Acer R240HY Review – Best Budget Acer Monitor

Acer’s R240HY 24-inch IPS (Inter-Plane Switching) monitor delivers high quality at an affordable price. It provides an impressive image quality with beautiful color reproduction great for watching videos and playing games.

With its incredibly thin bezels and bang for your buck performance to price ratio, this is perfect for multi-screen setups. You can even extend the display from your smartphone or tablet for a more comfortable viewing experience.

So, let’s find out exactly what this budget Acer screen has to offer in our in-depth Acer R240HY Review… 

First Impressions and Design

When first sitting this monitor on the desk, a common thought would be that you have received a more expensive model by mistake. Acer has taken great pride in the design of this monitor, especially with its super-thin bezels.

Wrapped in glossy black plastic, it can be susceptible to fingerprints, so it might need a wipe after positioning it correctly. The screen sits upon a solid and sturdy stand with a stylish ring used for the base.

Our rating: (4.7 / 5)

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Keeping things simple

As you finish congratulating yourself on how well you’ve done with this purchase based on appearance, you begin to look a little closer. It is at this point you start to understand where some of the costs have been cut.

Around the rear of the monitor, there are some limited connectivity options. These include a single HDMI port, one DVI port, and a solo VGA input. While this is enough for most purposes, it would have been nice to have a DisplayPort option.

The nitty-gritty…

We know that some of you have limited space, along with others that just enjoy looking at numbers and details. So here are the measurements, being 21.3 x 7.3 x 16 inches (54 x 18.5 x 40.6 centimeters) and a weight of 6.5 pounds (2.95 kilos).

For taking control of the monitor’s settings, there is a control strip located along the bottom of the screen. These include five different buttons for controlling things like brightness and contrast. Additionally, there is one more button as the power switch.

Specifications

Although marketed as a 24 inch monitor, the exact diagonal screen area measurement is 23.8 inches (60.45 centimeters). Resolution is really at the sweet spot for this size at Full HD 1920 x 1080p, providing sharp and detailed images.

As is common and the industry-standard now, the monitor has a 16:9 screen ratio. The use of an IPS panel provides greater color accuracy, along with wider viewing angles. Acer has applied an anti-glare screen coating to enhance this even further.

Indoor attraction

A maximum brightness level of 250 nits is possible with this Acer screen. This is pretty good at this price point and is fine for indoor use. It will perform well during the day, but we would recommend keeping the screen away from any direct sunlight.

Maneuvering the monitor into the perfect position is limited, as the only option is 15° of backward tilt and 5° forward. There is no option for height, pivot, or swivel, and unfortunately, VESA mounts are also not supported.

Eco-friendly

You don’t only save on the purchase price of this monitor; the savings keep on coming with running costs. Incredibly energy-efficient and eco-friendly, this screen only uses 19 watts of power. Switch to ECO mode, and it drops even further to an astounding 12 watts. This makes it one of the best eco-friendly monitors on the market.

We did mention earlier that one of the advantages of an IPS panel was wider viewing angles. You can view images from up to 178° without any sacrifice to image quality. This is ideal for watching movies from a sofa or in bed.

Features

As mentioned, there have been some noticeable omissions to keep the costs down, like limited connectivity and screen maneuverability. Where Acer has not cut any corners is in the panels ability to produce a quality and accurate image.

With a contrast ratio of 100,000,000:1, images on this screen are simply stunning, especially for this price point. Because you won’t want to look away, Acer has included their Flicker-less technology and blue light filter to protect your eyes.

Overclocked refresh rates

For gaming, there are a few numbers that are important. These are refresh rates, response rates, and lag time. It can make the difference between winning or losing in a highly competitive gaming environment.

The standard refresh rate of this monitor is 60 Hz. It can be overclocked to 75 Hz resulting in a slight improvement to motion smoothness and fluidity. Nothing groundbreaking, but as is the theme with this monitor, above expectations at this price.

Quick response without lagging…

A 4ms gray-to-gray pixel response time will heavily reduce any noticeable motion blur or ghosting. This is particularly useful for use during movies and games when there are fast-moving objects on the screen.

Unless you are an absolutely dedicated gamer, the short lag time of 9.6 ms is highly respectable. This is the time it takes for the signal to travel from the output device and arrive as an image on the screen.

Performance

Acer really takes advantage of the IPS panels strengths offering a gorgeous, bright, and vivid picture. This is maintained throughout a range of different angles making this monitor useful for work, play, and relaxation. This easily makes it one of the best value for the money monitors you can buy.

We haven’t seen any deeper blacks at this level of affordability before, and the same goes for the brightness of the whites. There were also no noticeable gray or yellow tints that are occasionally associated with some other budget monitors.

Enjoyable gaming experience…

While hardcore gamers are all about huge refresh rates, along with tiny response and lag times, this best budget gaming monitor still delivers. For gaming with spending a fortune, they’re some seriously impressive figures and are well ahead of other products in this segment.

Using FPS games as an example, like Overwatch and Battlefield, these types of games often expose any weaknesses. What we received was a smooth and pleasant experience with no major floors unless you intentionally seek them out.

The IPS trait

We have talked about many of the benefits that an IPS panel offers, and it’s time to discuss one of their weaknesses. This issue is known as “light bleeding.” What tends to happen is a glow can be detected around the edges of the screen.

This can be noticed more usually during darker scenes, especially in the corners. While there is naturally some light bleed on this display, it is not too distracting or noticeable during regular use unless the room is very dark.

Acer R240HY Review Pros and Cons

Looking for more quality Monitor options?

Then take a look at our comprehensive Best Ultrawide Monitor Reviews, the Best Gaming Monitor under 300 Dollars, our Best Monitor for Photo Editing Review, the Best Gaming Monitors under 200 Dollars, our Best Cheap 4K Monitors under 300 Review, or if you’re on a mega tight budget, how about the Best Gaming Monitors under 100 Dollars on the market in 2023.

But, if you’re looking for even more in-depth reviews, then check out Aorus AD27QD Review, our ASUS VG279Q Review, our LG 32MA70HY P 32 Inch Full HD IPS Monitor Review, our ASUS VG248QE Gaming Monitor Review, or our Samsung C32HG70 Review.

Acer R240HY Review – Final Thoughts

Even though there are certainly better monitors out there, they also cost at least double the price. Acer really made a great decision in cutting back on some minor items, and focusing on providing an incredibly accurate, vivid, and detailed image.

It would have been nice to have DisplayPort and perhaps a VESA mount. However, these shortcomings are easily forgiven and forgotten once you start watching a movie or playing a game with that fine-tuned IPS panel.

In summary, this is a product all about what it has to offer and not what it doesn’t.