The Student Room Group

Is it worth it?

Is an Acer Predator XB241H 24" for £75 good value as the product retails above £300
(edited 2 years ago)
Seems like an okay price for the monitor based on a quick browse of eBay. Whether it's worth it depends on if you need the monitor, if there's better options available, etc. Worth buying and good value aren't the same thing
(edited 2 years ago)
The max resolution of 1920 is a bit pants and it's a bit on the small side.

If you've got the room and an extra £120, go for 2560 resolution on a bigger screen.
For example, one of these:
https://www.cclonline.com/category/901/Monitors/27-Monitors/attributeslist/77050/

Or you could go for a deal like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255018824833?hash=item3b604e7481:g:33sAAOSwfr1gyalp
Original post by Dunnig Kruger
The max resolution of 1920 is a bit pants and it's a bit on the small side.

If you've got the room and an extra £120, go for 2560 resolution on a bigger screen.
For example, one of these:
https://www.cclonline.com/category/901/Monitors/27-Monitors/attributeslist/77050/

Or you could go for a deal like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255018824833?hash=item3b604e7481:g:33sAAOSwfr1gyalp

Depends what they want it for as there's more to a monitor than resolution. For example, if they wanted it for gaming then the Predator is significantly better than either of those monitors (1ms response time, 144hz refresh rate overclockable to 180hz, G sync support and so on).

If they just wanted it for everyday usage, they could probably get cheaper 1080p monitors. £75 is close to the cost of an entry level 1080p monitor after all. But the Predator comes with some nice ergonomic features like tilt, swivel and height adjust. Which also appear to be present on the £25 more expensive Dell you linked, but not the £120 more expensive Iiyama.

The Predator is a good price, but it depends on what they intend to use it for. And I suppose as far as larger monitors go, what they actually have space for as well.
I don't know anyone that would prefer to game at 1920 on a 24" TN instead of 2560 on 27" IPS (or 32"). Do you?
Original post by Dunnig Kruger
I don't know anyone that would prefer to game at 1920 on a 24" TN instead of 2560 on 27" IPS (or 32"). Do you?

I'm not looking to turn this into another debate, so this is all I'll say on the matter. Any future discussion after this I'm just going to report as off topic unless OP does confirm they're interested in gaming. Stop trying to start an argument.

As I mentioned before, it's not a simple matter of resolution and screen size. But yes, I know plenty of people that would prefer 1080p over 1440p for gaming. Lower resolutions mean higher framerates, although you'd also need a high refresh rate to take advantage of that. This is really common in Esports titles. Someone on older hardware might also prefer 1080p if they're unable to get decent performance on 1440p.

Regardless of the reason, the Steam survey results are pretty conclusive. The most common resolution by far is 1080p, with a representation of 67%. The next more common, 1440p gets a mere 8%. If we look at all resolutions above 1080p, it's still only 13-15%. So yeah, 1080p remains so dominant it's not even an argument. We still see 1080p monitors released today because there's an obvious market for them.

And of course, resolution isn't the only factor. Refresh rate and response time both matter, and the Predator wins in both by a huge margin. Plus it has G Sync support. Who knows what OP wants the monitor for, as they haven't stated. But there's a strong argument for the Predator if they wanted it for gaming. There's really no need to start a debate and try to justify your recommendations just because I raised that possibility.
Original post by Hehejsm
Is an Acer Predator XB241H 24" for £75 good value as the product retails above £300

Hehejsm, what will you be using the monitor for?

Will you be using it for gaming? If so what games or what type of games? Also, if you will be playing games on it, what CPU and graphics card does your PC have and do you have any intentions to change these in the future?
If you won't be using it for gaming, what applications would you be using?

And is there a practical size limit to how big a monitor you'd be happy to have on your desk / work-station?
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 7
Hi,I will be using it for casual computing and games such as fort nite mine craft. Currently I only have inter-grated graphics and the latest AMD A8
16gig of ram
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by Hehejsm
Hi,I will be using it for casual computing and games such as fort nite mine craft. Currently I only have inter-grated graphics and the latest AMD A8
16gig of ram

Probably best to stick with the Predator then. On integrated graphics you're not going to be pushing enough frames to take advantage of many of the Predators gaming features. But you'll have a way better time gaming at 1080p than 1440p. Depending which chip you've got, integrated graphics may struggle to even get playable framerates at 1440p.

Doesn't really make sense to spend more money and get basically nothing in return. The Predator is a nice monitor and there's absolutely nothing wrong with 1080p for everyday tasks. 1440p isn't worth spending an extra £120, and losing features like height adjust, tilt and swivel. Better to save that money for something you'll actually get some value out of it, like buying a proper GPU. You'd then be able to take advantage of the gaming features on the Predator; you'd be able to grow into it so to speak.

Of the monitors mentioned so far, the Predator makes the most sense. Of course, if you're just looking for a cheap additional monitor you could probably find even cheaper used 1080p monitors on eBay without all the bells and whistles.
Original post by Hehejsm
Hi,I will be using it for casual computing and games such as fort nite mine craft. Currently I only have inter-grated graphics and the latest AMD A8
16gig of ram

Wow, your rig is considerably lower spec than my 10 year old desktop PC. I hope you bought it for a very affordable price?

I have some Dell monitors that I give away for free that would be about right for your PC.
You could look at sourcing a free or nearly free monitor for yourself.
Reply 10
Hi, what Dell monitors do you give away and do u currently have any?

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