Acer ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W) review – with the help of some tweaks you get a professional-grade monitor at a very bearable price

Perhaps, you are acquainted with the ConceptD subbrand of Acer. Ultimately, it makes content creator hardware, like laptops and monitors, and aims them for the people who need Pro equipment with constant standard-matching performance. Today, we are reviewing one such unit. It is a 24-inch monitor, called the ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W). Its panel is IPS-type and comes with a 1920×1200 resolution with a 16:10 aspect ratio.

Right off the bat, one can tell that this is meant for Pros, rather than gamers, or plain office work. It is the aspect ratio that gives it away, but there is a whole lot more to it. Where it really shines, though (or should shine), is its color representation. According to Acer, they have put a panel, which is capable of 99% Adobe RGB coverage with Pantone validated colors and DeltaE, which is less than 2.

Additionally, it sports AMD’s Adaptive-Sync technology, and supposedly 1ms VRB. To be honest, the latter is purely a marketing gimmick, and you shouldn’t expect any panel out yet to have that fast of a response time (you’ll see the true one in our tests below).

So, let’s not wait any longer, and see what did Acer achieve with this product, and is it good enough for the professionals out there.

You can check the current price of Acer ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W) here: Buy from Amazon.com.au (#CommissionsEarned)

Contents


Specs Sheet

Acer ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W)
Display size24″ IPS
Resolution and refresh rate1920×1200 at 75Hz
Stand movementPivot (+/- 90°)/ Swivel (+/- 360°)/ Tilt (25°), 120mm Height adjustment
Ports/td>2x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort, 1x USB 3.0 Upstream, 3x USB Type-A Downstream
FeaturesPantone validation, 99% Adobe RGB, AMD Adaptive-Sync, 2W stereo speakers
PriceBuy from Amazon.com.au (#CommissionsEarned)

Unboxing and setup

Inside the relatively basic box, we found a large styrofoam enclosure, which protects all of the valuable internals. This includes the two-part stand, the display, itself, as well as a few cables – one power cable, and an HDMI cable. Also, there is the mandatory paperwork, and a document, which shows you the values out of the factory calibration process.

To get started, just screw in the base to the stem of the stand, and then attach it to the display portion, as you can see in the image below.


Design and construction

When we look at monitors in this price range (about $400), we always get to get a plastic chassis for the panel. So, we were not surprised to see the same average matte plastic shroud around the display. Thankfully, though, the bezels on the sides and above the screen are narrow enough, so it looks good in 2021. Below the display, you can see a thicker bezel, slightly protruding outwards, and in its bottom right corner, you will notice the LED indicator.

Of course, it has an OSD menu, with its own dedicated keys, which are placed on the back – easy to reach with your right hand.

So far, everything looks pretty standard. Until we get to the stand. Its base has a touch of wood, which makes it look pretty nice, especially paired with the metal stem, which has a cylindrical shape. Also, on the level of the base, just behind the stem, there is a plastic latch, meant for cable management. It’s not too big, and it won’t fit more than two or three cables at once, but at least it’s something.

Then, we go to the mechanism of the stand. So, you get pretty much the Holy Trinity of axial movement, as well as 120mm of vertical adjustment. As for the numbers, you get 25° of tilt, 90° of pivot on each side, as well as a 360° of swivel. Interestingly, the swivel mechanism is installed into the base, and as soon as you start rotating the monitor, it will seem like you are just turning the entire assembly around. However, the “do thats” are hidden beneath the wood-like cap of the base – pretty neat.


By the way, in order to get to the 90° pivot mode, you need to bring the display to its maximum height, and then slightly tilt it backward. Otherwise, you will hit the respective bottom edge in the base.

Ports

Well, the I/O here is decent, but there are no legacy (or analog) signal ports. You get the power plug (voltage regulation happens inside the chassis), two HDMI connectors, one DisplayPort, one USB Type-B 3.0 upstream port, and three USB Type-A 3.0 downstream ports – one on the back, and two on the left side.


OSD menu

As we said, there is a set of buttons in the back, which help you navigate through the OSD. If you want to make some quick changes, there is the short menu, which has brightness control, choice of an input signal, and Mode setup (which lets you toggle through presets).

Then, there is the full menu, where you get picture control, color options, an Audio menu, where you can adjust the volume or mute the speakers. After that, you get the performance tab, where you switch Overdrive, Adaptive-Sync, and other options. Last but not least, there are some purely customization options.



