[TFTCentral - Review] Acer XB270HU - 27" 144Hz IPS G-Sync

[xthetenth]

I use it for gaming and general purpose stuff, and yes, it bugs the absolute crap out of me. I just don't know if I can keep returning monitors for stuff like this. This is my second one and I have no faith that a third will be free from these issues. But maybe it will.
I guess what I am wondering is, does this issue seem to be within what is generally accepted as normal or properly functioning. Is this common on monitors? Do people just live with this dirty screen effect? Is this the standard that modern panels are held to?

I'd say it depends on price. My cheap pair might have similar uniformity issues and has backlight bleed. I'm fine with that considering the price. My 34UM95 is as best I can tell totally uniform and has a tiny bit of backlight bleed in one corner that's so little I need a camera in a dark room to notice it and can't even see it with my naked eye. Considering it's more expensive than the pair, I'd probably tolerate something that took effort to notice but not something that leapt out at me. (Un)fortunately I can't really provide guidance on dealing with an unacceptable monitor.

 

[Xed]

If it bugs you why keep it especially when you paid $800ish dollars for it? I've returned sub $300 monitors because of excessive BLB or dead/stuck pixels or whatever else bothered me.

The only reason I kept my Swift was because the inversion issue only bugs me once every couple of days for a few seconds and I decided I could live with that. It's your money and up to you what you deem acceptable. Looking at your picture I wouldn't keep it.

 

[sakete]

I use it for gaming and general purpose stuff, and yes, it bugs the absolute crap out of me. I just don't know if I can keep returning monitors for stuff like this. This is my second one and I have no faith that a third will be free from these issues. But maybe it will.
I guess what I am wondering is, does this issue seem to be within what is generally accepted as normal or properly functioning. Is this common on monitors? Do people just live with this dirty screen effect? Is this the standard that modern panels are held to?

Well I don't know where you bought it, but if you can still return/exchange it then you should probably do that until you get a version that doesn't have any major issues. Given the target audience for this monitor though (and keep in mind that G-sync commands about a $200 price premium) you shouldn't expect the highest quality. When not factoring in G-Sync, this monitor would retail for about $600 and given the 27" 1440p monitor market, $600 is very mid-market and you can't expect TOTL stuff.

It's only really with higher end Eizo and NEC monitors that you'll have panels with uniformity variations within 5% of your target luminance. For this Acer monitor you *will* see uniformity issues. Just some panels will be worse than others. When TFT Central reviewed their XB270HU sample, they got this as a result:

By comparison, this is the panel of an Eizo FlexScan SX2762W (no longer in production though):

 

[moonbogg]

I think I'm in maximum obsession mode and just need to chill the hell out. But that uniformity though. I've been reading up on DSE (dirty screen effect) and this is almost a guaranteed problem for LCD TV's and by extension, monitors I would assume. I've just never noticed it before, but once I see it, it can never be unseen unless I stop caring. $800 prevents me from not caring. At some point I expect Newegg to tell me I'm full of crap if I keep tossing monitors back at them, lol. They turn it on and it looks fine to them I'm sure. Hah, that's kind of funny actually.
I think many internet forums, with their light colored blue backgrounds, were designed to drive DSE sensitive people absolutely off a cliff insane.

 

[moonbogg]

I replaced it, again! And its better, again. Not perfect, but its useable. In addition, I simply had to know if it was normal or not. Sadly, its normal for this panel, but the issue is worse and better on some. Pixels and everything else is perfect. I'm happy now. I can stop.

 

[Muadib]

I replaced it, again! And its better, again. Not perfect, but its useable. In addition, I simply had to know if it was normal or not. Sadly, its normal for this panel, but the issue is worse and better on some. Pixels and everything else is perfect. I'm happy now. I can stop.

Sounds like you still have issues with it. What's wrong with this one?

 

[moonbogg]

Sounds like you still have issues with it. What's wrong with this one?

Uniformity isn't perfect but its acceptable. I'm happy with it and satisfied with my exhaustive efforts.

