AOC I2775PQU
Picture quality lets this PC monitor down
Once upon a time, PC monitors came with inch-thick matt black k plastic bezels around the screen, giving even the flattest of displays ys a clumsy appearance that… hang on, this one’s still like that. Whatat happened, AOC? Did you have a skip full of black plastic to use up? Or did you think users might be so disconcerted by the I2775PQU’S slightly wobbly stand that they’d want something to grip on to?
To be fair, the stand offers bothh tilt and height adjustment and even rotatesates 90 degrees into portrait mode, for those who like long pages better than side-by-side windows. And it does use IPS monitor technology for (potentially) better colour reproduction. On the back, set into a protruding panel to which the stand is unceremoniously screwed, is a full set of inputs for the usual display connections – HDMI, Displayport, DVI and the prehistoric analogue VGA D-sub socket – although MHL isn’t supported for mobile devices. There’s also a USB hub that gives you two USB 3.0 ports on the left-hand edge and two USB 2.0 behind, connected by a USB 3.0 cable to your PC.
Inconveniently, the power switch is round the back under the bottom edge of that big bump, where you’ll never be able to reach it from the front. Once you get hold of it and turn the screen on, things start to look even less cutting-edge. The 1920x1080-pixel resolution matches many other 27in screens, but it isn’t terribly sharp at this size, and we were disappointed by the colour accuracy, covering just 78 per cent of the SRGB range. Photos and videos looked pale and drab, and not only did the backlight not go very bright, it didn’t even cover the full height of the panel.
We wouldn’t expect miracles for under £250, especially at a time when some of our favourite monitors have gone up in price due to the fall in sterling. And although the stand isn’t as solid as it could be, the no-nonsense build quality could appeal to business buyers, who may not care too much about the niceties of colour reproduction. We’d suggest, however, that you could do better than this without spending any more. Even AOC itself makes a 27in screen with vastly better colour accuracy that sells for a few pounds less (see the alternative below and our Buy It recommendation on page 32).
VERDICT: The USB ports are handy, but nothing else about this monitor stands out as exceptional, and you can find better picture quality for less money
★★★☆☆
ALTERNATIVE: AOC Q2778VQE £213 This similarly chunky model uses the older TN technology, but has excellent colour accuracy and a sharper 2560x1440 resolution
An unattractive monitor with an incovenient design and poor picture quality
The first mobile phones, which were like bricks with telescopic aerials, had chunky number keys like landline handsets. As the handsets shrank, these turned into little clicky buttons, but you still only got 0-9, plus star and hash. Typing meant hitting numbers repeatedly to cycle through letters, a skill quickly mastered byy the young who learned, like ancient Hebrew scribes, that it was fasterr to leave out the vowels.
With the iphone, the buttons moved on to the screen, where there was room for the whole alphabet. But you had to look, you couldn’t touch-type. Blackberry owner RIM had been cramming QWERTY keyboards into phones since they were pagers (pictured), and never stopped.
The Keyone’s buttons, though, aren’t what they used to be. Rather than hard and clicky tthethey’re rubbery and mushy. Yo You do get personalised word prediction, but with no touchscreen enhancements like Swype, ty typing is just as fiddly as it wa was 20 years ago.