Planar Helium PCT2785 vs Acer Predator XB271H bmiprz

The black levels are respectively low at 0.16cd/m², which helps the contrast ratio achieve 1100:1 which is much lower than the advertised 5000:1, but still quite good.

The response time is 12ms, which isn't lightning fast, but it's still quick enough to make the system feel more responsive than cheaper monitors. While not fast enough for high-level gaming, this monitor won't make your system feel slow or unresponsive.

It really does look like a massive tablet with a kickstand - but that's not a bad thing. There's no stand visible, leaving the front looking very clean. The stand can angle anywhere from 15-70 degrees which allows for flexible use, or it can be folded in and used flat on the desk or even mounted using the VESA mounting holes.

This monitor has many peripherals built-in, and unless you use them heavily they will do the job just fine. Unless you feel the need for dedicated hardware, the built-in stereo speakers work well enough, and the webcam and mic are acceptable quality for occasional recreational use (for business calls or other uses where quality is important, you'll want to upgrade to dedicated hardware).

Compared to the QHD monitors present in this price range, the Acer XB271H puts noticeably less strain on your computer because it has fewer pixels for your GPU to run.

You can charge external USB devices or connect them to your computer using four of the monitor's downstream USB 3.0 ports.

The backlight of this monitor doesn't flicker as the Acer XB271H uses a DC signal to dim its backlight. Backlight flickering is one of the main causes of eye fatigue while working with monitors.

Getting the best possible viewing angles is not a problem with this monitor because it supports the necessary ergonomic adjustments including tilt, swivel, height, and even pivot.

You can increase the monitor's native refresh rate from 144 Hz to 170 Hz using the overclocking feature in the monitor's OSD menu.

The Acer Predator XB271H has an amazingly low input lag of only 4.6 ms, which makes it one of the most responsive gaming monitors in its price range.

The input lag of a monitor shows how much time it needs to process a frame generated by a computer's graphics card.

The Acer Predator XB271H makes the motion appear clear and free of artificial motion blur and ghosting effects, as the monitor combines fast full pixel response time with Acer's ULMB feature and the panel's high refresh rate.

Motion blur is eliminated as each panel's pixel can change its color fast enough to prevent the fast-moving objects from leaving traces. It is possible because of the monitor's full pixel response time of 1 ms.

Ghosting is reduced to a minimum by the aid of Acer's ULMB feature, which strobes the monitor's backlights and makes it behave like CRT monitors.

Finally, as the monitor's high native refresh rate ensures smooth and fluid motion by updating the monitor's image 144 times a second.

Even though the monitor's picture quality doesn't excel in any aspect, it still performs similarly to the majority of gaming monitors in this price range.

The monitor displays average-looking images with mediocre dark scenes and reasonably luminous colors. The dark scenes look average as the monitor's native contrast ratio of 1000:1 is not high enough to make its blacks appear natural. However, the colors look vivid thanks to the monitor's peak brightness of 300 nits.

G-Sync eliminates stutter and vertical screen tearing as it allows the monitor to synchronize its refresh rate to the framerate of your video card.

The Acer Predator XB271H supports G-Sync in the 20-170 Hz range.

The Acer Predator XB271H is one of the fastest gaming monitors in its price range; it offers responsive and lag-free gaming experience at a stunning 170 Hz refresh rate.