Acer AOpen 24SA2Y 23.8" Black

The AOpen 24SA2Y runs at 100Hz with FreeSync, which is rare at this price. But the 250-nit panel, single HDMI port, and 16th percentile color performance drag the overall score down to 24.6 out of 100. It's a budget monitor that feels budget in every way except the refresh rate.

The 100Hz refresh rate is the star of the show here, and it's the main reason this monitor scores in the 58th percentile for performance. That's solidly middle of the pack, which is honestly better than I expected given the price. Paired with FreeSync, you get tear-free gaming as long as your GPU plays nice. The 4ms response time is fine for a budget IPS panel. You won't confuse it with a 1ms gaming monitor, but for casual titles and everyday use, it's perfectly serviceable.

But the display itself is where things fall apart. The 250-nit brightness is dim by modern standards. In a bright room, you'll be squinting. Color performance lands in the 16th percentile, which is a polite way of saying it's one of the weakest we've seen. Don't expect vibrant colors or deep blacks. This is a panel built for spreadsheets and YouTube, not photo editing or immersive gaming. The 1080p resolution at 23.8 inches gives you about 93 pixels per inch, which is acceptable but not sharp by today's standards.

Stacked against the competition, the AOpen 24SA2Y is playing a different game entirely. The ASUS TUF Gaming VG34VQL1B is a 34-inch ultrawide with a 165Hz refresh rate and far better color, but it costs several times more. The HP OMEN 27qs G2 offers 240Hz at 1440p, which makes the AOpen's 100Hz at 1080p look like a relic. Even the Dell UltraSharp U2724D, which isn't a gaming monitor at all, crushes this thing on color accuracy and connectivity. The honest take: these competitors aren't really competitors. They're in a completely different price bracket. The AOpen's real competition is other sub-150 CAD monitors, and against those, the 100Hz refresh rate is actually a differentiator. Most budget monitors at this price still run at 60Hz or 75Hz.

At around 100 CAD, the AOpen 24SA2Y is cheap. That's the entire value proposition. You're getting a 100Hz IPS panel for less than the cost of a decent mechanical keyboard. The problem is that 'cheap' and 'good value' aren't the same thing. When you factor in the dim panel, the single HDMI port, and the bottom-tier color performance, you're making real compromises. If you can stretch your budget by 30 to 50 CAD, you'll find monitors with better brightness, more ports, and significantly better color. But if 100 CAD is your hard ceiling and you just need a screen that works, this one will do the job without any surprises.

The Acer AOpen 24SA2Y is a budget 1080p monitor that gets one thing right: it runs at 100Hz. That's the headline number, and it's the only spec here that feels like it belongs in 2025. Everything else, from the 250-nit brightness to the single HDMI port, screams 'cost-cutting exercise.' Our database puts its overall score at 24.6 out of 100, which lands it in the bottom quarter of monitors we've tested. The 100Hz refresh rate and FreeSync support are genuinely nice for smooth scrolling and casual gaming, but the panel itself is about as basic as IPS gets.

At around 100 CAD, this is a monitor you buy because you need a screen, not because you want one. The 23.8-inch size is fine for a desk, and the VESA mount means you can ditch the flimsy stand. But the connectivity situation is rough. One HDMI port and a headphone jack. No DisplayPort, no USB hub, no speakers worth mentioning. If your laptop only has USB-C, you're buying an adapter too.

Skip this if you care about image quality at all. The 250-nit brightness and 16th percentile color performance mean this panel looks washed out and dim compared to almost anything else on the market. If you do any photo or video work, or just enjoy watching movies with decent contrast, this will frustrate you. Also skip it if you need multiple inputs. One HDMI port is a dealbreaker if you want to switch between a PC and a console without unplugging cables. And if you're a competitive gamer, the 4ms response time and 100Hz cap will hold you back compared to the 144Hz and 240Hz options that are now common even in budget gaming monitors.

The Acer AOpen 24SA2Y is a 100Hz monitor wrapped in a budget shell. The refresh rate is genuinely nice, and FreeSync support means casual gaming feels smoother than you'd expect at this price. But the 250-nit brightness, single HDMI port, and 16th percentile color performance are hard to ignore. Our overall score of 24.6 out of 100 reflects that reality. If you need a cheap second monitor for a home office or a basic screen for a kid's first setup, this works. If you care about image quality, color, or connectivity, save up a bit more. The 100Hz is a nice trick, but it can't carry the whole show.