The Acer Predator XB271HU is an excellent 27-inch QHD gaming monitor that offers multiple neat gaming features such as Nvidia's G-Sync. This monitor is equipped with a fairly responsive and flicker-free TN panel.
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Pros
Pro Supports G-Sync
G-Sync eliminates stutter and screen tearing because it allows your monitor to synchronize its refresh rate to match the framerate of your video card.
The Acer XB271HU supports G-Sync in the 20-165 Hz range.
Pro Flicker-free
The Acer XB271HU doesn’t flicker because it uses a DC signal to dim its backlight. Such approach is beneficial as monitor flickering can cause eye strain.
Pro Adjustable stand
Adjusting the monitor to get the best possible viewing angle is not a problem with the Acer XB271HU.
Pro Decent responsiveness
The monitor offers lag-free gaming experience because of its fantastically low input lag of 4.6 ms, which makes it one of the most responsive gaming monitors in this price range.
Monitor's input lag is a delay between your video card producing a frame and the fame being fully processed by the monitor.
Pro Motion appears smooth
The Acer XB271HU has one of the best motion control toolsets in its price range, as it manages to display clear and flawless motion without even the slightest trace of motion blur or ghosting thanks to its excellent pixel response time, full ULBM support, and high native refresh rate.
The monitor naturally eliminates motion blur because its pixels need only one millisecond to change their color as the panel's full pixel response time is only 1 ms. Such rapid pixel transition keeps on-screen objects from leaving traces.
Acer's ULMB feature eliminates the artificial effect of ghosting as it strobes the monitor's backlight and makes it behave like a CRT display.
The motion looks smooth and fluid thanks to the monitor's high refresh rate of 165 Hz, which allows it to update its image up to 165 times every second.
Pro Good picture quality
The Acer XB271HU offers decent overall picture quality for a gaming monitor at this price point because its brightness, contrast ratio, and gamma response are all on par with what its competitors offer.
The Acer XB271HU displays adequately-looking images, with mediocre blacks, saturated mid-tones, and bright and vibrant colors. The dark scenes look average, with blacks that are neither too flat, nor too deep, because the monitor's contrast ratio is limited to 1000:1. Intermediate tones appear life-like, thanks to the monitors near-ideal gamma of 2.19. Colors look vivid as the monitor's panel can get quite luminous with its brightness peaking at 350 nits.
Additionally, the XB271HU can reproduce more saturated and sharper images than the 1080p competitors of the same size because it features 42% higher pixel density than a regular 27-inch FHD panel.
Pro Excellent for gaming
Armed with a 165 Hz TN panel, the Acer XB271HU offers decent overall picture quality and exceptionally responsive gaming experience, totally free of display lag or motion handling problems, which makes this monitor one of the best choices for gamers in this price range.
Pro Excellent value for money
Priced below $500, the Acer XB271HU offers a massive 27-inch QHD panel, full ULMB support, and G-Sync. You'll be hard-pressed to find a matching competitor for this monitor in this price range.
Pro Features a USB hub
You can use this monitor to charge external peripheral devices or connect them to your computer because the monitor has a USB 3.0 hub, which consists of four downstream USB ports and a single upstream port.
Cons
Con Complicated OSD
The Acer XB271HU has a very unintuitive on-screen display menu, which may cause a lot of confusion until you get used to it.
Con Power-on button gets stuck
The power-on button of this monitor sometimes gets stuck.
Con Requires a beefy computer
The Acer XB271HU produces noticeably higher strain on your graphics card than a regular FHD monitor because it has 42% more pixels. It could be a huge deal breaker for those with lower-end computers.
It is advised to research if your gaming rig will be able to deal with the extra pixels in your favorite titles if you go from an FHD monitor to a QHD one.