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Razer may be offering the world’s most compact 15-inch gaming laptops, but most of the variants are not exactly budget-friendly, even when specced with slower dGPUs. In an effort to make its solution more affordable throughout the Holiday season, Razer is now announcing the Razer Blade 15 Base Edition priced at only $1,499.99. However, the enticing price comes with some unfortunate compromises.

The Core i7-10750H CPU from Intel is plenty fast for a budget model, and, while the included 16 GB of DDR4-2933 RAM might be a bit slower than the industry standard 3200, it certainly is not one of the compromises we were talking about. Now, Razer is including only a 120 Hz 1080p 15.6-inch panel instead of the 144 Hz or higher refresh rate ones. We could argue that this is not really a compromise seeing that the model only features the GTX 1660 Ti dGPU. This graphics card is not really able to crunch too many frames in more demanding games, anyway. Razer could have also included a larger capacity SSD Instead of the 256 GB of NVMe solution; at least users can add another NVMe drive themselves.

Here is a list with all the notable downgrades:

Battery capacity slightly reduced from 65 Wh to 60.8 Wh

No Thunderbolt 3 connector, only 2x USB-C 3.2 Gen 1, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 and HDMI 2.0b

No Ethernet

No Wi-Fi 6, only Wi-Fi 5 + Bluetooth 5.0

These more affordable models can be pre-ordered now from the official site, and estimated shipping date is set for December 25. The strange thing is Razer is currently selling the better models that come with 144 Hz screens, Thunderbolt 3 connector, Wi-Fi 6 connectivity and slightly bigger battery for the same $1,499.99 (limited promo sale).

Windows 10 could soon get a whole lot better thanks to a fresh idea from Microsoft. The Redmond firm has just announced a new concept called the “Windows Feature Experience Pack” which look set to bring more features and regular fixes throughout the year.

So, instead of Windows 10 fans having to wait for Microsoft’s two big blockbuster updates, which are usually released in the Spring and Autumn, the “Feature Experience Pack” will allow the company to roll out improvements away from these main upgrades. It could also mean it’s easier to for the tech giant to mend those irritating issues and bugs that so often rear their ugly heads after the big releases are pushed out to PCs

Explaining more, Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc said: “We are testing a new process for delivering new feature improvements to our customers outside of major Windows 10 feature updates. Through the Windows Feature Experience Pack, we can improve certain features and experiences that are now developed independently of the OS.”

Right now this concept is in its test phase via the Windows Insider programme but eventually, “Windows Feature Experience Pack” updates will be delivered to customers through Windows Updates.

“By testing this process first with Windows Insiders, we hope to expand the scope and the frequency of releases in the future,” LeBlanc added.

Although this is great news for the future there won’t be any shiny new treats for Windows 10 users this year.

Microsoft has suspended its Windows 10 changes until the new year as the firm starts to wind down for the Christmas period. This is something that takes place every year, although Microsoft is slowing down operations a little earlier this in 2020. The company has confirmed that it won’t be offering any new features throughout this month.

Don’t panic if things go wrong though as the Microsoft software team will still be available to fix crucial security updates throughout December as needed. However, there will be a limited number of engineers working during the month as Microsoft rewards its employees with annual leave after an unprecedented year.

ASRock has introduced its first graphics card in an M.2-2280 form-factor. The M_2 VGA module is designed to add legacy display connectivity to any system that has an M.2 slot with a PCIe interface. 

The ASRock M_2 VGA module uses Silicon Motion’s SM750 display controller with 16MB of embedded memory and a PCIe x1 interface. The card has a 15-pin header to connect a D-Sub output that supports resolutions of up to 1920×1440. Since this is a single-chip board, its power consumption is rated at 1.49 Watts, which is almost negligible by today’s standards in the PC world. Meanwhile, the unit still has an additional power connector. 

The Silicon Motion SM750 is a rather simplistic display controller that only supports 2D graphics and a basic video engine. The chip features two display engines and has two 300 MHz RAMDACs, one TMDS transmitter, and one LVDS transmitter.

As far as compatibility is concerned, ASRock Rack’s M2_VGA module (as well as the Silicon Motion SM750 graphics controller in general) can be installed into any system based on a CPU from AMD, Intel, Freescale PPC, AMCC, STMicro, Marvell, Loongson, and ZFMicro, basically any platform supporting PCIe. Silicon Motion also promises a broad OS support that includes various versions of Windows and Linux. For example, if someone needs to quickly add a Full-HD display to a system that is already in use, the M2_VGA module is an adapter to choose.

