Second Chance Acer Predator X32QFSbmiiphuzx

I was looking for an LCD monitor with HDR1000, Miniled, Freesync Premium Pro, 32 inch size, no curve, and 4K resolution. Piece of cake, I thought, but that was not at all: the number of monitors that offer exactly this combination can be counted on one hand, a few of which are no longer available in the Netherlands. This monitor was ultimately the only one that met all my requirements... But on the entire Dutch and English-language internet I only found 2 reviews. I took the gamble anyway, and in retrospect I am very happy with that.

I specifically did not want OLED because of the price and the inherent disadvantages of such monitors; I also use the monitor for working from home. However, I also wanted the best possible HDR display for gaming. While this is no problem for LCD TVs, it is apparently still quite a challenge for LCD monitors in 2025. This monitor, on the other hand, makes it all come true. Yes, it is an IPS panel so 'black' is never really black. And I see minimal backlight bleeding in the bottom left and right corners, but this is not noticeable when using it. For the rest, the colours pop off the screen and the image is incredibly bright, with small details (the sun in the sky, a bright lamp in the distance) but also the entire image (walking from a dark room to a bright winter landscape). The Minileds with the large number of dimmable zones do a fantastic job here. In contrast to previous monitors with this function, I do not see any disturbing halos around bright details during a normal gaming session, while the difference between 'normal' brightness and 'maximum' brightness in the same scene is still enormous. That is how HDR display should be for me. The fact that you do not have intense black colours and infinite contrast, unlike an OLED monitor, I accept; that is simply a disadvantage of the IPS technology. I personally find the adaptive dimming function that is supposed to improve this quite irritating in practice and have therefore left it off. Please note that during installation you will have to adjust quite a few options in the on-screen display (OSD) yourself, as indicated in the manual it is set to the rather poor eco mode from the factory due to European regulations. Some will also want to calibrate the monitor's colour profile, which is quite inaccurate.

I am less satisfied with the design and ease of use. On the one hand I think it is a big plus that it is not a flashy gaming monitor (apart from the 'Predator' text at the bottom of the screen), but on the other hand I am annoyed by the enormous and extremely awkward foot. As a result, I lose a lot of desk space and the monitor comes too far forward, while the stability of the foot is significantly worse than that of my second 27" monitor with a traditional, smaller, flat foot. I immediately ordered a monitor arm. Also a pity is the not very subtle blue power LED that, unlike most monitors in this price range (also from Acer itself...), cannot be switched off. That just seems cheap. The lack of a shortcut button for your favorite OSD functions, a fairly standard addition in this price range, is also annoying to me. When I start gaming, I first have to adjust some things in the menu, and that doesn't make anyone happy. These are also the options that you cannot adjust via the Acer app on your computer (available when you have it connected with USB). The cable management is simply bad for this price range, the KVM function to switch between my PC and my work laptop is welcome and works properly, but is emphatically not a dock or suitable for charging your laptop. That's not an issue for me since I already use a docking station with my work laptop and second screen, and I'd rather have a better monitor than a monitor that also wants to be other things. And that's this monitor.

All in all I'm very happy with this monitor, I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for the same combination of functions as I am.