Mega display manufacturers such as Samsung and LG are omnipresent at CES, roadshow events and the consumer’s mind in general. It’s often easy to forget about the little guys, such as AOC, who are becoming increasingly popular for their innovative and attractively priced monitors. The company has recently added two new models to their inventory, both tracking two different but important trends in the monitor market. The AOC q2963Pm is a 29” ultra widescreen (CinemaScope) monitor using LG’s unusually stretched out 21:9 2560 x 1080 AH-IPS panel with slender bezels.

The panel has a standard WLED backlight giving coverage of roughly the sRGB colour space and features a relatively light matte screen surface. The peak brightness is 250 cd/m2, the refresh rate is 60Hz and the colours are delivered with true 8-bit precision (without dithering). AOC have quoted a 5ms grey to grey response time, too, and have hopefully implemented the sort of flexible overdrive options seen on the i2757Fm. By way of inputs there is a Dual-link DVI D port, HDMI port and VGA port (possibly DisplayPort as well – still to be confirmed). There are also some simple stereo speakers built into the monitor at either side of the stand. You can also detach the bottom part of the stand and remove the AOC logo plate at the back to reveal a 100 x 100mm VESA mount. Ingenious!

The other model is the AOC g2460Pqu, an altogether different beast. This is a fairly plain and ordinary looking monitor that is currently listed in AOC’s ‘professional’ line (that just means it has a sensible business-like look) with a matte screen. This model is actually one that should appeal to gamers, though, as the ‘g’ at the start signifies. It features a 24″ 144Hz LED-backlit TN panel. Everything is generally as you would expect for such a monitor – a 1920 x 1080 resolution, 1ms grey to grey response time and 250 cd/m2 typical max brightness. The 1ms grey to grey response time is often quite over-optimistic. What is more important than this often misleading figure is how that sort of pixel response time could be achieved. In other words, will there be any artifacts from overly aggressive grey to grey acceleration or perhaps some trailing due to the acceleration being too weak?

The monitor is mounted to a fully adjustable stand which allows tilt, height, swivel and pivot adjustment. If preferred you can also mount the monitor using 100 x 100mm VESA. According to current information the ports on the monitor include; VGA, HDMI, Dual-link DVI-D, DisplayPort and 4 USB 2.0 ports. There is also a headphone jack and some simple built-in speakers.

The 29″ ultra widescreen ‘MyMulti-play’ model is now available in several countries including the UK and US with retail availability expected to increase shortly. It should retail at around £380 ($500). The 24″ gaming powerhouse is due to be released during Q2 (April-June). Availability outside of Europe and price is still to be confirmed. Both of these models featured at CeBIT in March. We will hopefully get around to reviewing them at some point, too. For some further reading check out AOC’s official product pages for the q2963Pm and g2460Pqu.

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