ASRock Rack traditionally does not disclose prices of its products. Given that the M2_VGA module is to a large degree a niche device, it will be available only from resellers specializing in this kind of products.

ASUS’ ROG VIII Dark Hero is gaining a lot of hype for its sleek aesthetics, but there’s more under the hood! Let’s take a look.

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

The Crosshair from ASUS has been the gaming platform for AMD users since it was introduced in 2006. Within this platform, the Hero has been the mid-range board for the last eight generations to the top end Crosshair Formula that has a few upgrades of its own. That said, the Hero has been one of the most popular boards for gamers and enthusiasts building on the AMD X570 platform. With the release of the AMD Ryzen 5000 CPU series in early November, ASUS readied several new motherboards to complement this plethora of processors; one of these new boards is the ROG Dark Hero VIII.

Dark Hero is a complete aesthetics re-design of the Hero. This starts by blacking out the board’s heat sinks and removing the chipset heat sink fan. This rids the board of any moving parts, making it dead silent in operation.

Specifications and Marketing

Comparing the Hero to the Dark Hero, the only real change we find is in the VRM. In this case, ASUS has swapped out the 60A power stages for 90A, keeping with the parallel design found initially in the original Hero. Outside of that, the Dark Hero supports the last three generations of Ryzen processors on the AMD X570 chipset.

Expansion starts with 2x PCIe 4.0 x16 slots tethered to the CPU, with another 17 lanes coming from the chipset. Storage offers up eight SATA 6Gb/s slots and three m.2 slots while networking is unchanged, with the Realtek RTL8125 giving us 2.5Gbe and the Intel AX200 supplying Wi-Fi.

Supreme FX handles audio with eight channels while an ESS Sabre DAC keeps it clean.

Pricing

The ASUS Crosshair VIII Dark Hero carries an MSRP of $399.99 with a three-year warranty.

Packaging, Accessories, and Overview

Packaging and Accessories

Packaging has been changed to a darker colorway for the Dark Hero. We have the ROG logo centered and supported CPUs and features listed along the bottom.

Reading materials came with the motherboard. These include a user guide, sticker sheet, and a driver CD.

Included in the box, you will find the Wi-Fi antenna, SATA cables, and RGB extensions.

ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero Overview

Above, we have the front and back of the board. The heat sinks and plastic both taking on a black colorway.

Getting closer to the board, we start with the PCIe 4.0 slots, three that are full x16 physically but x16, x8, and x4 electrically in order. Along the bottom, you will find front panel audio, fan connections, and USB headers.

Spinning around the edge, we have all eight SATA ports and the USB 3.2 Gen 1 front-panel header.

Sliding down further, we find the Gen 2 front-panel header, 24-pin power, and the start and reset buttons.

Wrapping around the next edge, we roll into ARGB and RGB headers, CPU Fan, and the 8-pin and 4-pin CPU power connections.

The rear I/O includes BIOS Flashback and Clear CMOS at the top, followed by an antenna and a massive amount of USB ports.

PCB and Circuit Analysis

The VRM of the Dark Hero is an 8 phase design running 16x Texas Instruments X95410RR stages in parallel.

The Digi+ controller supports the 8 phase power design.

Below the VRM, you will find the ASMedia1074 for rear panel Gen 2 and the Intel i211AT near the edge.

A TPU KN37280 was brought in to handle Super I/O.

The AMD X570 chipset takes a large portion of the real estate on the Dark Hero, sitting just below the memory slots.

The RTL8125 can be seen above; this handles 2.5Gbe functionality.

UEFI, Software and Test System

UEFI

The EFI hasn’t changed apart from a few new features on the Dark Hero. The main menu gives an overview of the CPU, memory, and BIOS version. Extreme Tweaker is where all the work is done, setting DOCP for memory and overclocking. The advanced menu offers options for configuring system devices, including SATA and NVMe storage.

The Monitor tab allows you to set up your fans automatically or manually. At the same time, the tool menu gives you options for updating BIOS, erasing your storage devices, and setting up profiles.

One of the most talked-about features of Dark Hero is the BIOS option for Dynamic OC Switcher. This feature allows you to set an all-core overclock that your system will use under load until a certain temperature is reached. I set ours to 4.7GHz until we hit 75c.

