Acer Predator X27 X1 evaluation: An reasonably priced 4K OLED with all of the ports

Value When Reviewed

$799.99

Finest Costs In the present day: Acer Predator X27 X1

Acer’s Predator X27 X1 is a comparatively reasonably priced 27-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor with an MSRP of $799.99. To attain that, Acer ditches some options that you simply’ll discover on rivals, reminiscent of HDR brightness management. The corporate additionally appears to take a “elements bin” strategy to design. Its MSRP is engaging, although, and the monitor nonetheless manages to ship nice SDR and HDR picture high quality.

Learn on to be taught extra, then see our roundup of the most effective displays for comparability.

Acer Predator X27 X1 specs and options

The Acer Predator X27 X1’s specs are much like different 4K QD-OLED displays and place the monitor as a mid-range possibility. Providing 4K decision with a refresh charge as much as 240Hz places the Predator X27 X1 a rung above price range 1440p QD-OLED shows, although the monitor lacks extra unique options like an ultra-fast refresh charge (some now exceed 500Hz).

• Show dimension: 26.5-inch 16:9 side ratio
• Native decision: 3,840 x 2,160
• Panel sort: QD-OLED
• Refresh charge: 240Hz
• Adaptive sync: AMD FreeSync Premium Professional
• HDR: HDR10, VESA DisplayHDR 400 Licensed
• Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and 65 watts of Energy Supply, 1x USB-B 3.2 upstream, 2x USB-A 3.2 downstream, 3.5mm headphone jack
• Audio: 2x 5-watt audio system
• Value: $799.99 MSRP

The dearth of high-end options is mirrored within the monitor’s modest $799.99 MSRP. Just a few rivals, such because the MSI MAG 272UP, supply a 4K OLED panel at an identical worth, however most 4K OLED displays have the next MSRP.

Acer Predator X27 X1 design

The Acer Predator X27 X1 embraces a fundamental aesthetic that depends on matte black supplies throughout each portion of the monitor, from the show panel to the bezel and the stand. It’s not a nasty look, although, and it permits the monitor to slot in a wide range of conditions.

Nonetheless, the design makes some errors which are widespread to Acer’s present monitor line-up. The huge, wing-like stand is bigger than it must be. It additionally has a deep stand neck that makes the monitor arduous to place correctly on a desk. Personally, I felt the monitor stand was just too giant to realize a snug viewing place on my desk, which is 26 inches deep. That is uncommon for a 27-inch monitor.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

I observed a semi-transparent loop on the rear of the show panel, surrounding the place the stand attaches to the monitor. Displays typically use such a loop for RGB-LED lighting, however the Acer Predator X27 X1 doesn’t have this characteristic, so it’s an odd design alternative. I think Acer is re-using elements throughout a number of displays to maintain prices low. To be truthful, Acer has achieved that purpose, because the Acer Predator X27 X1 is cheap for a 4K QD-OLED monitor.

On the plus aspect, the stand gives a great vary of ergonomic adjustment. This consists of 120mm of peak, 25 levels of tilt, 40 levels of swivel, and 90 levels of pivot for rotation into portrait mode. A 75x75mm VESA mount is included to be used with third-party monitor stands and arms.

Acer Predator X27 X1 connectivity

The Acer Predator X27 X1’s connectivity is amongst its finest options. The monitor consists of two HDMI 2.1 ports and two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, plus a USB-C port with DisplayPort Alternate Mode. That makes for 5 video inputs in whole, which is so much for a monitor at any worth level, and nice for a monitor that undercuts some rivals with its MSRP. The Acer Predator X27 X1 is an apparent alternative for individuals who join many PCs and recreation consoles to a single monitor.

A pair of downstream USB-A 3.2 ports are linked to the USB-C enter, which makes the Predator X27 X1 a fundamental USB hub monitor. The monitor additionally has a USB-B upstream port, which is helpful when you have a desktop or an older laptop computer that lacks USB-C. The monitor doesn’t promote a KVM change operate, however it does have USB enter auto-detect, which as far as I can inform does the identical job.

A 3.5mm audio-out rounds out the connectivity.

