Acer 21.5 Inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS Ultra-Thin Zero Frame Computer Monitor (HDMI & VGA Port), SB220Q bi

I purchased this monitor for my wife to use with her Alienware R17X4 laptop. She had broken a key on her keyboard but also wanted a little larger screen. So, I purchased a wireless keyboard and this monitor. She now uses the powerful Alienware laptop as a desktop with a larger display and a wireless, movable keyboard. She is a very happy camper. Others have commented on the great graphics, thin design, and good quality build for a great price, so I wont repeat those details here. I will however point out a few tips: 1. At first, it seems the stand will not tilt. But it does! Grasp the stand firmly and then tilt the monitor back to the desired position. Note it does not tilt forward or side to side, but does tilt back (facing more upwards towards your eyes) which really helps in most settings. 2. If you dont get a signal, make sure you plugs the HDMI cable into the HDMI out port on your PC, not the HDMI in port. Duh. I had mine plugged into the wrong port until I found my reading glasses and saw the problem. 3. We changed three settings which you may want to also do if you have a laptop. First, we changed the display settings to choose between Second screen only, Duplicate, or Extend. We chose Extend so she can have two documents open at once on the two monitors, her laptop screen and the new monitor. You just drag one document off the edge of the monitor to move it to the other screen. 4. Next, we found that closing the laptop, when she only needed one screen, put it into hibernation and shut everything down. We went into Control Panel and changed Power Settings under What happens when you close the lid. We changed it from Hibernate to Do nothing. Now the laptop keeps running even when the laptop is closed. 5. Third, most Windows laptops are configured so you have to drag things off the right edge of your new remote monitor to get them onto the laptop screen. However we wanted her laptop setting to the left of her new monitor, so it was confusing to have to drag something off the right-hand edge of the monitor to get it onto the left-hand screen on the laptop. We went back into display settings, where you can drag the two monitors in the settings to reverse them. Now, she can drag items from the left-hand screen to the right-hand screen by dragging them in that direction, and vice versa. Much more intuitive to use that way. With those changes to the settings, she can open the laptop and use it as two monitors, dragging and dropping documents and apps from one screen to another. When she closes the laptop lid, it reverts to a single monitor (the new Acer) but does not go to sleep. This is perfect for what she needs. She can still power off the monitor when not needed for an extended period. Also, the laptop speakers still work when she turns on the sound even when the laptop is closed. I highly recommend this monitor for anyone wanting a very good quality, cost-effective solution.

Monitor works as advertised, easy to setup.

I was expecting a low quality display due to low price but instead I’ve got a decent, nice looking display that even support more than 100fps! I did not regret this purchase

Exactly what I wanted and bought

This review is for the SB220Q series (1920x1080) 75Hz monitor variant. At a $90 price point as of July 2020, all of the praise this monitor has gotten and continues to get is pretty well deserved. Right out of the box the factory calibration is pretty awful as with most TVs and monitors (I’ll never understand why that is), but Acer’s built-in menu gives you a wide range of control to tweak the image quality to your liking. Here are some of the most noticeable Pros & Cons after using this monitor daily for the past three weeks: PROS: - The colors can be very vibrant and the sharpness makes everything nice and crisp both up close and from a distance without going overboard. Although the spec sheet does not specify the exact Adobe or sRGB color gamut range, it does have a stated 72% NTSC coverage (keep in mind that the NTSC color gamut has the highest level of color reproduction), which would imply that it should have close to 100% sRGB coverage. This is pretty standard for most sub $200 monitors (note: the unit that TechSpot tested came in at around 93% of sRGB coverage mostly losing detail in the green range so your unit’s reproduction may vary). The 6-bits + FRC (equal to 8-bits) color depth is also an industry standard for entry level monitors and is completely fine for casual use. - This montior’s “100,000,000:1” Dynamic Contrast Ratio (DCR) (non-standardized measure of contrast for videos) definitely seems to outperform my other slightly more expensive budget IPS monitors (the HP VH240a and ViewSonic VS2412-H) that only have 20,000,000:1 and 50,000,000:1 contrast ratios respectively. However, note that it still has an industry standard 1000:1 Static Contrast Ratio (measure for non-moving images) which isn’t great but is perfectly acceptable for casual viewing since only the highest tiered ($400+) IPS panels exceed that point with 1,500:1 being the maximum native contrast typically achievable with an IPS. ~ A quick side note about that “100,000,000:1” DCR number: there is no industry standard methodology for this particular measurement so the number itself is mostly useless marketing fluff. But as I noted, compared to the two other monitors with the same industry standard SCR, this monitor did seem to outperform them both in that area. - Its 102 PPI pixel density actually makes a subtle difference in image quality when viewing up close compared to my 24 inch 1080p monitors that have a 92 PPI. Text seems to be a bit smoother in comparison. This is purely an advantage of having the smaller 21.5 inch screen. - The Color Adjustment Menu allows you to adjust both the RGB and CMY gains, bias, hues, and saturation levels to get a better color balance. - The Picture Menu lets you adjust the screen’s brightness, contrast, gamma, and blackness (“black boost”) levels while also providing a ‘blue light’, ‘adaptive constrast’ (ACM), and a ‘Super Sharpness’ on/off switch. - The Game Menu has FreeSync (for AMD GPUs) and Overdrive options CONS: - The bezels are a bit thicker than I woud’ve liked (they’re about 1 cm on the top, left, and right sides) making the frameless design nothing more than a gimmick. - The top-down viewing angle is noticeably darker compared to looking at the screen head on. - Despite having a good DCR of 100M:1, the blacks are still a bit too bright for watching anything with heavy dark scenes since the display itself does not have any HDR capabilities with high contrast control zones aka local dimming (to be fair, this is completely expected at this $90 price point and is only being mentioned as reference for those that may be thinking of using this monitor to watch TV/movies). - The Picture Menu’s ‘Super Sharpness’ option is just an on/off switch; it does not give you a more granular adjustment control over the amount of sharpness to apply. - Even with all of the image quality adjustment options available in the settings, the whites remain on the slightly warmer side of the color temperature chart. It’s not that noticeable when viewing on this monitor alone, but the difference can be seen if you have another slightly cooler display adjacent to it. This is most likely just an issue with my particular unit since other reviews have noted their unit had a more neutral or “near perfect” white temp. - It only has a paltry 15° degree back tilt compared to most other budget monitors being able to tilt closer to 30° degrees (this is super nitpicky as compromises are to be expected at a sub $100 price point). - The Power button is completely indistinguishable from the rest of the menu buttons (both in shape and spacing). Overall, if you’re looking for a nice quality budget monitor to look at spreadsheets, word documents, and do some internet browsing or even some light casual gaming, then this is a great choice. If you are a competitive gamer, photographer, professional editor, or a content creator then you’ll obviously need to invest in a higher spec monitor.

