Because of its responsiveness, motion handling capabilities, and picture quality, the Acer Z301CT is among the best gaming monitors on the market.
Additionally, the monitor comes with a bunch of gaming-specific features, such as G-Sync and FPS counter, and an integrated Tobii eye tracker, that can be used in multiple games and ppliactions.
To unleash the monitor’s full potential, you’ll need to adjust some of its settings. Fortunately, all the key calibration parameters are available on the Internet.
The Acer Z301CT offers the picture quality that only a couple of other gaming monitors can match. Its native contrast ratio, peak brightness, color accuracy, and gamma are superior to what the competitors offer.
The monitor’s premium quality AMVA panel displays eye-catching images, with intensively deep blacks, rich and vivid colors, and lifelike intermediate tones and highlights. The dark scenes look amazing thanks to the monitor’s native refresh rate, that is measured at 2856:1. Colors look crisp as the Z301CT can get up to 355 nits bright. The mid tones and highlights look saturated thanks to the panel's gamma, that is only 2.3% off from being ideal.
Furthermore, the monitor's overall color inaccuracies are so minor that the human eye can’t detect those.
G-Sync allows the Acer Z301CT to eliminate stutter and screen tearing by synchronizing its refresh rate to the framerate of your Nvidia video card.
This feature works with all the Nvidia’s graphics cards that are newer than the GTX 650Ti.
The monitor does an excellent job of motion handling because of its low full pixel response time, integrated ULNB feature, and a highly responsive 144 Hz panel.
The monitor doesn’t suffer from ghosting because its four milliseconds full pixel response time ensures that fast-moving objects don’t leave overly long traces on the screen, as it allows each of the panel's pixel to change its color within only 4 ms.
The monitor’s ultra-low-motion-blur feature eliminates the motion blur as it makes the monitor strobe and behave CRT-like.
The overall motion looks genuinely fluid because of the monitor’s 144 Hz panel, which refreshes so quickly, that the image transitions look perfectly smooth to the human eye.
The monitor’s high responsiveness makes it feel like it’s an actual extension of your body, as it’s input lag of only 6.8 ms is too low to be sensed even in the fast-paced games.
The monitor’s input lag corresponds to the time delay needed by the monitor’s hardware to process a frame generated by a computer’s GPU.
You can increase the monitor’s native refresh rate from 144 Hz to 200 Hz using the Acer’s overclocking feature. Such overclocking doesn’t possess any danger to your monitor and is simple to implement.
You can use the monitor's integrated Tobii eye tracker in multiple games, including Assassin's Creed: Origins, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and many more. Currently, there are more than 60 games and applications that support Tobii eye-tracking technology.
The eye tracker itself is highly polished and accurate.
The Acer Z301CT is an excellent option for those who create media for web services as the monitor can display the full range of sRGB colors. sRGB is the default color space for the majority of web applications, including YouTube and Twitch.
In the majority of new games, the Acer Z301CT will give you the advantage of having a wider field of view compared to those who play on 1920x1080 panels because of the monitor’s 2560x1080 resolution. It has a very noticeable impact in many FPS games, like Battlefield 1 and TF2, where the extended side view lets you spot your enemies faster.
The Asus ROG Swift PG348Q offers a combination of picture quality, responsiveness, and motion handling capabilities only the best gaming monitors can match. It is also equipped with a bunch of top-notch gaming features, like G-Sync, crosshair, and FPS counter.
Only the best hardware can unleash the monitor’s full potential while running the latest AAA games on maximum graphics settings. In fact, the Asus itself suggests using ‘GTX 980 Ti or above’ for smooth gameplay.
The monitor’s native contrast ratio, peak brightness, gamma, and color uniformity are on par with what the best gaming monitors on the market offer.
The Asus PG348Q displays fascinating images, with crisp and vivid colors, accurate intermediate tones, and deep blacks. Colors pop and look vibrant thanks to the monitor’s peak brightness of 309 nits. Mid-tones look life-like since the monitor’s average gamma deviation is only 1.3% off from the perfect value. Blacks look rich and consistent because, while the panel’s native contrast ratio of 1081:1 manages to push blacks to relatively intense levels, the monitor’s overall uniformity dE of 0.78 ensures that the dark tones don’t blend with bright spots nearby. Such high color uniformity is a rare feature even for high-end monitors.
Moreover, the PG348Q’s color inaccuracies are virtually invisible to the human eye, because of it’s small color gamut error dE of 1.71.
The Asus PG348Q comes with a rich selection of gamer-specific features, which include an FPS counter, timer, and multiple crosshair options. You can find those in the monitor’s GamePlus menu. All the elements are customizable.
G-Sync reduces stutter and eliminates screen-tearing as it allows the Asus PG348Q to synchronize its refresh rate to the framerate of a Nvidia GPU.
The monitor supports G-Sync in the 30-100 Hz range.
Even while playing fast-paced FPS games, the Asus PG348Q feels highly responsive because of its low input lag of only 5,3 ms. Even though there are some faster panels available on the market, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to feel the 5,3 ms delay.
Monitor’s input lag is a time delay needed to process a frame generated by a computer.