It’s additionally price point out that all the ports face to the rear of the show panel. This isn’t uncommon, however most displays have downward-facing ports. I desire rearward-facing ports as a result of they’re extra seen when connecting or disconnecting gadgets. Nonetheless, rearward-facing ports are troublesome should you plan to wall mount, because the wires will get in the best way of your mount.

Acer Predator X27 X1 menus and options

The Acer Predator X27 X1’s on-screen menu is managed by a joystick on the underside bezel. It’s responsive and intuitive to make use of. The on-screen menu system is logically organized, however the font is quite small and doesn’t distinction properly with the background, so it’s tough to learn.

Acer packs fairly a number of picture high quality options within the Predator X27. It has coloration house modes for sRGB, Rec.709, DCI-P3, and SMPTE-C. You’ll additionally discover exact gamma changes and 6-axis customization for coloration hue and saturation. The one weak spot is in coloration temperature, because the monitor supplies obscure presets (like “heat” and “cool”) as an alternative of exact presets in levels Kelvin. Nonetheless, the vary of picture high quality adjustment is best than common for a gaming monitor.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The monitor’s gaming options are extra fundamental. You’ll discover an on-screen crosshair and timer, a sniper mode (which zooms a portion of the show), and the choice to see the present refresh charge. Like most OLED displays, the Predator X27 X1 helps you to prohibit the seen show house to emulate a smaller monitor. This may be useful for esports, as a result of it retains extra of the motion inside the middle of your imaginative and prescient.

Most monitor options will be accessed with Acer Show Widget, which helps you to change monitor settings inside Home windows. I don’t love the design of the app and like the alternate options from Asus and Dell, however Acer’s Show Widget does the job.

Acer Predator X27 X1 audio

A pair of 5-watt audio system are bundled within the Acer Predator X27 X1. It is a good shock for 2 causes. First, most gaming displays don’t even trouble to incorporate audio system. And second, the 5-watt audio system are higher than common.

Don’t get me improper; you’ll nonetheless completely desire a headset for many video games and flicks. Nonetheless, the audio system supply acceptable quantity and a satisfactory expertise for podcasts, most YouTube movies, and video games the place the audio presentation isn’t necessary.

Acer Predator X27 X1 picture high quality

As talked about, the Acer Predator X27 X1 has a 4K QD-OLED panel manufactured by Samsung. Most 4K OLED displays use such a panel, although some use LG WOLED panels. The Acer Predator X27 X1’s SDR picture high quality is mainly an identical to its QD-OLED rivals, which is to say it’s glorious.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

First up is brightness, the place the Acer Predator X27 X1 hit a most sustained SDR brightness of 270 nits. Because the graph reveals, that could be a respectable although mid-range consequence for a present OLED monitor.

Even so, 270 nits is shiny sufficient to be used in most conditions. It can solely look dim in a really shiny room the place you don’t have any possibility to manage the sunshine. The monitor has a shiny end, and whereas an anti-glare coat barely diffuses gentle, glare will stay a difficulty when you have a shiny gentle supply sitting over your shoulder.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Distinction is OLED’s largest energy. OLED displays can flip each pixel on and off individually, which implies they will ship an ideal black stage of zero nits and may present this with out gentle spilling over from close by pixels. The result’s an basically good distinction expertise that delivers a deep, immersive picture.

All present OLED displays obtain this, nonetheless, so the Predator X27 X1 has no benefit or drawback right here.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The Acer Predator X27 X1’s coloration gamut is ever-so-slightly extra slim than most QD-OLED displays. It achieves 100% of sRGB and 98 % of DCI-P3, however solely 91 % of AdobeRGB. It is a hair under most rivals, which are likely to cowl 93 % to 95 % of AdobeRGB.

Nonetheless, I’m undecided you’ll discover except you’re a inventive professional who creates content material adhering to the AdobeRGB commonplace. The colour gamut continues to be extraordinarily huge and supplies a vivid, extremely saturated picture.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Coloration accuracy is sweet, too, with a mean coloration error properly under 1.0. The monitor additionally maintained this throughout all colours examined, that means there have been no severe outliers from the typical. The picture appears to be like lifelike and true to the creator’s intent.

