Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Casey Weaver photo
Portugal, Lisbon
1 Level
77 Review
0 Karma

Review on πŸ‘€ 23.8-Inch Acer K242HYL Bid Monitor: 1920X1080P, 60Hz, Wide Screen, IPS Technology for Optimal Viewing by Casey Weaver

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Successful at a low price

A few years ago the company I worked for used used monitors from Acer, Dell and Samsung. Executives snapped up Dell, senior executives took over Samsung, and everyone else stuck with Acers. It wasn't that the Acers were bad, but the parallel Acer monitors of the time offered fuzzy images with low contrast, poor colors, and dull, uneven brightness. I'm happy to report that Acer has come a long way since then. If you haven't looked at Acer in a long time, you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you find. Measuring in at just under 24 inches, this monitor seems to be the cutest spot among desktop monitors these days. It's fairly light and compact for its size and doesn't clutter my desktop as much as any of my current monitors. Installation was a little tricky as the stand connects to the monitor and requires tools and screws. collect. As another reviewer points out, most other brands have come up with a snap-on design and that would have helped Acer. Otherwise, the stand is adequate and tilts within a usable range. The back of the monitor also has VESA-compatible mounting holes, so you can mount it on the wall if you wish. The various setup menus also take a little getting used to. it's not something you do every day. Once installed and configured, I almost never touched the monitor controls, so I didn't find it tedious. Also, I don't see much of a difference between what Acer is doing and what Dell, LG and some other companies I've used lately are using. today will end up on the HDMI connector one way or another. Depending on what you're connecting, you might need a DisplayPort or a Thunderbolt connector, but at 1080p on this monitor, HDMI is probably good enough for most of us. The good news is that I didn't have any connection issues - everything I plugged into that HDMI port worked fine and synced correctly. For my testing, I used the Revain Fire TV, the latest MacBook Pro, Raspberry Pi, and a small Linux all-in-one with an Intel NUC platform. Everyone had no problem displaying an acceptable image on Acer. I would rate the image quality of the Acer as above average, especially considering the price. Once calibrated, colors are vibrant, text is legible, and the overall image is crisp and clear. Movies played through the Revain Fire TV were fine (although I wouldn't mind my home theater system!). I'd say the biggest issue is the blacks - they can be a bit washed out and I don't think Acer comes anywhere close to the contrast ratio they claim. However, this is not so important for a monitor used for everyday computing tasks. The IPS panel offers a good range of viewing angles - you don't have to look straight ahead to get an acceptable picture. In my opinion, degrading the image quality by 45 degrees off-axis in either direction, or maybe 30 degrees up/down, doesn't degrade the image quality that much. Again, this is probably less of an issue for a monitor used for computing tasks, but fine if you plan to wall mount it. To be clear, Acer's performance is definitely well above what you would expect from a monitor at this price point. A top-of-the-line monitor from Apple, Dell or LG looks much better – but it also costs a lot more. Anyone looking for an affordable 24-inch monitor should check out this Acer.

Pros
  • widescreen
Cons
  • Image retention: If an image is on the screen for too long, the image may remain on the screen permanently.