Acer S273HL review

A cheaper alternative to Apple's 27in widescreen display

Enormous widescreen displays with 16:9 aspect ratios are in vogue at the moment. While obviously suited to video, they also allow business users to compare multiple documents side by side, such as large spreadsheets.

Apple arguably kick-started this trend with its 27in iMac last year, and followed up with the 27in LED Cinema Display, but if its £899 price tag seems a little steep, the Acer S273H looks like a more reasonable option at £400.

Putting such a large monitor on a cluttered corporate desktop can be no mean feat, but the Acer S273HL is less monolithic than you might think. This is thanks to its relative slimness (just 21mm) and the sharp, rectangular design with a narrow bezel.

The stand has a small footprint too, yet still manages to incorporate display controls, a speaker and a set of rear ports.

The compact design does come at the expense of adjustable height, however, and the screen can be tilted forwards and back only by a small amount in each direction. The mains adapter is also external rather than internal, but it is at least very small.

Display quality
LED-backlit displays run cooler and require less energy than their CCFL counterparts, and Acer reckons that the S273HL uses up to 63 per cent less power as a result.

LED backlighting also gives brighter, purer whites and richer colours, and we certainly can't fault the image quality of the Acer S273HL in that regard.

Thankfully, we also found none of the colour complaints that have been levelled at the smaller 24in Acer S243HL monitor, nor were there any problem pixels. It's also good to see that this model is covered by Acer's 'zero bright pixel' policy.

Acer S273HL review

A cheaper alternative to Apple's 27in widescreen display

The Full HD resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 is an obvious match for HD video, which makes the Acer S273HL a good candidate for video editing and playback.

The resolution is almost enough to display two 1,024-pixel windows side-by-side, and is a much neater alternative to a desktop with two displays on it.

Inputs/outputs
So far, so good, but the Acer S273HL is far from perfect. It is by no means the cheapest 27in monitor available, yet it's disappointing to see what looks like cost cutting in the lack of a DVI port.

One D-SUB and two HDMI are all well and good, but the former is all but obsolete and the latter far from standard on modern PCs, especially corporate desktops.

The least Acer could do is include an HDMI to DVI adapter or cable in the box, but it doesn't. Still, the HDMI ports do at least support HDCP, which means the monitor can be used as a display for a Blu-ray player or other video source.

However, business users thinking of putting it to use in small-scale presentations should be warned that viewing angles on the matte screen are a particular disappointment, and the display soon becomes unclear from a position that isn't face-on.

The built-in speaker is also fairly lacklustre, which means a set of external speakers will be needed in presentations or to do justice to HD video.

At the time of writing, the Acer S273HL isn't widely available, so we can't comment on its value based on its typical street price.

However, given that 27in displays from the likes of LG and Samsung are selling for around £150 less, we can't really recommend paying the full £400 for the Acer S273HL.