 

[MagickMan]

The XB270HU or the ROG Swift PG279Q? I can get the Acer at a substantial discount, like nearly $200 off, so I guess the question is, will the PG279Q be worth the $200 (or more, given scarcity for a few months) price premium?

 

[Muadib]

The XB270HU or the ROG Swift PG279Q? I can get the Acer at a substantial discount, like nearly $200 off, so I guess the question is, will the PG279Q be worth the $200 (or more, given scarcity for a few months) price premium?

The PG279Q will use the same panel as the XB270HU, so if you can stand the shiny bezel of the XB270HU, I would go for the Acer.

 

[MagickMan]

The PG279Q will use the same panel as the XB270HU, so if you can stand the shiny bezel of the XB270HU, I would go for the Acer.

Thanks, yeah I heard about that from Asus CS and went ahead and ordered the Acer, because I'm impatient and a cheapskate. I appreciate them being honest about that, though (I don't feel bad because I buy tons of their stuff anyway).

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Does same panel mean same backlight or anything else like that? Could the Asus have less backlight bleed, more even backlighting, better uniformity, or maybe they get a better crack at higher quality panels first (although their track record probably doesn't support this)? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[MagickMan]

Same panel is same. Now, Asus may be allowed to cherry-pick the better panels, but I doubt it since Eizo is going to be using them too, and they'll pay much more than Asus for the A+ grade stuff.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

It's too bad to hear about all these issues. I was plagued with panel defects when I was shopping for a 1440p display, and it looks like things aren't really getting better. I guess it's hard to make large, high-res panels at an affordable price for consumers.

 

[Worthington]

I'm holding off for the Asus version. Hoping they learned from the original ROG issues and the new one comes out with some better Q&A.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Which Eizo model is using this panel?

 

[MagickMan]

I'm holding off for the Asus version. Hoping they learned from the original ROG issues and the new one comes out with some better Q&A.

Do that. I got in the Acer monitor and it was DOA, it would turn on for a few seconds then turn itself back off. After working on it for a couple hours with Acer support, which was awful, I boxed it up and sent it back.

Acer wanted me to send it in for warranty service. Like I would ever do that with a brand new product.

 

[MagickMan]

I've now had a week with the ROG Swift 27 (PG278Q) and after hitting it with my ColorMunki (because the default calibration sucks) I'm quite happy with it. While the colors aren't quite as vibrant as a good IPS display, they're a lot better than other TN panels I've seen. Also there's no light bleed or dreaded "IPS glow", also a plus.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I've now had a week with the ROG Swift 27 (PG278Q) and after hitting it with my ColorMunki (because the default calibration sucks) I'm quite happy with it. While the colors aren't quite as vibrant as a good IPS display, they're a lot better than other TN panels I've seen. Also there's no light bleed or dreaded "IPS glow", also a plus.

How's the dark-dark contrast and vertical viewing angles?

 

[MagickMan]

How's the dark-dark contrast and vertical viewing angles?

The contrast was pretty bad out of the box but is quite good after a thorough calibration, and viewing angles are great while seated, but standing skews them a lot. Since I don't use my PC while standing, and don't particularly care if a standing person can see what's going on while I'm at the PC, that's fine with me.

 

[Termie]

Just FYI, got an XB270HU from Amazon, and it is perfect. I see no dead pixels, no glow, no other problems. The only annoyance is an overly-bright LED power indicator.

Maybe I got lucky, maybe they've improved, but this one is a keeper.

It's at least the equal of my Dell U2713HM in terms of image quality, and I can actually game on it, which I couldn't on the U2713HM, at least not after using a 1080p 144Hz monitor.

 

[moonbogg]

Just FYI, got an XB270HU from Amazon, and it is perfect. I see no dead pixels, no glow, no other problems. The only annoyance is an overly-bright LED power indicator.

Maybe I got lucky, maybe they've improved, but this one is a keeper.

It's at least the equal of my Dell U2713HM in terms of image quality, and I can actually game on it, which I couldn't on the U2713HM, at least not after using a 1080p 144Hz monitor.

Congrats. I like mine despite its imperfections. It sounds to me like you got fairly lucky. Most of these at least have IPS glow in the lower right corner during dark scenes.