Acer continues to be one of the top companies in the monitor industry. Bolstered by its cutting-edge R&D capabilities and customer-driven innovation, they claim to have technology and computer solutions for people of all lifestyles, from business, to students, and even gamers.

During our visit to COMPUTEX 2024 in Taipei, we got an opportunity to conduct an interview with Marc Ho, Acer’s Senior Director of Product Management and digital display business.

(Interview has been slightly edited for clarity.)

More Monitors

One of Acer’s more well known products are their high-end monitors, with models and designs catering to gamers and users of all types. To start off, we asked Ho if the public could expect to see more large-sized monitors released this year.

He gave us a positive response to our query, citing the company’s previous product launches as reference. “We’ve previously released sizes like 40 and 43 inches, with OLED options available at 43 and 48 inches. Additionally, this month, we plan to launch a new large size: a 57-inch monitor with a 32:9 aspect ratio, which is ideal for USD, Apple 4K, and other media-rich content, further enhancing our flagship offerings.”

AI Integrations

With the rising popularity of AI powered tools, many technology companies have jumped on the bandwagon of developing products that support and sometimes even capitalise on its computing potential. We wondered if Acer would join in on the trend and incorporate AI features into their monitors going forward.

“We have already implemented some AI features,” he replied, “such as the Smart Endpoint feature showcased on our website. This feature detects changes in background color and automatically adjusts the endpoint color for better visibility.

“Additionally, we are working on introducing an AI content detector. This detector will analyze the current content being displayed and adjust settings accordingly. For example, it may adjust response times for gaming or dynamically optimize color ranges for movies or images.”

Monitor Trends

As one of the leading tech companies in the market, we could safely assume that Acer would also be one of the first groups to identify trends in the technology scape. Thus, we queried Ho about their predictions for the gaming monitor market, and if there any specific features or technologies he anticipated to gain popularity.

“In both emerging and established markets, there’s a growing demand for high-tech, feature-rich gaming monitors,” he acknowledged. “However, in markets where cost is a primary concern, there’s a greater emphasis on cost-performance models.”

“For example, in the mainstream gaming monitor segment, competitors typically offer displays with resolutions like 1080p or 1440p. Acer, on the other hand, is pioneering the mainstream market with the introduction of the 20UH200, which boasts a higher resolution than the competition, aiming to replace lower-resolution options.”

“Additionally, in terms of refresh rates, while mainstream monitors commonly feature 180Hz or 240Hz, there’s a trend towards pushing this even further to 300Hz. This provides gamers with enhanced performance at a competitive price point, especially in emerging markets.”

Content Creation Compatible

Some fans of Acer products might lament the lack of monitors specialising in content creation and video editing, skills which require a high degree of display precision out of their monitors. We echoed these options to Ho, who denied that the demographic was being ignored.

“In comparison to other monitors in the market geared towards professionals or content creators, Acer’s monitors not only offer high resolution but also high refresh rates. While some customers may mistake these features for gaming-oriented, we aim to provide monitors that cater to both high-resolution needs and high refresh rates.”

“This is increasingly important as devices like mobile phones and computers now support higher frame rates, necessitating both resolution and refresh rate capabilities.”

What’s Next?

For our final question, we continued to discuss content creator-oriented monitors, and asked Ho if Acer is considering other portable form factors for content creators.

Once again, we got a positive response from him, saying, “We are indeed exploring various form factors for monitors, including portable options. For instance, our dual-panel display, currently available in 15.6-inch and 18.5-inch sizes, offers portability and flexibility for users.”

This concludes our interview with Marc Ho. We would like to once again thank him and the Acer Asia Pacific Team for their time with us.