When we first started hearing about the Acer Predator X34 Gaming Monitor I was definitely interested in learning more about it. I have a mostly respectable 21” monitor that has served me well for the last few years, but who doesn’t want to try out something bigger/better? The X34 is definitely bigger, and in this Acer Predator X34 review I’ll talk about what it’s like to use this beast of a monitor.
Specifications
A monitor this huge is going to have equally large specs. You can read all about what is packed into the Predator X34 below:
- Screen Size: 34″
- Screen Mode: UW-QHD
- Response Time: 4 ms
- Aspect Ratio: 21:9
- Backlight Technology: LED
- Panel Technology: In-plane Switching (IPS) Technology
- Tilt Angle: -5°to35°
- Maximum Adjustable Height: 5.12″
- Maximum Resolution: 3440 x 1440
- Standard Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
- Color Supported: 1.07 Billion Colors
- Contrast Ratio: 100,000,000:1
- Brightness: 300 Nit
- Tearing Prevention Technology: G-sync
- Energy Efficiency: Class C
- Energy Consumption per Year: 93 kWh
- Operating Power Consumption: 54 W
- Operating Power Consumption (Energy Star): 54 W
- Standby Power Consumption: 500 mW
- Off-Mode Power Consumption: 400 mW
What’s in the Box
- X34 Widescreen LCD Monitor
- 1 x Displayport Cable
- 1 x HDMI Cable
- Power Cord
- 1 x USB 3.0 Cable
- Mounting hardware for the display (Wall mount not included)
- Quick Guide
- Warranty Information
Design
The first thing you’ll notice upon receiving your Acer Predator X34 gaming monitor is just how absolutely, absurdly big the box is. I missed the initial delivery attempt by FedEx, but rather than waiting until the next day, the driver came back later in the day to try and deliver it again. He said that the box was just too big to keep on the truck, and he wouldn’t be able to get the next day’s deliveries loaded with it there. That’ll give you an idea of the type of size we’re talking about here. It makes sense though, if you’re packing a 34” curved display you’re going to need space and padding to ensure its safe delivery. But enough talk about the box.
Once you remove all of the packaging, the Acer Predator X34 is… well… still very, very big. There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact quite the opposite, in this case bigger is better because really, who doesn’t want more screen real estate when it comes to gaming and computing?
Moving to the actual design of the X34, we’ll start at the bottom. The stand has a wide v-shaped base attached to a heavy-duty frame which provides a stable mounting point for the monitor itself. The base and frame have an aggressive design, a definite nod to the Predator naming convention. The tilt/height adjustment is handled via the frame, and you are able to tilt slightly forward or significantly farther backward as well as raise and lower the monitor easily to handle nearly any comfortable level. This is good because the wide base makes it more difficult to use with a monitor stand.
The monitor itself has a slight curve, providing a wrap-around feel when in use. The Predator branding is located at the bottom middle of the front of the monitor. Around back you’ll find your ports, including HDMI and Display Port, in addition to 4 USB 3.0 ports. Along the bottom of the monitor there are a series of ambient L.E.D. lights as well as the power and function buttons near the bottom right edge. Overall, this is a big monitor. The 34 inch display provides a giant viewing area, which I will discuss in the very next section below.
Display
This monitor is big. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. You are going to need a lot of space on your desk for the Predator. Even with some of the performance restrictions I was dealing with (more on that later), response was fast and most everything looked fantastic. A few games did seem a bit dark at times — Minecraft at night, for example, was darker than on my 21” monitor — even with the brightness at an appropriate level, but everything else looked great. I’ve put a lot of hours into XCOM 2 over the last few weeks and it looks amazing on the bigger screen of the X34.
Even desktop applications benefit from the bigger screen. Web browsing is a pretty obvious beneficiary, though giant open browser windows with mostly white backgrounds (like most any social network) will light up the entire room with the brightness of the screen. You do get a whole lot more room to scroll around though.
I’m still not the most proficient at photo or video manipulation, but having extra room for me to shuffle back and forth between images was definitely helpful.
Performance
I want to be completely upfront about this: there were several features of this monitor that I was unable to test. That’s entirely because of my video card. It’s a few years old, so it’s missing the DisplayPort that would allow me to get to the monitor’s maximum resolution. It’s also an AMD card, meaning I couldn’t take advantage of any of the NVIDIA specific settings. I was hoping to purchase and install a new video card during my time with the X34, however it just wasn’t in the cards. Even so, the X34 performed admirably.
Setup was quick and easy, simply plug in your input of choice, and use the menu buttons along the bottom to change the input of the monitor if necessary. The max resolution if you have a video card with DisplayPort output is a huge 3440×1440. Via HDMI I was limited to 1920×1080, however the display at least zoomed to fill the complete vertical resolution of the monitor. I was left with a few inches of unused space on either side, which while annoying wasn’t a deal breaker. The X34 still provided a huge viewing area and performance was spectacular.
The menu buttons lead you to all sorts of other features and options including blue light reduction, NVIDIA G-Sync, ambient lighting controls, Energy Star energy saving settings, Aim-points, gaming modes, and customizable gaming profiles to tailor your experience to your preferred settings.
Speakers/Sound
The X34 Predator includes two 7w speakers tuned with DTS sound. Chances are good if you’re going to drop this kind of money on a giant monitor, you’ve probably already got a decent sound system to pair it with, but if you’re starting your build with this monitor, you’ll at least have options to hear your gaming right out of the gate. For embedded speakers, you can definitely do worse than dual 7w DTS tuned speakers. Even if you don’t end up using them, they’re nice to have in a pinch.
Price/Value
Starting at $1299, this huge monitor has a pretty huge price. If your gaming budget has that kind of room in it though, this is a fantastic monitor for the money. It’s huge, looks great, performs well, and will definitely turn heads when people see it. The bevy of gaming features are icing on the cake. For once, Amazon doesn’t have any huge discounts on an item. You can get it for the same $1299 price, you may just have to search through a few different sellers in order to find the lower price and Prime shipping.
Wrap Up
I do have one huge regret of my time with the Acer Predator X34, and it’s that I don’t have a video card that can take advantage of all of this monitor’s features. Even so, this is a fantastic monitor, and if price isn’t an issue for you, this is definitely a piece of hardware that you should add to your gaming PC. It’s the perfect combination of size, performance, and features. It also has a certain “wow” factor that you just really won’t get with other ordinary monitors.
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