Acer has just announced that its humongous upcoming Acer Predator Z57 miniLED gaming monitor will not retail for $2,499 as originally announced, but will instead sell for $1,999 – a massive $500 price drop. While that’s still expensive, it’s an incredible price for such a large screen.
Acer‘s new contender for a spot on our best gaming monitor guide was announced at CES 2024 at the start of the year, alongside a host of other gaming monitors. I had the chance to write an Acer Predator Z57 hands on preview with the display and was impressed at the sheer scale of it, although Acer hadn’t set up the demo to really highlight the high contrast of which it should be capable.
Nonetheless, this monitor, with its deep 1,000R curve and huge V-shaped stand (are you sufficiently getting the impression that you’ll need a massive desk for this screen?) is sure to be a darling of racing and flight sim gamers. It will also be appealing to just anyone who wants the maximum screen size and resolution you can possibly fit on a desk without resorting to using multiple screens.
The reason for the new price drop hasn’t been made clear, but we suspect the sheer number of top tier monitors that are arriving this year has a part to play. At CES, dozens of companies announced stunning-looking OLED and miniLED gaming monitors – including the likes of the MSI MPG 271QRX QD-OLED – with prices far more competitive than ever for this caliber of display.
Looking at the rest of the specs of this DUHD panel, its 120Hz refresh rate pales in comparison to the 240Hz UHD and 360Hz 2K refresh rate/resolution combinations of some other displays. However, there simply isn’t the display connection technology to drive such a high resolution at a faster refresh rate yet.
Comparing it to OLED screens, the big advantage of the miniLED technology used here is that it can be much brighter. Where that MSI monitor above can only hit a maximum full screen brightness of 250nits, and a peak brightness of 400nits for small areas of HDR, this Acer panel will be able to hit 1,000nits, giving it a VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certification. That will mean dazzling and impressive HDR reproduction, even in well lit rooms.
Other features include AMD FreeSync Premium support, a pair of 10W speakers, DisplayPort, HDMI 2.1 (so you get 120Hz support on consoles), and USB Type-C video inputs with 90W power delivery. There’s also an inbuilt KVM switch, so you can switch keyboard and mouse inputs along with your video inputs.
The exact Acer Predator Z57 release date hasn’t been made clear yet, but there’s a release window of Q2 2024, which means it could be available any time from now until the end of June.
For a more affordable and OLED-based alternative to this superwide, 32:9 aspect ratio panel, check out the Samsung Odyssey G95SC, which is currently our top choice of superwide gaming monitor.