Gadgetory

what's up guys welcome back to the channel hope you're all doing well so about eight months ago I started using the predator x34 monitor from Acer as my daily driver when it first launched in late 2015 it was touted by many as the holy grail of gaming panels for having all the latest specs and technologies with little left to be desired a curved ultra wide IPS display a 34 40 by 1440 resolution and gsync support up to a hundred Hertz to name a few and while I still stand by most of the opinions expressed in my initial review using the panel extensively for a prolonged period of time has revealed to me several qualities that have tainted my overall experience with this otherwise revered monitor so today we'll be identifying five things I hate about the predator x34 now there's no denying that the panel stylized design can steal the show from even the most glamorous rig sitting beside it but if there's anything that can detract from the x34 s aggressive stance ironically it's the massive triangular base that sports the wingspan of a wandering albatross upon my modestly sized desk accidentally running my mouse into one of the protruding base legs has become a source of constant irritation whether it's slightly snagging the braided cable or touching hardened tips this is the only monitor I've owned that interferes with my daily mousing it's hard to fault acer here since a wider base seems like a necessary evil for an ultra wide display so this critique along with some others on this list perhaps are aimed at 21 by 9 screens in general you could also argue that I've simply paired too small a desk with two larger panels but bear in mind plenty of users prefer to have their monitors up close and personal regardless of their desk size especially to enhance the wraparound immersion that's offered by ultra wide screens in which case they too may find the x34 base to be obnoxiously wide despite its charming good looks I was going to add the outrageous price tag as the next item of scrutiny to our list here before feeling like it would be sort of a cop-out so instead let me just say that a monitor costing well over $1,000 should include some degree of swivel adjustment which the x34 does not sure you get heightened tilt but over the years I've grown dependent on my beloved swivel for a number of time like sharing the screen with others or to quickly access the back of my panel and this goes double for a large heavy monitor that doesn't move easy call me lazy butt for $1,100 I have a friggin right to be at this point a third party stand or vase alarm seems like a perfect solution assuming you don't mind pouring even more money into your pricey panel enough about the basin stand though there's so much more to hate about this monitor take its external power brick for example I will say off the bat that add-on power supplies are typically cheaper and easier to replace than on-board units should they fail but that's where their convenience ends for me for starters tidy cable routing is often more difficult when objects other than cables are involved a large brick is harder to hide and doesn't fit behind your desk quite as easily I had to pull my desk out a few inches from the wall just to conceal the monolithic tumor from public view there's also an additional connection that can fail or come unplugged with such power supplies perhaps worst of all particularly for someone like me who moves hardware around constantly is that the power cable has to follow the monitor everywhere it goes since you can't use a standard AC power cord it'd be great if I could just pull a spare AC cable from my spare AC table drawer but no instead I'm left to fishing out a brick from behind a desk which for most of us is a pain in the neck all too familiar the next caveat may sound especially silly because it's also one of the top selling points of this product but it goes without saying that an ultra wide monitor takes up an ultra-wide amount of space on your desk potentially leaving little to no room for much else again this is partially me suffering from undersized desk syndrome but over time I've learned ultra wives incorporate their own special brand of bulkiness a dual monitor setup for example at least offers the flexibility to pivot and arrange the panel's independently in order to optimize desk space a luxury I always took for granted until adopting a sirs beastly display having a 34 inch ultra wide is also why my left speaker sits behind the gargantuan panel which makes my heart go out to my left ear and it's infinite loneliness the biggest disappointment however is that such a monitor ruins any chance for me or other small desk users of having a secondary display a common misconception here is that there's hardly a need for a companion monitor when you have a 21 by 9 panel which leads us to our last quibble here that a single ultrawide monitor in my opinion is far less convenient than a dual panel setup for productivity tasks like editing and streaming don't get me wrong for gaming in full-screen mode ultra wide is currently as good as it gets but the elongated aspect ratio makes the screen feel vertically challenged when working in a program like Adobe Premiere Pro - note one example the joy of being able to see 35% more of my project timeline at any given moment is sadly overshadowed by having less room for vertically expanding my video and audio tracks as it turns out ultra wide is just a more positive way of saying ultra short having dual monitors for streaming is also a setup I missed terribly things were simple back then I'd have my game running in borderless windowed mode on one display with xsplit twitch ad and the like on the other having two displays offered a natural partition that helped organize my windows when multitasking streaming on the predator x34 however brings too many windows to one screen and I definitely spend a lot more time resizing them to make everything fit properly those are valuable seconds that I'll never get back and for that I hate UX 34 I hate you so much by now you guys are probably wondering why I'm still using this display at all it seems I'd be better off throwing it down a well or giving it away to one of you I'd imagine but despite me tearing it a new one the ex 34 has countless redeeming qualities that I've detailed in my review and still remains in my eyes one of the best gaming monitors currently on the market plus it looks great in the background on my videos can't complain there when I move into my new studio office in August however the ex 34 will retire its position as my daily driver and will most likely be used exclusively for gaming which is of course what its best at that's all for now guys let me know in the comments what you think of all these benches man say ultra wide monitors and don't forget to toss me a like on this video if you enjoyed it before you guys go feel free to check out bit wit ultra ad free early access channel for a buck 50 a month the first two weeks are completely free and you can back out any friggin check as always i'm joe bid with thank you guys so much for watching subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and i'll see you all in the next