ACER B296CL
29″ Ultrawide Display
The Acer B296CL 29″ LCD display has a native resolution of 2560×1080 and a unique aspect ratio of 21:9, making this ultrawide display excellent in an office environment for viewing spreadsheets, multipage documents, Web pages, or watching a movie. The full dimensions, including its thin black bezel, are 12.5″ high, 27.5″ wide, and 9.5″ deep. Supported by a sturdy base, you can raise the display, tilt it back and forth, swivel it left and right, and orient it to either a landscape or vertical position. Use caution, however, because part of the base is magnetized—nice for paper clips, but bad for flash or small hard drives.
The six-button control panel on the bottom right is difficult to see because the black buttons are indistinguishable from the rest of the black frame. The onscreen display includes five viewing presets, volume control, and sliders that let you manually adjust the display's brightness, color temperature, saturation, and contrast. I used the X-Rite ColorMunki Smile colorimeter to calibrate this IPS-panel, LED-backlit display and got a very good custom profile. I printed out a standard test target, and this Acer display gets a high grade for matching colors accurately, along with good highlight and shadow detail.
When viewed straight on, the screen is evenly illuminated from top to bottom and side to side; however, there's noticeable falloff when viewed at an acute angle. The display's matte, nonglare surface is easy on the eye, without any annoying ambient-light reflections.
The comprehensive I/O connectivity for the Acer B296CL I/O includes DVI, two HDMI, DisplayPort, 4-port USB 3 hub, and it all comes packaged with the necessary cables. It's a solid performer except for the somewhat anemic 2-watt internal speakers, and the short 12.5″ height isn't exactly ideal for graphics professionals.
Company:Â Acer Inc.
Price: $599.99
Web: us.acer.com
Rating:Â 4
Hot:Â Connectivity; accurate color
Not: Speakers; height