UPDATE #1: I could only see 98Hz available and nothing more with my GTX 970. I upgraded and swapped it out with a RTX 2080 Ti and 120 and 144Hz are available options now.
PROS
+ 600nit manual, 1000nit HDR
+ Menu buttons and joystick for navigation - OSD panel is intuitive
+ 144Hz capable, 120Hz native
+ Stand is very sturdy metal and high quality
+ G-Sync
+ IPS panel
+ 0.24mm pixel pitch
+ No dead pixels
+ Very good contrast and color production
+ 4 USB ports
+ Packaged with 1 DP-to-DP, 1 HDMI-to-HDMI, and 1 USB type B (3.0) -to-USB type A cables
+ LED lighting if you are into that sort of thing (can turn them off). Quite few lighting effects available
+ 384 local dimming LED backlights
+ Top-handle to facilitate carrying this near 30lbs beast.
+ Quantum dot tech
+ 3 year warranty ('limited' warranty)
+ Lots of options available in the OSD menu; e.g. remove blue light, various constrast settings, view mode presets, overclocking, etc.
+ Light sensor
CONS
- Integrated peakers are extremely tinny-sounding and of poor sound quality IMO.
- Not true 10-bit, but 8-bit + FRC
- Bottom-middle of screen has brown spot that occasionally flickers, as if a zone LED bulb is malfunctioning.
OTHER THOUGHTS
I'm coming from an ASUS VG Series VG278HE 27-Inch 1080p 144Hz monitor to this and I can say what a major, MAJOR difference/improvement! I tried an Asus IPS 60Hz panel back in 2013 but the ghosting was intolerable for FPS gaming. Beautiful picture quality, but poor refresh/response time. I settled with the VG278HE which was a TN panel with a personally acceptable pixel pitch of 0.311mm. The light-bleed was bad, but tolerable.
I skipped over 2k-res monitors and waited for what would appear to be the right time to get a 4k IPS that was capable of at least 120Hz native. It's nice now because get to enjoy the latest tech; HDR, G-Sync, HDMI 2.0 and DP 1.4 as well.
At this time, I'm currently rocking a GTX 970 and can not get higher than 98Hz refresh rate no matter what and I can't enjoy HDR; 98Hz is still smooth viewing. This will change soon enough when I upgrade my card. I read online that depending on your Nvidia card, you'll want to install the DisplayPort firmware updater from Nvidia to support DP 1.4 from the card.
Unboxing the monitor was painless. The top box inside housed some booklets, cable assortments, the monitor side panel flares (for lack of a better term), a VESA bracket and finally the AC power brick. Remove said box and the monitor is positioned upright underneath already connected to its base. Lift out via its top handle and give it a home. Hook up the cables and done.
The monitor is very stable in its upright position connected to its original base. Moving the monitor is easy and yet adequately stiff in whatever position it is left in. Can lower and raise the monitor, tilt up and down, and pivot left or right. So far, no complaints here regarding this.
There are 4 buttons and a joystick behind the monitor on the right-hand side for interacting with monitor settings; pressing any of the non-power buttons will display the quick menu which will show the current active monitor settings and allows for quick-switching the monitor profile modes, the brightness level and the input type. Pushing the joystick in directly will display the advanced menu settings. I explored the available menu options and set the monitor to my liking. There is even the option to save your changes to 3 profile-looking modes. Overall, it did take me some time playing around with the buttons and such to get a feel for how to work the settings efficiently.
I guess from here, we'll see how this monitor stands up to the tests of time and if needed, how good Acer support is regarding fixing issues. Acer does include a decent size warranty card that states that dedicated, 'premium' support service is included with this monitor - witch a dedicated phone number to call and a web link to chat with a 'Predator line service professional' if needed. At the bottom of the card is what appears to be a couple serial-like looking set of alpha-numeric lines of text - making me think that these might be important if reaching out to Acer support so may want to safeguard said card.
| Standing screen display size | 27 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 3840x2160 |
| Max Screen Resolution | 3840 x 2160 Pixels |
