REVIEW: Acer XV322U, a high-end Quad HD monitor

Launched a few months ago in Brazil, the Acer XV322U arrived as an option Quad HD gaming monitor to meet the demand of gamers who plan to play at high frame rates, but without having to give up a better defined and richer resolution. The result of this is a very good product that surprises expectations, but that definitely exaggerates at a very high price. Acer kindly sent a test unit of the Acer XV322U to the showmetech, and after a few weeks of use, here's our full review of the monitor.

Design and construction

When I think of gaming monitors, the first thing that comes to mind are those very robust models, with super flashy construction, a more impactful design and especially lots of RGB LEDs. In fact, any gamer product has this perspective created by the industry.

I'm happy to say that the Acer XV322U is the complete opposite of that aesthetic, and bets on a more sober look It fits well on any table. Honestly, there's not much to say. The screen part has very thin edges so if the user wants to put one or more monitors of the same model in the setup, giving that impression of infinite screen or as Acer calls it, ZeroFrame.

On the back of the screen we have a thicker edge in a kind of dark gray gradient and the Acer logo in a subtle silver color. All this front image of the monitor, as I mentioned, is very simple and will please those who prefer for a most minimalist product and nothing so special. This may sound like a negative, but on the contrary, the aesthetics are very pleasant and it feels like I'm just looking at a big screen in front of me, without distractions.

Also, we have a small LED that turns orange when the monitor is suspended, or blue when it is on. Jumping to the back, there are four physical buttons and one of those “joysticks” to move the menus. that was mine main disappointment with the Acer XV322U, since the buttons are extremely similar to the touch and it takes a long time for the user to understand the scheme, their functions and how to apply them in the menu. I think it would be much better if the buttons were located at the bottom of the border.

The back support is just too good. In fact, the entire support mechanism of the panel is very well built and extremely easy to assemble. This “pipe” — to make it easier to understand — is already built into the monitor, and the only thing the user needs to do is attach it to the circular base, which automatically locks and holds the entire product tight.

Before the Acer XV322U arrived here for testing, I looked at the photos and thought “there's no way this base will hold this monitor well”. Fortunately I paid with the language, and I must say that the entire support system keeps this model very stable, passing a good feeling of security. Incidentally, even though this little monster's screen is topped at 32 inches, the circular support did much better than V supports, like the AOC Hero 24G2. Of course, the comparison is unfair due to the price range in which the products are, but I use it only as an illustration.

Furthermore, continuing to talk about this support, there is the possibility of raising or lowering the screen to multiple heights and this proved to be very useful and fluid to do. The same goes for the tilt of this monitor, which ranges from -5° to 35°. A XV322U's build quality is very high, made in metal and plastic parts, very safe. Finally, this monitor also supports the VESA 100×100 hole pattern if you want to hang it on the wall or on an articulated arm.

Adjustable

In terms of connections, the Acer XV322U has many doors USB 3.0 distributed along the sides and back. There are 4 in total, in addition to including a USB AM/BM cable, or basically that little cable you use to connect your printer to your computer. In this case you will connect the cable to the monitor and PC, creating more extra USB ports to use on your machine. Very useful.

In addition, apart from the power and p3 headphone connections, there are two ports HDMI 2.0 and 1 Display Port 1.2a. In practice, both connections support 4K resolution up to 60 frames per second, so it makes a lot of sense since this monitor is Quad HD and can reach up to 270 Hz overclocked.

Audio

Now in that part of the speakers… we definitely have a sound. A good sound? That already depends on our definition of good, but let's face it, most players only use these audio systems as a quick fix, and will invest in external boxes or use only with headphones. Don't expect anything more than average.

Screen and image quality

The Acer XV322U comes packed with good specs for your 32 inch screen. To begin with, the display used here is of the type IPS, as you might imagine, and it does its job very well. The colors are very bright and pleasant, although I feel that it leaves a little to be desired in the contrast. But I don't see that as a big negative influence. It's perfectly usable.

On the other hand, we have a very saturated monitor, so the red and orange tones, for example, are well exposed and at their maximum. The shades of black, in turn, are in a good average, although some regions have those famous slightly lighter areas. The depth of the black tones are good and I believe it will not disappoint the end user.

This gaming monitor also has those industry standard technologies, such as Black boost to adjust black levels; flicker-less to avoid image flickering and the classic BluelightShield to decrease blue light emission by up to 54% and help prevent vision discomfort and fatigue.

