Acer made a 1,000Hz monitor, and yes, it costs over $1,000
“The Acer Predator XB253Q U1 hits 1,000Hz” is what you need to know, that’s the tweet, but Acer’s applying some special sauce of its own to make this beast stand out from LG’s recently released 1,000Hz display. It’s loaded with Acer’s “Visual Response Boost Pro” technology to combat the ghosting and blurring sometimes found in TN panels, along with FreeSync and G-Sync Compatible support to synchronize the monitor refresh rate with your GPU to eliminate ugly screen tearing. Acer also says its Circular Polarizer technology will “reduce glare and eye strain during longer gaming sessions.”
Counter-Strike and League of Legends matches can certainly stretch late into the evening, so it sounds like a helpful feature to slap on an esports monitor!
And there’s no doubt that this is an esports monitor: The 24.5-inch screen size lets you keep the entire battle in view, and its 1080p resolution is favored by esports pros looking to accelerate frame rates (and thus responsiveness) to godlike levels.
But is the juice worth the budgetary squeeze? That’s the question I keep coming back to with these 1,000Hz monitors — because you’re paying over a buck for each of those frames. The Acer Predator XB253Q U1 will cost $1,099 when it launches in the first quarter of 2027.
Now look, I’m probably the sweatiest esports competitor at PCWorld. I’m a fiend for fast frame rates and the crack reflexes they enable. But for $1,099 American dollars? I haven’t tested this beast but off the cuff, that’s gonna be a no from me dawg.
Some of my colleagues scoff at ultra-high refresh rate monitors, saying they don’t notice a difference going above 160Hz or so. And that’s totally fine — but if you play esports often and aggressively, there is a good chance you’ll perform better with a faster monitor. But the problem is the biggest benefit — responsiveness — doesn’t scale the way you might assume it does.
