Planar Helium PCT2785 vs Acer Predator Z301C

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).

You can use the monitor’s integrated USB 3.0 hub to interconnect or charge peripheral USB devices.

Even though the monitor’s 6 W speakers aren’t particularly useful for gaming, occasionally they might come in handy.

The monitor’s 1800R curvature makes the overall gaming experience more immersive as you can experience the panel surrounding you.

You can increase the monitor’s native refresh rate from 144 Hz to 200 Hz using Acer’s overclocking feature. Such overclocking doesn’t pose any danger to your hardware and is simple to implement.

The monitor’s integrated FPS counter works flawlessly and doesn’t increase the display lag.

G-Sync allows the Acer Z301C 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’s high responsiveness makes actions feel instant as its input lag of 6.8 ms is too low to be sensed even in 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.

The monitor does an excellent job of motion handling because of its low full pixel response time, integrated ULNB feature, and highly responsive 144 Hz panel.

The monitor doesn’t suffer from ghosting because its four milliseconds of 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 like CRT monitors.

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.

For most new games, the Acer Z301C 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 where the extended side view lets you spot your enemies faster.

The Acer Z301C offers picture quality that few other gaming monitors can match. Its native contrast ratio, peak brightness, color accuracy, and gamma are superior to most of its competitors.

The monitor’s premium quality AMVA panel displays eye-catching images, with intensely deep blacks, vivid colors, and lifelike intermediate tones and highlights. The dark scenes look amazing thanks to the monitor’s contrast ratio of 2856:1. Colors look crisp as the Z301C can get up to 355 nits of brightness. The mid tones and highlights look saturated thanks to the panel's gamma which 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.

Because of its responsiveness, motion handling capabilities, and picture quality, the Acer Z301C 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 an FPS counter.

The Acer Z301C is an excellent option for those who create media for web services as the monitor can display the full range of sRGB colors. The sRGB color space is the default for the majority of web applications, including YouTube and Twitch.