Despite being a bit of tech that's at its best while gaming, and something that can be a bit alienating in a room with more than one person, curved monitors have still carved themselves a niche in the market with some ardent defenders. If you fancy being among them, this deal at Walmart will not only give you a great curved screen but a solid monitor in general for that price.
For just $260 right now, (a full $90 less than its retail price), you can pick up the Acer Nitro XZ342CU V3bmiiphx. Once you get past that frankly absurd name (can't you make things a little easier, Acer?), you get a 34-inch QHD gaming monitor that feels perfect for those long gaming sessions. Any smaller and you won't really see the benefit of a curved monitor, any bigger and you might be tacking on a couple hundred extra bucks to that price.
It fits in a good spot where you don't necessarily notice what you are missing out on for that price, and you still get something that will impress all your new curved monitor defender friends.
It comes with both HDMI and DisplayPort connections, which not only gives it some versatility in regard to ports, but it means it is capable of a refresh rate of 180 Hz when plugged into the display port. If you only operate with HDMI, it still gets up to a pretty solid 100 Hz. Alongside this, you are getting a 1 ms response time and FreeSync Premium, allowing for snappier reactions and smoother gameplay. The screen itself is a 1500R curved monitor, which is to say it equates to the radius of a circle at 1.5 meters.
Generally, the lower that score, the more immersive the experience is, as it wraps around your view more. This curvature makes for an excellent introduction to curved monitors, as it's noticeable enough to affect your experience but not so wrap-around as to be distracting.
You are, of course, paying for that curve—with similarly priced, flatter-screened 4K monitors out there, but this is still a very nice display even without being 4K. It'll still look great and it comes with built-in speakers, and while they won't beat out a set of the best gaming speakers, they'll be enough to game on until you decide on a dedicated set to really up the immersion.
What you're getting here is a great curved display, for an excellent price. If you've been wanting to test out a curved monitor, now could be the perfect time.
