Acer 1080p 27 inch VA panel LED monitor - $199, FS [Back Again!]
 

Note: only currently on sale at newegg as of 4/16, amazon may price match again if people submit them though

Newegg and Amazon both have the Acer G276HLDbd on sale for $199.99. This is the lowest it has been in two months, and a repeat of the price it was at during Black Friday. Average rating is 5 stars on newegg and 4.5 on Amazon.
Acer G276HL Dbd 27-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor [amazon.com]
Acer G276HLDbd Black 27" 6ms (GTG) Widescreen LED Monitor 300 cd/m2 ACM 100,000,000:1 (3000:1) [newegg.com]

Things to note:

• 1920x1080 (anything higher from a reputable US distributor will cost at least 2x more)
• VA panel (probably an MVA variant)
• Claimed 6ms GTG response time, no ghosting according to nearly all reviews
• Only DVI and D-SUB connections (no issues with adapters mentioned in reviews)
• External power brick
• Stand only has tilt
• Newegg's page says it is VESA 100x100mm compatible (pic of back confirms)

Free two day shipping with Prime on Amazon or Shoprunner on Newegg. Otherwise free standard shipping.


This is an entry level (few connections, no extras) VA monitor, probably MVA or one of the newer MVA variants (the manual and promo docs don't say, and I can't find any expert reviews by sites like tftcentral). MVA is usually counted as between TN and S-IPS in color accuracy (usually compares favorably to e-IPS), with viewing angles (and low color shift from each angle) like IPS. MVA usually has better black levels than even IPS, and often equal or better contrast.

The one down side with VA is that while the response time (GTG) is usually faster than IPS, there is sometimes ghosting, although this is less prevalent in MVA (compared to PVA), especially modern MVA based panels. Given that the only review (I ran search on all of them) on either amazon or newegg mentioning ghosting as a problem sounds like a defective panel in other ways, there probably isn't an issue. Everyone else who brings it up says zero ghosting, including while gaming.

This post can and should be edited by users like you :)
 

5/20:

Newegg and Amazon both have it for $199 again, no coupon. Newegg is a promo ending today and Amazon will likely follow suite.

4/16:

Newegg - $199.99 [newegg.com] after coupon code EMCXSWP84

3/26:

Dead, $239 on both.

3/25:

Amazon - $199.99 [amazon.com]. Free two day shipping via Prime. Free one day shipping for Discover card users.

Newegg - $199.99 [newegg.com] after coupon code MTYLUSP39 but out of stock

This was suppose to be 180 during that visame promo code for 20 off

Sent from Slickdeals App for iPhone & iPod Touch.

That would have been sizzling, I missed that it dipped on newegg for a little at the end of December to hit that =/ This is still the best price it's been since, and it's been as high as $249 (and even $299 on newegg) recently.

Very tempting, .......but acer....where are those squaretrade coupons :lol:

idk, my Acer X213H is still going strong after like four years, and their other monitors (not going to get into Acer computers, lol) usually don't seem to have too many negs for failures that I've seen (compared to any of the other manufacturers anyway)... are they that bad about warranty service for monitors?

We still use a 23" Acer TN panel here and it's been fine, I upgraded a while back to a IPS/LED 23" LG which has much better viewing angles and color but I still like the Acer and it has worked perfectly for at least a few years now.

Coming back to this, it's amusing because these are actually still on sale on both amazon and newegg (I'm sooo close to buying one myself but it's a little out of this month's budget for us, with everything going on *sigh*) and it's a complete ask and ye shall receive, since now squaretrade's running a sale too? :P

Got this for a friend and set it up today. Wow, she wasn't even using DVI and it looks terrific. I was going to get her DVI but the card didn't fit in her slim case even though it was half height. The monitor looks great on VGA. Really, I can see why the reviews are so good. Much better angles than TN and awesome colors and clarity.

It should look slightly better with a direct digital DVI connection but that's great to hear. The MVA panels are supposed to have better black levels but viewing abnle is closer to a TN panel.
Don't have the money as owe a lot of taxes this year but would be tempted if I had the extra cash, my 23 was a huge improvement in size over my first 19" LCD setup I got after I retired my 21" CRT monitor that still worked great.

178/178 vs. 170/160 angles. Much better black levels too as you noted. No classic TN bleed through at the edges.

Shit resolution. Text looks like arsehole.

Did you buy one or are you just complaining about 1080 in a 27 inch monitor? Because text looked fine to me.

You haven't experienced a high resolution monitor then. Don't look at a high res 27 inch monitor because it will make you regret your purchase. 2560x1440 is the minimum needed for a 27 inch monitor.

Who in their right mind would buy a 1080p (1980x1080) resolution 27". It has to be QHD or WQXGA resolution on anything higher than 25". 2560x1440 is the MINIMUM resolution for a 27" computer monitor.

