Monitors come in all shapes and sizes and generally tend to focus on general, business, or gaming use. Our Acer Predator XB241YU review takes a look at a 24-inch WQHD resolution gaming monitor with a ZeroFrame design and NVIDIA G-Sync support.
Specifications
The Acer Predator XB241YU 24″ Gaming Monitor has the following features and specifications:
- New Predator XB241YU boasts a brilliant WQHD (2560×1440) resolution in a 24-inch ZeroFrame design, ideal for multi-monitor setups
- NVIDIA® G-Sync™ combined with a fast 1ms response time renders fast moving actions and dramatic transitions
- Gamers can push their limits with the fast 144Hz refresh rate that can be overclocked up to 165Hz
- GameView gives gamers a competitive edge, enabling them to swiftly tweak settings in-game without having to navigate the OSD menu
- WQHD (2560×1440) resolution
- 24-inch ZeroFrame design
- NVIDIA G-Sync support
- Fast 1m response time
- 144Hz refresh rate, overclockable to 165Hz
- Display size: 23.8″
- Active display area: 20.74 x 11.67″ (52.685 x 29.635cm)
- Resolution: 2560 x 1440 (WQHD) @144Hz with 165Hz overclocking mode
- Panel Type: TN
- Response Time: 1ms
- Contrast Ratio: 1,000:1 (native)
- Brightness: 300 cd/m²
- Viewing Angle: 170º horizontal, 160º vertical
- Colors: 16.7 million
- Color gamut: 72% NTSC/100% sRGB
- Speaker: 2x 2W
- VESA wall mountable
- Input & Output
- HDMI
- DisplayPort 1.2
- USB Hub 3.0 (1 up, 4 down)
- Audio Out
- Tilt: -5º – 35º
- Swivel: +/- 30º
- Height adjustment: 5.9″ (15cm)
- Pivot: Yes
- Power Consumption
- Off: 0.35W
- Sleep: 0.42W
- On: 27W
- Special features: G-Sync; NVIDIA 3D Kit support
- Dimensions: 21.2 x 10.1 x 14.9″
- Weight: 14.6lb
What’s in the box
- Acer XB241YU Widescreen LCD Monitor
- DisplayPort Cable
- HDMI Cable
- Power Cord
- USB 3.0 Cable
Design
Like other Acer Predator monitors, the Acer Predator XB241YU features a sleek design with sharp angles and red accents. This 24″ Acer monitor features the company’s ZeroFrame design and has a very thin bezel around the top and side edges of the monitor frame. The bottom bezel is thicker, but only ¾” which still adds to the sleek look of the monitor. The Acer Predator logo is centered on the bottom bezel in silver with a red border.
The power and settings buttons are located on the front of the right side of the monitor. The buttons allow you to select preset settings including Action, Racing, Sports, Standard, ECO, Graphics, Movie, or user specified, adjust brightness, sound volume, and toggle between HDMI and DisplayPort input. The main menu button allows you to adjust plenty of other settings including the usual monitor color, brightness, contrast, and other settings and save these to one of the three gaming presets. You can also toggle DTS on or off, Over Clock the refresh rate to 160 Hz if using a DisplayPort connection, toggle aim point graphics for shooters, ULMB mode, and NVIDIA 3D LightBoost (if your computer supports it). All these settings let you set up your color and viewing preferences with ease.
The back of the monitor is where you’ll find your main power switch, power plugin port, DisplayPort and HDMI ports, 3.5mm audio jack, a pair of USB ports, and a USB upstream port. A pair of stereo 2W speakers sits on the top of the monitor — one on each side. The monitor is also VESA mount compatible.
The base of the monitor stand is constructed out of metal and features the usual red Predator angled feet. The monitor itself can be raised up almost 6″ in height, tilted up 35º and down 5º, and the base swivels left and right 30º in either direction. With the height and angle adjustment, it’s pretty easy to setup the monitor with your desired viewing height. The monitor also rotates 90º and can be used in portrait mode as well as the typical landscape mode. A cut in the monitor stand helps with cable management as well.
Setup of the monitor is easy. Simply attach the base to the monitor stand, screw it together, then clip the monitor stand into the VESA mount on the back of the monitor and you’re good to go. A quick release button sits underneath where the stand attaches to the monitor to easily remove the monitor stand from the monitor.
Display
The display itself is nice and crisp, and as mentioned above it’s easy to set the desired colour balance, saturation, and other settings to your liking. While the ZeroFrame design offers thin physical bezels, there is still a wider bezel on the screen itself. When combined though, you’re still only getting a roughly ¼” bezel on the top and sides, so there is plenty of screen coverage within the frame itself.
Performance
Depending on your setup, you’ll be able to get up to 160Hz refresh rate with the Acer Predator XB241YU. When connected using DisplayPort, the default refresh rate is the silky smooth 144Hz that gamers love which reduces the tearing and jittery transitions that can creep up from time to time. Even more, you can overclock it to 165Hz using the on-screen display menu. Personally, though, I couldn’t notice any real difference between 144Hz and 165Hz during testing, but like anything, some gamers might.
If your setup only utilizes HDMI, unfortunately, you’re going to be capped at 60Hz refresh rate so you won’t really be able to take advantage of the extra refresh rate or some of the other NVIDIA features.
At any rate, the high refresh rate works as one would expect, especially in fast paced action and racing games to provide a smoother gaming experience.
Speakers/Sound
The Acer Predator XB241YU also has a pair of 2W speakers. The speakers are located on the back near the top and fire up. Speakers typically fare better when they are facing the user and integrated on the bottom of the monitor, but that would definitely detract from the slim look of the bezels. While the speakers offer decent volume and clarity, they are severely lacking in any kind of low/mid/high range balance and are definitely void of any bass.
Let’s face it though, if you’re buying a solid gaming monitor, speakers are likely on the lower end of consideration — if it’s a consideration at all.
Price/Value
With an MSRP of $499 USD, the Acer Predator XB241YU will set you back a bit, but not as much as some other high-end monitors. If you have an NVIDIA video card and a DisplayPort, you’ll definitely see some good value if you do a lot of gaming with the default and overclocking refresh rate features.
Wrap-up
Sound quality aside, the Acer Predator XB241YU is a sleek, solid, and well-performing gaming monitor with plenty of customizable settings, NVIDIA G-SYNC support, and refresh rate overclocking. Even though it only earned an 8.9 — we do take all shipped features into account in our reviews here — had this monitor not shipped with speakers, it would have earned a 9.6.
*We were sent a review unit of the Acer Predator XB241YU for the purposes of this review.
Last Updated on November 19, 2017.
