The Acer Predator X34 OLED is another healthy addition to a continuously growing lineup of endgame gaming monitors. It has a 34-inch curved ultrawide OLED panel with a desirable 3440 x 1440 resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate. It’s not cheap, but let’s see if it’s a worthy investment and upgrade for your gaming setup this holiday season.
Acer Predator X34 OLED Specifications
- Screen Size: 34 Inches
- Resolution: 3440 x 1440 UW-QHD
- Aspect Ratio: 21:9
- Panel Technology: WOLED
- Refresh Rate: 240Hz
- Response Time: 0.01ms
- Contrast Ratio: 1500000:1
- Brightness: 275 cd/m² (1300 cd/m² Peak)
- Built-in Speakers: Yes 2 x 5 Watts
- Stand: Height – Yes
- Stand: Tilt – Yes
- Stand: Swivel – Yes
- Stand: Pivot – No
- VESA Compatibility: Yes (100 x 100)
- Connectivity: DisplayPort 1.4 x 2, HDMI 2.1 x 2, USB-C x 1, USB 3.2 x 6, 3.5mm Audio Jack x 1
- Dimensions (W x H x D): 30.9” 21.8” x 12”
- Weight: 18.7 lbs
Design and Features
The Acer Predator X34 OLED looks drastically different than the original X34 with its mature and sophisticated aesthetic. The monitor has a matte black finish, so it looks cleaner and discrete no matter where you put it. The screen has a bezel-free design, but it still has inner borders like most modern displays.
It’s not the biggest ultrawide out there, but it still needs over 30 inches of width and a foot of depth from your desk. It might offset some of your other peripherals, so it’s wise to scope out your space before pulling the trigger. The whole unit isn’t too heavy at 18.7 pounds, but extra care is still necessary while moving it around.
The Acer Predator X34 OLED is a premium model, so it has excellent build quality, unlike some of the cheaper monitors out there. The plastics used are thick and tough, while the stand is mostly made of metal. It can wobble if you nudge it accidentally, but it is very stable compared to the other designs we’ve seen on competing monitors.
The only controller this model includes is a tiny joystick, but we’re glad that its not a set of pesky buttons. Its very easy to reach even if you don’t have direct line of sight, so manipulating its settings and features should be less painful. Anything less doesn’t belong with a monitor of this caliber, but we’d appreciate premium additions if we consider the monitor’s full MSRP.
The included stand offers tilt, swivel, and height adjustments for your comfort and convenience. Pivoting wasn’t included, but that’s understandable since curved ultrawides were never ideal for portrait viewing anyway. You can use VESA mounts, but they’re unnecessary in most instances, like when your desk is small or space is limited.
The Acer Predator X34 OLED has a lot of connectivity options compared to other premium models. It has two slots each for DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1, a USB-C port, a total of 6 USB 3.2 ports, and a 3.5mm jack. The monitor also has a KVM switch that can utilize this arsenal of connectors and create a convenient and flexible setup for you.
The monitor also has built-in speakers with 5 watts of power per channel. They can get louder than the typical set in most computer displays but are still incapable of deep bass and clear details. We still recommend using headsets since they are focused and better for immersion than tiny cans at the back of a monitor’s housing.
Display and Performance
The Acer Predator X34 OLED sports a 34-inch curved OLED panel with a 3440 x 1440 resolution, a 240Hz refresh rate, and a 0.1ms response time. The panel’s typical brightness is listed at 275 cd/m2 while its peak is at 1300 cd/m2, plus a 150000:1 contrast like most OLED monitors. This model is HDR 400 True Black certified, so it is capable of brilliant HDR effects and deeper contrast.
1440p monitors are wildly popular now simply because they offer an excellent balance between 1080p and 4K. The extra pixel count enhances sharpness and clarity, its not going to be as demanding as a 4K panel on your GPU. Its going to be crisper, but not to the point of making everything look microscopic and straining to the eyes.
The Acer Predator X34 OLED covers more than 100% sRGB and 99% DCI-P3 for stunning color in games and movies. Its default accuracy suffers because of the extra vibrance, but that 2.78 dE average isn’t too bad. Its perfect for games, and most who get it for that purpose won’t need to tweak it right way.
Calibrating the monitor reduced its dE average to 0.96 which isn’t the best we’ve seen, but is still a fantastic score overall. It makes the monitor comparable with high-end prosumer display, effectively increasing its flexibility. The downside is that you will need a colorimeter to achieve similar results since not two panels are made the same, plus the monitor doesn’t have an sRGB mode to lock it down.
The panel’s brightness reached 393 cd/m2 at 100% and it peaked at 733 cd/m2 when its HDR mode is active. Its contrast is infinite thanks to its individually dimming pixels, enabling it to produce true blacks and detailed highlights in games and movies. A mini-LED alternative will be brighter, but it cannot go toe to toe when it comes to HDR accuracy and contrast depth with an OLED panel like this.
Panel uniformity for the test sample was excellent since there is no backlight to leak its output on the edges of the screen. Light blooms are also accurate here, so its capable of fantastic transitions between light and dark. The only issue with it is that its prone to burn in, but its easy to prevent that with basic care and diligence.
The Acer Predator X34 OLED’s pixel response time is instantaneous as well since it doesn’t have to wait for the backlight with transitions. Its practically blur-free because of that, so its perfect for E-Sports titles or any fast-paced genre like racing sims. The 240Hz helps as well, giving you smooth and blur-free performance all around.
The Acer Predator X34 OLED is compatible with FreeSync and G-Sync for tearing and stutter-free performance. Dual compatibility is essential if you want to keep an expensive monitor and VRR functionality when you switch to the GPU brand. Its input lag sits below 3ms, so its as fast as some of the best E-Sports monitors out there.
Thoughts on the Acer Predator X34 OLED
The Acer Predator X34 OLED is a fantastic option in an increasingly competitive gaming monitor market. It has deeper color coverage than some of its opponents, allowing it to produce brilliant and compelling visuals. It’s built well and has many features, and we like how it’s more discrete-looking instead of its flashy predecessors.
It’s not perfect, but what’s missing from it, like a dedicated sRGB mode, can’t be considered deal breakers. It can do what every gamer expects from a high-end display plus more, so we think it’s an excellent deal overall. It’s one of the best OLED ultrawide monitors you can buy, especially now that it’s on sale.
Pros:
- Great Price for the Holidays
- Excellent Colors and Gamut Coverage
- Brilliant HDR
- Fast and Blur Freee
- Great Build Quality and Features
Cons:
- No Prosumer Presets
- Limited Features
- Low Wattage USB-C
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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