Display quality

Acer ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W) is equipped with an IPS-type panel. Its diagonal is 24″ (61 cm), has a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, and a maximum refresh rate of 75Hz. The screen ratio is 16:10, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 94 ppi, and a pitch of 0.27 х 0.27 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 91cm (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels).

It has comfortable viewing angles. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

We measured a maximum brightness in the “Standard” mode of 383 nits in the middle of the screen and 375 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of 9% in the bottom left corner with the Uniformity option enabled.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. It how matters are for operational brightness levels in “sRGB” display mode (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 36% Brightness.

Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the monitor for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is good – 1040:1 (“Standard” mode) and 850:1 (“sRGB” mode), Uniformity “ON”.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream display.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows Acer ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W)’s color gamut coverage in the “sRGB” mode in the first graphic, in “Adobe RGB” mode, and in “Standard” mode in the second.

The Primary RGB in “sRGB” mode matches with a decent accuracy with the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976. Ideally, this should be great for Web designers, if it wasn’t for the poor Uniformity of the backlight.



Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode. We’ve used the “sRGB” preset after factory reset and brightness set to 36%.



We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of Acer ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

The response time of the pixels shouldn’t be slower than the refresh cycle of the screen (16.67 ms for 60Hz, 6.94 ms for 144Hz, and so on). Ultimately, this results in ghosting, caused by the pixel’s inability to change in that amount of time, thus continuing in the next frame. In order to battle with that issue, manufacturers use Overdrive. Essentially, this is a technique for RTC (Response Time Compensation). What does it do? Well, it supplies higher voltage to the crystals (in LCD monitors), which makes them switch their position faster. However, excessive levels of Overdrive can result in Overshooting, which transforms into inverse ghosting, coronas, and artifacts, obviously affecting the image quality in a negative way. This is why many manufacturers provide several levels of Overdrive, so you can choose which suits you best.

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.

There is an obvious overshoot at the “Extreme” Overdrive level. “Normal” would be optimal, with minimal inverse ghosting.




PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

Acer ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W)’s backlight does not use PWM at any brightness level. This makes it comfortable for your eyes in this aspect even during long working periods.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the Acer ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W).

In this case, the profiles are ready for work after a factory reset, except for the Gaming and Web design profile, where you need to set the display to the “sRGB mode”. Interestingly, depending on the ambient light and the game you’re playing it is highly possible that the Office Work profile might be more appealing than the Gaming and Web design one.

*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].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

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.

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.

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.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Verdict

Acer ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W)’s IPS panel has a very wide color coverage, which provides a vibrant and punchy image, useful in games and movies. Also, there is a plethora of presets, emulating the most popular present-day color gamuts such as sRGB, Adobe RGB and DCI-P3. Moreover, with the help of our Gaming and Web design profile with the “sRGB” mode, the colors match the standard with an enviable accuracy and a DeltaE of 0.9, exceeding the factory calibration of the monitor.

This makes it extremely appetizing for e-commerce, photo and video editing, content creation, and much more. Interestingly, this device has a neat feature, called “Uniformity”. Its purpose is to calibrate both the colors and the luminance and make them relatively even across the entire area of the display.

When it comes to gaming (keep in mind this is not the main purpose of the device), the panel is not one of the fastest out there, but when you use a minimal amount of Overdrive you will actually achieve a very commendable experience, considering the 75Hz refresh rate.

Additionally, you get a stand with a wide amount of movement, including tilt, 90° pivot in both directions, 360° swivel, and not on the last place – height adjustment.

All of the aforementioned makes this monitor pretty universal and convenient for a large set of users. Of course, there are some disadvantages, like the lack of analog or legacy video connectors. Also, even with the “Uniformity” option enabled, the bottom left corner of our particular unit had a bit high deviation from the center of the display, which may not be ideal for the more pedantic photographers and designers out there.

Nevertheless, considering its price of about $399 at the moment of writing this review, we feel that it is a very tempting purchase for the professionals out there.

Pros

  • 16:10 aspect ratio is great for work
  • Covers the entire sRGB color gamut and most of the Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 gamuts
  • OSD with a lot of presets and options
  • Adjustable height, tilt, swivel, and pivot
  • Our Gaming and Web design helps it achieve very high color accuracy


Cons

  • No legacy connectors
  • Slightly nonuniform in the bottom left corner

You can check the current price of Acer ConceptD CM2 (CM2241W) here: Buy from Amazon.com.au (#CommissionsEarned)

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