When comparing BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 vs Acer Predator XB241H bmipr, the Slant community recommends Acer Predator XB241H bmipr for most people. In the question“What are the best monitors?” Acer Predator XB241H bmipr is ranked 16th while BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is ranked 23rd. The most important reason people chose Acer Predator XB241H bmipr is:
The Acer XB241H has one of the fastest panels in its price range. Once overclocked, its native refresh rate can reach a whopping 180 Hz. High refresh rate can give you an advantage over your opponents who play on slower monitors because you'll receive faster image updates. For example, a 180 Hz monitor will be on average 11 ms ahead of a corresponding 60 Hz one, entirely due to the higher refresh rate. The overclocking procedure for the Acer XB241H is straightforward and can be done via the OSD. It imposes no danger to the hardware. The native refresh rate of a monitor corresponds to the number of frames it can show each second. For example, a 180 Hz monitor can display up to 180 frames a second.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Has a remote
You can move between different display modes with a click of a button because using the configurable fast-access switch attached to the base of the monitor.
Pro Reduces the eye strain
The ZOWIE XL2720 causes noticeably less eye strain than the majority of competitors in its price range because the monitor is flicker-free and has a mode that reduces the intensity of blue light.
Backlight flickering and high-intensity blue light emitted by LEDs are among the main factors related to eye fatigue that is caused by extensive use of computer monitors.
Pro Decent ergonomics
You can adjust the monitor’s tilt angle, swivel angle, and height so you won't have much trouble configuring it according to your setup.
Pro Responsive OSD buttons
The five capacitive OSD buttons are built very well and react quickly each time you press them.
Pro Highly responsive
The monitor's input lag stays at the fantastically low value of 3.2 ms making the ZOWIE XL2720 one of the most responsive gaming monitors in its price range.
A monitor’s input lag represents the delay between your GPU generating a frame and the frame starting to appear on your monitor.
Pro Intuitive OSD
The OSD is organized in a user-friendly way so all of the settings in the menu are only a couple of clicks away. Additionally, you can customize the OSD menu.
Pro Displays motion well
The monitor's excellent motion handling capabilities allow the BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 to display fast-paced content free from motion blur and ghosting because of its panel's high native refresh rate and fast pixel response time.
Motion blur and ghosting effects are eliminated by the panel's quick pixels that need only one millisecond to change their color because of the monitor's full pixel response time of 1 ms. Such fast color change prevents fast-moving objects from leaving artificial trails.
The monitor’s 144 Hz panel refreshes every seven milliseconds making motion appear smooth and fluid.
Pro Good picture quality
Regarding its picture quality, the ZOWIE XL2720 is on par with the majority of gaming monitors in this price range as it offers sufficient contrast ratio, peak brightness, color accuracy, and gamma response.
While the monitor's dark scene performance is mediocre, it can still display vivid and accurate colors and eye-catching intermediate tones. It can recreate average-looking dark scenes with blacks that are neither overly flat, nor profound as the monitor's native contrast ratio is limited to 915:1. The colors pop and appear relatively accurate since the ZOWIE XL2720 combines relatively high peak brightness of 315 nits with almost unnoticeable color accuracy error dE of 2.2. Mid-tones look good and saturated thanks to the monitor's gamma response of 2.06 which is only 6.3% away from the ideal value.
Pro Built-in USB hub
You can connect up to three peripheral USB devices to your computer using the monitor's inbuilt USB 2.0 hub. This would come in handy for those who use a laptop and have a lot of stationary USB devices.
Pro Great for gaming
The BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is one of the best gaming monitors in its price range because it offers low input lag, flawlessly-handled motion, and high native refresh rate combined with decent overall picture quality.
Pro High-speed panel
The Acer XB241H has one of the fastest panels in its price range. Once overclocked, its native refresh rate can reach a whopping 180 Hz.
High refresh rate can give you an advantage over your opponents who play on slower monitors because you'll receive faster image updates. For example, a 180 Hz monitor will be on average 11 ms ahead of a corresponding 60 Hz one, entirely due to the higher refresh rate.
The overclocking procedure for the Acer XB241H is straightforward and can be done via the OSD. It imposes no danger to the hardware.
The native refresh rate of a monitor corresponds to the number of frames it can show each second. For example, a 180 Hz monitor can display up to 180 frames a second.
Pro Flicker-less
The Acer XB241H does not flicker because this monitor uses a DC signal to dim its backlight. Backlight flickering is horrible for your eyes; it can cause severe eye fatigue over the extensive use of a monitor.
Pro Adjustable
You'll always be able to experience the best possible viewing angles by adjusting tilt angle, swivel angle, and height of this monitor according to your workspace requirements.
Pro Has speakers
This monitor's pair of the builtin speakers might turn out to be occasionally useful.
Pro Motion looks clear
The Acer XB241H displays motion smoothly, without artificial motion blur or ghosting effects because of the monitor's fast pixel response time and high refresh rate.
Fast-moving objects on screen don't leave noticeable trails as each pixel can change its color within only one millisecond because of the monitor's full pixel response time of 1 ms.
The image looks clear and fluid since the monitor refreshes every 5.55 ms. This is caused by the monitor's native refresh rate of 180 Hz.
Pro Adequate picture quality
The overall picture quality of the Acer Predator XB241H is on par with the majority of gaming monitors in this price range. It has reasonable contrast ratio and high peak brightness.
The monitor can display crisp and vivid colors as well as some average-looking dark scenes. Colors look genuinely luminous thanks to the monitor's peak brightness of 350 nits. Dark scenes look mediocre as the monitor's native contrast ratio of 1000:1 is not high enough to push its blacks to highly intense levels.
Pro Compatible with G-Sync
G-Sync eliminates screen tearing and stutter as it allows a monitor to synchronize its refresh rate to the framerate of a video card.
G-Sync works with all the Nvidia graphics cards that are newer than the GTX 650Ti.
Pro Responsive
Even though no reputable source has tested the input lag of this monitor yet, after evaluating the overall user experience and the input lag tests of other Acer monitors from 2015-2016, it is clear that the input lag of this monitor is most likely to be within the 4.5 ms range. It's a rather good result because it is on par with what the most responsive panels in this price range offer.
Input lag is a monitor's delay that is caused by the onboard image processing. Having this value as low as possible is essential in gaming.
Pro Excellent for gaming
Armed with a fast and responsive TN panel, the Acer Predator XB241H offers fluid and connected gaming experience without sacrificing the overall picture quality. In its price range, it is one of the very best gaming monitors money can buy.
Cons
Con Lacks adaptive sync
The BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is not compatible with either Nvidia's G-Sync or AMD's FreeSync.
Con Lacks speakers
The ZOWIE XL2720 does not have inbuilt speakers.
Con Expensive
Priced just a bit below the $380 mark, this is a pretty costly 27-inch FHD monitor.
Con Small panel
The 24-inch panel of the Acer XB241H is considerably smaller than what competitors at this price point offer.
Con Poor connectivity
In terms of connections, the XB241H doesn't offer much; apart from the standard DP and HDMI ports, you’ll only get a 3.5mm audio output port.
Con Narrow viewing angles
The XB241H doesn’t have the best viewing angles as even a slight, 10-degree angle between the viewer and the panel will result in total color and shadow degradation. This is a common issue for TN panels in this price range.
However, as the monitor has an extensive range of ergonomic adjustments, you can regulate its position so that your viewing angle remains ideal.
Con Blue power-on LED is annoying
The blue power-on LED in the lower right corner of this monitor is too bright and will likely be distracting and even cause eye strain.
Unfortunately, Asus still ignores this issue, even though it is suspected that a simple firmware update could fix the problem.