Bottom Line
The Acer Predator Z35 is one of the fastest ultra-wide displays. However, its maximum refresh rate is held back by its slow response time. Overall, it still delivers a great gaming experience at 2560×1080/120Hz but there are better alternatives out there.
The Acer Predator Z35 is a massive 35″ ultrawide display, equipped with NVIDIA G-SYNC and ULMB technologies, as well as a fast 144Hz (200Hz OC) refresh rate for smooth and immersive gameplay experiences.
However, it’s not to be confused with the Acer Predator Z35P, which is the 3440×1440 100Hz model.
Image Quality
The monitor is based on a VA panel with true 8-bit color depth and 100% sRGB gamut for vibrant and rich colors.
Moreover, it offers a superior contrast with a specified static ratio of 2,000:1, which gets even higher, up to 3,000:1!
In comparison to other panel technologies, including IPS and TN, whose contrast usually max out at 1,000:1, the Acer Z35 delivers significantly deeper black shades and an overall better ratio between the darkest and the brightest colors.
While VA panels have the best contrast ratio out of the three, they usually have the worst response time speed performance, which we’ll get into later.
Moving on, the 2560×1080 UWHD resolution is fairly low for the giant 35″ screen of the Acer Predator Z35 monitor. Consequently, this results in a poor pixel density of 79 pixels per inch.
Such low pixel density makes for little screen real estate, which isn’t an issue for gaming, but if you plan on using the monitor for work too, you may find the lack of screen space deal-breaking.
However, the 21:9 aspect ratio does provide significantly more horizontal screen space, so for occasional video editing, basic content creation, and other similar purposes, there’s more than enough workspace.
Performance
The viewing angles are 172° horizontally and 178° vertically, so they aren’t as wide as on IPS panels, but they are much better than that of TN panels.
As a result, some tiny shifts in contrast, brightness, and color are expected when looking at the screen at certain angles, but as long as you’re in front of the screen, this won’t be a problem.
The color quality is similar to that of IPS panels though the blacks are deeper. However, the colors aren’t as accurate and consistent as they are on IPS displays, which are thereby preferred for color-critical tasks.
Next, the Acer Predator Z35 input lag performance is flawless with only ~5ms of delay, which is practically unnoticeable.
As previously mentioned, the weakest point of most VA panels is the response time speed, and the Acer Z35 is no exception.
There’s noticeable smearing of fast-moving objects, particularly when dark pixels are involved. Of course, this is tolerable as, in return, you get deep blacks, so it’s a fair trade-off.
If you are a hardcore competitive FPS gamer, however, you’d be better off with a faster gaming monitor with a 1ms GtG pixel response time speed.
NVIDIA G-SYNC & ULMB
In the OSD (On-Screen Display), you can overclock the Acer Predator Z35 35″ display from its native 144Hz refresh rate to 160Hz, 180Hz, or 200Hz.
Unfortunately, the pixel transition time can’t keep up with such high refresh rates, which means there’ll be even more ghosting and motion blur present. So, it’s best to keep it at 144Hz.
This is where NVIDIA’s Ultra Low Motion Blur (ULMB) technology kicks in.
Once you enable this feature, the display will strobe the backlight, which will eliminate some of the ghosting and trailing in fast-paced games.
This technology works at 85Hz, 100Hz, and 120Hz only, and we recommend setting it to 120Hz.
Note that ULMB causes the screen to have a lower brightness; using the Pulse Width setting, you can change the effectiveness of ULMB from 10 to 100. The higher the frequency of the backlight strobes, the lower the brightness – and vice versa.
Overall, even with Pulse Width set to 100, the screen is reasonably bright for a comfortable gaming experience.
Note that you cannot use ULMB with AMD cards nor at the same time as G-SYNC.
The G-SYNC technology requires NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti card or newer, and it eliminates screen tearing and stuttering with no noticeable input lag penalty.
It achieves this by allowing the monitor’s refresh rate to change according to the GPU’s frame rate.
Features
Other exciting gaming features include Aim Point customizable crosshair overlays, Dark Boost for better visibility in dark areas of games, and three profiles where you can save custom picture settings.
The Acer Predator Z35 G-SYNC gaming monitor also features an RGB lighting technology with LEDs placed beneath the bottom bezel. You can select different colors and effects in the Ambient Light settings in the OSD menu.
There are six monitor hotkeys that you can use for the following functions when not in the OSD menu: swap between the Game Mode profiles, change the Overdrive setting, adjust audio volume, change input source, open/close the OSD menu, and power on/off.
The Overdrive setting has three options: Off, Normal, and Extreme. We suggest leaving it at ‘Normal’ as ‘Extreme’ introduces inverse ghosting.
Lastly, you will find advanced color adjustments such as 6-axis, gamma, and saturation, as well as the standard contrast, brightness, sharpness, RGB color, etc. settings.
Design & Connectivity
The Acer Predator Z35 screen curvature amounts to 2000R, which further aids the gameplay immersion.
While the design may not appeal to everybody aesthetically, it is quite robust and ergonomic with up to 130mm height adjustment, -5°/25° tilt, and 100 x 100mm VESA mount compatibility; you cannot swivel the monitor.
At the back of the monitor, you will find four downstream and one upstream USB 3.0 port. Display ports include HDMI (max 60Hz) and DisplayPort 1.2 for up to 200Hz and G-SYNC. There’s also a headphones jack and two loud 9W DTS speakers.
Price & Similar Monitors
The Acer Predator Z35 price is a little under $700, which is rather expensive.
For just $450, you can get a 34″ ultrawide gaming monitor with a higher 3440×1440 resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate, the AOC CU34G2X.
And for $100 extra, you can get the LG 34GP83A, a 34″ 3440×1440 144Hz IPS gaming monitor with a rapid 1ms GtG response time speed.
Visit our best ultrawide monitors buyer’s guide for more information and the best deals currently available.
Conclusion
Overall, the Acer Predator Z35 is a solid ultrawide monitor. However, the 200Hz refresh rate is over-ambitious for its weak pixel transition performance, which makes going over 144Hz or even 120Hz obsolete.
The picture quality is great thanks to the high contrast ratio, and there are a lot of useful features available, but for fast-paced games, the IPS ultrawides are simply a better choice.
| Screen Size | 35-inch |
| Screen Curvature | 2000R |
| Resolution | 2560×1080 (UWHD) |
| Panel Type | VA |
| Aspect Ratio | 21:9 (UltraWide) |
| Refresh Rate | 144Hz (200Hz OC) |
| Response Time | 4ms (GtG) |
| Motion Blur Reduction | NVIDIA ULMB |
| Adaptive Sync | G-SYNC |
| Speakers | 2x9W |
| Ports | DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4 |
| Other Ports | 4x USB 3.0, Headphone Jack |
| Brightness | 300 cd/m2 |
| Contrast Ratio | 2000:1 (static) |
| Colors | 16.7 million (true 8-bit) |
| VESA | Yes (100x100mm) |
The Pros:
- High contrast ratio for deep blacks
- G-SYNC and ULMB make gaming a lot smoother
- Plenty of gaming features
- Ergonomic design
The Cons:
- Low pixel density for purposes other than gaming, watching movies, and web-surfing
- Prominent smearing of dark pixels in fast-paced games
- 200Hz is bottlenecked by the slow response time
- Expensive
