I purchased the AOC 2236VW to replace a 17" CRT.This is my first "wide screen" monitor.The 2236VW comes packed in a compact box.Included is a two-piece tilt/swivel stand that assembles without tools,
a VGA cable, a USB A-B cable, CD-ROM, and fold-out instruction sheet.Though the monitor supports DVI, no DVI cable is included.
The fold-out sheet is all pictorial, and relatively clear.Assembling the stand and snapping it into the monitor's standard mounting bracket was quick and painless.Given its size, the monitor is surprisingly lightweight, and balances well on the stand.The monitor can tilt and swivel smoothly, and stays where placed.Unfortunately, there is no vertical height adjustment in the stand.
The monitor has connectors for analog (VGA), DVI, a standard IEC power cord, and USB in/out.The last is so that you don't have to reach down to your computer plug in a USB device.Only one USB port is provided.It's under the lower bezel, and AOC puts a big orange arrow sticker on the bezel to help you find it.Sadly, I haven't been able to remove that sticker...The supplied VGA cable is shorter than I would like.
Unlike some older flat panels I've used, AOC put the power supply in the monitor, so there's no additional "brick" to find a place for under your desk.
The display itself has a matte finish, which I personally prefer over the glossy monitors that seem all the rage.
The bezel has a high-gloss black "piano" finish, which seems to serve no other purpose than to reflect every light source in the room, and show fingerprints.
The major negative with this monitor is the ABYSMAL instruction/driver CD.It loads a Flash animation that runs full-screen, is slow, and has no actual text manual, just animated screen shots showing the On Screen Display (OSD) menus with cryptic behaviors.I ended up using Task Manager to kill it, as trying to find the exit/close was futile.
Windows was able to locate the display driver, and the appearance at the native 1920x1080 resolution is sharp using VGA
(I was unable to test at the full native resolution using DVI due to a limitation in my Nvidia knockoff video card).
When first powered up, the monitor is blindingly bright, which will send you to the OSD controls in a big hurry.I set mine for a setting of 10 out of 100.
The OSD controls consist of three touch-sensitive keys (Menu, Up, and Down) on the bezel of the monitor.There is no tactile response when keys are pressed.All menus consist of icons, with the exception of the menu for selecting display language (only used for a few status messages; quality control of monitor's firmware is lacking, as it displays "NO SINGAL" when my computer is off).The key icons on the bezel are printed in light gray, which makes them difficult to see.I locate them by my fingerprint smudges.
Selecting a feature is tiresome: press the Menu key to display the OSD, use arrows to find the category of the feature you want, press Menu to select the category, which appears as a horizontal menu.Use the up and down arrows to move left and right (you always get to guess which), press Menu to select the feature to modify, then use the arrows to adjust/select, then Menu to confirm.Fortunately, you can press Menu repeatedly to exit, which makes the Exit choice (which is present in every submenu) redundant.The monitor is highly adjustable, but it's not easy without a clear explanation of what all those adjustments do.
There is a slight brightening of the display at top, but this is only visible if you set your background to black.
My monitor appears to have no stuck/missing pixels.The monitor looks good at lower than native resolution, except for VGA/SVGA (640x480, 800x600) where it looks a bit fuzzy.
I'm very satisfied with the monitor's performance; the cosmetic design features, manual, and adjustments leave something to be desired.
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Product Description:
pAOC 2236Vw widescreen LCD monitor comes with and DVI-D input with HDCP for maximum content delivery. It boasts a 5ms response time to eliminate drag and a USB pass-thru connector for convenient access to a USB port. The 2236Vw also comes with touch key sensitive controls and glossy bezelshellfish texture for a stylish, user-friendly display./p
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