Acer XG270HU Monitor Hands on Review: Dark horse of budget 1440p/144hz displays?

Introduction

The Acer XG270HU Monitor is probably one of the most underrated monitors out there on the market today. When talking about budget 1440p/144hz displays, this monitor never seems to surface in any of those discussions, despite being one of the best deals out there for this category of displays. At the time of this writing, you can pick up this monitor off of Newegg for a dirt cheap $389.99! This of course is its sale price, but still normally it’s only $469.99, which is probably the lowest price for a 1440p/144hz monitor you can find, unless you get an imported knockoff Korean monitor, but those usually come with many dead pixels and are only around 60hz.

Acer XG270HU Features

The price isn’t the only great thing about this monitor though, as it boasts some pretty impressive specs. This monitor is a 27 inch TN LED Display rocking a massive resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, a refresh rate of 144hz, and a 1ms response time, making it great for competitive first person shooters especially. It is equipped with 2 DVI Ports, 1 HDMI, and 1 DisplayPort Connection (DisplayPort is what I used, as it is what you’ll need to use this monitor at 1440p/144hz). It also has FreeSync capabilities built right in as well, so if you’re running an AMD GPU you can take advantage of this feature as well. The best part about this monitor though, is it’s insanely small bezels. It makes the screen feel a whole lot larger, and it also makes the XG270HU a great option for those opting to go for a double or triple monitor setup.

Design

Now, how is the overall build quality and appearance of this monitor? Well if I had to sum it up in one word, it would be outstanding. This is definitely a well built monitor, from it’s high quality construction to it’s nice smooth bezel. Speaking of which, is something a lot of people think is a dealbreaker with this monitor: it has a colored bezel on the bottom of the display. Honestly, it isn’t a big deal and is blown out of proportion too often. People think colored bezels are distracting, and this actually isn’t the case. The pictures of this monitor misrepresent the actual color of the bezel and make it out to be a bright annoying red, when in reality it is a very subtle bronze color. The bezel itself is matte and not reflective nor distracting. If I’m not actively looking at it or paying attention to it, I can’t tell the difference between this and a black bezel. Other than the bezel, the screen is very nice to look at from many different angles, as well as being a matte non reflective surface so lights that are near it aren’t an issue. The only minor complaint of the build, is the stand. It’s not the most sturdy thing in the world, but it gets the job done. This con can easily be fixed with VESA mounts as well, which leads me into my next section.

Mounting the XG270HU

The lack of built in VESA mount holes. Now you’re probably thinking, but Stephen you just said you can VESA mount it! I’ll get to that in a moment. This monitor is not equipped with native VESA mounting support, but this problem is easily remedied by a VESA mount adapter made specifically for this monitor. It locks into the bottom of the display where the stand would usually go and give you an easy mounting solution. This is definitely a sigh of relief to many users wanting to go for multi-monitor setups! Other aspects of this monitor I should point out are it’s built in speakers. While this is a nice addition, it definitely is not something you should use as your dedicated speakers unless you’re absolutely desperate or strapped for cash and have no headphones or other speakers.

Acer XG270HU Performance

Now, how does the monitor perform? Absolutely fantastic. 144hz means you can go up to 144 frames per second in games without getting visual tearing. Not all triple A games are easy to hit a solid 144fps, but allowing the game to go comfortably above 60fps without having to lock the frame rate or risk visual tearing is nice. Plus in games like Counter Strike and League of Legends where it’s easy to hit 144fps, the experience is phenomenal. 144fps is definitely something you need to experience for yourself to get a true grasp of what it is. Everything is just so extremely smooth and responsive. Aside from refresh rate, the crisp 1440p resolution and the great looking colors makes games look amazing, so this monitor is definitely a massive step up from older 1080p displays. You won’t want to go back to your old display ever again.

Acer XG270HU FreeSync

This monitor also has built in FreeSync capabilities. Due to me having an Nvidia GTX GeForce 1070, I was unable to test this feature. This however, shouldn’t really be a selling point of the monitor, as it was one of the first FreeSync monitors released so probably there are better FreeSync enabled monitors out there on the market by now. I would classify FreeSync with this monitor as a little added benefit for AMD GPU users, but if you have Nvidia like me, don’t let that turn you away. The price alone for being 1440p/144hz already makes this display worth it. If you’re looking for FreeSync as a main selling feature, I would look at newer models as they more than likely would be better suited for you.

Is the Acer XG270HU good value?

Now, with all of this comes the big question. Why this monitor in particular? Why not other monitors on the market? That’s a simple question which can be answered easily: the bang for your buck. 1440p/144hz monitors aren’t cheap (especially FreeSync/Gsync ones), and having the XG270HU be at the price point that it’s at is amazing. In a market where 1440p/144hz displays can easily hit $500-$600, the XG270HU is definitely the best value for the money in terms of high end monitors.

Summary

Overall, I’d have to say this is definitely an amazing monitor, and is a steal at the price they’re asking for it. Everything about it is great from it’s price point, to it’s eye popping colors and high refresh rate, this monitor is a definite A+. This monitor especially has great potential for triple monitor setups as well with it’s super thin bezels. If you’re looking to get into 1440p 144hz monitor territory and don’t want to spend $500-$700, this monitor is your best option. I couldn’t recommend it enough.

(Big shoutout to Stephen Danchuk for giving us his views on the Acer XG270HU)

Acer XG270HU Hands on Review

• Build Quality – 80%80%
• Image Quality – 95%95%
• Features – 85%85%
• Value – 100%100%

Summary

We’ll keep it short – the XG270HU is one of the best value 1440p/144hz display’s currently on the market. (Even in 2017!)

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