AOC - 21.5" IPS LED HD Monitor - Black

Just bought this monitor a few days ago so I don't know how well it will hold up. That said, first impressions are spectacular, and I thought this item could use a bump given the negative comments posted. So here goes. Took it out of the box, screwed on the stand. Plugged it in and went to town. That's it! My windows 7 computer went straight to the highest possible resolution. The colors are true. The icons are crisp. The contrast is exceptional. 4:3 material comes through as 4:3. Widescreen comes in as widescreen. Total PnP. I have no desire to play with the settings as I would almost certainly make things worse rather than better. Maybe I'm just stupid, but if the monitor is working great right out of the box, why are you trying to download an additional driver? For the user who complained about the driver download failure. AOC has apparently addressed that and my monitor came with a separate sheet detailing the workaround for the problem. For the user complaining about disabled options on the OSD, maybe he just needed to actually read the on-disc manual which explained under what conditions some options weren't available because my monitor had every option it was supposed to have. For the user who complained about fuzzy icons, I don't know what the problem may be other than the graphics card or an old operating system. For the user complaining about no explicit windows 7 options, I suggest he just try the vista options instead. After all, windows 7 is at heart a vista fix not a completely different OS. Bottom line. I think this monitor is getting criticized by some for all the wrong reasons. If PnP out of the box without any special driver downloads this monitor blows away any monitor I've previously owned, then @ $120, what's the problem. As I said at the beginning my only concerns are buying from a company I had never heard of before and therefore reliability is an open question.

My 5 star rating is based upon the quality for the price. There are subtle niggles that I could make about the product if I were spending $250 for it, but at or near the $100 price point, getting the quality of an IPS display can't be beat, especially if you're going with a multiple-monitor setup. I use this as a dual-monitor setup. I have an aftermarket monitor stand which holds both monitors at eye level side by side. So I have no comments about the built-in stand which I removed. The VESA mounts are 75 x 75mm. Comes with VGA cables. Does NOT include DVI cables. I had spares but I highly suggest using the DVI input for clarity. The monitors have a satin anti-glare coating which works very well (I have a window right behind me). The brightness is great at the default 90% brightness and 50% contrast, though I adjust the color balance slightly to reduce the red and green 2 notches so my whites are more to my taste. Love the almost bezel-less appearance though as others will note, the actual display doesn't go right up to the edge (the 'lit' portion of the display has about an 8mm gap around the sides and top). You still get a true 21.5" visible screen even though the exposed glass is 22". The clarity is great out of the box AT ALL ANGLES. Whether I'm swiveled or leaning in my chair to one direction, both screens are crystal clear even at the upper and bottom corners. Love that I can actually read the clock in the bottom right without ducking/shifting my head like I do with some other LCD displays. The IPS feature is what really makes this monitor stand out against other similarly priced monitors. I'm using this for office applications and have watched a few videos which looked quite good. I'm not a gamer so I can't tell you if there's any motion-blur with games. The monitor runs at 60Hz and the specs claim 5ms response time but can't tell if that's grey-to-grey or black-to-white. I like the on-screen menu & bottom right controls which are logical and easy to manipulate with a decent assortment of options to tweak to your liking. Power cord was a little short for me since I use an aftermarket stand which sits higher off the desk. Its a standard power cord so I just used another cord from an old PC. The monitor comes with a CD for monitor drivers (not needed, its a plug & play monitor), and a couple of software utilities. The i-Menu utility lets you adjust everything via computer that the on-screen menus provide (handy if you don't have access to the buttons on the display). Note however the utility only controls the first monitor. Screen+ allows you to configure regions of the screen which the windows can automatically snap to. Cool and useful but not all apps support this function (MS Office apps do not but all built-in Windows apps do). e-Saver just configures the same power settings that you have in the Windows control panel. Overall neat utilities and surprising to see included at this price point. There are better monitors out there, but you'll pay a premium for them. If you're looking for an inexpensive monitor to run a dual or triple monitor setup without busting your wallet, these will do the trick and you'll be surprised at their performance for the price.

