When it comes to recommending a new gaming monitor, I generally suggest one with a 1440p panel. For me, 1080p is too low a resolution these days, and 4K only makes sense if you have a powerful high-end graphics card to push all those pixels. 1440p is the ideal sweet spot.
But with so many to choose from, it can be hard to tell what’s a great deal and what isn’t. This Acer XV271U model is definitely the former, especially when you’re paying a cent under $160 at Newegg for it.
What you’re getting is a 27-inch IPS display, with a 95% DCI-P3 color gamut and a peak brightness of 250 nits. That’s not outstanding but it’s not bad either, and its biggest features are all related to gaming. With a maximum refresh rate of 180 Hz and support for AMD’s FreeSync Premium variable refresh rate, it’ll be an extra treat for your eyes.
The pixel response time is pretty good too, somewhere between 0.5 and 1.0 milliseconds, gray-to-gray. That’s pretty snappy and will come in handy with playing competitive, twitchy shooters.
At this price, though, something has to be sacrificed and in the case of this XV271U, it’s ergonomics. The stand only has tilt adjustment—you can’t alter the height or rotate it. If that’s a deal breaker for you, then the XV variant ($200 at Amazon) is the one you want, as it’s the same panel but with a better stand.
And despite having support for HDR10, it’s pretty rubbish when operating in high dynamic range mode. Stick to traditional SDR mode and you’ll be fine. Oh, and don’t bother with the internal speakers, either (but that’s par course for gaming monitors).
With two HDMI 2.0 ports and one DisplayPort 1.2 socket, you can hook up a console and gaming PC to this monitor. I’d personally grab a monitor arm (check prices on Amazon) to solve the whole stand issue and enjoy a great little monitor for very little money.
We haven’t even hit the Prime Day sales yet, but I don’t think you’ll find as good a monitor deal as this one.
