Review on Acer XR382CQK Bmijqphuzx: The Ultimate 37.5" Curved Screen with Response Technology, 3840X1600P, and 75Hz by Michael Slowey

I bought this monitor to help me with my product development business (heavy mechanical and electrical 3D CAD, graphic design, programming, typical business applications, etc.) and also to play some games. I needed lots of space, crisp resolution, great picture/color/calibration, fast response times + FreeSync and ideally a >60Hz refresh rate. I was caught between the Acer XR382CQK, the similar 38"/3840x1600 Dell U3818W and the LG 38WK95C and the 32-inch/3840x1600 BenQ PD3200U. The BenQ would have had a sharper picture and super accurate colors, but I just tried a similar 32-inch ViewSonic monitor and found I had to scale text by 125% to make it legible. BenQ is limited to 60 Hz and has no FreeSync. The Dell looks like the best monitor in terms of quality and maybe even color, but the 60Hz refresh rate, lack of FreeSync and allegedly slow response speed make it worthless. LG can run at 75Hz (only with FreeSync enabled) but needs to be calibrated and has fewer I/O ports and features. So I chose Acer for its standard 75Hz + FreeSync and reviews say it has good response time and a good picture has quality. the dream came true. One issue with the 32-inch ViewSonic at 3840 x 2160 that I tried was that it was too big and caused more neck strain. This is bad for those who work long hours on the computer. With Acer's screen splitting software I can actually fit the CAD into 2/3 of the screen and use the rest to view a PDF, spreadsheet or email. Great power amp. And games that can take advantage of the larger aspect ratio look amazing! ♦ It's great for 3D CAD! I was a little concerned that the 2300R's curvature would be a problem due to straight line distortion. No problem. The extra screen is perfect for working with CAD! ♦ The ideal resolution is 111 pixels per inch. No applications need to be scaled, all text is legible and sharp. ♦ Colors are accurate and vivid after calibration. ♦ 75 Hz refresh rate is a big advantage over 60 Hz. 3D CAD models rotate more smoothly. Games are smoother too. IMHO, one of the biggest advantages of this monitor. ♦ Response speed is excellent. There's no sign of ghosting (unlike the 32-inch ViewSonic) and it performs very well in Blurbusters' motion tests. The games are going great. An additional overload is not required. ♦ Not mentioned anywhere, but you *CAN* connect a monitor via DisplayPort for video, and also connect USB-C so you have access to a USB 3 hub/ports. Check Revain ASIN # B07D7NNL6F for a good cable. ♦ Speakers sound good enough, especially if you enable bass in Windows. .If you're not a music lover, you don't need separate speakers.♦ No PWM dimming, so no flickering. This really helps to avoid headaches during long working or gaming sessions.CONS:♦ 1 dead pixel on the far right. It's not really a problem, but I hope it doesn't come up again. ♦ The default color calibration was not very good. Maybe good enough for some players, but not for content creators. Calibrated by Dell and possibly LG their respective monitors, but I have seen no evidence that this monitor was factory calibrated. A reviewer mentioned in 2019 that the screen texture/coating reflects a lot of ambient light, which really affects the look of the image. In a lighted room, the monitor screen glows an almost dull gray, even when it's off. Worse than any monitor I've seen and possibly because of the curved screen. ♦ IPS matrix shines brightly, especially in the corners and also at a small viewing angle, particularly vertically. This is most common in black scenes. The closer to the screen, the worse the effect. I really wonder if this is enhanced by the screen texture given above. ♦ I was disappointed with the white and black levels and the contrast ratios. Not nearly 1000:1: • Maximum possible brightness = 279 cd/m2 (all possible brightness settings are at maximum), which means that the specification of 300 cd/m2 cannot be reached. Absolute minimum black level = 0.14 cd/m2 (all values are zero). This is the low backlight level (will always be this or higher), so black screens will always be noticeably gray. Incidentally, these two extreme settings lead to completely unusable displays and are only designed to display the maximum brightness range of the screen. • Standard performance but with Brightness set to 100, White = 278.5. cd/m2, black = 0.47 cd/m2 with a low contrast ratio of 591:1. With a brightness of 0, the white value was then 83 cd/m2 and the black value 0.14 with a contrast ratio of 575:1. • When calibrating with Spyder3Elite and DisplayCal 3.8.9.3 at 200 cd/m2, the black level was 0.36 cd/m2, so the contrast ratio is 555:1. Calibrated to a more comfortable 120 cd/m², the black value was 0.21 cd/m², which resulted in a contrast ratio of 569:1. Incidentally, the maximum brightness of Tom's hardware was 321 cd/m² and the native contrast ratio was >1000:1 . . When calibrated to 200 cd/m2, the black level was 0.22 cd/m2 (vs. 0.36 for me) or a net contrast ratio of 918:1.♦ Screen uniformity is good but not perfect. At 200 cd/m2 I created a 9x5 sample and found that the brightness of the screen ranged from 157.9 (bottom left) to 207.6 cd/m2 (middle right) and from -21.9% to +2 .6% of the mean brightness was enough. On pure white screens, the brightness pattern of darker and lighter areas is noticeable. As a general rule, anything outside of 10-15% deviation is considered a major error. So I am very worried about this monitor and whether or not I should leave it. After calibration, almost everything in it is fine. But there's no doubt that it falls short of the brightness or contrast specs, and the screen is a bit washed out due to the IPS glow, texturing and ever-present backlight. Screen uniformity may also improve. No matter how powerful the computer's processor, memory or graphics card, I look at the monitor 10-12 hours a day. For my work and game, this is the most important part of the whole system, so it should be close to perfect. It shouldn't be too much to ask for something like $1,000 that I can keep for 10 years.