Hardware Review: Acer B326HK 4K Monitor

It was only when I plunked the Acer B326HK 4K monitor -- a less catchier name than just about anything -- on my desk did I realize just how big a 32" monitor actually is. Suddenly, it felt like I should be an additional 4 or 5 feet away and initially that's what I thought would be necessary when I had to turn my head to look at different parts of the screen.

After some fine tuning and fiddling -- the stand is quite versatile, too; vertical movement and tilt is easy -- I'm a little further away from the screen; just far enough that I don't necessarily have to move my neck to view everything.

Out of the box, the set-up is straightforward. Twist the base into the "neck" and you're ready to go. (A word of warning though. I managed to pull the monitor out of the box by myself but it would have been far easier if I'd had a second set of hands to assist.) The "B3" comes packed with a handful of cables to connect to your PC: a DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI. Plug in the power cord and things are good to go.

I've always hated navigating setup

menus like this!

This brings me to something I really don't like about the B3: the stupid menu buttons that discreetly run along the bottom right of the frame of the screen (next to the front power button). Frankly, I hate this kind of thing across the board for all monitors and TVs and, unfortunately for me, it seems to be standard. Press one of the buttons and a series of menus pops up, then each button corresponds to more functions and menus options to tweak the monitor. Maybe I'm just easily confused, but navigating the options this way doesn't feel intuitive and it doesn't help that there's a short window of opportunity to make adjustments before the menus close themselves. This led to me trying to make changes quickly, screwing it up or accidentally closing the options I was looking at. In the end, it's a damn good thing the default settings didn't bother me because that's where they're staying.

For a time I was piping my Alienware M18x to the monitor via HDMI. The M18x has an 18" screen, so when sending out the video to a screen so large it took some acclimation, especially with a game like Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault. Because everything was so much larger, I could appreciate the details a little more (though, up close, things look a little "stretched.") Even at a "low" 1080p resolution, the viewing experience is awesome.

During this part of the review process, I was running the video out to the monitor via HDMI.

Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games via HDMI look great on the B3 but the tinny 2 Watt speakers located at the back of the monitor are terrible, with a capital "T." Even with the volume pumped all the way up to 100, the audio barely scratches through. For PC's the crummy built-in speakers are less of an issue because it's more than likely that users have headphones or other audio equipment hooked up, but if you were considering pairing a console to the monitor without an external sound system, don't. Just don't.

The M18x I have is a few years old and isn't capable of powering out a 4K resolution. In fact for a while I didn't think I'd get a chance to actually see what a 4K monitor could do until I hauled the B3 into work.

The clarity is quite striking next to a "regular" definition monitor!

However, it's not without some fine tuning. The native resolution runs at 3840 x 2160, which turns text into ant-sized specks and icons into small smudges. I suddenly felt like I was taking part in an simulation that would supply an insight to the ravages of old age. After some more fiddling -- adjusting the icon sizes, the DPI setting in Windows, etc. -- I managed to get my effective age and eyesight levels back to within normal for my age bracket.

Because the B3 offers so much screen real estate, it's easy to have multiple windows open and viewable at the same time -- and even picture-in-picture running from a second source -- so having email open while working on a Word doc and binging on Netflix is easy, though likely not smiled upon by your boss.

Lots of room for cables back here!

Firing up some 4K videos on YouTube... It's like the first time I saw a Dreamcast game in motion after spending so many hundreds of hours with the Sega Genesis. It's one of those weird  moments when what I was seeing didn't seem real. Previously, I'd seen 4K TV's, mostly out of the corner of my eye because a direct viewing would only have served my wallet very poorly, so the images displayed by the B3 did bad things to my eyeballs in the best way possible. All the visual splendour was awesome (I'll admit that a tear welled up at one point) even if it'll probably look out of date in less than half a decade.

That always happens.

I ask myself how things can possibly look or sound better than what's happening right now. And I've always been quickly proven wrong.

Give it a handful of years and the games and movies will look and sound better, so I'm enjoying the visual impact of the B3 while it's new and novel. The games (with the PC hardware to support them) and other media can look phenomenal for a price in the neighbourhood of $1,000. Provided you're not interested in built-in speakers, the Acer B326HK 4K monitor gets a thumbs up from me for image quality, ease of set-up, and plenty of adjustable options to accommodate easy viewing.

Anything else you want to know, just leave a question below in the comments section and I'll do my best to answer!

- Aaron Simmer
Follow @EmpireArmchair

Yep. still loathe fiddling with options using a

series of horizontal buttons like these!

Full Technical Specifications:
Screen Size 32"
Screen Mode 4K UHD
Response Time 6 ms
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Backlight Technology LED
Panel Technology In-plane Switching (IPS) Technology
Tilt Angle -5°to25°
Swivel Angle 60°
Maximum Adjustable Height 5.91"

Video
Maximum Resolution 3840 x 2160
Color Supported 1.07 Billion Colors
Contrast Ratio 100,000,000:1
Brightness 350 Nit

Audio
Speakers Yes

Interfaces/Ports
DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, USB

Power Description
Operating Power Consumption 44 W
Standby Power Consumption 390 mW
Off-Mode Power Consumption 320 mW

Physical Characteristics
Color Dark Gray
Height 17.9"
Width 29.1"
Depth 2.4"
Height with Stand 24.54"
Width with Stand 29.05"
Depth with Stand 10.49"
Weight (Approximate) 17.53 lb
Weight with Stand (Approximate) 26.46 lb

Miscellaneous
Package Contents, B326HK Widescreen LCD Monitor, 1 x DVI Cable, 1 x DisplayPort Cable, 1 x HDMI Cable, Power Cord, 1 x USB 3.0 Cable

Green Compliance Certificate/Authority EPEAT Gold
TCO Certified Displays 6.0
Warranty     Limited Warranty agreement applies.