WPrime, Cinebench and AIDA64

WPrime, CPUz, Cinebench, and AIDA64

WPrime

WPrime is a leading multi-threaded benchmark. In our setup, we will manually set the number of cores for the CPU under test. The ROG Crosshair VIII Hero is our baseline motherboard for all charts.

We start with no issues in WPrime, the Dark Hero handling 32M in 2.4 seconds and 1024M in 63.3 seconds.

CPUz Bench

CPUz bench has been added to our reviews as a simple bench to tune your system. For the Dark Hero, we reach 665 single thread and 6667 multithread with our 5800X.

Cinebench

Cinebench is a long-standing render benchmark that has been heavily relied upon by both Intel and AMD to showcase their newest platforms during unveils. The benchmark has two tests, a single-core workload that will utilize one thread or 1T. There is also a multi-threaded test which uses all threads or nT of a tested CPU

Cinebench testing has been moved to R23, the Dark Hero taking 1617 in 1T and 15616 in nT workloads.

RealBench

Realbench uses both video and photo workloads to benchmark your CPU. We use the Heavy Multitasking workload in this setup. The Dark Hero crunched this workload with a time of 31.1 seconds.

AIDA64 Memory

AIDA64 has stayed as our means of testing memory bandwidth. The Dark Hero enjoys equal performance to the Hero and Taichi from ASRock.

Unigine and UL Benchmarks

PCMark 10

PCMark is a benchmark from UL and tests various workload types to represent typical workloads for a PC. Everything from video conferencing, image import, and editing, along with 3D rendering, are tested.

Focusing on workload scores, the Dark Hero takes narrow leads in each scenario.

Unigine Superposition

Superposition from Unigine is a DX12 based benchmark. We test with the 720p LOW preset as this removes all but the most basic GPU loading, with all of the FPS coming from the CPU.

Dark Hero takes a 1FPS lead over the OG Hero.

3DMark Timespy

Timespy shows an overall score win for the Dark Hero at 16721.

3DMark Firestrike

Dark Hero does quite well with Firestrike scoring 42019.

Horizon Zero Dawn and Gears Tactics

With the DH, we run through some real gaming benchmarks. Horizon gives the board 182 FPS while we touch 166 in Gears Tactics.

System I/O Benchmarks and Power Consumption

System I/O Benchmarks

Storage with CrystalDiskMark

Storage tests are all handled by our Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 SSD.

Starting testing, we hit the rear panel USB 3.2 ports to see how well they perform. Utilizing our WD Black P50, the USB-C hits 1057 MB/s read and 1028 MB/s write.

With CDM, we see 4931 MB/s read and 2517 MB/s write from our Rocket NVMe 4.0.

4KQ1 reaches 64.3 MB/s read and 292 MB/s write for the DH.

Networking with iPerf

Wired and Wireless throughput was quite good on the Dark Hero. Wired testing showed a peak throughput of 2351Mbps while the AX200 topped out at 1412Mbps.

Power Consumption

System Power consumption idled at 157 watts for the DH. CPU load peaked at 375 watts, and gaming showed 630 watts.

Overclocking, Thermals and Final Thoughts

Overclocking

I’ve changed my methodology for overclocking over the last few reviews. After testing our Ryzen 7 5800X on a host of motherboards, I concluded that it simply won’t go past 4.7GHz without sub-ambient cooling and much more voltage. Above is our verification of the 4.7GHz overclock.

On that same note, I’ve upgraded the cooling on our test bench with the help of EK sending over a Quantum Power Kit that I could customize for our Wetbench. This has dropped temps by nearly 10c when compared to our previous NZXT X73.

For our inaugural chart, I was able to test a few of the boards I have here. The Dark Hero was on par with all of them, allowing me to set 1.26v in BIOS, the voltage dropping to 1.21v under load.

Thermals

Testing with our 5800X in stock conditions, idle temps were in line with past X570 platforms at 29c. Peak load temp hit 75c measured by CoreTemp.

Our thermal image of the VRM shows a good amount of heat buildup through the chipset area, peaking at 39c. VRM stays nice and cool, the mid-30s.

