AOC sent over a new ultra-slim e2243Fwk 21.5" LED monitor. The very first thing we noticed when we unpacked it was exactly how ultra-slim it is. That would be around a half-inch thick for the display itself and just a couple pounds. Even adding the VESA mount and base brings the weight to just around four pounds. The unit we received has a black bezel with a black base, unlike the image below.
Don’t think that it is unstable as the majority of that weight is actually in the base itself and works to hold the unit quite steady. However, there is a singular point in the whole unit that is rather bothersome, that is where the mounting arm attaches to the display in what appears to be a very weak and poor fashion. In fact, the monitor is so flexible that at the mount point it flexes and looks like it could be easily damaged. The stress creates visible ripples in the image if you were to attempt to adjust the display angle. This means that the only way to adjust the display is by awkwardly pushing the stiffly-fastened mounting arm.
According to the display unit’s manual, the viewing angle of the display should range from -3 degrees to +12 degrees but as stated, changing it is problematic.
Of course, the major point of the display is to look at it while using your computer or console. The AOC e2243Fwk offers both D-SUB and DVI input and can switch between the inputs with a touch of the base where all of the on screen control buttons reside in an illuminating touch key array.
Clear, Crisp and Bright for Work and Play
The AOC e2243Fwk offers a Dynamic contrast Ratio of up to 50,000,000:1 and is capable of 1920x1080 resolution at 60 Hz. If the display were very large there might be some artifacts with fast movement or motion blur, but with the display being only 21.5" there are none and the picture remains crystal clear even with lots of motion.
During daily work the monitor performs admirably giving a bright and clear image that was so great I haven’t felt a single bit of eye strain or tiredness and I look at it for some 10 hours a day. My old Benq LCD often started to make my go wonky in the afternoon and forced me to take some extended breaks. The image is so clear on the AOC that even staring at text all day long is not tiring.
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Of course, we’re all interested in the quality of the game image which I am glad to say is extremely good. I used the AOC e2243Fwk for everything from Champions Online to Batman Arkham Asylum and even Magicka on the PC. Never once did I stop because the graphics looked blurry, nor did the colors ever look washed out. Now that was all coming in through the DVI so it should look good as it was a direct feed from the video card.
I then took the Xbox 360 and plugged it into the monitor via the D-SUB cable to take a few spins through some Zen Pinball FX 2 tables (including the new Fantastic Four), some Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale and some other indie games. At first the picture seemed a bit hazy but some image tweaking via the on-screen menus and the Xbox dashboard and the picture was just as clear as the PC image.
Finally, just to make sure I was rounding things out properly, I fired up Hulu Plus and watched a couple episodes of The Event and then jumped on Netflix to watch a quick film. No matter what I threw at the monitor, it threw back a crisp, clean image with no artifacts or degradations in quality. In fact in the dark the monitor is so bright that I actually found myself leaning away from it as opposed to toward it to see all the action. It was so clear and bright that I actually increased my normal viewing distance.
