When did mini-LED monitors get so friggin’ cheap?!

While I was waiting for OLED monitor prices to plummet, another revolution quietly happened underneath my nose. Mini-LED monitors, a luscious OLED rival, are surprisingly cheap now? Like, “you can find plenty under $300 and some under $200” kind of cheap.

When the hell did that happen?

I was inspired to look because Acer announced a slick-looking new mini-LED monitor at IFA this morning. The Acer Nitro XV275U Z2 will cost just $329 when it launches later this year, giving you a stunning 1,000 nits of HDR brightness powered by 1,152-zone mini-LED backlighting and Dynamic Frequency and Resolution that starts at 275Hz at its default 1440p, 360Hz at 1080p, and 520Hz at 720p (ick).

Industry insiders have told me that while OLED is gorgeous, mini-LED is the future and the new Nitro packs all of its benefits. There’s the brightness, of course—a mini-LED staple—while the 1,152-zone backlighting provides fine-tuned darkness and contrast ratios that can’t quite match OLED but blows traditional IPS and TN displays out of the water.

Also, an underrated mini-LED triumph: text clarity. OLED monitors traditionally have trouble handling still, fine-line images, meaning text can look pixelated and “fringey.” Newer OLED monitors that include RGB Stripe technology, like the just-announced Alienware AW3226Q, overcome that limitation, but it’s never been an issue with mini-LED. Mini-LED has clearer text than OLED, period, and it’s especially true in the 1440p resolution range the new Acer sits in.

Mini-LEDs also have zero concerns about pixel burn-in. Eat that, OLED!

But mini-LED does have one weakness: slower gray-to-gray response times. The Acer Nitro XV275U Z2 offers 0.5ms GTG responsiveness. That’s significantly more noticeable than the 0.1 to 0.3 GTG times of OLED and TN panels, but it shouldn’t be an issue unless you’re an ultra-competitive esports gamer. The slower GTG times make the Nitro less compelling if you’re a pure esports player despite those high frame rates at lower resolutions, but hey—Acer has a new 1,000Hz esports monitor that may be up your alley. No mini-LED though.

But back to the point at hand: sweet lord, mini-LED displays are available for cheap now, and I never noticed it happening. If you’re in the market for a new gaming monitor and want all the visual bells and whistles without distracting text-fringing, I’d absolutely recommend checking one out. A $200 mini-LED monitor, seriously?!