The device is supported with the HDR600 and it doesn't disappoint. When activating this mode, there is a noticeable increase in brightness and clearer images, especially in films and some games. It is certainly a function that I advise the user to leave activated.

Among other features, we need to talk about the resolution, which in this case is the famous Quad HD (2560×1440), what modesty part, is the middle ground that pleases everyone. Especially on the Acer XV322U, the screen quality is excellent. The 32-inch display has a good area for definition and a good density of pixels per area.

The quality of this factor reflects both on a daily basis, as it is possible to mount numerous windows on this screen and help a lot in work and multitasking operations, as well as in games, which is the main focus of this device. Playing in Quad HD is a marvel. The image is very beautiful, there is very little aliasing, a lot of definition, etc.

This gets even better when we put on the table the 144 Hz refresh rate by default with theverclock for up to 270 Hz. Playing at 144 frames with a monitor that supports that framerate is great, and at 270 fps too, but for the competitive scene you're going to need a really beefy machine, so be smart. For fans of first-person shooters, be glad to hear that this monitor's response time is only 0.5 ms and again: it is very good to play anything

By the way, for those who enjoy playing at high frame rates and don't want to suffer from the screen tear, the resource AMD FreeSync Premium is available and minimizes latency during gameplay to avoid that torn screen effect.

For other activities, such as watching movies or series, this monitor does very well, after all we have a competent display and a 32-inch screen. But it's good to keep an eye on the resolution of the movies you're going to watch. Because it's a big screen with high resolution, watching anything in 1080p can detract from the experience. In my tests it was quite uncomfortable, although this has absolutely no relation to the monitor, obviously.

Menu and navigation

As I mentioned in previous paragraphs, the Acer XV322U has very annoying navigation buttons, which end up getting in the way of using the configuration menus inside of that monitor. Moreover, it should be noted that these are very good.

At first I always imagine these interfaces as pretty bad, but Acer did very well here. The range of customization is very large and there is no visual pollution occupying entire swaths of the screen, no, it's just a little square in the corner. In the options we have the pattern, increase/dim brightness, enable the HDR, game modes (Action, Racing and Sports), AMD FreeSync, settings of energy saving, etc.

Conclusion

But after all that, is it worth investing in the Acer XV322U? Well, as I like to say, price is everything, which is why we're going to start by talking numbers. Currently, the cheapest price I found for this device here in Brazil was at Kabum for salted R$5.900.

32-inch monitors and especially Quad HD monitors are expensive. They are even more expensive than “normal” 4 Hz 60K monitors. So by default you will pay a hefty price to take home a product with these specifications.

However, paying almost 6 thousand reais on this gamer monitor is a very high price. The Acer XV322U is one of the best monitors I've ever used in terms of image, build and quality, there's no doubt about it, but the price is well below what it should be. I could even try to justify this high value talking about the refresh rate of up to 270 Hz, but if we look at the side, the Samsung Odyssey G7 has 240 Hz, the same resolution, very beautiful design and 27 inches – smaller, of course – costing R$3.670 at Girafa.

There are other very interesting models too, such as the ASUS TUF VG32VQ or the Dell S2721DGF. Anyway, there are some options with cost x benefit apparently more interesting than the Acer XV322U presents. Be that as it may, I cannot take away the merit and qualities of this great gamer monitor, which only lacks the navigation buttons and the price in the clouds.

Technical sheet

Córdoba	Acer XV322U
Dashboard	IPS
Resolution	WQHD (2560×1440)
Fabric	32 inches 16:9
Refresh rate	144Hz to 270Hz (OC)
Interface/Ports	2 HDMI (v2.0) DisplayPort(v1.2a) SPK Audio out USB 3.0×4 (1up 4down)
Slope	-5°~35°
Viewing Angle	178° (H), 178° (V)
Contrast	1,000:1
Brightness	400 nits (cd/m2) HDR 600
Response time	1 ms (G to G) 0.5 (G to G, min)
Hurricane	VESA 100 x 100
Technologies	AMD FreeSync Premium HDR
Package content	power cable Base Monitor HDMI cable DP cable
Price	R$5.899

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So, what do you think of the Acer XV322U? Looking to buy a Quad HD monitor? Also check out our special with 27 geek tech gift ideas for Christmas.

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