Review on Acer Predator XB271HU Bmiprz: 2560x1440 WQHD with Built-in Speakers and HD Clarity by Adam Sacra

I've had this monitor for over 4 weeks now. This is my first "precalibration" review. I'll be getting my hands on the X-Rite i1 Display Pro soon and after going through the learning curve and calibrating it myself I'll be posting a follow up. Track the review for the last few years or so. I have a GTX 1080 TI and have been running it on a Dell U2415 at 60Hz since spring. I wanted a very good monitor that would be good for desktop and gaming as my computer is heavily used for both. I wanted a GSYNC 2560x1440 IPS or VA monitor in the 30-32" range so the desktop DPI issue didn't become an issue, but there aren't any at the moment. This monitor was one of the most popular 27 inch monitors. So I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a try. 4 weeks later, here's my list of pros and cons: If you've read the reviews, none of them come as a surprise. Pros: - Great monitor with gsync - 144/165Hz makes gaming smooth even with gsync disabled on GTX 1080 TI - Love anti-reflective coating - Lots of real estate on the screen Cons: - User interface difficult to maneuver - Ready to use: colors wash out. Whites are boring. Black greyish. Blacks are squashed - Yellow cast is noticeable even using public ICC profiles from various review sites - For desktop use, it's not as good as a premium desktop monitor, but is downright stunning as a gaming monitor. This monitor's DPI strains my eyes and the Windows 10 scaling (even with Creator's Update) helps but doesn't make up for it well - but it's not the monitor's fault. The real estate is good but it takes a little effort to see the little things. What's bad are the colors. I've tried several ICC profiles from review sites and none of them resulted in what I would call decent colors. The shadows turn black and a lot of detail is lost. Whites are not crispy. Let's see how this all looks after calibrating it myself. All in all I still deserve a 5 because this is a gaming monitor and playing at 144/165 fps is a lot of fun. DPI scaling doesn't cause any problems in the games I play. Games with gsync and/or high refresh rates are considered "smooth" if your games are capped at 144/165 fps to match the monitor. ---------------------- --------------------- EDIT 12/31/17 Follow -up I have Display X -rite i1 pro and spent a few days learning how to use it with DisplayCal software. After calibration, the picture has improved significantly. I calibrated to 6500k, 140 nits (my preferred brightness level). Whites are much whiter now. The colors have improved and the black and shadow details are much better. My black level is 0.16 and black crushing is gone in some of my games. The contrast ratio is still a bit anemic at 880:1 ------------------------------------- -- -------------- ---------------