Acer S277HK has been revealed with the expanse of 27-inch monitor in a compact frame, which is little bigger than most of 24-inch designs. This is a monitor that wants to awe with its unusual design, a nearly bezel-less display and a fixed offset stand that is offset of central to hold the panel in the air.

S277HK

Setting & Functioning

The buttons of S277Hk are sunken into the frame and only just press-able after a concerted effort since they are deep-set. S277HK trusts on 4 hidden buttons under the screen bezel for adjustment. It requires you to move your finger between different hidden buttons that lie under the changing on screen graphics, and it isn’t the worst OSD setup menu we have seen.

An accuracy of color is very good, with an average Delta E figure of just 1.08. Brightness variation is average, the top third of the screen darker by around 15 percent, increasing to 25 percent darker than the bottom at a nominal ‘25’ brightness setting. In use this is still not a major issue. Do not be fooled by the DTS brand badge in the marketing this is no hallmark of audio quality any more, and in this example switching the DTS function on served no audible purpose whatsoever. The color gamut of the Acer’s IPS panel was wide enough to fully encompass the sRGB color space, and with a reported 80 percent cover of the Adobe RGB space it also measured by a fractional margin the widest color spread in this group.

Specifications

  • 27-inch with matt anti-glare film 3840×2160, 163ppi 8-bit 530:1
  • Contrast ratio 100% sRGB 80%
  • Adobe RGB 1x mini
  • DisplayPort 1.2 1x
  • DisplayPort 1.2 1x HDMI 2.0 1x DVI-D (dual-link) 4x USB 3.0
  • Fixed stand with tilt Stereo speakers 614x406x113mm Part: UM.HS7EE.001

Designing

Acer markets the monitor as frame-less although it’s not a true ‘infinity’ display that goes right to the edge the visible display is framed by a black and silver border around 8 mm wide along the top and side. Meanwhile the bottom strip measures 25 mm thick.While the stand is minimal and stylish, we found it to be simply too low to be used comfortably. Placed on a desk it will need lifting by a few books’ height to bring it to a safe working height that does not cause neck strain from poor posture. Normally we would suggest trying a third-party stand attached to the monitor’s rear VESA mount, but this monitor does not have one. The panel’s provenance is unknown, but appears to be a gloss finished type that has been treated to a stick-on anti-glare film. This does a great job of reducing annoying reflections although it also adds a layer of sparkly grain to the image, making it more soft-focused than panels with a factory applied hard coat anti-glare finish.

Conclusion

The Acer S277HK makes an impact with its angular white and silver design, and offers good image quality that is only clouded a little by the applied anti reflective film. At around £500 it is one of the cheaper 27-inch UHD IPS displays currently available.

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