AOC Monitors

ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
in Hardware
So, I haven't really been paying attention to enthusiast computer hardware of late. I am considering replacing my nice, but dated primary monitor at home. Looking to go full 1080 for maximum gaming boners. Is AOC any good though? Also, is this Woot deal a good deal or not worth it?
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Comments

  • RootWyrmRootWyrm Icrontian
    How high quality do you actually want?
    AOC is fine for casual, not a bad brand, and that particular monitor isn't half bad at all. Exceeeept it's refurb which basically translates to "not even with a thirty foot pole." No warranty, probably dead pixels, and WTF with those inputs? Seriously, WTF were they smoking - HDMI only? DB9?! External brick!? NOPE, THIS IS 2013, DAMNIT.

    Gold standard in displays really remains the HP ZR24w or ZR2440w (LED backlit) which packs a 1920x1200 IPS panel into an attractive package with high color accuracy.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited July 2013
    Not everyone has $450+ to spend on a single monitor. And there's nothing wrong with using HDMI inputs. I use them at work and have no issues. Also, it's factory reconditioned, not refurbished and it does have a warranty, albeit only a 90 day one.

    Anyone have more pragmatic input on this? (ping @Thrax)
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    Yeah, I see nothing wrong with HDMI as the primary/only input. This is 2013, what video card can you buy anymore that doesn't have HDMI?

    I'm still very happy with my 2009 HannSpree $250 25" 1080p monitor.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    Right now I have a 19" Samsung from like 2006 or 7 and a 19" HannsG from a couple years ago as my secondary. They both work fine, but they're both 1680x1050... I'm starting to get resolution envy from the 1080 display on my laptop.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    Here it is for $10 more and with a 3-year warranty.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    Well damn... good catch BlackHawk. Also, not on a time-sensitive sale. That means I can take some more time to consider the purchase.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    I think that, at $149, one monitor is more or less as good as another. I like the Asus VH238H, though.
    ardichoke
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    Wow... does the Asus have an actual 2ms response time, or is it some sort of marketing BS 2ms response time?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    It's 5ms with 2ms via overdrive. It's pretty good, but not "for real".
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    Still though, it's at least as good as the AOC which has a straight up 5ms response time... also, I do like my work Asus monitors...
  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian
    A different school of thinking on refurb products is that they are actually better than retail (minus a 90 day warranty on most thing). A lot of people believe that refurbished products get a better once over after being fixed and outlast a regular retail product. I'm not sure if it's one hundred percent true, but it is possible that this is the case with some things. I own several refurbished products and have had no issues. Maybe someone has some info to debunk my theory though.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    Sonorous said:

    A different school of thinking on refurb products is that they are actually better than retail (minus a 90 day warranty on most thing). A lot of people believe that refurbished products get a better once over after being fixed and outlast a regular retail product. I'm not sure if it's one hundred percent true, but it is possible that this is the case with some things. I own several refurbished products and have had no issues. Maybe someone has some info to debunk my theory though.

    I think it would depend on how it was refurbished. Was something like the whole control panel board (or whatever it's called) replaced or just a single capacitor which had to be removed and soldered back?
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    I would imagine that it depends on the type of product and the company as well. Anecdotally speaking, it seems to me like refurbished hard drives have a much higher failure rate than new ones, for instance.
  • RootWyrmRootWyrm Icrontian
    Sonorous said:

    A different school of thinking on refurb products is that they are actually better than retail (minus a 90 day warranty on most thing). A lot of people believe that refurbished products get a better once over after being fixed and outlast a regular retail product. I'm not sure if it's one hundred percent true, but it is possible that this is the case with some things. I own several refurbished products and have had no issues. Maybe someone has some info to debunk my theory though.

    A) If it was better, they'd be willing to stand behind it for the full warranty period. Why? Because they know it won't come back. It's there because it already came back once, and it's got no warranty because they know it's likely to come back again.
    B) There's no guarantee they fixed anything at all, made any corrections, etc. I went through a hell of an ordeal with my ZR24w's because the "factory rebuilt" ones had tint shifts, defects that should have failed QC immediately, wrong firmware, obsolete firmware, the works.

    Refurb is about taking something that came back under warranty and getting the money back out of it as quickly and efficiently as possible. (Warranty is not free.) You have no idea what was wrong with the product before, and no idea what was done to fix it, if anything. If something came back under warranty for a fried power brick, eh, NBD. LED driver failure? Yeaaaaah, not so good. Warped panel? Not even remotely gonna touch that junk. (I have SEEN panels physically bent. NO.)

    That said, AOC makes many fine displays that I would recommend at the lower end of the performance scale. Samsung also makes a fair number of good 1080 panels. Stay away from Dell's low end - they're pure junk. BenQ is a mixed bag, but there's some very nice panels in there if you can find them.

