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Acer launches ultra-wide, super-thin, and USB-C monitors

If 2015 was the year that we first started to see laptops and phones with the new USB-C port, 2016 will be the year where we see a flood of peripherals to support them. Acer is wasting no time here at CES 2016, where it’s announced its first USB-C monitor — the press release says it’s the world’s first, but Lenovo beat the Taiwanese company to the punch yesterday.

The H7 series comes in 25-inch and 27-inch models, both with IPS panels at 2560 x 1440 resolution that support 100 percent of the sRGB gamut. The monitors have conventional HDMI and DisplayPort inputs, but if you use USB-C you’ll be able to charge your laptop and output to the monitor with a single cable.

The H7’s thin-bezeled design is pretty gaudy from the shots we’ve seen, combining a champagne gold brushed metal finish with a circular base and white back panel emblazoned with a giant Acer logo. The series will go on sale next month in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) regions starting from €499 (about $542); details for release elsewhere are yet to be announced.

Acer may have lost out on announcing the world’s first USB-C display, but it does say it’s created the world’s thinnest monitor. The R1 series is a range of 1080p IPS displays at 21.5, 23.8, 25, and 27 inches with the same “ZeroFrame” bezel design as the H7; the panel’s enclosure is under 7mm thick, though there is a chunkier section near the base as with Sony’s ultra-thin TVs. EMEA countries will get the R1 series this month starting at €139 ($151).

Acer’s final monitor of CES is an opulent curved 21:9 display. The 34-inch XR342CK ultra-wide monitor comes in at a resolution of 3440 x 1440 and includes customizable ambient lighting on the panel’s bottom edge. It also employs AMD FreeSync technology, which works with the GPU to remove frame tearing from video games at variable refresh rates. Gaming gear is one of the best ways for PC manufac to make money these days, and the XR has a price to match — it’ll be launching in EMEA regions in March for €1,099 ($1194).

Acer's CES 2016 monitors press photos

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