Acer's 540Hz gaming monitor is coming and it could undercut the competition

Acer recently revealed a brand-new gaming monitor for the Chinese market, which boasts an incredibly high 540Hz refresh rate.

The Acer Nitro XV242F has been listed on Chinese retailer Taobao and, as reported by TFTCentral, has a 24.1-inch screen with a TN Film panel, FHD resolution, and 1ms gray-to-gray response time. Judging from the high-end specs, this monitor is for professional gamers and is clearly meant to compete with Asus’s 500Hz+ monitor, the Asus ROG Swift Pro PG248QP.

According to the Nitro XV242F’s third-party listing, both it and the ROG Swift Pro PG248QP share specs, including an AU Optronics display panel with 400 nits of brightness, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, 99% sRGB and 90% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, and a 10-bit color depth. But, the Acer monitor doesn’t have a Nvidia G-Sync processor unlike the Asus one, instead describing it as being Nvidia G-Sync compatible.

Besides the Asus monitor, the Acer Nitro XV242F would also be in direct competition with Alienware’s own 500Hz refresh rate gaming monitors: the Alienware AW2524H 500Hz and the just released Alienware AW2524HF. The former is easily one of the best gaming monitors out there, scoring four out of five stars from us, and the latter seems to be of similar quality but at a cheaper price point.

Smart pricing will be the key to victory

Pricing is probably going to be the most important factor in determining the Acer Nitro XV242F’s success. According to the current listing, it’s priced at CNY 4999 (around $700 / £550) but this is unofficial until it launches, which means it could be cheaper. Meanwhile, there’s no official pricing for the Asus ROG Swift Pro PG248QP, the Alienware AW2524H 500Hz is $829.99 (about £680 / AU$1,236), and the Alienware AW2524HF is at $649.99 (about £525 / AU$1,010).

Acer was already late to the proverbial 500Hz display punch, beaten out by two other competing manufacturers, so it needs an edge in order to undercut them. The easiest price point to mimic would be Alienware’s $649.99 one, as its specs are quite similar. The fact that the Acer monitor has a higher refresh rate would make it more attractive to buyers looking for the best deal and would also greatly undercut the more expensive $829.99 AW2524H monitor.

Finally, it would preemptively undermine Asus, which hasn’t even released a price for its own offering as of now. Acer’s path is clear, but it’s up to the manufacturer to take advantage of its biggest advantage.