Final Thoughts

Dark Hero is an amazing-looking board and taking what we have learned from the OG Hero, it’s likely to be quite reliable down the line as well. In that same vein, we expect the Dark Hero will sell very well for ASUS, and it’s well deserved since ASUS has done its due diligence to offer some upgrades on this platform, including a beefed up VRM.

I think the niche for silent PCs is about to heat up with the Dark Hero. This offers that corner of the market an extremely high performing motherboard option for users looking to start fresh with Zen 3.

Consumers that are already enjoying the OG Hero won’t likely see gains from the Dark Hero, but ASUS does entice with features like Dynamic OC Switcher. This is a Dark Hero only feature because ASUS says it needs additional circuitry only this new board has. I think this feature may be one of the best offered on this board as it eliminates the consequences of running high all-core overclocks.

What We Like

Power Delivery: The parallel design of the Dark Hero VRM gives a tremendously overbuilt platform that can handle overclocking even on the 5950X.

Dynamic OC: Dynamic OC Switcher sets the Dark Hero on a new level for enthusiasts.

Aesthetics: The Dark Hero is one of the best looking boards I’ve ever seen.

Silent: With no chipset cooling fan, this board is perfect for users going for silence.

What Could Be Better

Internal USB Headers: The Dark Hero is almost perfect, but we’d certainly like to see all internal headers angled for a cleaner look in custom builds.

Price: AMD X570 has been an expensive platform since day one. The Dark Hero is no different, with the MSRP at $399.

Windows 10 could soon get a whole lot better thanks to a fresh idea from Microsoft. The Redmond firm has just announced a new concept called the “Windows Feature Experience Pack” which look set to bring more features and regular fixes throughout the year.

So, instead of Windows 10 fans having to wait for Microsoft’s two big blockbuster updates, which are usually released in the Spring and Autumn, the “Feature Experience Pack” will allow the company to roll out improvements away from these main upgrades. It could also mean it’s easier to for the tech giant to mend those irritating issues and bugs that so often rear their ugly heads after the big releases are pushed out to PCs

Explaining more, Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc said: “We are testing a new process for delivering new feature improvements to our customers outside of major Windows 10 feature updates. Through the Windows Feature Experience Pack, we can improve certain features and experiences that are now developed independently of the OS.”

Right now this concept is in its test phase via the Windows Insider programme but eventually, “Windows Feature Experience Pack” updates will be delivered to customers through Windows Updates.

“By testing this process first with Windows Insiders, we hope to expand the scope and the frequency of releases in the future,” LeBlanc added.

Although this is great news for the future there won’t be any shiny new treats for Windows 10 users this year.

Microsoft has suspended its Windows 10 changes until the new year as the firm starts to wind down for the Christmas period. This is something that takes place every year, although Microsoft is slowing down operations a little earlier this in 2020. The company has confirmed that it won’t be offering any new features throughout this month.

Don’t panic if things go wrong though as the Microsoft software team will still be available to fix crucial security updates throughout December as needed. However, there will be a limited number of engineers working during the month as Microsoft rewards its employees with annual leave after an unprecedented year.

LG will present its new Gram laptops in South Korea on December 16, the company has confirmed. The event will commence at 18:00 KST (UTC +9), according to a post on the dedicated LG Gram website. LG is yet to announce anything globally, which suggests that the December 16 event will be limited to South Korea. Nevertheless, LG will probably release its new Gram laptops outside its home market, so the launch event will be relevant to international audiences.

Based on recent findings, LG plans to upgrade its Gram series to Intel’s new Tiger Lake architecture. The timing of LG’s event hints that it will continue to use U-series processors in its laptops, rather than the upcoming Tiger Lake-H series. Currently, LG sells 14-inch, 15.6-inch and 17-inch versions of the Gram, but the company may have added a new model into the mix for its latest refresh.

The FCC and KCC have confirmed that the new 14-inch and 17-inch models will be called 14Z90P and 17Z90P, respectively. LG has recently certified a 15Z95N in South Korea and with the FCC, so a new 15.6-inch model appears to be also on the way. Additionally, LG has registered the model number 16Z90P, which implies that the company plans to release a 16-inch version of the Gram, too. There are hardly any 16:9 and 16-inch displays, so a 16-inch Gram will probably have a 16:10 aspect ratio, like the current 17-inch model.

In short, it seems that LG will release 14, 15.6, 16 and 17-inch versions of the Gram this month. However, the Z95N model number of the 15.6-inch SKU insinuates that it will differ from the 14, 16 and 17-inch variants somehow.

