Acer Conceptd CP3271K SCREEN SCENE
A stunning screen for creatives who demand top-notch image quality, but is it good enough to justify its hefty price tag?
One of the most colouraccurate monitors out of the box at this price point…
When looking for a monitor it makes sense to spend a bit more on a screen that’s designed to display colour as accurately as possible. Acer’s Conceptd range of computers and monitors are aimed squarely at artists, and as such the Conceptd CP3271K 27-inch monitor boasts top-quality display credentials.
The most significant feature of the CP3271K is its colour accuracy. Measured in terms of its deviance from optimal colour, lower values indicate more accurate colour representation, whereas higher values signify a monitor has a more noticeable colour cast. Most monitors with an emphasis on colour accuracy tend to boast a Delta-e deviance of
less than two. With the CP3271K, Acer has upped the ante and claims a Delta-e of less than one. That’s impressive, and would make this one of the most colour-accurate monitors out of the box at this price point.
Colour space coverage impresses. Ninety nine per cent coverage of the relatively narrow SRGB colour spectrum is good, although cheaper monitors can also manage this. Ninety per cent coverage of the DCI-P3 video colour standard is much better, although it’s possible to find monitors that cover 95 per cent and even 98 per cent of this colour space.
You get an IPS LCD panel (IPS screens are the gold standard for digital art, providing colour and contrast consistency that only OLED displays can match). This monitor display’s 4K (3,840x2,160) resolution and gives a fine pixel density of 163ppi, and the display goes up to 400cd/m2 brightness, making it eligible for an all-important Displayhdr 400 certification.
The display panel of the CP3271K is an ordinary design, with narrow but not exceptionally thin black plastic bezels.
It’s the stand which really sets the monitor apart from the crowd, though not necessarily in a good way. The
faux wood base has a grain pattern which could only really be found on plastic wood, and the plastic itself doesn’t feel especially good quality.
Video port connectivity is good, with two HDMI and two Displayport connections. However, while you do get four USB 3.0 ports (two on the back, plus two easy-reach ports on the left-hand edge) there’s no USB-C connection and therefore no USB Power Delivery to juice up a connected laptop or mobile device.
BRIGHT AND CLEAR
The CP3271K impresses straight out of the box, with stunning clarity, brightness and colour fidelity. For maximum wow factor, it’s best set to DCI-P3 mode, because this displays more colours and with greater intensity. By contrast, SRGB mode looks muted and flat by comparison, but this is to be expected from what is a more restrictive colour space.
Also included with the monitor is a shading hood, which makes the screen easier to see when there’s glare from ambient lighting. The shading hood also helps shield the monitor from reflections. The matte anti-glare coating on the display itself is an extra line of defence against reflections, though it does inevitably add a slight shimmering effect when viewing black or very dark scenes. This can be distracting for creating art.
To the naked eye, backlight bleed (the visibility of the LED backlights which illuminate the LCD panel) is minimal, though as is typical for IPS LCD displays, black tones are never truly black.
However, for creative work a screen like the Benq SW271 matches the Acer on screen size and resolution, but beats it for colour accuracy, colour space coverage and build quality, while still costing similar money.