The Acer CB282K is an attractive pick for users who want a clean and crisp screen that costs well below $400. It has a few omissions to help with lowering its MSRP, but its stylish design and nice 4K panel make up for that. Let’s check it out to see if it should be your next monitor upgrade for home or office use.
Acer CB282K Specifications
- Screen Size: 28 Inches
- Resolution: 3840 x 2160 4K
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Panel Technology: In-Plane Switching (IPS)
- Refresh Rate: 60Hz
- Response Time: 4ms
- Contrast Ratio: 1000:1
- Brightness: 300 cd/m²
- Built-in Speakers: Yes (2 x 2 Watts)
- Stand: Height – Yes
- Stand: Tilt – Yes
- Stand: Swivel – Yes
- Stand: Pivot– Yes
- VESA Compatibility: Yes (100 x 100)
- Connectivity: DisplayPort 1. x 1, HDMI 2.0 x 2, 3.5mm Audio Jack x 1
- Dimensions: (W x H x D): 25.08” x 1” x 17.21” x 10.59”
- Weight: 15.98 lbs
Design and Features
The Acer CB282K invokes its older minimalist design that’s composed of a sleek display and a round base. The monitor has a matte silver finish, so it would look nice next to premium devices like MacBook Pros. The screen is bezel-free on three sides, but it still has inner borders like any modern LED display.
It is not gigantic compared to today’s unique behemoths, such as the Dell U4323QE, but it can still take up a decent amount of your desk space. The circular base and the chassis need almost 11 inches of depth from your desk, so you might have to make some adjustments. It’s slightly heavier than comparable models at 15.98 pounds, but it is still going to be manageable for most users.
The product’s build quality is great just like every Acer monitor from all its price brackets. The plastics used feel sufficiently reinforced, so they won’t crack or flex with moderate amounts of force. The included stand looks slim and fragile, but it’s actually quite stable and firm.
We like that the Acer CB282K has an OSD joystick and hotkey layout for its settings and features. It’s at the back along the edge of the right side of the panel, so you can easily reach them even if you can’t directly see them. Most budget monitors have buttons that are usually clunky and time-consuming, so this is a step in the right direction.
The monitor’s stand includes DisplayPort 1.2, two HDMI 2.0 slots, and a 3.5mm jack for headphones and speakers. It doesn’t have valuable extras like a USB-C slot or even USB-A ports, but that’s understandable due to the reduced MSRP. It still includes a 3.5mm jack, but we know that most users will always opt for the port on the PC or laptop’s sound card.
The Acer CB282K has a pair of 2-watt speakers for basic tasks or purposes. They sound tinny and are incapable of bass response, so most will feel that they are not fit for gaming or entertainment use. We hope Acer boosts this up on future iterations so its thrifty audience can avoid spending more cash on a separate set.
Display and Performance
The Acer CB282K sports a 28-inch IPS panel with a 3840 x 2160 resolution, a 60Hz refresh rate, and a 4ms response time. The backlight has a 300 cd/m2 output, while the contrast is listed at 1000:1, like with most IPS panels. This model doesn’t have unique features like HDR certification but is compatible with HDR10 signals.
4K monitors are sought after for crisp imaging and expanded screen space that’s perfect for any computing use. They have gone down in pricing, so we now have viable budget models suitable for home and office use. The smaller and more popular 27 or 28-inch monitors look extra sharp, although some users may need to adjust scaling to make walls of text readable.
The Acer CB282K renders 99% of the sRGB gamut and 84% of the DCI-P3 color space. It’s not as vibrant as the other 4K models, but the savings you get with it make up for the difference. Its default accuracy had a deltaE average of 1.97 which is great for a budget monitor and daily use.
Calibrating it reduced the dE average to 1.03, which is excellent since the monitor was not intended for color-critical applications. The downside is that you will need a colorimeter that isn’t cheap. We can only recommend buying it if you will use your monitors for editing or content creation.
The Acer CB282K’s backlight reached 294 cd/m2 at 100% so that it can fight a decent amount of glare. Its contrast reached 995:1 at 60% brightness, but that’s insufficient to produce deep blacks like VA or OLED panels. However, it’s a known IPS limitation, so it’s not a deal breaker in our opinion.
Panel uniformity for the test sample had some backlight leaks on the top edge of the screen. This affected the backlight and color uniformity, especially when it’s showing dark scenes. Note that this can change with every monitor due to manufacturing tolerances, so there are better units out there.
The Acer CB282K isn’t built for gaming, and it’s limited to 60Hz, so it doesn’t have the best pixel response time in its category. It is prone to blurring in some fast-paced scenes, but it’s not as noticeable or bad as it is on VA alternatives. The monitor has an overdrive feature that can lessen it, but using the maximum level will induce overshoot.
The Acer CB282K is compatible with FreeSync and G-Sync if you force it via Nvidia Control Panel. VRR is essential for 4K gaming since not a lot of cards can produce stable framerates at that resolution. Input lag sits at 9ms at 60Hz, so users won’t feel any delays or sluggishness from the screen.
Thoughts on the Acer CB282K
The Acer CB282K is a decent choice if you want an inexpensive mixed-use monitor for home or office use. Its IPS panel offers great imaging performance out of the box, although its contrast might leave something to be desired if you are coming from a VA alternative. It doesn’t have a wholesale of features, but it’s robust and designed quite well.
However, there are cheaper options now which can erase the value proposition of the Acer CB282K. Examples like the INNOCN 27C1U will rain on its parade since it offers more features for less money. But overall, this monitor is worth the buy since it carries excellent quality that is usually associated with its display products.
Pros:
- Attractive Design
- Great Build Quality
- Sharp and Well-Balanced Colors
- Great for Multitasking and Mixed Use
Cons:
- Not the Current Cheapest
- Limited Contrast
- Tinny Speakers
About the Author: 
Paolo has been a gaming veteran since the golden days of Doom and Warcraft and has been building gaming systems for family, friends, and colleagues since junior high. High-performance monitors are one of his fixations; he believes that every citizen’s right to enjoy one. He has gone through several pieces of hardware in pursuit of every bit of performance gain, much to the dismay of his wallet. He now works with Monitornerds to scrutinize the latest gear to create reviews that accentuate the seldom explained aspects of a PC monitor.
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