Acer XB280HK 4K G-SYNC Gaming Monitor Review

The Acer XB280HK is an attractive display, in our opinion, with an understated industrial design that’s pleasing to look at from any side, without being gaudy. All too often products targeted at gamers feature outlandish design elements or crazy features designed to attract attention—not so with the Acer XB280HK. And that’s a good thing.

As we’ve mentioned the Acer XB280HK has a 28” panel, with a native resolution of 3840x2160. Unlike early 4K PC display, however, the Acer XB280HK isn’t tiled, which is to say is it recognized by a system as a single large surface with a 4K resolution. Early 4K panels were recognized as dual displays with resolutions of 1920x2160 and that caused all sorts of funky behavior in the beginning. Around the panel is an averaged sized bezel (less than an inch) with the Acer logo smack dab in the center, at the bottom, and the model number at the upper-right corner. Though not visible in this pic, there is also an NVIDIA G-SYNC logo at the top-left corner, and UHD 4K2K and Energy Star logos at the lower-left.

If you swing around the back of the Acer XB280HK, you’ll see a vented rear panel, with a curved, protruding middle section that houses all of the display’s various connectors. When the panel is in landscape mode, most of its connectors point downward, but there are also a couple of USB ports shooting out of one side. There is another Acer logo embossed at the top-right and the stand features a gun-metal finish with a cut-out for easy cable management.

Except for an orange ring surrounding the support shaft at the rear, the XB280HK’s base is a simple, black disk. The support shaft is also a simple rectangle, save for a slight curve around the back and an angular cut at the top. The stand offers height adjustment, tilt adjustment, and rotation. Some other large 4K displays require disassembly / rotation / reassembly of the stand to configure them monitor for portrait use.

In terms of connectivity, the XB280HK has a single DisplayPort 1.2 (which is a requirement for G-SYNC) and a few USB ports—one USB 3.0 upstream and four downstream. Two of the USB downstream ports, are located at the bottom, and the other two are at the side. There is also a standard 3-prong power connector (the power supply is internal—no power brick here) and a power switch.

We should also note that the Acer XB280HK does not come fully assembled. The support shaft quickly attaches to the back of the display by simply snapping it into place. And the base needs to be screwed to the shaft, but it doesn’t require any tools. The base needs to be positioned properly and then a single thumbscrew tightened to secure everything in place.