Computer Shopper - UK (2020-03)

ISSUE385|COMPUTER SHOPPER|MARCH2020 37

THECONCEPTDRANGEdoesn’t just span
articulatedlaptopsandwood-toppeddesktops
likethe ConceptD 500 on page 22.Monitors
are anotherpartofAcer’s attackonthe
professionalmarket; hencewehavethe
ConceptD CP3271KP,one of the company’s
most highly specced desktop screens outside
of the gaming-focused Predator series.
It’sa27in,4K(3,840x2,160) IPS panel, and
while it’s extremelyexpensive forits size,Acer
is at least promising HDR 400 compatibility
and professional colour accuracy. Like the
ConceptD 500, it also appears to have been
designed forthosewho wanttobringatouch
of class to their workspaces:there’s asimilar
faux woodfinish on the circular base,and the
thin metal stalk of astand is certainly nicer to
look at than anyfat pillar of black plastic.

ONTHE MOVE
More importantly, it’shighlyadjustable.
There’s–5° to 35°oftilt adjustment and up to
180mmofheight adjustment, and it rotates as
well –thoughpeculiarly,the entirebase moves
on aspinning platter,rather than just having
the screen spin on an axle.It’sfunctional,
however,and the only missingthing is the
ability to flipthe whole screen 90°touse it in
portrait mode. It can, however,beVESA-
mountedusingthe supplied plateand screws.
We’d recommend doingthat if it’s aviable
option,asthere is onedesign flaw withthe
stand: it wobbles.Not to thepoint where
you can shake the screen just by,say,typing
on akeyboard or tapping on thedesk, but
whenever we wanted to make arotation of tilt
adjustment it definitely felt abit looser than
we’d expect for£1,0 00000000.
Build quality isfififine
elsewhere.The anti-ggglare
hood panelsattach
securely,and the wooood
effect feels more likkkea
quality material thannna
cheapveneer.Thereee’s a
good mix of connectttions,
namely two HDMI
inputs, twoDisplayPPPorts,
two USB3 ports andddtwo
USB3.1 ports. Most of
these are hidden onnnthe
rear,although theUUUSB3.1
portsare on theleftftftedge foreasier access.
Some4Wspeakersare included too,
and they’re capable enough forWindows

ACER ConceptD

CP3271KP

★★★★★

£1,000•From uk-store.acer.com

VERDICT

The stylish CP3271KP is agood professional monitor
that comes frustratingly close to being agreat one

4KMONITOR

soundsandvoice calls.You should investin

someeedesktop speakers for workingwith

musicccandvideo,however.

Also on thebackisthe

poweeerbutton, three

shortttcut buttons and a

joystiiickkk,whhhiiichhhcanbbbeuseddd

to navigate the CP3271KP’s

pleasantly straightforward onscreen display

(OSD).Wefound it annoyingly easy to hit

the power button whenaimingfor the top

shortcut button –they’re thesame sizeand

shape –but that’s aboutitfor faults,asthe

joystick workswell and the OSDitself strikes

agreat balancebetweenuser-friendliness

and depth of features. This includes multiple

image profiles, andthe abilitytocreatea

custom profile yourself.

We began our colourimeter tests with

everything on thestandard defaultsettings,

with theexception of brightness beingset to

maximum. The CP3271KP veryquickly

impressed,managing 99.6% sRGB colour

gamutcoverage,a1,068:1 contrast ratio and a

peak brightness of 469.6cd/m^2 –enough both

to seeoffany glarethat the hood andmatt

panel finishmight have let through, and to

fulfilthe promise of HDR400.

JUSTASHADE OFF

The onlypotential issuewas the average

delta-E of 2.78,which isn’t badingeneral

ttteeerrrmmmsssbbbuuutttiiisssnnn’tttqqquuuiiittteeelllooowwweeennnough to achieve

photo-editing-quality colouraccuracy.

This lowered slightlyto2.72

oncewwweenabledthe HDR

400 mmmode, while

brighhhtness, gamut

coverageand contrast

all rose slightly,to

476 cccd/m^2 ,99.8% and

1,07 333 :1 respectively.

This modealsoadds a

veryyysubtle sharpening

filter, which can be

toggggled manually.

Finnnally, we tried the

sRGB profile, which finally got

averageeedelta-E down to a

professssional-grade 1.33.

However,itbizarrely lowered sRGB

gamut coverage to 91.5%, while alsooo

dropping contrastslightly to

1,050:1. Peak brightnesswwwas

also lower, at 465.1cd/m^2 ,,,but

that’sstill agoodresult.

IIIttt’’’sunfffortttunatttettthhhatttyou

essentially have to choose between

wider gamut coverage or higher accuracy;

these should, rightfully,betwo sides of the

same coin.The NEC MultiSync EA271U makes

amuch more successful attemptatbalancing

the two, with 97% coverage and adelta-E of

just 0.5.It’s cheaper,too,at£800.

FANNINGTHE FRAMES

What makesthisunfortunateisthatAcer’s

monitor performs so welloutside of thisone

contradiction. It even hasasmooth 120Hz

refreshrateand Nvidia G-Sync support,

though the latter won’tbeascommonly

useful here as on agaming monitor.Itcan also

overclock to 144Hz,but thisrequires jumping

through afew toomanyhoops: it only works

with AMD graphics cards, so G-Sync must be

turned off in theprocess, andyou need to

connect with twoDisplayPort cables at atime.

Suchweirdness canbeoverlookedwhen

performance,adjustability and connectivity

all meet high standards,and the CP3271KP

is generally astrong showing froma

manufacturer with relatively little experience

makingtop-end promonitors. The MultiSync

EA271U,however,issimply bettervalue.

JamesArcher

SCREEN SIZE27in•RESOLUTION3,840x2,160•SCREEN

TECHNOLOGYIPS•REFRESH RATE120Hz•VIDEO

INPUTSHDMI,DisplayPort•WARRANTYThreeyears RTB

• DETAILSwww.acer.com•PART CODEUM.HC1EE.P01

SPECIFICATIONS

CONNECTIONPORTS

HDMI x2

USB3x2 USB3.1x2

DisplayPortx2 USBType-B