Acer Predator X45 monitor review: a mighty fine OLED gaming experience

The Acer Predator X45 clearly wants to be one of the best gaming monitors, and one of the best ultrawide monitors, and indeed one of the best monitors full stop – no matter what you want to do with it. In our detailed X45 review, we're going to see if it meets those lofty goals.

This is a monitor with an OLED panel, which means you're guaranteed deep blacks and crisp colours throughout, no backlight bleed or haloing, and the device has a lot more going for it too – including an 800R curvature that also makes this a contender for our best curved gaming monitors list.

When you've fully digested this review, we've got plenty more buying advice to give you: for example, you might want to have a browse through our expertly curated guides to the best gaming chairs and the best gaming laptops you can buy.

Acer Predator X45: price & availability

You can buy the Acer Predator X45 monitor right now. Check the widgets embedded on this page for the most up to date pricing and the best deals on the web – at the time of writing this review, the monitor was selling for around £1,600 / $1,700 online. Those of you in the UK can find it at retailers including Scan and Overclockers.

Acer Predator X45 review: design & setup

The Acer Predator X45 is unusual in that it's a monitor that comes fully assembled in the box, so you don't need to spend time screwing the parts together – you just pull it out of its packaging and you're ready to go. Considering its bulkiness and the weight of 13 kilograms though, we'd recommend getting someone to give you a hand in getting it from the box to the right position on your desk.

In terms of the overall aesthetic, there's a minimalist style about it. There are no lighting tricks here, no oversized logos, and nothing fancy at all really – but we therefore really like the way the Predator X45 looks. Admittedly, it is rather bulky around the back, but that's what you're going to get with an ultra-widescreen monitor that's curved like this one, and it doesn't really affect the user experience anyway.

There's a decent amount of adjustment when it comes to tilting and rotating the screen, and adjusting its height, so you've got some flexibility when you're trying to get that perfect position. The on-screen menu is efficient and easy to operate too – in fact, it's one of the best we've seen lately when it comes to navigating around the various options and not needing an instruction manual to do so.

As far as ports go, you've got two HDMI 2.0 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4 port, one 3.5mm headphone socket, and one USB-C port, which offers 90W power delivery – a pretty fine selection. Rounding out the port options are two USB-A ports you can use as a hub, which is always useful. Acer is even nice enough to include a DisplayPort cable and an HDMI port cable in the box to get you up and running.

You'll note that there's no HDMI 2.1 though, which is disappointing, as that's the type that can handle resolutions at higher frame-rates along with high dynamic range (HDR) formats. You can still run 4K at 60fps, or 1080p at 240fps with the HDMI 2.0 spec, though, so if that matches up with your expectations then it's no problem.

Acer Predator X45 review: features & picture

This is one of those monitors where it's difficult to know where to start really. We've got a screen size of 44.5 inches, a resolution of 3440 x 1440 pixels (across a 21:9 aspect ratio), a significant 800R curvature, a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz, 99% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, a 1,500,000:1 contrast ratio, a peak brightness of 1000 nits, AMD FreeSync Premium support, and a hugely impressive response time of 0.01 milliseconds. That's certainly a lot.

It all translates into an impressive picture too, especially when you're gaming. As you would hope, the OLED tech means blacks are genuinely black, details are crisp and clear, and colours are really well produced – though with the anti-glare approach that Acer has taken here, there are always going to be monitors that are brighter than this one.

We like the amount of customisation that's possible with the picture via the on-board controls, and there are several preset modes to pick from. Ghosting was kept down to an absolute minimum, and in fast-paced games the action remains sharp and well-defined. While your graphics card is always going to be a factor, we had no complaints with what the Acer Predator X45 was able to offer in terms of visuals and performance.

You also get two 5W built-in speakers, which we always like to see on monitors: while these speakers are never going to reach the quality of dedicated standalone units, they're more than adequate for watching movies and some casual gaming. If you're a serious gamer, then we suspect you're going to connect up a headset anyway, but it's always nice to have the option.

Acer Predator X45 review: verdict

In terms of the visuals and experience you get while gaming, the Acer Predator X45 is hard to beat – and going back to our previous monitor when our time was finished with this review unit was rather hard to do. That OLED panel really makes a difference when it comes to contrast and colour, while the high refresh rates and response times mean minimal fuzziness and blurring from your games.

Of course a curved monitor isn't for everyone, and especially one with a curve this aggressive. If you spend a lot of time doing work and general computing tasks besides gaming, then you might find a flat screen suits you better – that immersive feel isn't so important when you're editing videos or browsing webpages.

If you're sure a massive, curved, ultrawide monitor is for you though, it's difficult to do better than the Acer Predator X45 at the moment. It's by no means a cheap monitor, but we think the outlay is worth it in terms of what you're getting in return – just be sure that you've got the games and the graphics oomph to make the most of it.

The monitor scores highly on its main job, which is making games look great, but the adjustability of the display, the built-in speakers, and the generous selection of ports all work in its favour as well. It's also worth mentioning that there's a 27-inch monitor in the same series, which might work better for you if you don't have the desk space or the budget to be able to get the Predator X45 model.

Also consider

If you don't think the Acer Predator X45 is the best monitor for you, then the 49-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 will go even wider for you – while still giving you the picture quality that OLED provides. It has a super-cool design as well, though you should make sure that the games you play can take advantage of the ultra-widescreen 32:9 aspect ratio.

If you want something smaller, more compact, and cheaper – while still keeping the benefits of OLED – then the 27-inch Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM might well be the monitor for you. It has top-tier gaming specs, including a 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time, and it's going to take up a lot less room on your desk.