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If I had one word to describe this year’s Acer gaming console announcements, it would have to be “refreshing.” As in there are a lot of product updates. In the case of monitors, this isn’t a bad thing: monitor technology is changing fast enough that upgrading to a new panel means some new technology. For laptops, this often means updating components that provide an overall increase in performance; Important when buying, but not very interesting to read about.
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So I’ll start with the monitors.
Acer announced that it has finally shipped the XB273U F5 with 1440p and 360Hz resolution. Nvidia GeSync Pulsar Show that “Unleashed” in September 2024 later that year. (To be fair, it looks like Pulsar wasn’t quite ready.) In case you’ve forgotten, Pulsar is Nvidia’s motion clarity-enhancing technology for high-frame-rate gaming. It should be available this month for around $650.
The OLED Predator X34 F3 updates the previous model with a new panel, a faster 360Hz QD-OLED and 3440 x 1440 pixels. Now, it has the same specifications as the new Samsung V-Stripe QD-OLED displays that were announced at the show. Samsung has just started mass production – 3440 x 1440 pixels at 360Hz – but Acer PR has neither confirmed nor denied which panel it uses. If it’s V-Stripe, that’s great, because it’s the updated Quantum Dot matrix, which uses vertical stripes to improve resolution of thin elements, like text. If not, bleh. We expect to see it by the end of June for $1,200.
This year the company launched at least two interesting new or updated models at the show. You may not be able to get your hands on the F5 yet, but hey – here’s the XB273U F6! It uses one of the new 1440p IPS panels that can go up to 1000Hz. Bigger numbers are always better, right? It doesn’t run at 1000Hz at 1440p, though, just 500Hz (only!). To reach the higher refresh rate, you have to drop down to 720p via DFR. To get a decent photo at this resolution, you need to use some magic. It is scheduled to be available by the end of June.
Acer is also joining the year of 5K with the new Nitro XV270X. 5K isn’t new, but I’ve never seen so many ads before (there’s a new board, so…). The 27-inch display runs at 5K resolution (5120 x 2880 pixels) at 165Hz, dropping to 1440p for a higher 330Hz via DFR. It can handle basic HDR — it’s DisplayHDR 400 certified — and has 2-watt stereo speakers. It is scheduled to ship by the end of June for $800.
As for gaming laptops, the updated Predator Helios Neo 16S AI has been upgraded… to the top option of the Core Ultra 9 386H from the Core Ultra 200 series’ This might be a reasonable trade. Look for it starting in June.
Acer has expanded its Nitro V AI series of affordable gaming models with the 16 AI and 16S AI, the latter a thinner model, incorporating Core Ultra 7 300H series processors and up to RTX 5070 GPUs. Both have fairly acoustic displays — 1200p IPS at 180Hz — but that’s not important if you plan to connect to a good external monitor.