I bought this monitor as a secondary for my gaming setup. My main monitor is much nicer and so it’s easy to compare the quality. This monitor has mediocre color quality and is a bit small but for the price you can’t ask for much else. Just a good monitor at a low price

Good monitor for the price. Nice picture, no dead pixels. Menu system allows for lots of adjustments, but is hard to navigate thanks to a roughly 5 second timeout if no buttons are pressed. Be sure to download the .PDF manual, it has lots more information than the printed one that comes with the monitor. Both manuals say that monitor will tilt, but at first it would not budge with any reasonable degree of force. My husband, whose mechanical skill is high, looked over what appeared to be the hinge joint at the top of the base pedestal. Its made of steel, and it looked like there was a nut that controlled the friction of the hinge. However, the nut is inaccessible to a wrench while the hinge is installed in the pedestal. Removing four screws from the pedestal allowed the hinge to come out. Loosening the nut did not free up the hinge as expected. The rivet on the other side of the hinge joint was still causing excessive binding. Application of some silcone lube didnt help, nor did working the hinge back and forth using tools. Eventually my husband resorted to drilling off the driven head of the rivet and punching it out. Note there are several small washers on both the screw and rivet that need to be kept track of. Rivet was not reusable. It has a shoulder on it, which should have kept it from binding the hinge, but apparently the wider portion of the rivet was too short. He replaced the rivet with a 6mm screw. This involved both reaming the hole in the outer hinge bracket and grinding the screw head so it would fit inside the pedestal. A nut was installed just a little more than finger tight on the new screw. Some Loctite might be advisable for monitors that get frequent tilt adjustments. The original screw, stack of washers, and nut was reinstalled, and the nut adjusted to what seemed the correct degree of tightness. The hinge was reinstalled in the pedestal. When the base was attached to the monitor, it tilted easily and stayed where it was put. This job took a considerable amount of skill, and probably voids some warranty or other. Not for the clumsy or faint of heart. FWIW, many users will likely find that loosening the friction nut will free up the hinge enough to make it work properly, without dealing with the rivet. The hinge is well designed and plenty beefy, and the amount of leverage available to the user when its joined to the base and monitor is considerable. However, theres a high risk of breaking the plastic parts of the monitor case or pedestal if the user gets too frisky. A little more attention to QC by Acer or its suppliers should have made this a non-problem.

I have a i8 8700 cpu with paired with a 5600xt graphics card. So you know that the card is going to run 1080p games smoothly. But pairing that with this monitor is just amazing! If youre just looking for 1080p and dont care about curve or framrates this monitor is great. I got one for like 50 bucks on offerup but wanted a second monitor for my setup. Second one looks better then the first. It has hdmi and vga (I use a display port to hdmi cable) there is no sound that comes from the monitor so be prepared to get either headphones or speakers. Its a 1080p monitor but instead of 60 frames its 75 which isnt bad! But I recommend not paying 120 for this monitor try to wait to see if it goes down 100 or 75 dollars!

Solid monitor overall but, as you can see from the picture, quality control for the stand is lacking. The picture compares my perfectly straight LG and this “leaning forward” Acer. As the title says, the LG is 4k and over $400. The Acer is 1080p and under $100. Lack of attention to detail like that is disappointing, especially because they messed up the least costly component and it sort of spoils the whole thing.

Not much to add which hasnt been written yet. This monitor does everything it says it does. So far so good, but this review may change in the future.