The Asus PG348Q recreates relatively good-looking motion, with only some minor trails of motion blur following fast-moving objects on the screen. While fighting motion blur, the panel’s main weapon is the overdrive feature which allows each pixel of the Asus PG348Q to change its color within only five milliseconds. Unfortunately, some tiny trails of motion blur manage to get through.
Alternatively, you can use Asus’s ultra-low-motion-blur feature to eliminate the unwanted effect of motion blur, but that would cost you G-Sync, which can’t be used together with the ULMB.
To achieve the best monitor’s picture quality and color accuracy you need to calibrate some of its settings. Fortunately, all the critical calibration parameters are available online.
The PG348Q looks good even from sides as the monitor offers some of the best viewing angles on the market. You’ll notice some color and shadow shifting only when the viewing angle exceeds 50 degrees, which is an outstanding result, as even the best IPS panels usually start to degrade at the 40 degrees angles.
You can use the monitor’s integrated USB 3.0 hub for charging and interconnecting peripheral USB devices. The hub consists of a single upstream and four downstream USB 3.0 ports.
This Asus PG348Q is an excellent tool for content creators who like to capture, edit, and upload their gaming footage to YouTube or some other popular media services as the monitor offers a great amount of on-screen real estate, combined with the full sRGB coverage.
Even the most experienced gamers will like this monitor as27UD88 has one of the lowest input lags currently available for 4K display, measuring only at 9,8ms, making it ideal for virtually lag free gaming. The pixel response time measures at 5ms that is not the best result, but still is really good and should not cause any noticeable problems for majority of the users.
The screen can produce 1.07 billion colours and covers 99% of the sRGB color spectrum. This means great performance in nearly every situation, from gaming to professional photo/video color correcting and post-processing. Color accuracy is one the best among its competitors, and is on par with more expensive monitors. This monitor comes factory calibrated for accurate color accuracy, but can be further adjusted with LG’s True Color Pro calibration software.
The monitor has outstanding sharpness, brightness, color accuracy and an almost perfect sRGB color coverage. It comes factory pre-calibrated that will satisfy most users, but there are also plenty of calibration options if needed. The viewing angles are excellent at nearly 180 degrees, meaning pictures will look good even from extreme angles, without any noticeable color distortion.
Users will be able to find the best preset for their specific use of the monitor as it comes with 14 different ones. These include an sRGB preset, a preset for eased reading, for color blindness, multiple broadcasting standards and gaming presets. There are also several picture-by-picture presets, but only for two inputs at once. You can make your own presets as well and switching between them is quick and easy using the joystick at the bottom of the screen.
Laptop users with USB type-C connector can transmit video signals directly to the monitor. When connected, you can also use the monitor as a USB port for data transfer as well as charge your laptop if it supports type-C charging. All of this can be done simultaneously through just one wire.
The settings of the monitor are adjusted using a joystick at the bottom of the monitor. It's easy to reach, precise and all the controls are displayed on the screen. The OSD menu is clear and understandable.
The bezel is barely visible, except for the bottom part of the screen, resulting in an elegant look and an illusion that the screen is bigger than it actually is.
It is made from plastic, but feels robust and solid. The back is white and the foot has a silver metallic finish. The stand has a large footprint, but should fit on most of the tables and still feel stable. Overall it looks premium more expensive than it actually is.
Height and tilt adjustment can be made on this screen, although the height adjustment interval is rather small. Pivot is also available, so it can be used in portrait mode, when needed.
The LG 27UD88 offers a wide choice of connectivity options. It includes two HDMI 2.0 ports, one Display port 1.2 and USB-C port that can be used as a video input port as well. There are also two USB 3.0 ports for external hardware or media devices.
The screen can be very bright, at 320 nits, above the industry average of 240 nits. This means it can be used with no problems in well lit rooms. The screen is coated with a matte finish, preventing errant glare and reflections.
This screen's two USB 3.0 ports are located on the back of the monitor, facing directly away from its body, so it may not be always easy to access them.
The monitor cannot be swiveled, since its stand is static. However, given that the screen has a really wide viewing angle, there should be no necessity to swivel the screen.
The curved, ultrawide display really helps make the experience immersive. Any games or videos that support the resolution wrap around you, immersing you into the experience even more - especially for racing games or flight simulators.
With an HDMI 2.0, MHL, DisplayPort, Mini DisplayPort, and a DisplayPort out port for easy Daisychaining, the U3415W has lots of connectivity options.
It also has 4 USB 3.0 ports for connecting a mouse, keyboard, and other peripherals to the monitor instead of the computer, allowing for easier access.
The 21:9 aspect ratio, 3440x1440 resolution adds horizontal space which helps with productivity. It allows for two apps to be open at the same time without turning them into a tall, skinny rectangle where you need to scroll back and forth (or, you could have 3 tall skinny windows open at once).
This monitor can be adjusted up or down 115cm, tilted up 21 degrees, down 5 degrees, or left/right 30 degrees. This lets you use the monitor comfortably in virtually every position.
Not all content will stretch well to fit the Ultrawide resolution. Games or videos that don't support the resolution will have vertical black bars on the left and right sides of the screen which take away the benefit of having an Ultrawide monitor.