Review on Acer VG240Y Bmiix FREESYNC Technology 23.8", 1920X1080P, 75Hz, Frameless, HD, HDMI by Eric Babers

So, I'm in the next few days and I'll have two parts of this review. The first looks at the specs, initial reaction, picture/HDR/performance and quality of the monitor I received. The second part will be an update after additional usage time to address any issues that will arise in the future. So I would order a DisplayPort cable with HBR2 or 3 first. It's much better than the included HDMI cable and DP can do better at 10bit/1440p 144Hz (or 10bit-4k 4.4.4) (not that this monitor supports that too, I'll get to that in a bit) The stand is cute too ok it seems well made and doesn't feel flimsy compared to some others I've seen. I have a feeling that due to the weight of this monitor, the three-point stand design seems like a poor choice. Because the tips of the stand are much thinner, they may take the most stress when lateral force is applied to the monitor. Combined with the fact that the monitor is a bit heavy compared to similar devices in the same but more expensive class. Although I like the look/finish of the monitor. Great aesthetics all round. The user interface is pretty good, better than some others that are even more expensive than this one. It gives you the ability to save 3 of your own presets. It has a good adjustment range, the only downside I felt was the lack of sharpness adjustment. It only includes the "Super Sharpen" on/off option. Which can hit or miss. Looks good for normal web browsing. I wouldn't turn it off in games. The factory calibration was almost perfect. I've tried setting it up in different ways, tried several profiles that others have used. Honestly, it looks the best right out of the box. Note that FRC 8bit + 2 is only possible at 120 Hz. For me it's not a big problem. I didn't expect the frequency to exceed 120Hz at all as I like to keep my graphics settings as high as possible. And it's better than 24 extra Hz. But that's just me. I went through the entire list of tests for monitors. All actually showed a lot more than I expected. Except 2nd pixel bypass test. Everything failed. And I can actually notice pixel wandering when I try. But with the last monitor I had in over 6 years it was bad. It doesn't bother me at all. You will probably never know. The second was a ghost. It was VERY VERY LITTLE. This was especially noticeable in 10-bit HDR. With 8-bit / HDR off / All in stock. To be honest it was as minimal as I said before. If only I hadn't read and tested about it. Most likely he will never know what it is. Many ghosting and flickering issues have been fixed in the new Innolux panels. They say AOU panels are bad. (CHECK THE BUILD DATE OF YOUR MONITOR BY HOLDING THE BUTTON ABOVE THE JOYSTICK THEN PRESSING THE POWER BUTTON. A SMALL RED "F" WILL APPEAR AT THE TOP OF THE INTERFACE MENU. ANY DATE AFTER NOV./2018/SHOULD. WITH IPS get halos no matter what. Just adjust settings to balance, refresh, and limit ghosting image quality. No dead or stuck pixels. I have no flickering at all. Back light bleed is pretty damn good too. This is just a tiny part of the bottom left corner of the screen in the BLB test.(MINOR UPDATE: It seems to have almost no bleed, what I saw was IPS glow at certain angles. Like a bit Halo Man, with lower pixel response time. You can expect a little IPS glow, overdone and way too noticeable on pricier IPS monitors, this is less likely, although picture/color quality is pretty damn good, colors are very saturated t, the brightness is very bright too. I actually prefer mine to be set to 75 out of 80 as some white layout sites can be too bright Contrast is pretty good too, didn't need to adjust at all. Colors are best in Standard/HDR on/10bit for easy use. After a few hours I can say that in Elite DGGG/Insurgency Sandstorm/CSGO/BFV there is a slight ghosting effect on hard textures/text in game, but it was minimal and only in certain situations. 144Hz/Standard/8bit/HDR Off/Super Sharpness OFF / Turning off ACM seems to perform best in this regard. The picture quality was honestly the same in my opinion. This "almost" eliminated or minimized the ghosting. The viewing angle is also quite decent. TOP/BOTTOM I would say that the 178 degree statement is correct. LEFT/RIGHT it's more like 45 degrees, after that you start to influence it. Please note that this monitor only displays 10-bit color at 120Hz. For some this may be a problem. But don't let this be a deal breaker. To be honest, this $350 monitor turned out to be a lot better than expected. Some of the comments/ratings might startle you. But last year Acer fixed many of the shortcomings, and many of those reviews are from when these monitors were first released, or shortly after. It had a lot of issues with flickering/ghosting/etc. For the most part, though, color accuracy is pretty damn good if you're doing work that requires absolute color accuracy. This is not a real 10-bit monitor, it simulates one with 8 bits + 2 FRC. This means it pretty much mimics it, using a high refresh rate to flash between two separate colors to mimic another color. For example, if you want green 7.5, a lighter green pixel will flash at 7, then a darker green pixel at 8. Average 7.5. (In short) I'm not very good at color accuracy for those editing videos/photos, but this monitor may not be the best for you. But for the price at this point, and only if you can't find another better IPS monitor in the same price range, it's a pretty solid bet. Love it, the colors are just amazing and it's just day and night compared to my Samsung TN monitor. I confess I was VERY nervous about the purchase. So I felt a bit obligated to do a full review and it turned out to be the longest review I've ever written. That's why this $350 IPS monitor easily ranks in the top five 1440P IPS monitors right now. Other sub-$350 options (sometimes) include Pixio, BENQ, Viewsonic, Viotek, and possibly Nixeus. All have their pros/cons. I wouldn't take AOC, it's VERY dark. And in case you're wondering, the difference between the Nitro VG271U and the Nitro XV272U is just the stand, everything. The whole monitor is exactly the same. If VG is cheaper, take it. It's VESA compliant and uses the money saved to choose your own wall mount/stand. The XV has only one adjustable stand. And different letters on the box. That's all. At least when you think about it. It's a win-win, and it really has great color reproduction and gaming performance. Just make sure you check the specs of each monitor you're looking at so you don't get any surprises. For example, this product page does not state that only 8+2 color depths can be supported at 120 Hz. I almost feel like I deserved a solid star removed from the rating.