Acer CBA242YAbmirx monitor – Specs, Pros / Cons: Value Champion

LaptopMedia.com Reviews and Analysis Acer CBA242YAbmirx monitor - Specs, Pros / Cons: Value Champion

From: Severin Kolakov 31 March 2024 / 14:25 | 0

The Acer CBA242YAbmirx is a monitor for the masses, that manages to string along some pretty appealing features. It’s got a 24-inch diagonal, a Full HD resolution, and a VA panel. The 75Hz refresh rate, the 1ms response time, and the FreeSync support make it a suitable gaming monitor, especially for people who don’t have the most powerful PCs and need something that will still be smooth and responsive.

More importantly, it comes with very good color coverage and accuracy, so you can buy multiple of these and create a pretty good studio setup, with enough screen space to handle pretty much anything. Currently, the Acer CBA242YAbmirx can be found on Amazon on sale for $149, with an MSRP of $158. For that price, you can get three for under $500, whilst giving you a setup to be proud of.

You can check the current price of the Acer CBA242YAbmirx here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Specs sheet, Drivers, Design, Connectivity
Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

Specs sheet, Drivers, Design, Connectivity

Screen size	23.8 inch (60.45 cm)
Refresh rate	75Hz
Response time	1ms
Panel type	VA
Backlight type	LED
Screen finish	Matte
Resolution	1920 x 1080 (FHD)
Technologies	Contrast ratio: 3000:1 (Static); 100 000 000:1 (Dynamic) Brightness: 250 cd/m² Viewing angles: H/V° 178/178 VESA mount: 100 x 100 mm Tilt: -5 to 20° Pivot: -90 to 90° Swivel: -180 to 180° Height Adjustment: 0 – 120 mm Measurements (with stand): 540.20 x 377 – 497.70 x 233.60 mm Power consumption (Idle): 22W Power consumption (Stand-by): 0.30W
I/O	1x HDMI 1.4 1x VGA 1x Audio jack

What’s in the box? Assembly

Drivers and Software

The drivers are available to download on Acer’s website. There’s only the driver itself and nothing else. If you want, you can install the Acer Display Widget, which gives you access to the OSD settings through Windows, so you can utilize a mouse and keyboard for a more user-friendly experience.

OSD Menu

Design and connectivity

In terms of design, you get nothing too spectacular. We do have to mention that the bezels on the sides and the top are quite thin. Now, Acer refers to them as a ZeroFrame design, which is factually correct, as there isn’t a frame surrounding the screen, with the panel spanning to pretty much the edge. The stand is very impressive, offering 12 cm of height adjustment, as well as Tilt, Pivot, and Swivel. The Swivel movement allows the monitor to make a full 360-degree turn, which is the first time we’ve seen so much adjustability on a budget screen. The port selection is really simple, with just an HDMI port, a VGA port for those old computers, and an audio jack.

Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

The Acer CBA242YAbmirx brings a 23.8-inch Full HD screen (1920 x 1080), which calculates to a pixel density of 92.56 PPI, a pitch of 0.2744 x 0.2744 mm, and a Retina distance of 37.14 inches or 94.33 cm. From this distance, the human eye can’t distinguish individual pixels.

The correlated color temperature on a white screen after a Factory Reset in sRGB mode is 6850 K (Luminance 150 cd/m2 at 20% Brightness). The average gamma value is 2.18.

Color coverage

Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.

Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of Acer CBA242YAbmirx can show:

Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content

Acer CBA242YAbmirx: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 99% of the sRGB color gamut and 90% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

(Fig.1) Acer CBA242YAbmirx covers 99% of the Web colors (sRGB)

This means that if the Acer CBA242YAbmirx tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.

Color accuracy

Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the one you’ll see on the Acer CBA242YAbmirx. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.

For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.

Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of the Acer CBA242YAbmirx, the Average color accuracy was 3.1 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowered to 1.3 dE (Fig. 3). This is a 230% increase in accuracy, so the monitor is more than ready for Creator work.

(Fig. 2) Acer CBA242YAbmirx in its factory condition

(Fig. 3) Acer CBA242YAbmirx with our display profiles

Comparison in the sRGB color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).

Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile

Gaming and Movies

We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the Acer CBA242YAbmirx.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount

$19.90 BUY NOW

Verdict

It turns out you can get a lot of worth out of $158, as the Acer CBA242YAbmirx presents a great mix of gaming and creator features. We recommend getting two of these, especially if you’re a programmer, or a content creator, and need extra screen space. The design of the Acer CBA242YAbmirx is modern and offers some good features. At 23.8 inches, the panel is detailed enough considering the Full HD resolution. The stand needs to be mentioned too, as it is one of the most adjustable ones that we’ve seen, especially when you factor in the 360-degree Swivel movement.

In terms of Creator capabilities, the Acer CBA242YAbmirx covers 99% of the sRGB color gamut and 90% of the DCI-P3 gamut, providing you with a punchy and vibrant image that pops on the VA panel, thanks to the high contrast. The color accuracy that we managed to achieve using our Web Design and Office Work profile is astonishing, with a final dE value of 1.3 after calibration (before the calibration the dE value hovered at 3.1). This is a 230% increase in accuracy, which is substantial. This combination of coverage and accuracy means that you can tackle studio-level projects on the monitor, provided you have the skills to pull off the job.

As for the rest of our profiles, the Gaming and Movies one is a must when playing competitive titles, as enemies are always hiding, and with the profile, you can see them. It stabilizes the black color, giving you a full view of what’s in the shadows, both in games, as well as dark scenes in movies. Lastly, the Health-Guard profile limits the Blue Light exposure, as well as the PWM (Flickering), which are harmful to your eyes, as well as deteriorate your sleep quality.

You can check the current price of the Acer CBA242YAbmirx: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)