I spent about 2 months hunting for the right monitor for me. I needed to purchase 3 monitors for a 4 monitor setup. I already own a Lenovo monitor but wanted some more of similar quality. I bought a few Acers online for about 130 bucks a piece. Returned them because the image was horribly washed out. They were LED and were okay quality, but I couldn't even mount the Acers to a monitor stand. The thing that attracted me to the AOC monitors was 1) they are mountable and 2) they are IPS. I went to Best Buy to see what they looked like in person. The day that I went they had a special for $60 bucks off when you buy two, so basically they were $120 a piece. I really wanted some 24" monitors, but I couldn't justify paying an extra $80 per monitor to have an extra two inches of screen. The image quality for this display was just too good. It also has a very slim bezel which makes for a very attractive look when the monitors are turned off. As far as the picture quality goes, I am quite taken aback. I think I paid around $170 for the Lenovo monitor I currently own a few years ago, but the picture on this monitor trumps the Lenovo by a wide margin. The 1920x1080 resolution combined with the LED IPS display makes for a remarkably crisp image. The darks are nice and bold while the light colors are sharp and drawn out. I watch a lot of Hulu and Netflix on my computer and I don't think you can get a better picture with a television. I should note that I have a mid-high end graphics card so this may contribute to my positive experience. Overall, at $120 this deal cannot be beat. I am a stickler for value and these monitors are far better than the Acers that I returned. The only thing I regret about this purchase is not investing in a 6 display setup and instead deciding to stick with 3. The value at this price is just too good.

If you are on a budget and you don't want to sacrifice quality, this is a great buy. I actually called AOC and asked them what panel they use and they said it's an LG 8-bit AH-IPS panel. That's an excellent panel, so if you are hesitating because you are worried about quality - don't hesitate - just buy it. Note that the rear input is the old analog D-sub and DVI-D. Nobody should be using the D-sub anymore. There is no DVI-D cable included, so you might have to buy one. By the way, HDMI is built on top of the old DVI-D spec, so if all you have is HDMI out on your computer, don't worry. Just buy a HDMI to DVI-D cable or an adapter. They are the same pin to pin, there is no loss in quality because there is no conversion being done! Digital video cables are cheap nowadays, don't pay much for them. Also, there are VESA 75mm holes on the back. You have to pop the bottom back panel and remove the stem that fits in to the stand first. It's easy, you just need a flathead screwdriver. I mounted the monitor to a desk arm and absolutely love being able to pull the monitor forward and backward as needed.

Pros: - You are getting a lot of monitor for the money. This monitor is usually on sale for only $100. It is 1080p full HD! The picture quality is amazing (ONLY if DVI is used, please read below), the black levels are good, and the response time, being 5ms, is also surprisingly good considering it is an IPS. Since it is IPS the viewing angles are good as well. This monitor is also not overly bright and is easy on the eyes. - Relatively small bezel/frame which blends in with the rest of the monitor, this is good if you have multiple monitors. - Matte screen, no glare! - Lots of menu options for tweaking. - VESA mounting capable. My more expensive Acer monitor does NOT have the holes for wall mounting, and a lot of other cheaper monitors cannot be wall mounted either. The fact that this monitor has the option for wall mounting is a plus! Cons (why I docked one star): Bad picture when VGA is used. I tried 2 different VGA cables, each time I got static/noise in the picture with grainy text and the picture was not as vivid. I did NOT have this problem when using DVI.

This monitor was an excellent buy when I got it on sale. It's an IPS so the viewing angles are solid and the colors are accurate. I am not a big gamer so I can't attest to the response time; however it puts my 1080p hdtv to shame in most aspects. I was disappointed after purchasing because of the misrepresentation made by the product image, but still bought another because for the price there wasn't anything better. The biggest cons: The display does not stretch to the edges of the monitor like the picture would lead you to believe. Not a negative for the product, but for Best Buy's display of the product. The menu system has some extra features that are visible, but inaccessible. This indicates that the manufacturer took some shortcuts; hopefully this doesn't effect it's life span.

I purchased three of these, ultimately, to use in a multi-monitor setup. Some of the monitors has noticeable flaws in the casting of the plastic bezel around the display that made it impossible to fit them together for a spanned display. Upon returning these monitors, and asking for assistance locating three panels that lacked these manufacturer defects, the representatives at the store were extremely unhelpful and condescending, concluding that I should expect flaws like these with these monitors because they are inexpensive. The performance of the monitors were satisfactory, but the associates were extremely rude and combative in regards to this transaction. I typically only purchase from Best Buy in order to walk out with the item, same day, as I have an Amazon Prime account and Amazon is almost always less expensive for the exact same item. After this experience, I will probably do even less of that.

The monitor was working fine until I hit the wrong button a few times (it was halfway unplugged and I didn't realize that so I hit what I thought was the on button a few times - the problem is that the on button plus 4 other buttons are on the bottom of the monitor so you feel for them instead of seeing them; the only way to see them is to flip the whole monitor on its side; apparently I hit the button for brightness and now the screen is murky blue, useless! I've been trying to reset it to default or change the brightness but there's no rhyme or reason to how the arrows work (unless maybe you spend half an hour figuring out the manual, which I don't have). I'm ready to throw it out. There's nothing more stupid than putting an invisible on/off button where you can't see it. It's not cool, AOC people, it's dumb! I shouldn't have to waste 15min on fixing the brightness, then ultimately giving up in frustration.