Back in September, Nikon announced its fast ultra-wide zoom lens: the Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8, completing its trinity of fast zooms for Z-mount cameras. How does it perform?

Jared Polin has been waiting impatiently for fast glass from Nikon and is excited to finally get his hands on a lens that, for him, makes Nikon’s Z-mount a truly viable option for professional photographers. Nikon zooms with f/2.8 maximum apertures have taken a while to come to market — and it seems that they’re still proving hard to get a hold of.

Nikon made its announcement in mid-September, stating that the lens would be available to buy in November. As it stands, retailers still list this and the new 50mm f/1.2 S as “Coming Soon.” The 50mm is at least slated to start shipping later this month. Various manufacturers have warned that products might see delays due to supply lines and distribution networks being impacted by the global pandemic. Under the circumstances, the wait is entirely understandable, if a little frustrating.

Polin is clearly impressed. That the huge lens hood can accept 112 mm filters is definitely a nice touch.

Have you placed an order? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

While the iPhone 12 has several color options, the MacBook has remained boring on the design front for several years. At the moment, the darkest MacBook you can buy is ‘space grey’, which isn’t all that dark. This seems like a strange oversight, given our love of black tech products. 

But it looks like Apple is finally planning on catching up if a new patent is to be taken at face value. Interestingly, the patent begins by revealing the reasoning behind the absence of black MacBooks — and it comes down to their metal casing.

“Enclosures for portable electronic devices can include an anodized layer that can be dyed in different colors in order to enhance their cosmetic appeal to consumers,” the patent reads. “However, certain colors are far more difficult to achieve than others,” it continues explaining that a “true black” color often ends up being dark grey thanks to the anodized metal’s high gloss finish that reflects too much light.

Apple describes the material as having a “matte, low gloss finish” which would certainly make for an eye-catching MacBook without the need for an ugly skin. And while a patent application is no guarantee of real-world action, this feels one of the safest bets around, given the world’s lust for black electronics.

The technique Apple describes in its patent is reminiscent of Vantablack paint, created by UK-based Surrey NanoSystems to create a finish that offers the darkest black the human eye can see. Given that artist Anish Kapoor owns the exclusive rights to the color, though, Apple wouldn’t be able to just use Vantablack on its future laptops.

If you’ve got a long memory, you’ll think back to a time when black was an option for Apple laptops. Of course, that was more than a decade ago, when Apple used polycarbonate materials in its laptop casings prior to the switch to metals like aluminum.

It’s difficult to anticipate black MacBook models without thinking about the short lived Jet Black iPhone. Only a color option for the iPhone 7, the pricier Jet Black model was extremely prone to scratches to the degree that Apple added a footnote on its site warning of “micro-abrasions with use”. It’s notable that Jet Black hasn’t found its way to any iPhones since.

The black MacBook color sounds sufficiently different for lightning to not strike twice – and obviously the way people use laptops is completely different to smartphones. All the same, it does highlight one thing: when making cosmetic changes to long running product lines it’s important to ensure there aren’t any unintended consequences along the way.

Earlier this year, the names of two new ThinkPad X1 models were leaked: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano and ThinkPad X1 Titanium. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano is already available in the USA – the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium meanwhile is nowhere to be found. The last time we heard about it were a few leaked promo videos on Youtube.

2020 is drawing to a close and by this point, we expected to see the ThinkPad X1 Titanium in early 2021, maybe with an announcement at the virtual CES. However, there are new signs that at least the public announcement might still come in this year.

Lenovo has recently updated its Accessories and Options Compatibility Matrix (OCM). The newest version (as of December 6 2020) includes the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga Gen 1. Alongside the full-name of the product, the OCM also reveals the model-numbers: 20QA and 20QB. Also, it appears the X1 Titanium Yoga will rely on M.2 2242 SSDs for internal storage, exactly like the ThinkPad X1 Nano.

With the model appearing in the OCM, this might be a hint that an announcement is imminent. At the same time, there is news from China: The Chinese tech-site ITHome reports that Lenovo’s Think division will hold a special event next week, officially launching the ThinkPad X1 Nano in China – and unveiling the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga at the same time. This should be regarded as a rumor at this point, but we might see more of the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga very soon.

