24" Acer K242HLbid

Wraith

Bettyswollocks
Acer K242HL bid 24" Monitor.

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As monitors go I always look for function over price I could have gone bigger and also spent much much more, but I only required a simple multi-purpose every day panel and after much searching settled on this offering from Acer and to be fair the price to specs ratio is pretty impressive, lets take a quick look at the specs.

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Model: K242HL bid
Screen Size: 24"
Screen Mode: Full HD
Response Time: 5ms (2ms Game boost)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Horizontal Viewing Angle: 170°
Vertical Viewing Angle: 160°
Adjustable Angle: Yes
Backlight Technology: LED
Panel Technology: TN (Twisted Nematic Film)
Tilt Angle: -5° to 25°
Swivel Adjust: No
Height Adjust: No
Pivot Adjust: No
Maximum Resolution: 1920x1080
Standard Refresh: 60Hz (75Hz Selectable)
Colours: 16.7 Million Colours
Contrast Ratio: 100,000,000:1
Brightness: Nit
Display outputs: HDMI, DVI-D, VGA
Input Voltage: 120v AC/230v AC
Operating Power Consumption: 20.09W
Standby Power Consumption: 450mW
Off-Mode Power Consumption: 350mW
Colour: Black
Height: 13.2"
Width: 22.3"
Depth: 2"
Height With Stand: 16.61"
Width With Stand: 22.3"
Depth With Stand: 8.15"
Overall Weight: 7.87lb

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Now this is definitely by no stretch of the imagination a top end 144Hz 4K beast but at the lowly billy bargain price of just £109 it's a great all rounder, and given its specs with Full HD 1080p resolution it is not to be ignored.

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OK so after a gorgeous weekend away I'm home and I finally had time to sit down with this panel and give it a good going over, and I must say it has both good and bad points.

Good:

Panel size - Excellent even if it's a touch too big for my desk, the screen is a honest 24" across the diagonal and the bezel is only 3/4" more so pretty nice if you're considering this panel for a multi display setup.

Colour - It's bright and punchy with as near as damn it true to real life image colour, which is just perfect for Photoshop image editing.

Weight - It's light and I mean light! Don't place it near a draft, it may blow away, but idea if your moving a lot or you frequent many a LAN party and just got to have 1080p it's a perfect weight.

1080p - Not much to say really unless your a 4K whore.

Viewing angle - It has quite an impressive viewing angle, I know the specs state 170° across the horizontal but as I move around I'm struggling to see the manufacturers point, I shall have to get the old protractor out and see for myself but I can still see clearly all colours and make out text clearly even whilst being pretty much parallel to the screen at a distance of 4 feet.

Screen - It has the usual Acer matte anti-glare coating on the screen which is excellent for avoiding ambient light pollution but it can be a swine to clean.

Gaming - Well I'm moderately surprised by the ability of this panel, true it is not a 120/144Hz beast and it took some in game tweaking to get rid of the strobing flicker for a clear sharp responsive experience at full 1920x1080, but that was as simple as V-Sync on and Supersampling off. Job done and I feel it performs very admirably for a £109 bargain.

Now onto the Bad stuff.

Bad:

The Body - We have a mixture of shiny front bezel and matte black every where else, I would have been happier if the whole monitor was a nice matte black.

The Stand - It really isn't suited to this size screen and thus feels unstable, it does wobble quite badly, add this to the fact it's quite light is it very noticeable when you knock your desk even the slightest tap and it's bobbing around like a raver with a glow stick, would be better suited to a VESA mount.

Control Panel - The front panel buttons are a touch hit and miss, it feels as though they work when they want to, but it's all down to the switches and how hard you press them. I will give Acer credit for their much improved OSD (on screen display) menu, it is clearer than the previous models.

Cables - Even though this monitor comes with HDMI, DVI & VGA, Acer have only provided a standard 1 meter VGA cable.. this bugs me, especially as the 75hz option only becomes available with either DVI or HDMI connected.

Conclusion:

Well then, that about sums up my experience with my new purchase and the review of the Acer K242HL bid 24" 1080p HD monitor, it's going to serve me very well indeed and I have to say while it does have its bad points the good far outweighs them, there are many other panels I could have gone with to replace my old 19" work horse, but I'm glad I went with this one (stick to what you know) it's a fantastic all rounder and general purpose screen and at a price point that won't scare the stitches off your wallet.

Price: 9/10
Performance: 7/10
Presentation: 8/10
 
Last edited:
Looks like a decent monitor, but its a shame that it has no height/pivot/tilt options. I guess the price does justify it though.
 
do you mean with 75hz selectable that you can select it out of the box or with nvidia/amd driver tweaking? For it is an important thing since you can really see the difference between 60 and 75hz.
 
Looks like a decent monitor, but its a shame that it has no height/pivot/tilt options. I guess the price does justify it though.

There is tilt on this model ;) Tilt Angle: -5° to 25°

do you mean with 75hz selectable that you can select it out of the box or with nvidia/amd driver tweaking? For it is an important thing since you can really see the difference between 60 and 75hz.

It is selectable either via the panels menu options, or the Windows resolution selection. I will update and extend this review when I get home to have a real good play with it and run some benches. You can also select Game mode in the panels own menu which switches it between 5ms & 2ms.
 
Updated OP with findings and conclusion.

When I read that about the weight, I already feared the terrible wibble-wobble that was to come with it. Its a shame really. I really hate it when a screen doesn't stay still; it really ruins immersion during gameplay for me.
 
If you have a solid enough desk it would hardly be noticeable, with a VESA mount obviously it would be eliminated all together. I'm getting a full adjustment VESA desk bracket this week so win win. ;)
 
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