrees |
| ErgoStand Height: | Up to 4.5 inches | Up to 4.5 inches |
| ErgoStand Pivot: | 90 degrees clockwise | 90 degrees clockwise |
| Key features: | Nvidia G-Sync Nvidia ULMB Acer DarkBoost Acer BlueLightShield Acer Flicker-free GameView OSD Navigation Cable Management |
Nvidia G-Sync Nvidia ULMB Acer DarkBoost Acer BlueLightShield Acer Flicker-free GameView OSD Navigation Cable Management |
| Ports: | 1x DisplayPort 1.2 1x HDMI 1.4 4x USB 3.0 (1x up, 4x down) 1x audio out |
1x DisplayPort 1.2 1x HDMI 1.4 4x USB 3.0 (1x up, 4x down) 1x audio out |
| Price: | Starting at $680 | Starting at $550 |
| Availability: | February | February |
The GameView aspect of all three monitors include three customizable display profiles that can be tweaked while players are still in the game. Some of the special settings include adjusting the black level to better see in dark places or at night, adding crosshairs when those provided in-game just don’t cut it, and adjusting the refresh rate on the fly. All three panels also support VESA wall mounting and cable management to remove all those annoying cables off the desktop.
Acer’s three new panels arrive in February.
