The Acer Predator Z1 (Z301C) ($799.99) joins the X34, the Z35 ($699.99 at Amazon) , and the XB321HK ($1,184.94 at Amazon) as the latest addition to the company's impressive Predator line of gaming monitors. Like its siblings, it's a slick-looking display that uses Nvidia's G-Sync technology to combat tearing and stuttering, and delivers very good gaming performance. The Z301C uses a curved, ultra-wide Vertical Alignment (VA) panel that delivers vibrant colors, but its color-accuracy and viewing-angle performance can't match that of our Editors' Choice for big-screen gaming monitors, the ViewSonic XG2700-4K.

Design and Features

The Z301C ($799.99 at Acer) features the same black-and-red color scheme and cabinet design as the Acer Predator Z1 (Z271) . The 20-pound cabinet is supported by a V-shaped stand that gives you 4.7 inches of height, 50 degrees of swivel, and 30 degrees of tilt adjustability. The 2,560-by-1,080 panel has a non-reflective coating and an 1,800R curvature (i.e., if you put several of these monitors edge to edge to create a complete circle, the circle's radius would be 1,800mm) that has a more pronounced arc than the 3,800R curvature of the Philips Brilliance Curved UltraWide (BDM3490UC/27) . It has a peak brightness of 300cd/m2, a 21:9 aspect ratio, a 3,000:1 contrast ratio, and a 4-millisecond pixel response. It also boasts a 144Hz refresh rate that can be overclocked to 200Hz.

There are four buttons and a small joystick controller on the right side of the cabinet that you use to access and navigate the settings menus. I found the joystick controller to be overly sensitive and jumpy, causing me to accidentally select the wrong setting every now and then. The base of the cabinet holds two 7-watt speakers that are loud and offer adequate bass response. Around back, facing outward, are five USB 3.0 ports (one upstream and four downstream). Video inputs are limited to one DisplayPort input and one HDMI input, both of which face downward. They are joined by a headphone jack. In comparison, the ViewSonic XG2700-4K comes with three HDMI inputs and two DisplayPort inputs.

Acer Predator Z301C

As with other Predator monitors, the Z301C is loaded with settings. Picture settings include Brightness, Contrast, Dark Boost, Adaptive Contrast, and four Blue Light options that can help reduce eyestrain. The Color menu offers Gamma, Color Temperature, sRGB Mode, Saturation, and 6-Axis Color settings for fine-tuning and calibrating the display. In the Gaming settings menu, you can overclock the refresh rate to 200Hz, select an Aim Point reticle, and configure Ultra Low Motion Blur (ULMB) settings. The Z301C also offers eight picture presets, including three gaming modes (Action, Racing, and Sports) and Standard, Movie, Graphics, ECO, and User modes.

Acer covers the Z301C with a three-year warranty on parts, labor, and backlight. Included in the box are a VESA wall-mounting adapter that can be used to hang the cabinet on a wall with an optional wall-mounting kit, a USB upstream cable, an HDMI cable, and a DisplayPort cable.

Performance

The Z301C's out-of-the-box color accuracy was off kilter during testing. On the chromaticity chart below, my red, green, and blue color measurements are represented by the colored dots, while the ideal color coordinates, as designated by the CIE, are represented by the boxes. As illustrated, red and green colors are completely outside of their boxes, while blue is straddling the border. However, the skewed colors didn't appear oversaturated in my test images, and there was no obvious tinting watching Marvel's Antman on Blu-ray. If color accuracy is important to you, you may want to take advantage of the 6-Axis Color adjustments to calibrate the monitor.

The VA panel did a good job of displaying light and dark shades of gray in the DisplayMate 64-Step Grayscale test, but its viewing-angle performance was not quite as wide as what you get from a good In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel like the one used on the Acer Predator X34 ($1,199.00 at Amazon) . The Z301C showed a slight loss of color tone when viewed from an extreme top, bottom, and side angle.

Gaming performance was stellar in testing. The Z301C delivered fluid gameplay in our Crysis 3 (PC) and Grand Theft Auto V (Sony PlayStation 4) tests, with no obvious screen tearing or motion artifacts. The steep curve of the monitor helped bring the action closer to my peripheral vision, which in turn provided a more immersive experience. Enabling G-Sync made the action noticeably smoother. The panel's 16.8-millisecond input lag, as measured with a Leo Bodnar Video Input Lag Tester, was short enough that you won't experience any latency issues, but not quite as short as our leader, the BenQ XL2430T (9.5 milliseconds).

The Z301C consumed 39 watts of power in testing while set to Standard mode and 29 watts while set to ECO mode. By way of comparison, the 32-inch HP Pavilion 32 Display ( at HP) consumed 38 watts, and the 27-inch Dell UltraSharp 27 InfinityEdge Monitor U2717D ($569.99 at Dell) consumed 27 watts, and neither model offers a power-saving ECO mode.

Conclusion

The Acer Predator Z1 (Z301C) is a solid choice if you're a gamer looking for a big, ultra-wide monitor that can be overclocked to keep pace with your high-end gaming system. It offers a nice assortment of gamer-friendly features, including multiple presets that are optimized for specific gaming genres, target-aiming reticles, Nvidia's G-Sync technology, and low-blue-light settings to help ease eyestrain while participating in marathon gaming sessions. The Z301C performed wonderfully in our gaming tests, but its color accuracy was off, as was its viewing-angle performance. The ViewSonic XG2700-4K provided better all-around performance in testing, and while its 27-inch panel is smaller than that of the Z301C, it boasts a higher (3,840-by-2,160) resolution and is equipped with more video inputs. As such, it remains our Editors' Choice for big-screen gaming monitors.

Acer Predator Z1 (Z301C) 3.5 See It $799.99 at Acer MSRP $799.99 Pros Smooth gaming performance.

Nvidia G-Sync enabled.

Speedy refresh rate. Cons Skewed color accuracy.

Middling viewing-angle performance.

Only two video inputs. The Bottom Line The 30-inch Acer Predator Z1 (Z301C) is a curved-screen gaming monitor with an ultra-wide Vertical Alignment (VA) panel that provides a nice panoramic battlefield for smooth gameplay.

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