Based on prior leaks, we already know that the X1 Titanium Yoga will be a convertible ThinkPad with Intel’s Tiger Lake platform inside. It will be the thinnest ThinkPad laptop yet, with a body completely made out of metal. Judging from the pictures, it looks like the screen will have a 3:2 aspect ratio, though this is not confirmed yet.

The world of gaming monitors is grander and more diverse than ever before. Depending on your budget, you can find yourself spoiled for choice: HDR, ultrawide, adaptive sync, high refresh rate, multiple high resolutions… the list goes on. But what would happen if you put them all in one? That’s the question Acer must have asked, because the answer is the Predator X35.With this monitor, Acer is out to check all of the boxes. It’s a 35-inch ultrawide with a full 1440p resolution, a 200Hz refresh rate, true HDR with 1000-nit peak brightness and 512 zones of local dimming, G-Sync Ultimate, an 1800R curve, and more. If there’s a feature you hope for in a gaming display, there’s a good chance the X35 has it, but with an MSRP of $2499, this ultra-premium monitor carries an ultra-premium price tag.

Let’s find out just how good a flagship can be, shall we? Acer Predator X35 – Design and Features

The Predator X35 wastes no time making an impression. It comes in one of the biggest boxes I’ve ever seen for a monitor. At 39 by 26 inches, it’s already large, but when you add in an unusually thick width and a whopping 45 pound shipping weight, and it was enough to make the delivery person struggle getting it off the truck.

There’s a good reason for that size: the X35 is also the first monitor I’ve ever used that comes fully assembled. It’s literally as simple as taking it out of the box and plugging it in, assuming you’re planning on using the included stand — which you should, because it’s excellent.

Its heavy metal frame and low-key rubber feet kept the stand from moving, even when I would turn the panel. You can adjust height, tilt, and swivel to plentiful degrees, but there’s no rotation to use it in portrait mode. Given the specs of this monitor, it’s hard to imagine anyone using it as more than a main display, but for this price, I was disappointed to find that I couldn’t rotate it. If an arm or wall mount is more your style, you’ll need to unscrew the base and replace it with the included VESA mount.

Acer has done a good job of making the X35 look cool. Predator is an apt name, because you could put this monitor on the deck of a spaceship and have it fit right in. The scales on the stand, the piping, and RGB all work together to make a display that just looks mean.

Since the X35 is a G-Sync Ultimate monitor, video inputs are limited to one HDMI and one DisplayPort connection. You’ll want to stick to DisplayPort, however, because HDMI is limited to 100Hz at the maximum resolution. DisplayPort can clock all the way up to 200Hz when overclocking is enabled in the OSD but anything beyond 144Hz is limited to 8-bit color. The panel is capable of 12-bit, if you don’t mind scaling down to 120Hz.

The X35 uses a spacious, 35 inch VA panel that looks stunning. The bezels are thin, the screen is bright, and the 1800R curve is just generous enough to draw you into the picture. Compared to a TN panel, which is a popular choice for gaming monitors, the response time is a bit slower, but color accuracy and viewing angles are improved. In my testing, the off-axis color shift is the best I’ve ever seen.

Spec-wise, the X35 is a high-water mark for ultrawide displays. Acer rates it at a native brightness of 600-nits and a peak brightness of 1000. The vast majority of ultrawide gaming monitors today offer peak brightness of 400 nits or less, which makes the X35 especially impressive. It also features a native contrast of 2500:1 and an unprecedented (for a gaming display) 512 local dimming zones. The product page also promises 90% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, which is especially good for vibrancy. Add to that its 2ms response time, which is perfect for eliminating ghosting and perceived input lag in games, and you have a monitor that should be outstanding for HDR gaming, movies, and content creation alike.

To test some of these claims, I turned to the SpyderX Elite from Datacolor. This tool uses a camera and software bundle to assess color, brightness, contrast, and much more. The limitation is that the monitor must be in SDR mode to make the necessary picture adjustments to capture accurate readings. Here is the scorecard:

As you can tell, the monitor did very well. The highest brightness I was able to record in SDR mode was 537 nits. When playing HDR-enabled games, brightness clearly and frequently extends far beyond this, though the Elite wasn’t able to gather those numbers. The lowest score here was for Luminance Uniformity, which measures whether the brightness varies at different areas of the screen. The upper corners each lacked brightness by 13-14% maximum compared to the center of the screen. In normal use, however, I didn’t notice the difference at all. White point, contrast, and color assessments were all very good.

