AOC AG273QXP 27
A great choice if you’re looking for a high-quality IPS panel by day and a gaming screen by night
SCORE ★★★★
PRICE £358 (£430 inc VAT) from box.co.uk
This AOC screen has much in common with the Acer Predator, based as it is on a 27in IPS panel with a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. Where the Acer left us underwhelmed, however, this offers much to tempt someone looking for a monitor with a split personality: work from 9 to 5, party all night.
To keep that party going it comes with its own light show, courtesy of downward-facing lights next to the joystick and a large ring at the rear. You can control brightness and the choice of colours via the logical and speedy OSD, with a number of gaming presets plus three that you can program. For example, you might prefer a higher “Shadow Control” for some games. One advantage it holds over the Acer is a 170Hz refresh rate without overclocking, and like its rival it supports both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium.
That’s gaming covered. Back to the more pedestrian daytime, we recommend you switch to the sRGB colour mode if you want the cleanest whites: we measured 6378K here, compared to a cool 7350K in the normal preset and 6208K when we chose warm. However, warm proved the best preset for DCI-P3 coverage, with a comprehensive 96% coverage out of a 102% volume. This mode also allows you to push the screen up to its maximum brightness (394cd/m 2 for our test unit), while sRGB locks you to around 300cd/m2 . In return, it makes a genuine difference to gamut coverage, with a tightly controlled 96.6% out of 97.3%.
One disadvantage of IPS panels over VA is peak contrast ratios, with the AOC returning 870:1 in our tests. But don’t get too hung up on this: we doubt it will make a visible difference in games or daily life. Also note that this panel lacks any curvature and that there are no built-in speakers. Nor will you find a USB-C connection for docking, but AOC supplies four inputs: two HDMI, two DisplayPort.
There’s also a predictable two-port USB hub (both at the rear), but you might be surprised to find a monitor hood in the box. We liked it, simply due to it cutting down distractions. With support for DisplayHDR 400 as yet another extra, there’s a huge amount to like about this screen. If its split personality makes sense for your needs, it’s a great alternative to our award winners.