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Ever since 34-inch 3440 x 1440 Ultrawide monitors became a thing, I've been in love with the format. Why? Because it strikes the perfect balance between offering crisp visuals without being as demanding as 4K to run, and they're pleasantly immersive thanks to the 21:9 aspect ratio and large panel size. But they've always been a bit expensive, costing well north of $500 for entry-level VA models and approaching $1000 for high-end IPS panels. But not today.

We spotted a great Black Friday monitor deal on Acer's Nitro XZ342CK, which is an Ultrawide gaming monitor with a 3440 x 1440 resolution, offering a 144 Hz refresh rate and an immersive 1500R curve.

The panel Acer uses is based on VA technology, and while it 'only' covers 95% of the sRGB color space, being a VA panel means it has a static contrast ratio of 3000:1 which translates to deep, inky blacks for a vibrant image. Pair this with its 144 Hz refresh rate, and you've got an excellent gaming monitor.

Of course, you have to keep in mind that this is only a $410 monitor, and one of VA's weaknesses is that the image can smear a bit with fast motion, unlike the more expensive IPS counterparts. Nevertheless, built-in Freesync support will remove any stuttering and tearing on both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards, and the 400 nits brightness is more than plenty for the vast majority of use cases.

If it's immersive gaming you're after and you mostly play RPGs, this monitor will serve you very well -- if you're getting ready for Cyberpunk 2077, the VA panel's deep blacks should bring out the best nighttime visuals in CD Project Red's latest title on December 10th.