A rotating display by AOC sends Mark
into a flat spin
AOC promotes its new E2460Phu as a
’Business-Grade' monitor, even if the criteria of that definition aren't one
I'd recognize.
What I can confirm about this design is that
AOC has taken a reasonably sharp TN panel with a fast response time and bolted
it to a rotating support. At 24 inches, this is a big monitor to rotate, and
therefore the pillar that it pivots on is rather tall, giving it plenty of
elevation in landscape mode.
AOC
E2460phu LED LCD 24” Monitor
Also, AOC hasn't skimped on extras: the
E2460Phu has VGA, DVI and HDMI inputs and an integrated four port HDMI hub.
It's also VESA wall mountable, and comes with a three-year warranty.
When you consider the size of the panel,
the general specification and the price that AOC is asking, this all looks
rather attractive. And it is, to a point. However, I'm a bit of a stickler for
details, and that's where the E2460Phu comes slightly unstuck.
My first complaint is that the TN panel is
fine for gaming, but as with all TN technology, it suffers with poor viewing
angles. It's 170° in the horizontal, and 160° in the vertical, unless you
swivel the display, and then those are reversed.
And because the perfect viewing position in
landscape mode is higher than center, when you go into portrait orientation you
need to be off center to the right not to have a very obvious shadow on the
right-hand side. That's a very obvious problem.
AOC does make an IPS version of this
screen, the M2460Phu, which is another $30 or more, and probably that doesn't
suffer with this issue.
Another bugbear is that while AOC provided
a USB hub, it didn't put any electronics in the display to sense orientation,
so you're forced to manually adjust the graphics driver if you move from
landscape or portrait or vice versa.
AOC provides USB, VGA and DVI cables, but
for whatever reason you need to go and get your own HDMI line. It also included
a support disc with the manual, which details the complicated adjustment menu
and provides some utilities. The one of these that I tried, i-Menu, looked
great, even if it was entirely in Chinese. I did find a multi-national version
on the AOC website, but handing out the Chinese-only one on the disc is plain
sloppy.
On a more positive note, the TN panel is a
nice enough item and fine for gamers, though at 42 watts running it seems a
little power hungry.
More impressive is the support pillar, an
exceptionally well-designed and implemented solution that doesn't require a
metal pin to hold it in one position. I also loved that you can remove the
cover from the underside of the foot and VESA mount directly to that, allowing
you to retain the swivel feature while wall mounted.
Sadly, having used an IPS swivel display, I
can't really recommend this TN one, for business or otherwise, as it's not an
ideal combination.
|
Details
§ Price:
$253.8 (Ebuyer)
§ Manufacturer:
AOC
§ Website:
www.aoc-europe.com/en/home.html
§ Required
spec: PC or console that has HDMI, VGA or DVI output
Specifications
§ Native
Resolution: 1920x1080 at 60 Hz
§ Brightness:
250 cd/m2
§ Contrast
Ratio: 1000:1 / 20000000:1 (dynamic)
§ Response
Time: 2 ms
§ Interfaces:
VGA, HDMI, DVI-D, USB
§ Viewing
Angles: 170° /160° (CR ^10)
§ Dot
Pitch: 0.276 (H)x0.276 (V)
|