The Acer Predator X27 X1 did properly in gamma and coloration temperature checks. It achieved a gamma curve of two.1, which is a tad off the goal of two.2. It additionally had a default coloration temperature of 6600K, simply above the goal of 6500K. Each deviations are minor, although, and I didn’t discover them noticeable in use.

Sharpness is stable. The monitor’s 4K decision throughout a 26.5-inch viewable floor works out to greater than 160 pixels per inch. This isn’t as spectacular because it as soon as was, as 27-inch 5K displays at the moment are widespread (although none are OLED). Nonetheless, this pixel density is sufficient to present a pointy picture. Small fonts and wonderful interface particulars look clean and crisp when seen from a typical viewing distance of two to a few toes away.

Acer Predator X27 X1 HDR picture high quality

The Acer Predator X27 X1 helps HDR10 and is VESA DisplayHDR 400 Licensed. That is additionally true of most 4K QD-OLED displays, however how does the Predator X27 X1 stack up in the actual world?

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Reasonably properly, truly. The monitor’s decrease MSRP will not be evident in its HDR brightness, because the monitor can obtain over 950 nits at finest, and it usually performs the identical as different latest 4K QD-OLED displays.

Which means will probably be extraordinarily shiny when the show must be lit for a brief interval, or when a small portion of the show is shiny. When all the display is shiny, nonetheless, HDR brightness barely exceeds SDR.

Subjectively, I believed HDR content material seemed nice. The monitor gives actual eye-searing highlights; a latest private favourite is Diablo 2: Resurrected, the place fireplace spells look improbable in HDR. The monitor’s HDR presentation additionally advantages from the panel’s wonderful distinction and huge coloration gamut.

Whereas the monitor’s HDR is stable, it doesn’t supply the choice to regulate monitor brightness in HDR. It is a characteristic rivals like Asus and MSI have embraced. It may be helpful on a monitor, as many films and video games current HDR with a tv in thoughts and may appear overly shiny on a monitor, particularly should you recreation in a darkened room. Sadly, Acer doesn’t present the instruments to repair that subject should you discover it distracting.

Acer Predator X27 X1 movement efficiency

Like most 4K QD-OLED displays, the Acer Predator X27 X1 gives a refresh charge of 240Hz. This is kind of the usual in 2026. It’s an excellent commonplace, although, and the Predator X27 X1’s movement efficiency is nice. Quick-moving objects look crisp as they zoom throughout the show and quick digicam pans in 3D video games will protect a variety of element within the scene. The refresh charge is even useful on the Home windows desktop, as you may learn scrolling textual content that may be illegible on a 60Hz monitor. All the monitor’s 5 video inputs can deal with 4K decision at 240Hz.

Acer lists official assist for AMD FreeSync Premium Professional, and I discovered it labored properly in my testing. The monitor was detected by my AMD Radeon 7800 XT video card and body pacing was clean. I count on the monitor may also work with G-Sync, as most such displays do, although I wasn’t in a position to take a look at it on this case.

One characteristic is absent: a backlight strobing mode. It is a mode that shortly provides black, clean frames between regular frames. It appears like a horrid concept however, because of the difficult methods our eyes work, it improves movement readability. Asus and MSI are leaders right here: Asus has ELMB and MSI has MPRT. Acer, although, has opted out. I don’t discover this a deal-breaker, however it may very well be a draw back for movement readability purists.

That apart, the monitor’s total movement readability adheres to OLED’s normal commonplace of excellence. The Acer Predator X27 X1 isn’t considerably higher or worse total than the competitors. Nonetheless, as a result of Acer undercuts rivals on MSRP, this arguably works to the Predator X27 X1’s benefit.

Must you purchase the Acer Predator X27 X1?

Acer’s Predator X27 X1 isn’t good, however it’s a good alternative should you discover it on the proper worth. It advantages from a variety of ports, excessive HDR brightness, and stable movement readability. These perks are considerably diminished by the monitor’s cumbersome design and absent options, like HDR brightness management. The monitor’s $799.99 MSRP is on the low finish for a 27-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor, and it’s a good alternative at that worth.