Acer XFA240 review

Our Verdict

The Acer XFA delivers good 1080p performance and a versatile physical structure for less than $200.

For

Inexpensive
Good color quality
Easy, straightforward pattern

Against

Menus are a pain
"Game style" tin can make graphics worse

Tom'southward Guide Verdict

The Acer XFA delivers proficient 1080p performance and a versatile physical structure for less than $200.

Pros

+
Inexpensive
+
Good color quality
+
Easy, straightforward design

Cons

-
Menus are a hurting
-
"Game mode" tin can make graphics worse

Acer XFA240 review: Specs

Screen Size: 24 inches
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Refresh Rate: 144 Hz
Inputs: DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI
Dimensions: 22.3 x 2.4 x 13.2 inches

Part of PC gaming's appeal is that you can make information technology work on pretty much any budget, and the Acer XFA240 is a great case of that. You can put together a very decent organization for just a few hundred bucks, and the Acer XFA240 is a straightforward, affordable monitor to go forth with it.

This no-frills gaming monitor costs $200, and delivers a colorful screen, an easy setup and a scattering of useful extras. While it's non a bully accompaniment for high-end systems, the XFA240 is one of the best gaming monitors (and best monitors in general) you can buy for a 1080p output, especially if you're non looking to spend a lot of money. Read our Acer XFA240 review for further details.

Acer XFA240 review: Price and availability

The Acer XFA240 costs $200 and is bachelor at Amazon.

Acer XFA240 review: Blueprint

In a world where "bezel" is a dirty word and every gadget has to look like it came out of a Ridley Scott movie, there's something charmingly quondam-school most the Acer XFA240. The device is a blackness rectangle with a 24-inch screen, and noticeable bezels on all sides.

It has six buttons on the forepart, and a DisplayPort, an HDMI port, a DVI port and two three.5 mm jacks (one for audio, one for mic) on the dorsum. The wide, circular stand has an arm that lets you adjust the monitor'due south height, and you lot tin even rotate the monitor a full xc degrees if you lot need a vertical 2d screen. Information technology's everything you need in a gaming monitor, plus a few helpful extras that more expensive peripherals sometimes eschew.

Assembling the monitor is fairly unproblematic, as there are just three pieces: The screen, the stand up and the base. Simply the base requires a screwdriver (either flathead or Phillips caput volition do), and it'southward entirely possible to take the whole thing put together in less than a infinitesimal. My just complaint was that my base however had a ton of adhesive stuck to it, which I didn't want to harm my desk. Trying to clean the base with acetone, however, stripped the stop clean off. In the end, I had to put the monitor on a placemat, or else risk my desk'due south wooden surface. If you lot notice yourself in the aforementioned situation, try lather and water first.

Acer XFA240 review: Screen

The Acer XFA240's screen is cracking at all for the price. You go 352 nits of effulgence, 106.3% of the sRGB spectrum and a Delta E color accuracy of 0.26 (closer to zero is better). Compare and dissimilarity to the comparable Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2421HGF, which has the same sRGB percentage, but only 284 nits of brightness and a Delta Eastward of 0.3. The XFA240 features a much improve screen than its price might advise.

From a qualitative perspective, the colors and brightness expect good, too. For everyday utilize, even fifty% of the brightness is sufficient to become work washed, while the colors looked sharp and accurate whether I was writing a Word document, watching a YouTube video or playing a video game. The blacks are nothing special, merely the screen can display vibrant blues, reds and browns without issue.

Acer XFA240 review: Gaming performance

I tested the Acer XFA240 with a variety of games, including Overwatch, Age of Empires Two: Definitive Edition, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and World of Warcraft. There aren't many relevant presets in the XFA240'due south menu, just a "game mode" that brightens up the screen and makes things a piddling sharper. In a lot of cases, though, the game style fabricated things worse. Aboriginal catacombs in Tomb Raider felt sterile and washed-out; Mongolian steppes in Age of Empires looked like pixelated wastelands.

With the game mode turned off, though, the colour residual was if not beautiful, so at least easy on the optics. Characters and projectiles popped in Overwatch, while the deserts and forests in Earth of Warcraft came to life. Thanks to the screen's 144 Hz refresh charge per unit, nearly games ran at a minimum of 60 fps, while 120 fps wasn't uncommon in less demanding titles. Your performance will depend on your hardware, of course, but yous'll exist able to get some decently fluid frame rates on the XFA240.

Acer XFA240 review: Interface

The one surface area where I wasn't very impressed with the Acer XFA240 was in its menu organisation. Having five buttons (plus a power button) rather than a single control nub makes things pretty confusing, although I exercise appreciate that the buttons were on the forepart of the monitor rather than hidden abroad in the back.

Pressing whatever button brings up shortcuts for game mode, performance options, a total card, an input selector and volume controls. (The XFA240 has congenital-in speakers. Similar a lot of monitor speakers, they're unbalanced and metal, admitting marginally better than having no speakers at all.) From here, the main card is where you'll do virtually of your tweaking, although with so many buttons and functionalities, navigation can exist a pain.

Still, y'all have a off-white number of options at your disposal. You can cull among a few vague presets (Standard, Eco, Movie theatre and and so along), change effulgence and contrast, tweak color saturation and select your input. This is theoretically useful if you want to hook up multiple machines, although since at that place's only 1 HDMI port, information technology's not the friendliest monitor for consoles.

Acer XFA240 review: Verdict

While no individual feature discussed in our Acer XFA240 review jumped out at me every bit revolutionary, I was pleasantly surprised past how much I liked the whole parcel. It's an inexpensive, no-nonsense brandish with height aligning, vertical rotation, built-in speakers and audio jacks, and a abrupt, colorful screen. If yous take a gaming rig that's built for a 1080p output, it'due south a perfectly proficient monitor.

If you're willing to beat out another $100, the MSI Optix MAG272C delivers similar performance, but with an attractive curved screen. On the other hand, the Optix doesn't have a vertical manner or speakers, so if y'all opt for the XFA240 instead, you'll save some money and gain some features.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site'south coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and engineering. Subsequently hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.