At first glance, you might not notice that the Acer Nitro XV282K is a beautiful gaming monitor. If you connect this 4K, 144Hz display to a powerful PC or current-generation console, you can turn on HDR mode and enjoy the bright colours, deep blacks, and sharp images. If you use different ways, on the other hand, you should be ready to do a lot of work.
Most of the XV282preset K’s modes are really bad. They don’t have enough contrast or saturation. Most of its competitors are in the $700 range, so that’s pretty bad for a $900 machine, especially since the XV282K also has bad speakers and a hard-to-understand setup process.
On the other hand, it’s easy to forget about these problems when you’re in the middle of a 4K game running at 60 fps (or more) with a rich colour palette and a smooth framerate. Once you get the XV282K set up the way you like it, it’s pretty good. I just wish it were a little easier to get there.
ACER XV282K REVIEW: SPECS
- Screen Size: 28 inches
- Resolution: 3840 x 2160
- Refresh Rate: 144 Hz
- Inputs: DisplayPort, HDMI, 3.5 mm audio, USB-A, USB-B, USB-C
- Dimensions: 25.1 x 17.6 x 10.6 inches
Acer XV282K Review: Design
The Acer XV282K is about as simple as it gets when it comes to gaming monitors. The screen is 28 inches and the display is a flat rectangle. The only decorations are a small power light on the bottom right and an Acer logo in the bottom centre. There are four buttons for navigation and a control nub on the back. Because the buttons all feel the same, it’s not easy to tell them apart, but they get the job done.
You can change a few things about the monitor, such as its height (by about 5 inches), tilt (by 40 degrees), and vertical orientation. Setting up the monitor was a different story, but adjusting it is pretty easy. The stand is made up of two parts: a round base and a rod that goes through it. The screw from the rod doesn’t fit perfectly into the ground, and the bottom is a little heavier than it looks. Because of this, there is no good way to set it up without a second person, and even with a second person, it takes some trial and error. We hope you’ll only have to do it once.
The XV282K has a good number of ports: a power port, two HDMI 2.1 ports, a DisplayPort, a USB-C port, a USB-B port, two USB-A ports, and a 3.5 mm audio port. But all of the ports are on the back of the monitor, which makes them hard to get to. If you want to hook up gadgets to the monitor, you should do it when you first set it up. You won’t want to move them after that.
There are also speakers built into the Acer XV282K, but you probably won’t use them. They sound dirty and metallic, and I could only listen to them for a few minutes before putting on my headphones.
Acer XV282K Review: Screen
The Acer XV282most K’s likely best feature is its screen. It’s big enough at 28 inches to get people’s attention, but small enough to fit on a desk. With 4K resolution and a refresh rate of 144 Hz, it can work with a high-end gaming PC, a PS5, an Xbox Series X, or a 4K streaming media player. Even with the stand, the XV282K doesn’t look like it would be too big for most console and PC gamers.
Here are some comparisons between the XV282K and some of its competitors:
Acer XV282K screen benchmark comparison
| Brightness (nits) | sRGB Spectrum (%) | Delta-E | |
| Acer Nitro XV282K (Standard) | 185 | 137 | 0.31 |
| Acer Nitro XV282K (HDR) | 248 | 136 | 0.22 |
| Asus TUF VG28UQL1A (sRGB Mode) | 247 | 102 | 0.27 |
| Asus TUF VG28UQL1A (HDR) | 233 | 102 | 0.27 |
| Acer Predator XB232QK (Standard) | 108 | 138 | 0.29 |
| Acer Predator XB232QK (HDR) | 153 | 138 | 0.30 |
The Nitro XV282K has better numbers than its close competitors, both from Acer and outside of the company. It had better brightness and colour accuracy in HDR mode than the other two models, but the sRGB spectrum was just a little bit lower than the Acer Predator XB232QK (full review pending). In HDR mode, the Delta-E of 0.22 was especially impressive, since results that are closer to zero are better.
But from a quality standpoint, it’s hard to look past how bad most of the XV282presets K’s look. With just a few simple menu choices, you can turn on any of the eight display presets, including Action, Racing, Sports, and a custom user profile. You can change all of these settings to different degrees, but most are almost useless by default. Most of the presets on the XV282K are low interest, low saturation washouts that would have looked bad on a CRT monitor from the 1990s. If you’ve ever left a colorful magazine page in the sun for too long, you can get a good idea of how most presets on the XV282K look. Read more; The HP Elite Dragonfly G3 for home office use
Acer XV282K Review: Performance
I was able to test the Acer XV282K with a Dell XPS gaming PC and a PS5, both of which can output HDR content. So, I kept the HDR mode on the whole time, and some of the images just blew my mind. I put Nioh Remastered on my PS5 and turned on the 120 Hz mode. When I did that, the monitor showed each katana stroke and arrow hit with a fluidity that was stunning. On the PS5, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla felt just as smooth, but some of the dark areas were a little too dark, even when my avatar’s torch was on.
But the monitor really shone when I played PC games. Age of Empires IV, Doom Eternal, Cyberpunk 2077, and Final Fantasy XIV were the games I used to test the system, and they all looked beautiful. Whether it was Age of Empires’ lush European landscapes, Doom Eternal’s rocky, red hellscapes, or Final Fantasy XIV’s busy cities, the XV282K rendered them all in beautiful 4K at a smooth 60 frames per second. (Your mileage may be different depending on how strong your truck is.)
Cyberpunk 2077, on the other hand, was where the monitor really shone. Night City is a cyberpunk setting, and it has a lot of blues, greys, browns, and blacks. But the XV282K did not make the setting look dull. Instead, it brought it to life and gave it just as much visual richness and vibrancy as the more colourful games. The monitor can show 136 percent of the sRGB spectrum, and it makes good use of every single percentage point.
Acer XV282K Review: Interface
The menu system on the Acer XV282K is simple and doesn’t stand out. One button shows the presets, another button shows the full menu, a control knob helps you move around, and so on. You can choose from presets, change the colour and brightness, switch between inputs, and even check your refresh rate. Read also; Dell Precision 5470 14-inch Workstation is the Most Powerful
Acer XV282K Review: Verdict
Before you buy an Acer XV282K, there are a few things you should know. It’s expensive, hard to set up, and a lot of its display modes just don’t look very good. But it runs like a dream in HDR mode, which is important for both gamers and graphic designers.
The XV282K is a good gaming monitor, but it’s not quite as good as the Samsung Odyssey G7 ($800) or the Gigabyte M28U ($650).
