Acer's XG270HU was not on AMD's seven FreeSync monitor list unveiled in January, it was not showcased at CES 2015 in Las Vegas during the same month, but it appears that Acer will definitely go toe to toe with Samsung, BenQ, LG, Viewsonic and other manufacturers that have announced monitors with support for AMD's FreeSync.
While the new XG270HU does sound quite similar to earlier released Acer XB270HU with G-Sync support, considering they have the same 27-inch size, 2560x1440 resolution and 144Hz refresh rate, it appears that these are based on different panels, since the XB270HU G-Sync one comes with an IPS panel with unspecified response time (4ms GTG according to some listings), the new XG270HU with AMD FreeSync support features TN+film panel with 1ms response time. Also, the XB270HU G-Sync monitor comes with a single DisplayPort 1.2 input, while the new XG270HU features HDMI 2.0, dual-link DVI and DisplayPort 1.2.
The Acer XG270HU also offers edge-to-edge frameless dsiplay which should be good in case you are looking to make a multi-monitor setup and red/orange bottom bar screams AMD. The XG270HU also comes with few Acer features including Acer EyeProtect which eliminates screen flickering, ComfyView which reduces reflection, low-dimming technology and blue light filter.
Of course, the XB270HU G-Sync version will benefit from an IPS panel and offer wider viewing angles and richer colors, but response time has always been more important when it comes to gaming and both G-Sync and FreeSync are all about gaming.
In case you somehow managed to miss it, FreeSync is AMD's response to Nvidia G-Sync and syncs the refresh rate of the monitor with the rendering rate of the AMD Radeon GPU, thus removing screen tearing and reduce stuttering in games. We have already seen AMD's Freesync in action during CES 2015 and it looked really good on all monitor sizes and resolutions.
Both the Acer XB270HU G-Sync and XG270HU FreeSync monitors are scheduled to be available in March, and while we have yet to see the price of the XG270HU, the XB270HU is currently listed in Europe for €749, so it will be nice to see the difference in price between FreeSync and G-Sync.
