Acer BE270U 27-Inch QHD/IPS Monitor Review

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Conclusion

As much as we wish for a single monitor that can do it all, that reality remains somewhat elusive. Within the main categories of gaming, professional, and business are many competent screens that execute their assigned tasks with precision and reliability. But there are many users who yearn for a good everyday monitor that can take care of work and still be competitive during after hours frag fests. The Acer BE270U may be one of the most versatile displays we’ve seen yet.

Marketing for this product says more about its business and graphics chops than anything else. Gaming is never mentioned and surprisingly neither is FreeSync. We didn’t even realize the feature was included until AMD Catalyst informed us. The only clue you’ll get is the 75Hz refresh rate, which is something you don’t normally see in the business and professional genres.

In those two areas, the BE270U is more than qualified to take on spreadsheets, word processors, and photo editing applications. You won’t find a wide color gamut here, but with a few adjustments, accuracy is sufficient for color critical work. Since the monitor’s native primaries are slightly over-saturated at around 105% volume, it’s a simple matter to create a custom profile that nails the sRGB gamut perfectly.

Our two complaints concern out-of-box grayscale accuracy and gamma. The first issue is easily overcome, and in fairness, there is no factory-certified calibration here. With a calibration, or by using our recommended settings, you can have a very well dialed-in display. The second issue is a little more significant. Though overall picture quality is solid, we can’t help but think it could be just a tad better if gamma tracked properly. There are multiple presets available but none of them can hit the 2.2 line correctly. Our final solution was to leave the option alone and accept a slightly darker presentation. At least the panel’s native contrast is sufficient to offer good depth and nicely saturated color.

For those looking for a do-it-all monitor, the BE270U is a decent choice. Its gaming prowess won’t leave Asus ROG shaking in its boots, but for a premium business display it plays far better than typical 60Hz screens that lack adaptive-refresh.

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Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

  • joz
    BEO reminds me of B/O's stuff.

    Beogram
    Beotape
    Beooverpricedbutlooksnice
    Reply
  • Jay_29
    Any reason to pick this over MG279Q? It seems Acer is only interested in matching ASUS. I'd like to see they beat ASUS.
    Reply
  • Mirwnas
    Mate it already does with Acer XF270HU....and the gsync variant
    Reply
  • zthomas
    Two hundred cheaper than the acer 27 g-sync XB270 really looks pretty much the same..
    Reply
  • Virtual_Singularity
    19449009 said:
    Any reason to pick this over MG279Q? It seems Acer is only interested in matching ASUS. I'd like to see they beat ASUS.

    Good question. Aside from Acer's lower price (though the Asus is currently on sale on Newegg), the 279Q is technically the better monitor, or should be. The MG279Q (much as I don't like revisiting the topic) had/has several QC related problems and complaints on Amazon and Newegg, even though at the time of its release it was supposed to be one of the best 1440p 27" 144 hz FS monitors available. The solution some suggested on Amazon for the 279Q was to keep RMAing until obtaining one that didn't have excessive back light bleed and/or dead pixels. If the latest owner reviews on both sites are anything to go by, it's difficult to say whether anything has changed.
    Reply