This 17" offering from AOC is one of the cheapest monitors in the group
test, at £200 including VAT. Styling is simple, and the thin plastic base
and general feel of the monitor definitely mark it as a budget model. It does
have a few tricks up its sleeve however. A 1280x1024 native resolution and 350:1
contrast ratio may be nothing special, but the 16ms response time is incredibly
good for such a cheap monitor.
Its scaling abilities are good, and it makes a very credible attempt at displaying
800x600 and 1024x768. The screen has a blue tinge by default, but a bit of messing
around with the OSD soon cancels this out and the screen displays whites like
a washing powder advert, and reasonably dark black tones, even in a dark room.
Viewing angle isn't great, but this doesn't really matter since it makes the
ideal budget gaming monitor with its low response times and realistically low
purchase price.