    I won't, however, recommend anything claiming ridiculous GtGs via firmware hacks (AKA overdrive) as base. It's false advertising. And we already know from an article how Asus is when it comes to warranty service. Which is to say: you have less than no warranty.
  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian
    edited July 2013
    RootWyrm said:

    Stay away from Dell's low end - they're pure junk. BenQ is a mixed bag, but there's some very nice panels in there if you can find them.

    It's pretty well documented that Dell doesn't manufacture all of, or any of their panels even. Most of the time they are LG or Samsung panels in a Dell case. IPS is normally LG and TN panels are a mix.

  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    Sonorous said:

    A different school of thinking on refurb products is that they are actually better than retail (minus a 90 day warranty on most thing). A lot of people believe that refurbished products get a better once over after being fixed and outlast a regular retail product. I'm not sure if it's one hundred percent true, but it is possible that this is the case with some things. I own several refurbished products and have had no issues. Maybe someone has some info to debunk my theory though.

    That has absolutely not been my experience. I've had to return an ATI video card three times for noise in the analog output (before you start: verified multiple monitors, multiple cables) and a 20" ViewSonic P-series CRT four times for controller board death before each company respectively replaced the product with a new, working model. The shipping on that CRT was ruinously expensive to me but fortunately they started picking up the tab at RMA #2. Still pretty aggravating; would not recommend.
  • RootWyrmRootWyrm Icrontian
    Sonorous said:

    RootWyrm said:

    Stay away from Dell's low end - they're pure junk. BenQ is a mixed bag, but there's some very nice panels in there if you can find them.

    It's pretty well documented that Dell doesn't manufacture all of, or any of their panels even. Most of the time they are LG or Samsung panels in a Dell case. IPS is normally LG and TN panels are a mix.

    ... people still don't understand this simple fact? Dell doesn't manufacture a damn thing. They assemble or pay somebody else to assemble it. For that matter, what, you think AOC makes their panels? HELL NO. HP? Nope! ZR24/2440 is based on an LG manufactured IPS panel and off-the-shelf CCFL and LED drivers - yet ranked well ahead of Dell in pretty much every test even when the panel was the same. Dell's low end stuff is the absolute lowest quality they can get away with, no matter what the claimed panel is, and then they cut the quality some more.
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    Back to topic...... Buy the one @blackhawk linked or the Asus. (:
    PirateNinja
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    Yeah, the Asus is looking pretty good to me right now... though since it's not a Woot sale, I'm not in a rush to buy it.
  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian
    Newegg has this for 139.99 with promo code EMCXMXW23, claims free shipping.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    While I do love Samsung LCDs, the fact that they are not VESA mount compatible makes me not want to buy another one (I have plans to wall mount the monitors in my office). I know the AOC isn't VESA compatible either, but I thought it was a much better deal than it turned out to be. The Asus is VESA compatible which is another check in the win column there.
    Sonorous
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    @Ardichoke, I received an email flyer from Newegg today saying that several monitors were on sale. Check your mail :)
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    I don't get the Newegg mailings (I unsubscribe from every marketing email I get, except ThinkGeek, curse those fancy bastards). Did you forward it to me @Ryder? Because if you did, I'm not seeing it :/
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    I did not forward it because it is my understanding that the codes will only work for me, I could be wrong though.
    If you provide email addy, I will.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    Welp, I ended up pulling the trigger on an Asus VS238H-P... which, as far as I can tell, is the same as the VH238H which @Thrax recommended, except that it is slimmer and doesn't have built-in speakers (which I don't need). You win the battle with my bank account again NewEgg.
    JBoogaloo
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    Yes, the speakers are the difference. :)
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    edited August 2013
    Worth adding: at my job, we bought six VS228H-P 21.5" monitors. They're the same as the 23" VS238H-P (as far as I can tell), with the exception of the screen size.

    We're delighted with them, especially using them as dual-monitor setups. Screen quality is good, matte finish that I prefer, they tilt just fine, and they have physical buttons on the bottom-right edge (I hate touch-sensitive buttons). Plus HDMI, DVI, and VGA.

    Yes, 1920x1200 IPS panels would have been nice, but at 1/3 the cost it's all we need for Excel, email, and web browsing. Bottom line: I second the ASUS monitor recommendation.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    Yeah, I currently have a pair of Asus VW266H monitors at work. I quite like them. It definitely helped influence me to listen to Thrax's suggestion. The VS238 just showed up about 30 minutes ago. Will be hooking it up tonight. Now the question is, what game should I play on it first? Maybe some L4D2...
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    Play Portal 1, and sing along with it, "this was a triumph..." :D
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    Ohgod.... this monitor. This monitor, ohgod. It's so pretty.
    PirateNinja
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