Acer XB270HU bprz 27-inch WQHD NVIDIA G-SYNC (2560 x 1440) Widescreen Monitor

The year began with an Overlord Tempest that I had been using for the better part of 2014. This monitor checked off three firsts for me: IPS, >60 Hz, and 1440p. This was a great monitor, and its only faults in my eyes were the bezel and stand. My roommate began using my laptop to play SWTOR with me, so I used this as an excuse to try a new monitor.Dell had recently released their 21:9 U3415w, so I went that route. I loved the productivity of the ultra-wide, but grew tired of turning my head. Operating on the curve was also a minor annoyance, as most applications are quickly snapped to either the left or right upon being opened, due to full screen viewing being rather obnoxious. Corner glow was also quite magnified for viewing 16:9 content in full screen, due to the black barred sides.With the mindset of putting a newly acquired 980ti to the test, enter the 4k bug. The Acer XB280HK was first up, and it did not survive out of the box for long. TN is just too hard a pill to swallow after having used IPS. The 28” screen was also not doing the 4k resolution any favors in my opinion, as without scaling everything was just too small. With SWTOR I can’t say that G-Sync was all that helpful either. I believe trying to run all setting at max (minus AA) kept me out of the minimum range for its effectiveness too often, and I was seeing stutter the same a G-Sync-less monitor.BenQ 3201PH and Crossover 404k were next on deck. The BenQ looked great with better contrast than the previous two IPS panels, yielding nice black levels. Too bad the Crossover never arrived undamaged in two attempts as I was rather curious about its VA panel. 32” seems like a nice place for 4k as well, as better eyes than mine may be able to get away with no scaling, but 125% worked good for me here.At the same time I was ordering the BenQ and Crossover one of my friends was set to try out an Acer XB270HU, which I was anxious to borrow. Unfortunately he did not receive a good panel, and decided not to try again. For some reason wanting to try this monitor kept nagging at me, as the 120 Hz of the Tempest was missed on the desktop and in SWTOR. When Amazon dropped the price and removed the “under review”, I decided to scratch the itch. As an apparent early birthday present Amazon delivered a perfect panel, and after a solid week of use, the BenQ is going back in the box.The 980ti keeps the framerate in a good range to take advantage the high refresh rate and G-Sync. This produces a significant difference for me in SWTOR (only game I play in case you can’t tell by now) and brings back my high refresh rate desktop experience. In the end the extra pixels of 4k are not missed. Game textures are just not high enough to take advantage of them. And while working on the desktop, more often than not I am simply snapping one application left and one right, and 1440p provides enough real estate for that method.It is worth noting that I am currently working overseas, so streaming 4k content is out of the question. 720 is about as good as can be had here, without serious buffering issues. Also these monitors have been my all-in-ones, so I am also using them for T.V. and movies. I try to catch Kill Bill on each one as a control, due to how well it covers pretty much the whole gamut of the viewing experience (black and white, saturated color, normal color, and animation). The Acer scores top marks here as well due to having nice contrast and the least amount of corner glow.Acknowledgements and thanks to the following: TFTCentral and Tom’s Hardware for the reviews and calibration settings on just about all of the above. The forums at overclock.net and hardforum.com for all the great material, feeding the urge to pursue the next best thing. Special consideration from my wallet to Amazon for making buying and especially selling these monitors so convenient.

TL;DR: Acer refuses to repair my monitor with horrible ghosting issues but insists that I keep sending it in for repair. No other options available. Amazon refunds. Avoid Acer unless you like terrible customer service.I purchased this monitor back in November and absolutely loved it. It was beautifully crisp and smooth. Unfortunately, after about 2 months the monitor started to suffer from some terrible ghosting and motion blur. This was not a minor issue, as you can see from the photo I have attached. After going through a couple of weeks of troubleshooting I came to the conclusion that the monitor was the cause of the issues. I changed out every variable in the system (included video cards, display port cables and every possible software configuration/driver) that could be at fault and the issue did not exist on my other monitor.I contacted Acer and they told me that I would have to send my monitor in for repair (7-10 business days to repair it). Initially, the support tech told me that I would have to pay for shipping to send the monitor in to have it repaired. Acer reluctantly agreed to pay for the shipping both ways and I sent the monitor off for repair. According to the case # Acer gave me my monitor was "under repair" for the better part of 5 days. I received it back after 15 days and open the box to find that Acer hadn't repaired my monitor. Instead, they "tested the monitor for 18 hours and found no issue." This was the first thing that Acer did that upset me. I send them a monitor to have it repaired and they fail to find the issue. That's fine, but instead of contacting me and allowing me to assist them in replicating the problem they just close the ticket box it up and send it back to me without doing anything. I set the monitor back up and still suffer the same issue. It was immediately noticeable.I contact Acer again and tell them what has happened and they kindly tell me to send the monitor back in for repair. I inform them that I am afraid of sending my monitor back in and having it returned to me in the same manor as before. They tell me that the only thing they can do is open another repair ticket. At this point they tell me I have to contact level 2 support for assistance. The next day I contact level 2 and tell them the same stuff I told the last person and they give me the same reply. I tried to get them to help me diagnose the problem (since there's nothing wrong with the monitor according to them), and they told me to try a different cable, check my graphics card and update my drivers. Acer's tech support is more of just a "let me fill out a repair ticket" support.At this point, I think I am being completely reasonable. How many times do they expect me to ship the monitor and let them have it for 2 weeks before getting it back without them even attempting to repair it? I told them that I was not interested in sending it back for repair and requested that I receive a replacement, refurbished monitor. According to Acer, the monitor that I have is functioning perfectly so I'm just exchanging one working monitor for another working monitor. Maybe I'm asking for too much of Acer but I just want a monitor that works properly, nothing else. The kind lady from Acer replied with, "I can't do that but I can open a repair ticket." I've been without a properly functioning monitor for around 5 weeks at this point. I told her that I was not interested and that I would be reaching out to Amazon to receive a refund.Luckily for me, Amazon heard my side and refunded my money, despite being beyond the 60 day return period. I will NEVER purchase another Acer product. I have never encountered customer service that was less helpful or accommodating. Dealing with them was like pulling teeth. I'll gladly take my refund and purchase the ROG Swift. Kudos to Amazon for have exceptional customer service and taking care of customers even when they don't have to. I will gladly continue to buy from Amazon for this reason.