At $199, might as well go for a 32" Walmart HDMI TV for the same price.

This guy understands. Sadly, most people don't know what they are missing. Ignorance is bliss I suppose.

Not everyone has $600 to spend on a monitor.

Not everyone has room on their desk for a 32 inch TV. And if what you say is true about resolution, 32 inch 1080 would look worse than 27 inch 1080.

True about the 32" desk space but Walmart sells a lot of 20-29" HDMI monitors @ 1080p which also gives you the benefit of having a TV.

I just got the AOC 2ms 27" @ 1920x1080 at Best Buy. Love it. Text is smooth and gaming graphics look great. Sure I've never seen the higher-res stuff but for $200 it fits my tastes just fine, AND it has HDMI for my Roku. Also WMC looks great on it. No sense in making my graphics cards work harder than they need to, AND spending three times as much. Good deal on this Acer, but glad I got the AOC for HDMI.

Anyhow, thumbs up and rep to OP.

None 27 and larger for $200 or even close. And the one 26 that is $200 is an off brand with no HDMI

It's nice but it's a TN panel.

Indeed, Consumers are too willing to compromise with the marketing BS that gets shoved into their faces. HD is just a stupid scheme to standardize and flood the market with low-cost items, to reap in larger profit margins. Before the age of "HD," there were even CRTs with higher resolution than 1920x1080. The standardization of the 16:9 widescreen format over 16:10 is also quite irritating.

Which is exactly what you're going for if you're a gamer. Who needs a wide viewing angle and/or slow response time when the gaming should be in your face? TN panel works perfect for gamers. Quick response time (2ms), great brightness and color reproduction when combined with LED backlighting, and inexpensive. What more could a gamer on a budget ask for?

Also, the new "GTG" response time is a just way for manufacturers to make their response time seem faster than it really is, when using VA or IPS instead of TN.

TN works for me; that's why I bought a TN monitor on the cheap that suits my needs. It may not work for others, and I respect that... but no point debating panel type when ultimately it's the user that should be assessing what they actually need :)

Perhaps people buy it as TV for bedroom or something. Low resolution makes it useless for serious computer work. But as TV i would recommend

There are old people who uses computer for serious entertainment

This comes up every monitor deal. You are allowed to have a 24 inch 1080 monitor but supposedly if the monitor is 27 inch you have to pay $600 and get much higher resolution or the monitor is completely worthless. I think a 27 inch MVA with almost perfect reviews for $200 is a good deal. To each his own, I guess.

It always has better real contrast than IPS. There isn't a single IPS panel that comes close.
It is.

FYI, price dropped again to $199 at Amazon. Newegg also has it for $199 with code MTYLUSP39 (3/25 only) but it's sold out.

If you want this at $199, I'd recommend jumping on it, because Amazon may bump it back up to ~$229 once the Newegg promo ends.

And, fwiw, if you think 1440p at 27" is required for "serious" work you "seriously" don't know what you're talking about. 1440p is amazingly wonderful for the extra pixel space for things like coding, but in terms of pixelation issues there's not that much of a drop in PPI from a 24" 1080p to a 27" 1080p. If you set the monitor back another 6" or so as compared to where you would keep a 24" monitor, there is literally NO discernible difference, as each pixel ends up taking the same number of arcminutes on both monitors. Now if you have issues with pixelation on a 24", you'll have the same issues on the 27" at a slightly higher distance still, but that's a different story.

It's a little ridiculous how people crap all over these without even having a clue what they're talking about. If you want to pay $100-$200 more for a QHD 27", go for it, but that doesn't somehow make a 1080p 27" universally bad for everyone else, or especially everyone else's intended use, especially when it's at a good price with a good panel tech.

It's worth being aware of the PPI differences, and noting that going up to 27" at 1080p may cross your JND point for pixelation at a particular viewing distance, but there's a difference between pointing that out for people to come to their own decision and declaring something universally bad.

Shute.. It's back up to 259 at Amazon

I think the arguments are basically about ips vs va / tn

People commonly put down 1080p at 27" without seeming to understand that not everyone has hardware that can properly support 1440p. And in some cases 1080p is preferred, due to larger fonts -- there is some software doesn't play nice with Windows settings, resulting in tiny, tiny text regardless of system settings.

That said, I wouldn't really recommend this specific monitor. I know of several reviews on hardforum for this monitor that aren't exactly favorable. But it's also possible there is just a wide variance of quality on it ... that happens with cheaper brands sometimes. One of the 27" 1080p IPS models may be a better option, or at least something to keep an eye on for price drops if you want this size. BenQ has a newer 27" VA (2760) that is PWM free that could also be an option (if it's ever released in N. America, that is).

what will be a good price for BenQ 2760 ?

A decent price would be the same as the 2750, which I think is around $240-$260.