Acer’s out of the box calibration was also good. Gaming on default settings, whites tended to look slightly blue, which was confirmed by the SpyderX. Slightly lowering the blue level in the color settings helped to bring that back in line before I swapped to a custom picture profile that was an exact match to the SpyderX’s readings.

That said, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t find coverage anywhere near the 90% DCI-P3 color spectrum featured on the product page. Instead, I found that the monitor covered 100% of sRGB, and 74% of both DCI-P3 and AdobeRGB. Neither of these are bad for a VA panel but are clearly short of the marketing and reinforce that creative professionals would be better served by an IPS display.

The company also promises an impressive 2ms response time, which should be enough to eliminate both ghosting and input lag. To test these claims, I used a mix of Lagom’s LCD Test Pages and Test-UFO. On Lagom’s Response Time test, I wasn’t able to observe any noticeable color shifting, which indicates that the panel is quickly able to shift between dark and light colors.

This was borne out in the ghosting test, which didn’t show any ghosts at all. Blur Busters’ Test UFO tests did show ghosts (as it always does), though they weren’t severe, and weren’t visible in any of the games I played. More noteworthy is that the X35’s Overdrive settings show artifacting at any setting but “Off” and become unusably bad at “Extreme.”
Acer Predator X35 – Gaming Performance

The Predator X35 offers a suite of useful gaming features. Inside the OSD, you’re able to set the Auto Black level, which will intelligently scale up black level in dark scenes so you don’t lose detail. You can enhance this further by manually setting your Dark Boost level to peek into the darkness. If seeing in the dark weren’t advantageous enough, the monitor also allows you to set an on-screen reticle for games without ADS.

The real stand-out feature is G-Sync Ultimate, and it’s just as good as you’ve heard. Since the introduction of G-Sync Compatible gaming monitors, Nvidia has rolled out three tiers G-Sync. Each aims to reduce screen tearing for an ultra-smooth gameplay experience, but only true G-Sync monitors feature Nvidia’s proprietary hardware to ensure the best possible experience. G-Sync Ultimate takes it a step further by introducing standards, such as 1000-nits brightness and multi-zone backlight, to the mix.

Playing Doom Eternal on the X35 was a glorious experience. Not only was it the smoothest gameplay experience I’ve ever had, but the HDR performance was simply incredible. The contrast was by far the best I’ve experienced in gaming, even compared to my 1000-nit TCL television playing Doom Eternal on PlayStation 4. The extravagant amount of local dimming zones works wonders for isolating out dark and light areas of the screen, and the peak brightness makes bright areas, like the fire and brimstone of Doom, feel downright alight. You can even take advantage of that full array backlight in SDR by enabling the SDR Variable Backlight setting inside the OSD.

That said, part of what you’re paying for is that 1000-nits peak, but I found it too high to use comfortably. At regular sitting distance, bright whites would cause my eyes to string. Full-on white screens, such as one of the splash screens after booting Doom literally made me squint. If you can’t actually use the full brightness, is it worth paying extra for?

The high refresh rate is a perfect accompaniment to the monitor’s G-Sync capability, however, making for gameplay that is not only smooth but also remarkably crisp. You’ll need a powerful PC to push anything close to that framerate at full resolution, though, since 1440p ultrawide is actually substantially more pixels than a standard 2K monitor.

The X35 also has the best speakers I’ve heard in a monitor under 43-inches. It’s packed with a pair of 4-watt speakers that are enhanced with Acer’s True Harmony technology. At 4 watts, they still won’t compete with a decent sound system, but this is one of the first monitors I’ve used where I’ve left the built-in speakers turned on.

Outside of gaming, the local dimming zones weren’t so nice. On dark backgrounds, anything light colored resulted in a wide halo. Working in Adobe Photoshop, my screen was filled with hotspots, including behind the mouse cursor, which was quite distracting. Turning off HDR disables the local dimming zones and solves the problem, but doing so is a hassle I don’t want to fiddle with every time I start a game or movie. Eventually, I got used to the wide halo effect, but it’s clear that this feature could use refinement.

Verdict

Hot spots aside, the Acer Predator X35 is an amazing gaming monitor. You’ll need deep pockets to afford one, but it offered the hands-down best picture I’ve ever experienced and is currently one of the absolute best ultrawide monitors you can buy today.