Detailed Acer CB342CK Monitor Review

The 34-inch Acer CB342CK has a minimalist and simple design. It has thin edges on three sides with a slightly thicker lower frame.

• Also, the stand is easy; it has a smooth metal rod mounted on a round base.
• The stand sports a round base that does not take up much space.
• Wobbling is minimal as the stand supports the monitor well.
• Like the Nitro XV340CK, it has a freely rotatable mainboard in a plastic housing, which allows it a full 360° swivel range.
• It cannot be rotated in portrait format because of its ultra-wide format.
• The Acer CB342CK has a pretty smooth rear end.
• It can be mounted on VESA; unfortunately, there is no quick-release function.
• There is a small hook on the underside of the stand that works for cable management.
• The screen is made entirely of plastic and doesn’t look exceptionally high quality. Still, there are no obvious flaws in the workmanship.
• The trunk of the stand is made of metal, and there is also a metal plate under the plastic housing of the stand.

The CB342CK is a 34-inch screen with a resolution of 3440 x 1440, which means up to three full-sized browser windows can fit the screen side-by-side.

• Many inexpensive ultra-wide models are smaller in resolution, size, or both.
• The CB342CK’s picture-in-picture and frame-by-frame modes work the same as the more expensive XR342CK.
• The picture-in-picture can be used and function as intended. The frame-by-frame mode stretches or compresses the output from both computers regardless of the settings you change on the computers or monitor.
• The only way we could get it to work correctly was by manually setting a resolution of 1720 x 1440 on two (2) Mac laptops. Still, the same thing didn’t work on a variety of Windows PCs.
• However, it is more difficult to find a viewing angle where the contrast and color of the screen are perfectly uniform in a flat ultra-wide display, even though the Acer CB342CK uses an IPS panel.
• A curved ultra-wide display curls inward at the edges of the screen to prevent this from happening.
• It can help sit farther away from the monitor and move the two edges of the monitor more efficiently.
• Like other ultra-wide models, the CB342CK has quite a backlight that tends to discolor the corners more than the center of the screen, a problem compounded by the lack of curvature.
• However, at the center of the screen, its default color preset gives you reasonably accurate colors and good contrast.
• But the monitor does not cover the sRGB color space and the XR342CK (the CB342CK covers approximately 94 percent compared to 100 percent for the XR342CK).

The Acer CB342CK has an excellent response time at its maximum refresh rate of 75Hz, resulting in clear motion in fast-paced scenes.

• “Off” is the best overdrive setting since the “Extreme” and “Normal” settings cause remarkably more overshoot and do not improve the response time.
• That means you’ll need to change the overdrive setting if your game runs closer to 60fps.
• The Acer CB342CK has a great refresh rate, resulting in a responsive and smooth gaming experience.
• It supports native FreeSync to reduce screen tearing. Still, it only seems to work with a DisplayPort connection at the moment.
• The Acer CB342CK has exceptionally low input lag, which remains low even when VRR is on.
• Through HDMI, we can only achieve an 8-bit 100Hz signal with an input delay of 5.2ms or a 12-bit 30Hz signal with an input delay of 50.1ms.
• The CB342CK features an ultra-widescreen and 1440p resolution, which is ideal for productivity and gaming.
• There is enough space on the screen to open multiple windows side by side, giving you a wider field of view (FOV) in your games.
• However, not all games support ultra-wide formats, so you may see black bars on the sides, or the image may be stretched to fill the screen.

Besides the lack of a USB-C port, the Acer CB342CK has everything most people need in a monitor: a DisplayPort input, two HDMI inputs, a USB upstream port, and a USB 3.0 hub with two ports to connect some accessories.

The Acer Nitro XV340CK Pbmiipphzx is an affordable ultrawide monitor that looks a lot like the Acer CB342CK.

• The Nitro XV340CK is black instead of silver, but its 34-inch flat panel and stand are nearly identical.The Nitro XV340CK has a higher refresh rate of 144Hz, which gamers will appreciate, but the added cost and poor color accuracy make it harder to recommend.
• The LG 34UC88-B is another affordable 34-inch ultra-wide model, but it is not very true to color and has lesser ports than other monitors in this range.

The CB342CK features an ultra-widescreen and 1440p resolution, which is ideal for gaming. There is enough space on the screen to open multiple windows side by side, giving you a wider field of view (FOV) in your games. However, not all games support ultra-wide formats, so you may see black bars on the sides, or the image may be stretched to fill the screen.