Acer Predator XB271HU
Image quality and speed combined.
Totally focused on gaming, the Acer XB271HU is $899 of features squeezed into a very stylish red and black shell. The monitor measures in at 27-inch, and has a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. The Acer uses an IPS panel for better image quality, but still has a decent 4ms response time. Its real party trick, however, is the 144Hz refresh rate, overclockable to 165Hz. Combined with Nvidia’s G-Sync tech, the XB271HU is built for buttery smooth, high-end gaming.
The Acer is fantastic in everyday use, with bright, vibrant colours from the IPS screen and wide viewing angles. Some manual tweaking (especially reducing brightness) will help, but generally, it’s quite well configured out of the box. The backlighting is very even, and the thin 2mm top and side bezels make it ideal for use in a multimonitor setup. A high-end Nvidia GPU is a prerequisite, but G-Sync gave us an entirely smooth, tearing-and stuttering-free gaming experience. While not at TN levels, the 4ms response time didn’t show up any ghosting either. The OSD itself is fairly in-depth, though the control buttons can be a little awkward to use.
More than just a pretty face, the Acer is practical, and has a top notch stand with full height, pivot, tilt and rotation adjustment.
Round the back, it has DisplayPort and HDMI inputs, though only the former works with the 165Hz refresh rates and G-Sync. The monitor also has a 3.5mm output, and a USB 3.0 input, with two connections on the rear, and two on the side.
Verdict
Pricy, but offering excellent 144Hz gaming for those who want (and can afford) G-Sync.