Of all of the ultra-wide 21:9 shows I’ve checked out thus far in my quest to seek out the best monitor for Final Fantasy XII, the Acer Predator Z35p is by far the most costly. At £800 / $990 at time of writing, it’s round £150 / $300 dearer than the Philips 349X7JEW and £50 / $200 greater than the AOC Agon AG352UCG.
Sure, it has a 35in curved 3440×1440 VA show with a 100Hz refresh charge, an adjustable stand and Nvidia G-Sync assist, however can it actually justify such a hike? Let’s discover out.
On measurement alone, it actually feels such as you’re getting your cash’s value. Measuring 579mm excessive, 844mm extensive and a desk-hogging 309mm deep, the Predator Z35p has a considerably greater footprint than both the Philips 349X7JEW or the AOC AG352UCG. As such, you’ll want fairly a large desk as a way to accommodate it, and as you possibly can see from the image beneath, I solely had nearly sufficient room for my keyboard in entrance of the Z35p. Anything greater, like making an attempt to squeeze a laptop computer in entrance of it to make use of as a second display screen, is out of the query – until you occur to have a desk the dimensions of a small planet, in fact.
The stand does afford various flexibility, although, together with a beneficiant 130mm of peak adjustment, 20 levels of side-to-side swivel and between Four-35 levels of tilt, so it’s fairly simple to get it set as much as your liking. There’s additionally a small cable tidy for threading your wires by to assist maintain issues good and neat.
For all its additional bulk, although, I used to be disillusioned to seek out there have been nonetheless simply two show inputs: DisplayPort and HDMI. To make issues worse, the HDMI port solely helps the 1.Four commonplace slightly than the 4K-friendly 2.zero commonplace, giving it precisely the identical drawback as AOC’s AG352UCG.
As I defined in my AOC Agon AG352UCG review, the restricted bandwidth of HDMI 1.Four means the Predator Z35p’s refresh charge can solely attain 50Hz at its full decision of 3440×1440. This in flip restricts the variety of frames you’ll have the ability to see in video games. You may need two Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 playing cards inside your PC, for instance, however you’ll see solely have the ability to see a most of 50fps in the event you use the HDMI port.
Switch over to DisplayPort, nonetheless, and also you’ll not solely have the ability to use the monitor’s Nvidia G-Sync assist to assist make video games seem smoother and fewer stuttery, however you’ll additionally have the ability to make the most of its full 100Hz refresh charge. This is activated by merely enabling it in Windows’ superior show settings – very similar to you’d do with each the Philips and AOC.
Acer, nonetheless, have taken this one step additional, as you even have the choice to overclock the monitor’s refresh charge all the best way as much as 120Hz utilizing its onboard menu system. This is one thing the Philips and AOC can’t do, which begins to clarify why the Predator Z35p prices a lot extra. Of course, you’ll want a reasonably hefty graphics card as a way to run video games at 120fps at 3440×1440, however is it actually value paying such a premium for an additional 20 frames? Personally, I’d say no, however it’s possible you’ll assume in any other case.
The Predator Z35p additionally provides you a bucket extra show choices than its rivals, however even these really feel superfluous when its ultra-wide VA panel produces such a wonderful image straight out of the field. There are eight profiles in complete, three of that are particular ‘gamer’ modes that may be adjusted and customised to your liking, however I left the Z35p on the default User mode all through my testing as this proved to be probably the most correct beginning base.
Here, even the mounted Warm color temperature profile coated 99.zero% of the sRGB color gamut profile after I examined it with my i1 DisplayPro calibrator, and I used to be solely in a position to enhance it by zero.2% after I switched to the User color temperature profile to rein in its slight inexperienced bias. I imply, it’s very beneficiant of Acer to incorporate each RGB and CMY choices, to not point out gamma, adaptive distinction and darkish increase settings, however once you’ve acquired a close to pitch excellent image anyway, it’s additionally fully pointless.
The Z35p can be quite a bit brighter than the Philips and AOC, topping out at round 326cd/m2, however you received’t want something close to this for on a regular basis use. Still, at the least it gives a bit extra leeway than its rivals, and also you additionally get a blue gentle filter possibility to assist ease potential eye pressure. However, this switches the monitor into a selected blue gentle color temperature profile, so any changes you make on different color temperature profiles received’t carry over.
Its black stage was roughly the identical because the Philips and AOC at zero.13cd/m2 (the nearer to zero.00cd/m2, the higher), however its distinction ratio of 2005:1 places it forward of each, serving to it produce extra superb element in darker shadow areas than its rivals. The aforementioned darkish increase settings will assist brighten areas additional, too, which can be useful on a sunny day in the event you’re taking part in one thing significantly gloomy, however on the entire I discovered this usually worn out a whole lot of element slightly than improve it, so it’s most likely finest left turned off in favour of shutting your curtains.
Still, at the least the Z35p’s menu in all fairness simple to make use of ought to you could change any settings, which is greater than might be stated for the AOC. Not solely is it sensibly laid out, however all of its button prompts are clearly labelled, too, requiring little to no head gymnastics as you navigate out and in of its tabs.
Another enchancment the Z35p has over the AOC is the presence of 4 USB3 ports versus simply two, bringing it consistent with the Philips. One of them can cost your cellphone and different gadgets, too, when you’ve enabled USB charging within the onboard menu, and so they’re additionally a heck of quite a bit simpler to entry as effectively, positioned merely on the again panel slightly than beneath in some tiny plastic cavity you possibly can solely attain with some blind fumbling.
Ultimately, although, I’m undecided all that is value the additional money. There’s no denying the Acer Predator Z35p is a stunning monitor, however when the Philips 349X7JEW prices a lot much less, takes up much less room and comes with simply pretty much as good a display screen, it appears foolish to say, ‘Actually, I’d wish to ignore this cheaper monitor and pay massively over the percentages for this one as an alternative.’ Yes, the Philips solely has AMD FreeSync assist slightly than G-Sync, however proper now it’s nonetheless one of the simplest ways to get a terrific 21:9 show for the least sum of money.
However, in the event you’re adamant about having Nvidia’s adaptive body charge tech to assist shore up your graphics card, then I’d most likely nonetheless go for the cheaper AOC Agon AG32UCG, regardless of the actual fact it solely has two USB ports. The Acer Predator Z35p does a whole lot of issues proper, but it surely’s simply not value it at current prices. Will Dell’s Alienware AW3418DW fare any higher? I’ll be discovering out very quickly.
