Curved monitors aren't going anywhere: Asus and Acer show off ultrawide HDR G-Sync models

HDR and gaming

Want to know more about HDR tech, and why it's taken so long to arrive in gaming monitors? Check out our HDR monitor guide.

The monitors I'm most excited about are the Asus PG27UQ and Acer Predator X27, a pair of 27-inch HDR monsters. Both are 4K, 144Hz displays with HDR10 compatibility and a strong desire to drain the entirety of my bank account. Those are coming later this year, and have been on our radar for months. New this year at Computex, though, are another pair of competing displays, which prove the curved monitor trend is here to stay. Thankfully, they look pretty incredible.

The Asus ROG Swift PG35VQ and Acer Predator X35 use the same 35-inch ultrawide panel with a 3440x1440 resolution, G-Sync and HDR 10 support. The full specs include: a peak brightness of 1000 nits (the current goal for HDR10), 512 LED backlight array zones, and refresh rates up to 200 Hz. Acer says the Predator X35 has a 4 ms response time.

From what I saw of these two monitors on the show floor, viewing angles are fantastic, which is vital for a monitor this wide. I did find that from an extreme angle, the curvature of the monitor is noticeable and the glass (or plastic) in front of the LCD panel is a bit distracting.

That's one reason I'm not in love with curved monitors, but I have to admit the effect works well with a 21:9 monitor. Really well. As long as you're not at an extreme angle, the subtle curve wraps more into your peripheral vision and makes you feel more like you're enveloped in what you're watching or playing.

Movie nerd that I am, I'd be more excited to watch especially widescreen films on one of these than play games on them. Anyone want to get together for a viewing of Ben-Hur? The classic chariot scene's 2.76:1 aspect ratio is only a bit wider than one of these monitors.

I'm honestly scared to hear how much the Asus PG35VQ and Acer Predator X35 cost. No pricing details are available yet, but well, thousands of dollars seems like a safe bet. They'll be available in Q4 of this year. The 27-inch 4K models should be on sale before then; the pricing on those two should give us a feel for what kind of wallet pain to expect come the holidays.

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Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).