Acer

CES 2020

Go bright, go big or go wide just about sums up Acer's flagship gaming monitors that it's introducing at CES 2020: a 1,440-nit HDR Predator X32, 55-inch OLED CG552K and 38-inch curved X38. So, something for everyone, or at least everyone who wants to spend $2,400 or more on their next monitor.

The Predator X32 looks like the creme de la creme for gamers and video editors, a 32-inch 4K model with a peak brightness of 1,440 nits, and which uses the 1,152-zone mini LED backlight that's becoming so popular; mini LED the most efficient way to deliver the granular level of local dimming necessary to make these high-brightness desktop monitors usable, because without it high-contrast areas are a blooming mess. And because OLED panels only comes in laptop or TV sizes.

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Given its accuracy and color specs, almost 90% coverage of Rec. 2020 and Delta E <1, it likely uses a similar IPS/Quantum Dot display panel that's used by Acer's Concept D CM7321K -- a monitor that the company announced in April but has yet to ship or even appear on its website -- or the Asus ProArt PA32UC line of monitors. But the gaming extra is a 144Hz refresh rate with G-Sync Ultimate (formerly G-Sync HDR) variable refresh support.

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Acer says it will be available by June, but these high-end monitors rarely ship on time, if ever. Which is fine, because the price for all those whizzy specifications is $3,599.

For a little less money -- something I never thought I'd say about a $3,000 OLED monitor -- Acer's planning to take on the Alienware 55 with its 55-inch Predator CG552K. Most of its specs are basically identical, since it's likely the exact same panel: 4K, 400 nits, 120Hz refresh rate (that works with all adaptive refresh systems like Nvidia's G-Sync Compatible and AMD FreeSync) plus OLED's trademark almost-100% P3 color-gamut coverage and fast 0.5ms overdrive gray-to-gray pixel response. Alienware's speakers are a little more powerful (14 watts per channel compared to Acer's 10 watts), but Acer adds sensors that allow for automatic brightness adjustment based on room lighting and automatic sleep/wake based on your proximity.

Acer plans to ship it some time around October for $2,999. When the Alienware launched it was quite overpriced at $3,999, but now is available for a more reasonable $2,799 (because it's on perennial "sale" for $1,200 off), which puts the Acer in the competitive ballpark. But they're both still more expensive than TV competitors, including the LGs they're probably based on.

I want the X32 so hard -- much more than the CG552K. OLED's great, but it comes in an utterly impractical size unless all you need it for is entertainment.

Acer

And last, but certainly not least for many gamers, the Predator X38 curved display adds a new size to Acer's gaming monitor portfolio. Like most of the curved 38s, this one has a resolution of 3,840x1,600 for a 24:10 aspect ratio, which is less than 4K and not really well supported by games. It's minimally HDR -- DisplayHDR 400's 400-nit peak -- and hits 175Hz if you overclock it as well as 1ms gray-to-gray if you overdrive it, but it does have a wider color gamut than the currently brighter (1,000-nit) X35.

You'll be able to get it in April starting at $2,399.