Adaptive Sync DLP Gaming Projector! Acer GM712 4K Review

Acer’s GM712 is remarkably similar to the BenQ X500i I reviewed last week, at least on paper. Actually, in theory this Acer model should actually be a better gaming projector since it not only supports either 4K60 or 1080p240, but it also supports variable refresh rate – also known as adaptive sync, Freesync, or GSYNC. That is, on top of sporting double the claimed light output at 4000 lumens, compared to just 2200 from the BenQ model, oh and it’s a good £200 cheaper too! So why am I not blown away? Well, let me explain. 

Acer’s GM712 looks pretty cool with its screen-printed top and matte black look – it is clearly a gaming projector, that’s evident even from a distance. The IO looks remarkably familiar, with two HDMI 2.0 ports, a VGA port no less, RS232, audio in and out, SPDIF and two USB ports – well technically there’s a third for the included WiFi dongle. Clearly people have been putting this in the wrong way as the dongle is actively labelled “This way up”. It tucks into a slot in the back that is going to be pretty difficult to get it back out. My understanding for why this is an external dongle and not built in (which would also mean you’d get better signal) is to get around certification processes. It’s really common in the projector space. 

As for the rest of the physical, the lens has both zoom and focus control, with the IR receiver for the included remote just next to the lens. Despite it being forward-facing, it has been pretty great at picking up the inputs. The remote itself is fine. It’s definitely on the cheaper side, and honestly just makes me appreciate the BenQ one more, but it does the job. You do of course have some physical buttons on the top of the projector too if you’d rather. If, like my very temporary setup, you’re resting the projector on its base, it does have two threaded legs, one in the centre at the front and one of the two rear legs for horizontal balancing. These are fine-pitch threads so adjustments take a while, compared to the X500i which not only used very coarse threads, but also had a free-movement latch to let you just pull it out to the height you want. The last thing I should mention about the physical aspect is that the shell itself is the same that they’ve been using for years – that’s made abundantly clear by the bulb hatch. This is an LED, DLP projector which doesn’t have a replaceable bulb, yet it still has the hatch, and the “wear protective gear when replacing the bulb” sticker. There are a lot of parts-bin parts here.

Software wise, the “Smart” source is just Android. Not Android TV like the BenQ, just an Android tablet install with a third-party TV style launcher screen. It uses Aptoide as its app store which just side-loads the APK files for the apps. That’s never great, especially since it seems the app choice is pretty limited and feels a little like I’m using a dodgy cheap Android box from Aliexpress. There is no plex app, for example, which is rather annoying for me! It’s also completely missing google-play services, which means even though you can download the Android TV launcher, it just crashes when you try and open it. I’d also note that this feels a little clunky and slow already, let alone in a few years time with no guarantee of software or security updates – and the fact this is fully built in means that you can’t upgrade it later like you can with the BenQ unit. 

Luckily, you can just hook up your own sources to the two HDMI ports, which I gladly did. My first impressions were that this looks pretty good. It’s a considerably longer-throw projector, meaning that at the same distance this Acer unit displayed a much smaller image compared to the X500i, although it is noticeably brighter, even at 50% brightness. As with the BenQ review, I don’t have the equipment to adequately test things like brightness, contrast or colour performance, so please do check more seasoned projector reviewers who do before making any purchasing decisions. To the eye this looks pretty good though. It has wall colour compensation which actually helped a fair bit, and for content I think it looked just as sharp and vibrant. For gaming it was ok, but the smaller image and what felt like a more sluggish input delay meant it wasn’t nearly as good as the X500i. 

There is one very key piece of information you should know about the GM712 though – you can EITHER have 1080p at 240Hz, OR you can enable variable refresh rate, which then locks the refresh rate to a maximum of 144Hz at 1080p. I can’t get it to run at 240Hz AND have VRR on. That is an especially large problem, because at least with my test setup the 240Hz mode was completely useless with the insane amount of tearing that was present. Like several torn frames on screen at once – and not just in games, even on the desktop it was clear it was tearing. It was just an awful experience, so enabling VRR was a must-do. Sadly that then means you get like half the refresh rate. Interestingly, doing some input lag testing, with VRR on it’s around 20 milliseconds, but just at 240Hz it was 30ms. Both of those figures are still pretty naff too – the X500i’s worst result was around 9 milliseconds, and with no keystone corrections it was just 4.2 milliseconds – so for this to be effectively 5x slower at best, that isn’t great. 

I did also try the response time test, mostly as a way to see in microsecond scale what the projector is doing. It turns out that it’s doing PWM for brightness of the various colours. As in, at RGB 102 it’s on less than half the frame time, but at RGB 255 it’s on the whole time. That’s kind of unique and interesting, although it means the flickering is actually variable which is just worse for me and my flicker sensitivity. You can see this in the high speed footage where the image turns black quite regularly, compared to the BenQ which was on the whole time which is potentially a touch better for that flicker sensitivity. 

Looking at the totality of this product, I find it hard to justify why you’d save the money and buy this over the X500i. That is an undeniably better experience. It’s shorter throw, has a better user experience, has a proper Android TV box that can be upgraded and offers a genuine TV replacement experience, plus a super low latency and just a great gaming experience. The GM712 isn’t BAD per se, but I don’t think it justifies its MSRP. Happily, it seems that the GM712 is actually being sold for £1000 right now, and at that price tag I think it is much easier to justify. It has some shortcomings, for sure, but with the X500i being 50% more, I can see why you might opt for this instead. I still would rather have the X500i – it’s just a much better, well rounded package, but I can see why you might get this instead.