But on release, it may be closer to $350. I am not sure if it's been confirmed for a N. American release either.

I'd wait for Prad or TFTCentral to do proper reviews before buying.

thanks,. i see 3rd party sellers selling for 300 on amazon... but am sure won't have warranty etc :(

Totally agree on the first.

As to the second, I can't say. I know there are a couple people on amazon and newegg with reviews up that indicate they got bad panels, but it also sounds like (from the ones that posted again) getting a replacement fixed the issue. At least in terms of trackable overall reviews, it has incredibly high marks on both amazon and newegg, especially when compared to a number of comparable tech/priced monitors. I wouldn't recommend it as a pro grade monitor even then, but to me it seems like it's a steal for the price whenever it drops to that magic $199 (sadly it didn't last long this time) mark, for someone looking for a large entry level VA/IPS.

Personally, I keep waiting to get one of these and then something happens (car battery died and needed replacing was this month, lol) that eats into my "moar monitors zomg yays" budget :p

*Most* PWM dimmed monitors don't bother me (and I was always sensitive to 60hz driven CRTs even, I could totally see the flicker), but for anyone who has issues with PWM dimming that would definitely kill this (and most other similarly priced monitors, and even a few of the more expensive like the Dell S line IPS ones). Thanks for mentioning the BenQ 2760 :)

I take amazon/newegg reviews somewhat with a grain of salt when it comes to monitors. The key reason is simply that for the majority of people, so long as the monitor is bright and works, it's good to them.

You can probably find TN panels with great amazon/new egg reviews too, but to me they are unusable due to color shift with vertical angles. Some people don't care about dead pixels (and don't even see them)... some don't notice uniformity issues, or bleed, and things like that. And I also think a lot of people who post glowing reviews on so-so monitors previously were using garbage TNs, so anything at all will seem like an amazing upgrade to them. That's what I chalk up many of the Dell 2412 good reviews to ... to me, it had a so-so panel, quite a bit of glow, and was completely unusable due to the AG coating. Yet to others they felt it was an amazing upgrade.

So... I'd recommend relying on sites like tftcentral and prad for proper monitor reviews before any purchase. They'll do the tests that matter, not recommend a monitor or not based on the color of the bezel. Also check out hardforms/display for more detailed opinions from users. In the 27" 1080p range, I think most people probably would be better off spending $300ish for one of the IPS flavors, simply due to response times + viewing cone with VA monitors. But it comes down to what you want to use them for. For gaming, IPS is better. For movies, VA will be better, especially if you sit a bit back from the monitor.

And on a personal level, I dislike all 16:9 monitors for computing tasks (and don't use 16:9 myself), but the market is what it is... it's a pain to find other aspect ratios nowadays.

$300 may not be a bad price for it, but I have no idea how well the 2760 works yet.

BenQ has been known for really lousy customer service in the US anyway. Even those with a proper warranty can't always use it (easily). I think that 3rd party may ship from overseas, so no idea how the warranty would work either.

So best to wait and see what happens with it ... it could get a wider release, at which point you can get it from amazon directly.

If you like VA flavors, there is still the BenQ 2750, and Samsung makes a VA at 27" (650 line). And there are several 24" VAs, as well. None of those are PWM free, however, if that matters to you -- besides perhaps the 24" Dell S series, which seems to be basically luck of the draw as to whether you get one with PWM or not.

I bit on this one last night, but see this now --> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/...PDKIKX0DER

Yikes.. I really wanted 1200 res.. kicking myself for not waiting :(

Eh, the Asus is basically the same (or similar, anyway) as a Dell 2412. I wouldn't get that excited over it, or feel bad about not getting it.

If you want 1200p, NEC has a 24" IPS that just came out -- EA244WMi. It has a lighter coating that most older IPS screens. But user reviews have been mixed so far. It'll also be pricier than the ASUS.

It is really difficult to find a decent 24", 16:10 nowadays without some issues. The Samsung PLS would be a candidate, except it bleeds like a hemophiliac. And it's also pricey.

Maybe you got lucky and the 27"er will be fine. At the least, it'll have much better contrast than any IPS will.

Does anyone have pointers to calibrate ?

If you don't have a colorimeter you can try seeing if anyone has uploaded a calibrated profile to somewhere like the Hardforms' profile thread [hardforum.com].

TFTCentral has a guide [tftcentral.co.uk] which includes methodology for calibrating without any hardware tools. That guide also links to a page [lagom.nl] with some helpful monitor test/calibration images.

Thanks !

For anyone who wanted this and missed out last time, deal is live again at newegg! Amazon may match the newegg price, they often seem to on this.

I have Acer LCD and its pretty good. Now I was thinking to buy LED and its a nice deal but on limited date.

It's the roughly once a month sale on this again, for anyone looking for a relatively well reviewed large VA monitor =)